Why no voice chat on eso PC

vibeborn · February 2021

Personally I'm glad there is no voice chat. I like to listen to the npcs and the general atmosphere, not several people talking to each other on microphones of different quality. If I want voice chat I go on discord.

Calm_Fury · February 2021

Yeah, by this point in the thread it looks like a lot of comments are just trolling.

I doubt some of those against it are even reading anything other than the title (as usual on the internet).

ESO is mostly a casual MMO now. I bet a lot of newer players would love it a lot more if voice chat was a bultin option (now I'm going to wait for the next reply ignoring that you can turn it off and saying tjat casuals wouldn't even buy the game if voice chat was forced, etc, etc).

As I said before, the friction of built-in voice chat is just a lot smaller, so having another app for that is very, very far from the same experience we get on consoles.

I really miss built-in voice chat...

Reverb · February 2021

It’s really not worth the time for the studio to develop. With consoles the hardware, software and drivers are standardized, so development is more straightforward.

On PCs there are hundreds of variabilities. Zeni would have to do the same thing they do with other pc components, test it on a variety of configurations, publish minimum hardware and driver specs, publish and maintain troubleshooting guides and FAQs that will arise from user system variability, and in the end it will still fall short of the functionality delivered by 3rd party solutions.

We have TS, Discord, and more. We don’t need game devs to spend time on embedded voicecomms

nukk3r · February 2021

UGotBenched91 wrote: »

nukk3r wrote: »

TIL that console players tend to be more sociable and careless than PC players. I don't understand how would someone want to deliberately speak to strangers. Text is enough.

Speaking to strangers is how you get new friends.

What I meant is speaking with voice. You can type and talk to people and make friends. I've played with and talked to people from 16 different countries. All these different accents make comprehension difficult sometimes. I witnessed a situation when people from London could barely understand a guy from Manchester. I'm from Eastern Europe, so it was even harder for me. If you're a native speaker of course voice chat would be preferable for you but there are many reasons why ESL learners may not feel comfortable with it.

danno8 · February 2021

vibeborn wrote: »

Personally I'm glad there is no voice chat. I like to listen to the npcs and the general atmosphere, not several people talking to each other on microphones of different quality. If I want voice chat I go on discord.

Anyway. I suppose it will never happen so whatever.

Katahdin · February 2021

I would turn it off immediately

The last thing I want to hear is some 12 year old begging for gold in the starter zone.

And after seeing some of the zone chats in some zones.....

No Thank you, I dont need to hear that crap

Hotdog_23 · February 2021

Console player here. To be honest I hardly ever hear loud music playing or just flat out stupid talk either. And on the rare instances I do it is simple to turn it off. The times I do use voice chat it works great, and I am glad we have the option in game. To be fair I play with it off most of the time but it’s nice in some dungeons and trial runs or talk to a guildie or friend.

Stay safe and have fun

edit spelling

LtClungeX · February 2021

vibeborn wrote: »

Personally I'm glad there is no voice chat. I like to listen to the npcs and the general atmosphere, not several people talking to each other on microphones of different quality. If I want voice chat I go on discord.

again in valid comment you can turn it off

LtClungeX · February 2021

I give up I really do, I think my point is made.
its a good feature that probabaly more people want than actually write on the forums, that if you so desire you can turn off,

the point made that it's hard to develop is still redundant as they made it already, you don't want it because it might introduce bug hmm,

I'd say of all the things they have added over the year, this is the least likely to cause a bug.

Then again maybe the voice chat is what totally broke the game for console, I mean getting ultimate every time you speak is a total cheese build.

Gythral · February 2021

LtClungeX wrote: »

vibeborn wrote: »

Personally I'm glad there is no voice chat. I like to listen to the npcs and the general atmosphere, not several people talking to each other on microphones of different quality. If I want voice chat I go on discord.

again in valid comment you can turn it off

or you can download program of choice..

caperb · February 2021

Gythral wrote: »

LtClungeX wrote: »

vibeborn wrote: »

Personally I'm glad there is no voice chat. I like to listen to the npcs and the general atmosphere, not several people talking to each other on microphones of different quality. If I want voice chat I go on discord.

again in valid comment you can turn it off

or you can download program of choice..

Why this isn't always an option has been explained quite a couple of times in this thread.

LtClungeX · February 2021

Gythral wrote: »

LtClungeX wrote: »

vibeborn wrote: »

Personally I'm glad there is no voice chat. I like to listen to the npcs and the general atmosphere, not several people talking to each other on microphones of different quality. If I want voice chat I go on discord.

again in valid comment you can turn it off

or you can download program of choice..

right mate, this is my last reply to this thread

Is there a 3rd party app that lets you talk to randos in your group in pvp or a rando dungeon that Everyone has?

NO there isn't and I'm on the game with no friends!!
how do I speak to them via voice? how do I say were getting ganked quick enough to randoms, before getting ganked while trying to type it?

speaking is inherently more dynamic

I have discord but i aint adding 11 people from a random group in cyrodiil who I may not even play with again,
if i could just switch to the voice channel like on console we would be more organised wouldn't we, that would be a better experience wouldn't it?

There is NO valid argument, I have heard so far against this.

I think SOME PC players won't except that console players have this better, In this regard.

It really baffles me how some folk aren't able to comprehend what I'm saying.

Codafarian · February 2021

“Use Discord” “use Teamspeak”... yeah because having to minimise the game, open another app, type in the invite code and then join a new server every time you are in a new group, is the exact same thing as just being able to talk to the people you join instantly. Pretty amusing that so many people think there are no differences between the two, but each to their own I guess. I was a long time console player before switching to pc 6 years ago and in those 6 years if a game doesn’t have voice chat, then I don’t use my mic. I don’t see me ever using something like discord because it really isn’t worth the hassle.

Seminolegirl1992 · February 2021

God no. Voice chat programs exist. I don't want to be forced to have to hear people. Ew

LtClungeX · February 2021

Codafarian wrote: »

“Use Discord” “use Teamspeak”... yeah because having to minimise the game, open another app, type in the invite code and then join a new server every time you are in a new group, is the exact same thing as just being able to talk to the people you join instantly. Pretty amusing that so many people think there are no differences between the two, but each to their own I guess. I was a long time console player before switching to pc 6 years ago and in those 6 years if a game doesn’t have voice chat, then I don’t use my mic. I don’t see me ever using something like discord because it really isn’t worth the hassle.

I just want to elaborate that this guy was using "sarcasm" in the first half of his reply, but I'm sure people on here won't understand this unless it's stated so.

a quote from the Oxford dictionary for those who wish to learn.

Sarcasm refers to the use of words that mean the opposite of what you really want to say, especially in order to insult someone, or to show irritation, or just to be funny. For example, saying "they're really on top of things" to describe a group of people who are very disorganized is using sarcasm.

LtClungeX · February 2021

Calm_Fury wrote: »

Yeah, by this point in the thread it looks like a lot of comments are just trolling.

I doubt some of those against it are even reading anything other than the title (as usual on the internet).

ESO is mostly a casual MMO now. I bet a lot of newer players would love it a lot more if voice chat was a bultin option (now I'm going to wait for the next reply ignoring that you can turn it off and saying tjat casuals wouldn't even buy the game if voice chat was forced, etc, etc).

As I said before, the friction of built-in voice chat is just a lot smaller, so having another app for that is very, very far from the same experience we get on consoles.

I really miss built-in voice chat...

Thanks for being normal, thank you so much and your name, is how I feel

zaria · February 2021

Reverb wrote: »

It’s really not worth the time for the studio to develop. With consoles the hardware, software and drivers are standardized, so development is more straightforward.

On PCs there are hundreds of variabilities. Zeni would have to do the same thing they do with other pc components, test it on a variety of configurations, publish minimum hardware and driver specs, publish and maintain troubleshooting guides and FAQs that will arise from user system variability, and in the end it will still fall short of the functionality delivered by 3rd party solutions.

We have TS, Discord, and more. We don’t need game devs to spend time on embedded voicecomms

All sound on pc are handled trough windows sound settings as in who input and output device so its not harder than getting an mike to work than getting sound out of a game.

Granted as you say pc users has 3rd part software who let you go outside of groups, nice in cyrodil then you have 2-3 groups running around or have an some else explaining an dungeon while not in it.

Still it would be nice with voice chat for pugs.

wheresbes · February 2021

LtClungeX wrote: »

wheresbes wrote: »

So far, I've only experienced once a group of funny, talkative players.

It's usually just:

- Questionable music
- Whatsapp notifications
- Eating sounds (and the following appreciative burp)
- A child nagging constantly in Blaekrock at 12 am
- A player with a sick child nearby that kept coughing like there's no tomorrow (hopefully they're fine now, but I had to leave the dungeon because I couldn't stand it - and didn't know how to mute them)

So.. no, thank you.

so you can't stand it because you don't know how to turn it off, the problem lies with you there bud!

Forgive me, I forgot to read thoroughly the game's instructions, so I do research specific issues as they arise.

And no, I can't stand it because it's gross. May I add that if your only use of the mic is to let other players appreciate your bodily sounds, temper tantrums or your child's infectious diseases than it's you that should mute it?

In the instances I've described the players weren't communicating with other people or the group AT ALL, they were just being a nuisance.

As for everything, more options are always welcomed, but people really need to be mindful in how they use them. I was just pointing out why IMO, given that there are also alternatives, voice chat may not be sorely missed on PC.

LalMirchi · February 2021

I don't think it's possible to make a voice chat for ESO on PC at this late stage. Consoles have built-in chat as part of their native functionality so the console games can easily integrate chat.

Minyassa · February 2021

It looks like aside from the dog-in-the-manger crowd the majority of people whose knee-jerk response is "no!" are afraid that Zenimax cannot chew gum and walk at the same time, and...I can't really blame them right now with the massive performance issues. I can argue all day that there are different departments who work on different things, but most people also don't really trust big corporations to hire the number of people they need to do the things that need done, anymore, because greed seems to most often trump efficacy. I do hope that things will smooth out soon and we can see that Zenimax is doing what they can to make the game better and not just focusing on making a profit, but things like the overly enthusiastic crown store make that more difficult. I honestly think adding voice chat wouldn't be a huge deal. It's not like they have to reinvent the wheel, there are tons of games that have this, it's got to be a fairly standard kit by now.

ThorianB · February 2021

Ive spent plenty of time listening to gamers on voice during all those unimportant times. A lot of it during fleets in Eve and during games of PUBG. It is NOT something i want to listen to. I don't want to listen to the idle nonsense, random music, or childish remarks and jokes. Its like being stuck in a room full of teens trying to out immature each other.

poodlemasterb16_ESO · February 2021

I like it. It works well on Fallout 76 and I used it all the time. Talking to the world is fun.

hexentb16_ESO · February 2021

SteveCampsOut wrote: »

It's because there are already a MULTITUDE of voice chat programs that run on PC so adding voice to the game was simply a matter of why reinvent the wheel. Discord exists, Ventrilo exists, zoom exists, there are tonnes of them.

Because in pvp you sometimes have to invite or join randos and having group voice chat as a default really helps with communication.

UGotBenched91 · February 2021

devaneiosonho wrote: »

What's the point of adding something just so people can turn it off? If you want to talk to someone, use one the hundreds of available softwares. We're doing fine without separating the type of communication. There's already a bunch of people demanding the use of discord, so yeah, we don't need any more pain in the ass.

Ah for me that’s the weakness of some pc games. Too much reliance on other services like discord. Yes, if I’m in a guild and going to play with guildies then jumping on discord is great. But, ug sucks not having the convenience of voice chat to talk to random Toyota especially in cyrodil. Having to hide just so I don’t die so I can make a call out is a bummer. I think ESO voice chat is something people can only appreciate it they actually used it.

Khajiitihaswares · February 2021

LtClungeX wrote: »

After coming from ps4 it seems really backward that there's no voice chat, honestly voice chat makes the game more than 2x more social, having to type to say push left or pull back in pvp or correcting somone making a mistake in PVE means you have to stop what you're doing to communicate, even thzn they have to take their focus off the game to read it I know there is discord but when playing with randoms it kinda sucks

Discord exists.

NeillMcAttack · February 2021

I played on PS4 for years. And I just want to say that VOIP was amazing there. I met many people, taught them mechanics, taught them about builds, all on the fly with zero barriers. It was great.

The only people here claiming it is a terrible idea, are people that haven't experienced it or it's convenience.

Gythral · February 2021

NeillMcAttack wrote: »

I played on PS4 for years. And I just want to say that VOIP was amazing there. I met many people, taught them mechanics, taught them about builds, all on the fly with zero barriers. It was great.

The only people here claiming it is a terrible idea, are people that haven't experienced it or it's convenience.

Or have 20years more XP of MMOs, using VOIP & it's great downsides!

NeillMcAttack · February 2021

Gythral wrote: »

NeillMcAttack wrote: »

I played on PS4 for years. And I just want to say that VOIP was amazing there. I met many people, taught them mechanics, taught them about builds, all on the fly with zero barriers. It was great.

The only people here claiming it is a terrible idea, are people that haven't experienced it or it's convenience.

Or have 20years more XP of MMOs, using VOIP & it's great downsides!

Perhaps 20 years ago they hadn't quite figured out an 'off' switch. Luckily, times have changed.

KovalskyNestor · February 2021

I think we need the voice chat. It encourages people to communicate and pugs would be easier to do. We had a random vSS trial pug and because of no voice chat, we all had to join random discord server so we can talk to each other and listen to the leader.
If you are afraid of hearing a dunmer listening to rap music while you are trying do some quests, just turn it off. Or make it group only.

Also from my experience in other games, pc players tend to have no microphone (yes this is a thing) or they have it but they never use it. So there won't be that much noise pollution.

KhajiitLivesMatter · February 2021

no