Request for Clarification on the Communication System: Issues with One-Way Whispers

MarioMario · June 26

Hi everyone,

The game currently offers two direct communication systems: whispers and mails. I've noticed a particular situation where someone can send me a whisper, but I can't respond via whisper or mail. This effectively denies me the right to reply, which can be frustrating, especially when these whispers contain unfounded accusations or personal attacks. For example, I don't appreciate being called a cheater just because I can land a basic curse wrath meteor streak combo.

"Hey you cheater, I reported you, you used 4 skills in a second!"
"People like you ruin the game for everyone."

Today it happened just because I was weaving LA while spamming frost clench on a magden.

I find this situation very uncomfortable and unfair, as it prevents me from defending myself or clearing up any misunderstandings. I believe that the ability to respond is fundamental to maintaining a fair and respectful gaming environment.

So, regarding the fact that I can't respond to someone, I would like to ask the developers:
-Is it a bug?
-If not, why was the system designed this way?
-Is there anyone who can tell me how they do it?

Thank you for your attention and for the work you do.

Best regards,
Mario.

EdjeSwift · June 26

MarioMario wrote: »

-Is there anyone who can tell me how they do it?

/w @Someoneyoudislikegreatly : I hope you have a wonderful day.
/ignore @Someoneyoudislikegreatly

React · June 26

They block you. You can send whispers to people you have blocked, but they can't message you back.

Or they're appearing offline ingame, which also allows them to send whispers without receiving any.

ToRelax · June 26

Or just play in offline mode. In either case you know you found a coward not worth a reply in the first place and can move on.

MarioMario · June 26

React wrote: »

They block you. You can send whispers to people you have blocked, but they can't message you back.

Or they're appearing offline ingame, which also allows them to send whispers without receiving any.

Thank you.

In 10 years, I don't think I've ever activated invisible mode or whispered to people on my ignore list

valenwood_vegan · June 26

Block and move on? Sometimes people are bad sports, trolls, etc. Imo there's little to be gained by arguing back with such a person... and in fact there's something to lose, as they may bait you into saying something reportable. And it's important to keep in mind that while one may *want* to respond, or it may make one feel better to respond, there is no "right" to respond.

I mean I do agree that, for example, someone who has blocked a player really shouldn't be able to send whispers to that player... but changing this wouldn't make much of a difference as they could just whisper and then block after the whisper is sent. And it's important to allow players to utilize the block feature to prevent harassment, etc., by others.

Sorry OP encountered a toxic player, but again imo it really is best to block and move on.

MarioMario · June 26

I agree with the "block and move on" strategy.

However, my right to reply is denied.

This is a very bad system design.

tsaescishoeshiner · June 26

It's more common that people are just marked offline. It's either intentional to keep people from responding, or they just don't want to be messaged or seen online.

Being marked offline should prevent you from sending messages. And ignoring a player should prevent you from messaging them.

Preventing trolling and harassment would be more important than any valid use for sending messages to people who can't message you back.

xylena_lazarow · June 26

You shouldn't be able to send hate tells from offline mode in the first place, block function or not.

SeaGtGruff · June 26

As far as your right to reply, players who accuse you of cheating probably wouldn't believe any denials or explanations, even if you sent them a video replay as proof, so the best thing to do is ignore them back and try not to waste time and energy on it.

RexyCat · June 26

MarioMario wrote: »

Hi everyone,

The game currently offers two direct communication systems: whispers and mails. I've noticed a particular situation where someone can send me a whisper, but I can't respond via whisper or mail. This effectively denies me the right to reply, which can be frustrating, especially when these whispers contain unfounded accusations or personal attacks. For example, I don't appreciate being called a cheater just because I can land a basic curse wrath meteor streak combo.

"Hey you cheater, I reported you, you used 4 skills in a second!"
"People like you ruin the game for everyone."

Today it happened just because I was weaving LA while spamming frost clench on a magden.

I find this situation very uncomfortable and unfair, as it prevents me from defending myself or clearing up any misunderstandings. I believe that the ability to respond is fundamental to maintaining a fair and respectful gaming environment.

So, regarding the fact that I can't respond to someone, I would like to ask the developers:
-Is it a bug?
-If not, why was the system designed this way?
-Is there anyone who can tell me how they do it?

Thank you for your attention and for the work you do.

Best regards,
Mario.

Don't respond to players that might try to bait you to response in anger, that it a sure way to get yourself in trouble.

If you are reported then what can you do about it? Nothing!

Put yourself in offline mode (which make it possible to play without getting random whisper, down side of that is you wont be able to get any whisper from Guild or anybody else in game until you will put yourself in online mode). As for mail, I am pretty sure that you can either just ignore that name from sender and/report that mail (take a screen shot in case that person have several accounts and continue to harass you).

There is nothing you can do about player accusing you for cheating and most likely there will be players that try to start a verbal fight so they can then use that to report you from how you respond to that message (aka baiting).

valenwood_vegan · June 26

tsaescishoeshiner wrote: »

Being marked offline should prevent you from sending messages.

I'd agree with this too except just to clarify, imo it should prevent whispers. Like, I often still talk in guild chat for example when I'm in offline mode, but there's no good reason that I should be able to whisper people who can't even whisper me back, yeah.

I actually use a neat little addon called "Safe Whispers" because sometimes I go to whisper someone but I've forgotten that I'm in offline mode, and it puts me back online so the person can whisper me back lol.

RexyCat · June 26

xylena_lazarow wrote: »

You shouldn't be able to send hate tells from offline mode in the first place, block function or not.

Please explain how any message system would know when a message is a "hate tell"? I am pretty sure from how GW2 have chat work to replace certain words with "kitten" and also prevent some words (even words that isn't negative or have anything to do with harassing) to be used as that will block your message from getting sent. You will not know that a message have words that are being considered a swear word or a negative word that can be interpreted as such until you press enter/send. There is no detection while you are writing to mark what word or sentence that needs to be replaced to not get blocked or replaced with "kitten".

In short players that want to be nasty and aggressive will find ways around every limitation and it will instead make communication between players even harder as you now can suddenly get blocked until you figure out how to express yourself in a way that will not be seen as using words or a combination of words (string) that can become blocked as GW2 make use of chat filter to detect certain words or combination of words (string).

Naftal · June 26

Offline mode should disable your ability to use chat at all.

And in my opinion you shouldn't be able to play any multiplayer while in offline mode, including all pvp modes.

TaSheen · June 26

Naftal wrote: »

Offline mode should disable your ability to use chat at all.

And in my opinion you shouldn't be able to play any multiplayer while in offline mode, including all pvp modes.

Pvp and group content yes; soloing no.

spartaxoxo · June 26

Naftal wrote: »

Offline mode should disable your ability to use chat at all.

And in my opinion you shouldn't be able to play any multiplayer while in offline mode, including all pvp modes.

The entire game is multiplayer.

valenwood_vegan wrote: »

tsaescishoeshiner wrote: »

Being marked offline should prevent you from sending messages.

I'd agree with this too except just to clarify, imo it should prevent whispers. Like, I often still talk in guild chat for example when I'm in offline mode, but there's no good reason that I should be able to whisper people who can't even whisper me back, yeah.

I actually use a neat little addon called "Safe Whispers" because sometimes I go to whisper someone but I've forgotten that I'm in offline mode, and it puts me back online so the person can whisper me back lol.

This. You should only be able to talk to friends and guildmates in offline mode. And if you whisper a friend, they can automatically whisper you back.

MasterSpatula · June 26

There was a rumor a few years ago that playing in offline mode made certain cheat addons unable to "latch onto" your character, whatever that means. More likely, some dude had a lucky day on a day he'd set himself to offline mode, convinced himself he'd outsmarted the cheaters, and spread the rumor.

It makes a sort of sense. After all, if you've never thought to yourself, "That guy's GOTTA be cheating," have you ever really PVPed? And let's face it, if you're not that immersed in maximizing your PVP effectiveness, then getting apparently one-shotted only to see four or five attacks from the same person on your recap, the idea that that person is cheating is frankly more reasonable than the truth.

So yeah, there's a number of people who always PVP in offline mode, a lot of them are convinced practically everyone in PVP is cheating, and they might forget they're set to offline when they send you a hate tell for pulling off something that, honestly, better designers probably wouldn't have made possible.

Soarora · June 27

Naftal wrote: »

Offline mode should disable your ability to use chat at all.

And in my opinion you shouldn't be able to play any multiplayer while in offline mode, including all pvp modes.

I see no problem with being able to chat in offline mode. Someone who hate whispers you is not worth the response regardless. I set to offline typically so people don't ask me to do things or so I can switch characters rapidly. For people not asking me to do things, that doesn't mean I don't want to hang out with friends in guild chat or group chat or do a dungeon. I have whispered people then set to offline before to avoid confrontation before, but in that situation I was set to online first then switched... so...