proxy vc for PC?

Levi_the_Defiler

i came from console, and i would like to say that the in game voice chat truly brought the game to life for me. being able to hear people talk and express is way better than reading plain texts.it made the game more entertaining, it made me look more forward to socializing with random people in the town hubs after a long run of dungeon farming. of course i am aware that there will be some annoying trolls who would go on the mic and spam soundboards or chew food on the mic. but i never really had issue with them because there's always the mute button for those people.

Mayrael

Having more options is always nice, as long the "mute" list wouldn't have limit.

Danikat

I think the best you can do is join an active guild that regularly uses Discord (or some other chat program) and use that while you're online.

As I understand it voice chat on consoles is provided by the console, it's not built into the game. ZOS would have to develop a new system and the infrastructure to support it (extra server capacity mainly) to offer it on PC and I don't think there's enough demand for it to justify doing that. Whenever the topic has come up it's gotten at best mixed reactions.

I'm not even sure how many PC players have a microphone. As far as I remember when I was shopping for a new PC the only ones which came with a microphone were 'streaming PCs', for anything else it was an optional extra. (I don't have one, but I also very rarely use voice chat. If I need it I run Discord on my phone.)

Ragnarok0130

OP on PC it’s really not needed since we’ve used 3rd party voice chat solutions for the past 15-20 years and it’s ingrained into the PC gaming culture. Even if it was patched into the PC client I suspect hardly anyone would use it since our social interactions are centered around guild discords (due to ZoS’ woefully inadequate guild systems in game) where we already use the voice chat with people that we want to speak with instead of being subjected to people rudely eating, listening to music, or being yelled at by their parents or spouse on an open mic with proximity chat.

I know you’re a console transfer, but the “when in Rome” concept applies when you enter a new space.

TaSheen

Dekrypted wrote: »

I already play my game with no sound more than 60% of the time. Given the behavior of players depending on what content you participate in, I'd very much like this to never be implemented into PC.

I'm with you there.

Xandreia_

Hell no lol, I also come from console now on pc and I'm happy there's no ingame voice chat, it was the most annoying, toxic and irritating thing on console, if it wasn't hearing someone's kids scream down the mic its was hearing people be toxic and rude, once I even heard people having (I'm trying to word this in a forum friendly way lol) "relations" 😂 I honestly hope they NEVER add voice chat to pc. Just join discords if you run trials or large group pvp.

rootkitronin

So many people here are just bitter and jaded - you're all in dire need of some perspective.

I agree with @Mayrael, more options would be a benefit, and like pretty much every game that has proximity chat, muting would be a thing (which in itself addresses the majority of issues raised here - though people seem to be ignoring that).

Not everyone uses discord or even plays with groups, even then, discord or similar options don't really have a solution for the proximity element - which would be awesome for some group content situations or random player encounters.

Only issue I would have is how much resources it would take to implement it - if it's an easy win, that's great, if it's going to take quite a bit to make happen (which I think is more likely), then I'd prefer they focus that effort elsewhere in the game.

TaSheen

If it ever gets added, it needs to default to OFF - unlike what's happened for years on xbox.

Kendaric

rootkitronin wrote: »

So many people here are just bitter and jaded - you're all in dire need of some perspective.

I agree with @Mayrael, more options would be a benefit, and like pretty much every game that has proximity chat, muting would be a thing (which in itself addresses the majority of issues raised here - though people seem to be ignoring that).

Not everyone uses discord or even plays with groups, even then, discord or similar options don't really have a solution for the proximity element - which would be awesome for some group content situations or random player encounters.

Only issue I would have is how much resources it would take to implement it - if it's an easy win, that's great, if it's going to take quite a bit to make happen (which I think is more likely), then I'd prefer they focus that effort elsewhere in the game.

It most likely wouldn't see much use on PC, a lot of players would just turn it off permanently.

Quite frankly, it would be a waste of development time and resources. If someone wants to use voice chat on PC for some reason, there are plenty of options.

rootkitronin

TaSheen wrote: »

If it ever gets added, it needs to default to OFF - unlike what's happened for years on xbox.

Hahah yes, this would definitely need to be a must! Things like that should be strictly opt-in only, especially when they're being added after the fact.

TaSheen

rootkitronin wrote: »

Hahah yes, this would definitely need to be a must! Things like that should be strictly opt-in only, especially when they're being added after the fact.

Yeah, I just worry about how other things have been done in the years I've been playing - mostly, y'know, non-optimally, not to mention non-optional.

SpacemanSpiff1

i've read zone chat. why would i want to hear it?

Braffin

I think this topic is rather niche on pc (on the same level as an opt-out toggle for mudballs for example), as most of us already use discord or teamspeak for communication anyways.

So, while I'm not against the implementation of an optional voice chat in general, I think there are more urgent matters to improve the game.

BlindingBright

I always wondered if it'd be possible to do a discord plugin/server, where it'd drop you into a channel based on location/zone. Making it opt-in for players... issue is, people would need to actively seek it out, but that might be enough to keep the riff-raff largely at bay too.

If it was a plugin/addon setup, would be neat for guild discords to add it- effectively segregated zone voice chat... but with some mega guilds having 1500 members with 150+ online at a time, might actually work out well and encourage more community interaction.

I'd donate all my gold for that, it'd be really neat to have.

freespirit

SpacemanSpiff1 wrote: »

i've read zone chat. why would i want to hear it?

This^^

I find if I ever spend large amounts of time in one zone the chat box inevitably has arguments and insult slinging at some point.

I make my home in Riften, don't remember why it just happened. The Rift is one of the three zones with vampire and werewolf shrines, so on top of the insults and arguments there is also the never ending "bites should be free" conversation.

Do I want that constantly in my ears?? Hell no!!

Aztrias

https://youtube.com/watch?v=umDr0mPuyQc

Mayrael

SpacemanSpiff1 wrote: »

i've read zone chat. why would i want to hear it?

Because it's easier to communicate by using voice? You can fight and talk at the same time? Personally I don't like having to run background apps to have voice com in game, especially that there is many different apps, you need to find servers, channels and so on. To much fuss.

Imagine having just a keybind to switch off and on voice chat when you want. It could have 3 options: speaking and listening, just listening and completely off.

But there is a downside of this. I can imagine more groups would have attitude of "VC on or kick".

danno8

rootkitronin wrote: »

So many people here are just bitter and jaded - you're all in dire need of some perspective.

I agree with @Mayrael, more options would be a benefit, and like pretty much every game that has proximity chat, muting would be a thing (which in itself addresses the majority of issues raised here - though people seem to be ignoring that).

Not everyone uses discord or even plays with groups, even then, discord or similar options don't really have a solution for the proximity element - which would be awesome for some group content situations or random player encounters.

Only issue I would have is how much resources it would take to implement it - if it's an easy win, that's great, if it's going to take quite a bit to make happen (which I think is more likely), then I'd prefer they focus that effort elsewhere in the game.

People are strange that way. It's as if the thought that it could toggled off never occurred to them.

Lotro has had in game voice chat for years that you can turn on or off even if you have no mic, so you can still listen to others in your group. Very helpful in pugs to listen to your leaders. Proxy chat would be a similar thing. Turn it off completely (default) if it bothers you.

Servers already take info you create from your client game and disperse that info locally to all other characters around your character. Voice chat is no different and would just need a separate voice chat server.

More options are always better. Discord etc are great for guilds but are a pain to setup for more casual encounters or pugs.

danno8

Mayrael wrote: »

But there is a downside of this. I can imagine more groups would have attitude of "VC on or kick".

Possibly, but I tend to think having to find a replacement player is more time and energy than just taking one with VC turned off.

Also, if there is a group who kicks you for no VC they are probably already doing a "Discord or kick" currently anyway, so nothing really changes.

belial5221_ESO

With so many free options,why should they have their servers loaded with voice option?Like others said,best to look elsewhere for options.It would be more downtime to fix things,more annoyances to deal with,and means they'd need programmers to keep it updated,so pulled from elsewhere or hired and spend more money.It was builtin long ago but was crude,and may have been removed completely by now.

rootkitronin

SpacemanSpiff1 wrote: »

i've read zone chat. why would i want to hear it?

It wouldn't be the whole zone though - that would be like opening the gates oblivion - no, the original post was just talking about proximity chat (proxy chat for PC).

Accessibility wise, there are a lot of people that would benefit from proximity chat too - and despite what other people are saying, there is no PC option or alternative for proximity chat. There are plenty of options for regular voice chat, but not proximity chat (at least that I'm aware of).

Can't comment on the logistics on implementing that though, but my guess that it would be quite a bit of work at this point, which is probably why it isn't done on PC - where as with Xbox, there's already a voice chat system built into the console that they are probably piggybacking off of. All speculation though.

valenwood_vegan

I would personally prefer that ZoS use their [seemingly rather limited these days] resources on the actual game, rather than trying to reinvent the wheel... as their are ample tools available on PC for voice chat.

That said, it's not up to me - and if ZoS thinks enough people want this that it would be worth the effort... that's fine.

I know that I and pretty much everyone I'm friends with in-game would immediately turn any sort of general or proximity chat off, permanently... and stick to using discord for groups or for hanging out so that we have control over who, and what, we are listening to.

Just seems like it might be too niche of a thing on PC to be worth the effort... but again, not for me to decide!

spartaxoxo

It works great on console. It makes grouping pretty easy. I honestly get annoyed when people make a fuss about using psn party chat instead of group chat at this point.