Do people talk to people in TESO?

Shaun98ca2

Ah yes the GOOD ole days of EQ live where your "combat" is you sitting reading chat/chatting holding 20 different conversations at once letting "combat" briefly get in the way of your conversation once in a while. AHHHHH the good ole days.
Personally I say screw chat bubbles what this game REALLY needs is a GREAT integrated VIOP system that allows MANY forms of voice chatting with other people around you. And maybe the game simply needs a good system for yelling for help in general.
And a specialized Trade Chat.

smilingmaybe

I agree that MMOs have been dropping the ball for years by sidestepping the responsibility of having a robust VOIP system built into them. Robust, being the keyword. Very, very, keyword.

Xionar

I talk to people all the time, in zone, in say, in pm's and guild. Usually just answering people's questions, but talking all the same. I think we will see more talking once the leveling the slows down and people are more dispersed in the world. Right now most people are focused heavily on their quests or leveling and don't want to bother talking.

Medgirlpts_ESO

This level of immersion is by far the strongest argument for chat bubbles. I miss chat bubbles.

Lalai

I honestly don't pay attention much to chat unless it's a whisper, guild, or group message. Sometimes I'll pay attention to zone chat, sometimes not, but I often miss say messages just because I'm busy with other things when they come across (while I'm out questing, or crafting).

Even in early MMO days I don't think I talked to people outside of my guilds too often. I definitely would for dungeons, or things that required a group to take down, but never really to just random people in say chat. That's going all the way back to Shadowbane. If you're wanting to be very social, your best bet is to join a guild that's also very social. I always have the most fun with the community that I choose to play with, less so with random folks I run across (those sometimes those are fun too).

I would like to see chat bubbles or something to grab my attention when someone is saying something to me. Especially when they're asking for help.

mu2

The only time I've seen a discussion start is when someone whispers, or in guild or map chat. I was in the bank and commented about looting all the bank's bookcases and things. Someone whispered, Where is the banker? I said, Oh over here. And realized they couldn't see the banker, they couldn't see me. I ended up having to jump up and down on the NPC's head to point them out.

We need chat bubbles or it's a bit like being in a single player game with a radio on, and map chat's the radio.

DragonMother

I've had no problem answering peoples whispers, or spotting chat being said to me in game. Then again I pay close attention and spot it without having to scroll back. Toggled bubbles would be nice, but don't make it a necessity.

mutharex

People do talk, both in zone chat and /say. That is, when they aren't busy avoiding being smashed. Why do we get this kind of threads in every new MMO? People talk more in TESO than say WoW (or at least, they tend to say things slightly more interesting). And no serious game has chat bubbles ffs....

Sinlar

ahonma_ESO wrote: »

I agree that MMOs have been dropping the ball for years by sidestepping the responsibility of having a robust VOIP system built into them. Robust, being the keyword. Very, very, keyword.

Area VOIP system? Tower of bable comes to mind, with shouting, cursing, dogs barking, cats barking, birds barking..lots of barking.. kids screaming, mikes left keyed on, really strange distortions due to server lag and numerous other audio assaults that I can't even imagine right now. Would certainly liven things up o.0

Sshado

The bulk of my interactions have been through emotes. I don't mean /emote but actual commands. For example there are three instances from today.

Now, I really need to put forth an effort to try eliciting RP from people. That's what I really want. Everything I've done has been just casual fun.

Instance One: I'm standing around near the Shrine of Mara in Vulkhel. Some guy walks up to me and stares at me. I /wave and he begins /dance. Taking the cue, I bust out my /lute and play a little tune. He responds by cheering and then pulling out a /flute. Third guy walks up and /laughs before pulling out his /drum. The second guy stopped playing his /flute and /laughed. I /heartbroken because I liked the music. Then, to get a laugh, I sat in my /sitchair.

Thus the conversation erupted and we all started chatting about random things.

Instance Two: I'm at the Vafe Dolmen anchor and waiting for the spawn. One of the guys that I've seen walking around in the past is standing there. We both start playing music and then this third guy runs up and starts wildly swinging his sword at me. I /playdead and he freezes. Third guy asks, "Did... I do that?"
And then we all had a good laugh.

Instance Three: I'm in a dungeon. We chat about the game, the dungeon, our skills, life, whatever. Dungeons are awesome for chat.

spidur

I usually throw out a thanks through /say to people that throw me a heal or help me down a mob. I think if someone was to talk to me id strike a conversation. If not alot of people are usually talking using /zone.

Medgirlpts_ESO

mutharex wrote: »

People do talk, both in zone chat and /say. That is, when they aren't busy avoiding being smashed. Why do we get this kind of threads in every new MMO? People talk more in TESO than say WoW (or at least, they tend to say things slightly more interesting). And no serious game has chat bubbles ffs....

SWG had them and it was great.

Sarenia

MMOs are pretty anti-social. Most of the chat happens between friends, or between yelling neckbeards in voice chat.

It's one of those strange dynamics of humanity. The fewer people you have, the more communication there is. The more people you have, the more everybody blends into a mindless zombie focused on their personal goals, or the overlaying goal of the mob.

Equate it to New York vs Boondocks, Nebraska. Out in the boonies if you see someone, you wave to them, you smile, you may even have a chat. In a big city with hundreds of people scrambling past you to their destination, nobody even looks at you.

I try to find a few nice people and talk to them. Maybe I'm jaded, but I treat strangers as potential trolls these days. Way too many bad experiences in MMO games, far too many ***.

Mie87

I want chat bubbles :-)

mutharex

Medgirlpts_ESO wrote: »

mutharex wrote: »

People do talk, both in zone chat and /say. That is, when they aren't busy avoiding being smashed. Why do we get this kind of threads in every new MMO? People talk more in TESO than say WoW (or at least, they tend to say things slightly more interesting). And no serious game has chat bubbles ffs....

SWG had them and it was great.

SWG a game that went sooooo well they had to do a CU (where a good part of the people left) and then a NGE (where everybody left)

Ok so no good game had them

TheGodless1

chat bubbles just feel too cartoonish and fake...just so....Runescape...

murklor007neb18_ESO

On the old forum there was a freakin brilliant mockup of how chat bubbles could look in ESO. It wasnt cartonish at all, it looked like it was already in the game and it looked exactly like Elder Scrolls design.

Unfortunetly I dont have a link

Medgirlpts_ESO

mutharex wrote: »

Medgirlpts_ESO wrote: »

mutharex wrote: »

People do talk, both in zone chat and /say. That is, when they aren't busy avoiding being smashed. Why do we get this kind of threads in every new MMO? People talk more in TESO than say WoW (or at least, they tend to say things slightly more interesting). And no serious game has chat bubbles ffs....

SWG had them and it was great.

SWG a game that went sooooo well they had to do a CU (where a good part of the people left) and then a NGE (where everybody left)

Ok so no good game had them

To be fair the game went downhill after that.

Talen

I talk to people a lot. Strangers, guildies, groupies, zonechat. Everything

The problem I see with passing strangers and trying to talk is that it's not always easy to see that the person next to you is the one talking. I'm a person that never cared for chatbubbles, but I think in this game it would be helpful. Make them optional so the "Immersion"-Crowd can still get the immerson and we're all happy.

But I like to talk to people, the social aspect is what keeps me playing MMOs, if most people don't even notice that you're talking to them, that gets a tad difficult.

I can see two easy ways to fix this:

• Optional Nameplates. If you can see the names of people around you without targetting them, you can identify that the person talking in /say is the one next to you.
• Optional Chatbubbles. Same as above, if the person next to you has a chatbubble above his/her head, it's quite obvious that it's that person talking

Shaun98ca2

I was sitting waiting for a Dark Anchor to star and a girl ran up and /kneelhammer ed me in the face and I stood up and it looked wrong lol funny as hell though.

jakenaftalb14a_ESO

Speech bubbles would probably help but I've been able to grab people's attention with a /wave or by running around them (before beginning conversation). Zone chat seems like the primary mode of text communication.

I would still love speech bubbles ;_;

Shaun98ca2

I used to want NamePlates in this game but I learned to simply target and Look. Chat bubbles would be nice but I have also been learn to take notice of the chat window lighting up when messages roll. Plus /say is bright green for me now....doesn't help in the grass though.

smilingmaybe

I always assumed nameplate/chat bubbles not being included had nothing to do with immersiveness, and everything to do with keeping the base UI as minimal as possible for the high volume mass pvp battles to remain as lag free as possible.

ShadowTom

ESO needs party/guild/friend VoIP! Perhaps one on one VoIP if approved by receiver. VoIP is a critical social and organisation tool. I know guilds have 3party voips but the social aspect of in game VoIP could be great for role players and comunity alike if done well (not like gta online, lol) PLEASE DO THIS ESO! $15 a month and I still need a 3pl VoIP server, no thanks.

mbarnett25

@Shawn98c02
I agree VOIP is the way to go here. I told them this during beta in my survey :-) In order to keep it under control i think it would be best to have the option to toggle proximity voice chatting in taverns, this becomes a place where you can find other like minded adventurers in a more RP friendly fashion than using the LFG function (which hasn't found me a good group yet anyway). Also the ability to have proximity chat with you group members would be very helpful, and finally a larger voice chat server for raiding. I can do the raiding myself with TeamSpeak, but talking in taverns, and using proximity voice chat in general would really make the world come alive for me. PS Adding Proximity voice chat would allow the addition of singers to the TESO street bands! What if you run up on a live Malukah concert?!!?!?!?

JKorr

lioslinn wrote: »

Welcome to modern MMOs, where everyone is on a shared world... playing alone. I might just be cynical but after 10 years of MMOs there is definitely a downward trend on social playing. People just want to level and run around doing quests. Older games were less organized so often you had no choice but to actually *gasp* talk to the people around you to get stuff done. But modern games are soooo efficient - cannot waste a second of the player`s attention! - that it`s completely removed the social aspect of the game.

There are so many MMOs out there now that the big titles are stepping over each other to keep you busy with quests, rewards, fights etc while holding your hand, conveniently guiding you from one objective to the next.

I don`t know what the solution is, I also try to just walk around and talk to people but yes most times people just run off. Chat bubbles would definitely help. But beyond that I don`t know what the solution is. I miss long ingame conversations and sharing the wonder with other people.

The "social aspect" of the game is someone talking about what they did to your mother last night? Or the plans to teabag your corpse after they kill you in Cyrodiil? Or are you referring to the people who keep breaking into the serious discussion that is going on between two people with totally pointless stupid comments? Or the helpful soul that was spamming a link to lemonparty ***? That social aspect?

I've tried to talk to people and been ignored, especially in a spot where the quest is bugged. I can understand they might not be noticing their chat; I've done that while reporting a bug. Or reporting the lemonparty person, the gold seller, the idiot spamming fu across the zone. Until some of the "players" settle down and actually try to have social interaction/discussions, I don't see much point in paying attention to anything other than my guild channels. And Divines forbid that all of that "helpful" stuff will be floating around in chat bubbles.

EnikSleestak

Stoob wrote: »

To be fair, I keep missing the chat as the text fades out and I'm questing. So sometimes I don't even notice anyone talking until I finally decide to look.

I found that locking the chat window fades the chat UI but not the text.

Harva

I think the important thing everyone agaisnt chat bubbles continually misses is the simple, constantly repeated suggestion for togglable bubbles.

Which would mean that players that are into roleplay will have them active and everyone against the idea can just keep them turned off. So those of us that want to immerse ourselves further into a community we desperately need and want in ESO can do so.

I'm really upset with how lonely the game feels. It lacks a type of hustle and bustle feeling that ESO kinda needs to feel fully involved.

As it stands it seems like pvp and grinding is all the game is about. The chat is very small and almost translucent which makes it very hard to see. Using emotes to grab attention also borders on a form of trolling as well if the person doing it isn't doing so to roleplay. So clearly there will be pros and cons to anything suggested, but out right ignoring the need for bubbles is incredible ousting to the largest part of the community that will help ESO to thrive after the free month.

I dont know who else may agree, but I for one wont pay after the free 30 days if a better chat option isnt implemented that makes tbe game more role play friendly.

martinhpb16_ESO

Social interactivity needs some improvement.

I'd like to see.
- Optional nameplates
- optional noise for tells and whispers
- a way to stop chat fading, its so annoying, still happens even though I have locked it
- optional chat bubbles
- not having to press escape to get the chat window
- not having to stop playing just to chat

At the moment the game is too anonymous. That may suit some people, but I want more interaction, I want to build networks, make friends, spot friends and to chat without it being an effort.

For me this is the one area that really needs improving.

nudel

I have actually gotten lost in the chat before. However, it is usually guild chat or a conversation via tell/whisper. I consider yelling in zone rude. Maybe that's me, but that's likely not going to change. And I usually just don't notice /say. It doesn't stand out much.

I'm not opposed to speech bubbles if they're toggleable. However, I personally would have them off at all times. It would be exceptionally distracting and hard to see through all the spam, especially in main hubs. Also, in my case it wouldn't really help me keep up with /say. I play primarily in 1st person, only exceptions being when I'm doing a dungeon or PVP. So those bubbles would probably go off outside my FOV and I'd still miss them.

It's not always a clear-cut 'This person is rude' or 'Games these days don't encourage socialization'.

I'm not in a hurry to get to 50 first or 'beat the game'. I'm not opposed to having long conversations. But if we're not grouped together or in a guild together, the simplest way to start a conversation (and the preferred way in my case) is to send a tell. Even if the window is minimized, it makes a sound and often a notification. I never ignore those.

[Tip of the Day] You can send tells by pressing 'F' near a player and navigating to 'Send Tell'. I've personally used this to invite people to group near a dungeon/ boss. Much easier than chasing them down to try to figure out their char name.