Suggestion: polish up the voice chat on consoles

lolzbuckets · August 2015

There are a few glaring issues with voice chat on PS4. I can't speak to XB1, but definitely PS4.

First off, the game puts you into Area Chat and what seems to be a random and unchangeable guild chat when you log in, and there is neither a way to turn this setting off, nor choose the channels that you wish to enter when you log on.

This is an issue both because it's annoying and extremely basic, as features go, and also because, secondly, there is no internal option to mute individual people. The only way to do this is not through ESO, but through the PSN's block list feature, which only lets you block a total of 30 concurrent users.

This means that, if someone is being verbally harassed on a regular basis, they get to block a total of 30 trolls before............being forced out of whatever channel they're in by them? It seems to me that this is giving the people who violate the Code of Conduct much more power than they are due. There should be a self-contained and unlimited (or much less limited than 30) mute button to shut down harassment inside ESO without relying on the unforgivably tiny block list PlayStation allows its users.

So, to summarize: can we please have some say in who we have to listen to when we're roaming around Tamriel?

Thevampirenight · August 2015

I would move to pc its better and is always going to get more then consles. I am on pc version! it has its own ignore list. As well as zone chat. Which is better then voice chat even though sometimes it can be full of trolls. Also ignore list is a lot bigger I think then what your saying on pc version then ps4

lolzbuckets · August 2015

Sure, but for those of us who have to choose between sacrificing their VR14s to play on a 7 year old desktop that runs ESO at 15FPS on minimum specs, or asking ZeniMax to fix the basics on the console ports... It seems like a pretty clear cut choice.

If I had the money to get myself and the people I play with each a decent gaming rig and a copy of ESO for it, I might consider it, but for me - and most other people - it really just isn't that simple.

Edit for grammar. Shhhhh.

Thevampirenight · August 2015

lolzbuckets wrote: »

Sure, but for those of us who have to choose between sacrificing their VR14s to play on a 7 year old desktop that runs ESO at 15FPS on minimum specs, or asking ZeniMax to fix the basics on the console ports... It seems like a pretty clear cut choice.

If I had the money to get me and the people I play with a decent gaming rig and a copy of ESO for it, I might consider it, but for me - and most other people - it really just isn't that simple.

Maybe, but they might add text chat to consels sooner or later so you might get lucky, for one they should have added that, in the first place a lot of people are hating not having it, and I see why." It makes it impossible to rp on consels even. Because of the lack of chat

lolzbuckets · August 2015

I'd like to see them add mouse and keyboard support before adding a chat box, honestly. But that's a suggestion for another thread.

XoXJulietteXoX · August 2015

bump

Dahkoht · August 2015

The official Zenimax response on this.

Kleptobrainiac · August 2015

lolzbuckets wrote: »

... there is no internal option to mute individual people. The only way to do this is not through ESO, but through the PSN's block list feature, which only lets you block a total of 30 concurrent users.

There is a block/mute feature built into the in game chat interface in ESO. Check it out.

traigusb14_ESO2 · August 2015

You can select channels on Xbox in the social menu.

You can select 2 channels to listen to and one to speak in by clicking on them. You have to listen to a channel to pick it for talking.

I haven't had trouble selecting channels, or which guild chat I want to be in (though it does seem to add you randomly) I want to be in... there may be a population cap on them though.

lolzbuckets · August 2015

Kleptobrainiac wrote: »

lolzbuckets wrote: »

... there is no internal option to mute individual people. The only way to do this is not through ESO, but through the PSN's block list feature, which only lets you block a total of 30 concurrent users.

There is a block/mute feature built into the in game chat interface in ESO. Check it out.

So I actually had this discussion with someone else the other day, and it led directly to this thread.

ESO does NOT have a mute feature. The "block" function does mute players, true, but it isn't a part of ESO itself: what it actually does is adds the offender to your Playstation Network block list, which can only contain 30 people.

30 people is not a lot of people to ignore in an MMO. I've played MMOs on the PC before, where you only have to worry about ignoring people in text, but in a game with an active community and a lot of market spam, a blocklist cap of 200 can be frustratingly small.

30 is just untenable.

Hence, this post.

lolzbuckets · August 2015

traigusb14_ESO2 wrote: »

You can select channels on Xbox in the social menu.

You can select 2 channels to listen to and one to speak in by clicking on them. You have to listen to a channel to pick it for talking.

I haven't had trouble selecting channels, or which guild chat I want to be in (though it does seem to add you randomly) I want to be in... there may be a population cap on them though.

There isn't usually any issue with changing channels, per se, but the game shouldn't force you into them in the first place, especially when the game is still so full of bugs that kick players off, forcing them to relog and wind up back in the channels that they spent time getting out of in the first place.

For example, f you always disable Area chat immediately after logging in, like I do, and often spend a lot of time in Elden Root or another highly populated area, like I do, it can get tedious to have to do so every time the game boots you with an error message while you're doing stuff. This is especially annoying when some inconsiderate person has neglected to mute their microphone and a screaming toddler or a heated argument is blasting out of my television as soon as I log on, and further exacerbated by the fact that there's a delay before you can change any of the channel settings after logging in, meaning that with good reflexes and assuming your eardrums don't rupture, you still can't turn that off for about ten seconds.

Overall, that issue is a small one compared with the ability to mute abusive people, but it's a very simple one to implement, and it's one that PC players have already. I would just like an option in my settings to choose which - if any - channels I will automatically join when I log on, so that I don't ever have to race for the mute button to save my ears.

lolzbuckets · August 2015

Dahkoht wrote: »

The official Zenimax response on this.

Pardon me, sir or madam. You seem to have dropped a duck.

NewBlacksmurf · August 2015

What's the 30 limit you speak of?
Is this a PS4 only issue?

Mute on Xbox is done by clicking their name in recent interactions via chat and deleting their GT, mute in chat.
There's no limit that I'm aware of but if the Ps4 has a limit that's very odd.

Maybe I read this wrong.

The Guild chat concern you have about being put into guild 1 automatically...I get it but to me it's just as simple to swap it manually.

Overall it sounds like a PS4 issue from the other comments but that's still very odd

BoozeKashi · August 2015

@lolzbuckets Very well written!

While my home turf is a different area than yours, I agree, it gets tedious having to turn area/group chat off every single time.

If I turn it off, it should stay off until I turn it back on. That seems simple enough to resolve.

The other issue with muting is definitely a problem that needs to be addressed. Abuse/harassment is a TOS violation, but reporting players isn't really always feasible. You cannot report the offending player from the Area Chat list, you must actively go look at that player before you can report. This will likely lead to even more abuse...

lolzbuckets · August 2015

NewBlacksmurf wrote: »

What's the 30 limit you speak of?
Is this a PS4 only issue?

Mute on Xbox is done by clicking their name in recent interactions via chat and deleting their GT, mute in chat.
There's no limit that I'm aware of but if the Ps4 has a limit that's very odd.

Maybe I read this wrong.

The Guild chat concern you have about being put into guild 1 automatically...I get it but to me it's just as simple to swap it manually.

Overall it sounds like a PS4 issue from the other comments but that's still very odd

As far as I know, it is only a PS4 issue. I don't know of any such limit for the Xbone's block list, but I also don't own one, so it doesn't impact me. As for PC gamers, they *have* an internally-implemented block list and mute button. So really, that limit of 30 people on PS4 could be fixed by either Sony or ZOS, but honestly, I feel that they should both be fixing this issue entirely separately from each other.

The fact that it's an issue for what I assume is more than 50% of their console market (based entirely on PS4 sales versus Xbox One sales, and not through any actual verified data) - even if a majority of those people never discover that it's an issue - strikes me as a good reason to get it fixed ASAP.

lolzbuckets · August 2015

BoozeKashi wrote: »

@lolzbuckets Very well written!

While my home turf is a different area than yours, I agree, it gets tedious having to turn area/group chat off every single time.

If I turn it off, it should stay off until I turn it back on. That seems simple enough to resolve.

The other issue with muting is definitely a problem that needs to be addressed. Abuse/harassment is a TOS violation, but reporting players isn't really always feasible. You cannot report the offending player from the Area Chat list, you must actively go look at that player before you can report. This will likely lead to even more abuse...

Thank you. Also, it's worse even than that. When someone I spoke to on the forums tried to report someone to ZOS for harassment because her block list was full (of people she had blocked for verbal harassment in-game), they directed her to do so through the PSN menu. I think that abusive players should be punished *in the games they play.* That sort of reply - essentially saying that it's not their problem and directing the victim to take their complaint elsewhere - strikes me as condescending and dismissive. I guess I should start a new thread requesting a "Report player" button, too... But I don't think I'm up to that tonight.