Voice Chat in ESO on PC

kevkj

People use discord for the same reason you are using this forum: A means to discuss things related to the game while not having to be logged in. It's really not that hard to wrap your head around. Before Discord, guilds used to have their own websites and forums you were also encouraged/pressured to join.

sans-culottes

DenverRalphy wrote: »

sans-culottes wrote: »

CatoUnchained wrote: »

As someone who very much dislikes discord I think it would be nice to have an in game voice chat option.

I don't mind using a secondary program for voice chat, I just don't like discord. It's too many things at too many times and it's too much like social media, and they are a data mining service. (read the terms of use and you'll see they state clearly they collect and market user data) Teamspeak was so much better than discord IMO.

At any rate, I think voice coms would be an excellect addition to ESO. I don't think it will ever happen though. It seems like I remember reading a very long time ago, like in 2016 or so, that ESO would never implement in game voice coms because there is no need due to there being third party software that covers that function.

It’s baffling that this is the one feature console players have that PC players would actually benefit from and use. Seems like a big oversight.

To be fair, ESO's implementation of voice chat on consoles isn't anything to get excited about either. It piggybacks on the console's built in voice comms, and yet still manages to make it, well, suck.. at least on PSN anyway. Can't speak for XBox.

Every guild I'm in actively uses PSN's native chat whenver possible. Because ESO's chat doesn't allow you to adjust volume levels (or even mute) specific people, blocked players can still speak to you, and the voice latency and quality is nowhere near as good as the native chat.

Oh no doubt it’s a mess. There was a certain someone who was a constant presence on the PS server, and this individual was a frequent abuser of the built-in voice chat. It made going to Elden Root a chore—or would’ve were it not possible to turn off the voice chat.

Credible_Joe

ESO's whole player-to-player communication interface could use some work.

For one, it's frustrating having text chat be part of the game UI. I would love to put it on a secondary screen, but it's completely constrained to the game window. I largely adventure with my text chat collapsed, unless I'm grouped or participating in a guild event. But then I miss out on shooting the *** with my guildies.

I've had half-baked thoughts on a hybrid application that runs on your phone, or independently alongside the game on the same machine. It would interface with the game, connect to your logged-in character, and you'd be able to use both your keyboard in-game or your phone to send messages. This would make text chat MUCH more accessible for console players.

And to stay on topic, we could run voice chat through this application, with a healthy range of volume and mute options...

I'm describing Discord, I just realized. But why not? Hell, Discord offers a huge API that could probably hook into ESO chat directly and do exactly what I'm describing. It'd be cool, at least, for guild-chat in game to mirror into a text channel on your guild's discord server. Then I'd never miss what my guildies are up to while I have my text chat collapsed.

tomofhyrule

said no one ever wrote: »

Orbital78 wrote: »

An example of why discords are encouraged and IMO awesome:




You won't see these things in a guild MOTD most likely and it is no where near as accessible for sign ups and such. Sifu has one of the best setups for discords that I have run across. I don't think discord is required for any of my guilds, and voice chat is only required for organized groups and you don't NEED to talk just listen to instructions. I know I wouldn't want to type all that stuff out!

literally every thing in that image can be typed out in any free and open source office suite word processing program ie libreoffice.org and then copied and pasted into an email and sent to guildies via in game email. I know it can because i have another guild that does just that. every coupkle days i get an email in game with all the happenings going on. don't need discord for that. in game tools working ok as evidenced by anpother guilds use of them.

The problem with that solution is that the current guild management tools are really not that good at sending guild mails. The only ways people can currently send guild mails are by using addons to do so (or, literally sitting there and typing the message x500, which is unnecessarily tedious), and even those addons are of questionable quality because ESO has banned guildmasters for 'spamming' due to the mails being sent too quickly in succession. Even some of the older addons to do that may have been affected from one patch to the next when ZOS changed the cooldown timer without mentioning it, making previous addons now not have a long enough delay. Furthermore, irl most organizations with mailers are required to have the ability to have an 'unsubscribe' option available so people can opt out of receiving mails, which ESO guild addons do not have. It's completely reasonable for a guild member to be able to legitimately report their guildmaster for spamming if they continue getting their inbox clogged by unwanted emails.

All of this together means that 1) non-PC guilds can't rely on that solution, and 2) the guildmaster is then in danger of being actioned by circumventing everything in this exact way.

ESO's current guild tools actually discourage the use of guild mailers. And while it would be a good thing to add (and may be addressed in the upcoming guild summit, along with a host of other guild tools), it currently stands that the MOTD is the only ESO-sponsored way to disseminate information to guild members. As the MOTD has a character limit, the best way to send out this information is with an external site (i.e. a Discord or online word processor like you suggest) and a link to that. However, it's better to just put the link in the MOTD instead of repeatedly spamming guild members with the link via email.

Now it varies by guild, but it should not be required to join a Discord (however, it may be necessary for events requiring coordination like vet trials). I know I didn't join my trade guild's Discord for over a year... until I was caught in the PTS ban last year and needed a way to contact my trade guild to tell them that I was caught in that. My social guilds have Discords, but I find it easier to chat with those guilds on Discord as opposed to in-game chat because that allows me to give information that doesn't also require the other players to be all online at the same time I am and also I can attach images. As the person in my social guild who normally brings the information about the upcoming fashions from PTS, I can't do that with standard in-game sources.

The other point - being unable to contact guild members outside of game in the event of a suspension or other event (e.g. hospitalization) - also is an important factor to consider since if all guild communication is strictly through the game, then someone with no access to the game is essentially unable to give or receive any information.

valenwood_vegan

So the actual issue is not wanting to join discord? That's fine, no one is forced to. But likewise, people who put forth the time and effort to start and run guilds can set their requirements and run the guilds as they see fit. A guild that requires discord wouldn't be a good choice for one who doesn't want to join discord. There are many that don't require members to join discord, even if they may *have* one.

Sounds like OP did find a guild that suits their needs, and communicates through mail rather than discord, though. So I don't really understand the complaint.

freespirit

said no one ever wrote: »

"literally every thing in that image can be typed out in any free and open source office suite word processing program ie libreoffice.org and then copied and pasted into an email and sent to guildies via in game email. I know it can because i have another guild that does just that. every coupkle days i get an email in game with all the happenings going on. don't need discord for that. in game tools working ok as evidenced by anpother guilds use of them."

There is also an issue with sending mails in game en masse, without addons it's a time consuming pain, with addons less so BUT I have lost count of the times myself and other members of my guild's management teams have ended up with "social bans" whilst trying to get information out to several guilds all with 450-500 active members, Discord enables us to have all the information in an organised and orderly manner!

Orbital78

tomofhyrule wrote: »

The problem with that solution is that the current guild management tools are really not that good at sending guild mails. The only ways people can currently send guild mails are by using addons to do so (or, literally sitting there and typing the message x500, which is unnecessarily tedious), and even those addons are of questionable quality because ESO has banned guildmasters for 'spamming' due to the mails being sent too quickly in succession.

I'm pretty sure at least one of my guild masters has had a bogus banning for this. One of the reasons I wouldn't want to risk "mass mails".

Danikat

When you're looking for a guild it's always a good idea to think about what your requirements are and make sure they match what the guild is offering. If their advert doesn't cover everything you want to know you can ask the recruiter.

This is one of my requirements. I have Discord, and I log into it about once a day to check updates but it's very rare that I can be on voice chat while I'm playing, even just to listen, and even rarer that I want to. I'm in 6 guilds across 2 MMOs and I've never used voice chat with any of them. I also don't like guilds that mainly use Discord for text chat, because I only have 1 monitor and I don't want to have to keep tabbing out of the game to follow the conversation.

I've been let down a few times, where a recruiter has assured me they use the in-game chat as well as Discord and their Discord is mainly text chat and after a week or so I realise that wasn't true and I've barely gotten to talk to anyone. Then I leave and find another guild. But more often than not being up front about it (and my other requirements) when I'm choosing guilds to join has made it much easier to find ones I can talk to and enjoy being part of than back when I used to just join the first guild I found who would have me.

FabresFour

Soarora wrote: »

I’m glad eso doesn’t have proximity chat on pc, I do not want to experience zone chat in my ears, or be harassed by random people to talk, etc. Discord I can pick and choose who I’m interacting with and when— I have turned people down before for having a frustrating voice or personality.

if you don't want something, you always can mute... .-. (and this is the bare minimum, if they implement the voice chat on pc)

Lags

not having voice chat is a massive L. Especially just a group chat, nevermind proximity chat even though im all for that too.. But you cant make the argument about being harassed, or having to hear random voices, or whatever. Its just simply not a valid argument in any way. You can literally turn it off. So you dont have to talk to people. And if you dont want to turn it off, then you can ignore people. Im talking about how it is on console ofc. But there is just no rational argument as to why we shouldn't have it on PC.

And zos doesnt realize how many people they hurt by not having a group voice chat at the bare minimum. You have to use voice chat for many things in eso. And you also want to use it for other things. So you are either forced to use discord, or something, or not be involved. And some people just dont want to use discord. And i dont blame them, you shouldn't be forced to. The game should have a group voice chat, at minimum, as it was intended to.

I would also love to hear someone who is scared of voice chat try to argue this to me. Like i said, if you can turn it off, and if you can ignore people you dont want to talk to, there is no argument to be made. Especially if its only group or guild.

spartaxoxo

All voice chat on console is optional. You do not have to use a voice chat channel if you don't want to do so. The only people who use area chat are those who join by accident and those looking to have reasonable conversations with random.

Soarora

FabresFour wrote: »

Soarora wrote: »

I’m glad eso doesn’t have proximity chat on pc, I do not want to experience zone chat in my ears, or be harassed by random people to talk, etc. Discord I can pick and choose who I’m interacting with and when— I have turned people down before for having a frustrating voice or personality.

if you don't want something, you always can mute... .-. (and this is the bare minimum, if they implement the voice chat on pc)

True, but unless its a keybind or mute by type of chat, then leads into the same problem of turning off text chat: loss of communication. I mean, I listen to music so I wouldn’t like to hear people talking in PuG dungeons (nor would I do well being yelled at if it came to that), but I also don’t want to miss important things like people needing an achievement or side bosses.

DenverRalphy

spartaxoxo wrote: »

All voice chat on console is optional. You do not have to use a voice chat channel if you don't want to do so. The only people who use area chat are those who join by accident and those looking to have reasonable conversations with random.

Area chat is joined by default. Dunno why. The speakers anyway. You still gotta manually turn on the microphone.

Lotta potato chip chompers, post nasal drip sniffers, belchers, and screaming children in the background, surprising many the unsuspecting new player. LOL!

Rohamad_Ali

As long as it can be disabled, sure.

spartaxoxo

DenverRalphy wrote: »

spartaxoxo wrote: »

All voice chat on console is optional. You do not have to use a voice chat channel if you don't want to do so. The only people who use area chat are those who join by accident and those looking to have reasonable conversations with random.

Area chat is joined by default. Dunno why. The speakers anyway. You still gotta manually turn on the microphone.

Lotta potato chip chompers, post nasal drip sniffers, belchers, and screaming children in the background, surprising many the unsuspecting new player. LOL!

Yes. I meant the microphone. I was not clear at all there, my bad. A lot of people on there are just eating or whatever and probably don't even know people can hear them, especially PS5 users because the mic is on the controller and on by default. So if they enabled microphone last time they were online to help someone or whatever, they may enter it again without realizing it.

SkaraMinoc

DenverRalphy wrote: »

Lotta potato chip chompers, post nasal drip sniffers, belchers, and screaming children in the background

Accurate.

Ragnarok0130

Estin wrote: »

I do wish PC would get voice chat enabled for groups only so discord isn't a requirement to talk to players. I have a discord, but I'm not interested in joining somebody's discord just to hear callouts in a pug.

That's a rather long winded way of saying you don't want to raid.I don't know of any vet or vetHM groups that allow people to run without voice chat due to the necessity of establishing strats before pulling or in battle coordination. Pro tip, you can simply leave the discord you joined after the run.

Also even if PC had voice chat nobody would use it because we're already in guild discords so the situation would be unlikely to change from the status quo for fills and PUGs.

Ragnarok0130

CatoUnchained wrote: »

As someone who very much dislikes discord I think it would be nice to have an in game voice chat option.

I don't mind using a secondary program for voice chat, I just don't like discord. It's too many things at too many times and it's too much like social media, and they are a data mining service. (read the terms of use and you'll see they state clearly they collect and market user data) Teamspeak was so much better than discord IMO.

You do realize that you are 100% in control of what data you enter into discord. You can use the service only for voice if that's your worry. Regarding Teamspeak, isn't the latest iteration of TS trying to be discord to stay relevant after years of market decline? It's likely that TS is also data mining you just like discord. I'm an old TS3 fan but moved when discord voice chat quality improved.

Rogue_Coyote

Here's the thing, you don't have to talk but you do need to listen. To group lead callouts, enemy position reports (bomb on front door!), sudden changes of direction moving keep to keep, co-ordinated attacks against enemy groups, co-ordinated timed attacks at multiple keeps. Just a few examples for PVP gameplay where voice comm is a major advantage.