Please consider adding area voice chat for pc (cross play)

DrMedBorn · May 3

This is a really cool feature for rp stuff and in general for meeting new people.

I know there is discord etc on pc but it's not integrated in the game and doesn't allow for random voice that in the open world.

Would be cool if it was made available(optional) for pc as well when cross play comes so we can freely talk to console players if we want to

Rohamad_Ali · May 3

I'd also like this instead of relying on 3rd party software and entering in website addresses in alt tab while trying to pvp is awful.

DenverRalphy · May 3

As a console player, I can say that unless they force a "Push to Talk" mechanic behind any Area chat, it'll be more headache than it's worth. Most console players I know turn off Area chat the moment mouth breathers, food smackers, crying babies, and spouse aggro, become too much to bear.

LesserCircle · May 3

I get why this sounds like a cool feature, but I don’t think area voice chat really fits an MMO like this, at least on PC.

Voice chat on PC is already covered by things like Discord. It’s basically the standard at this point. People use it because it’s easy, reliable, and you have full control over who you talk to. If you want voice, you just hop into a call with the people you actually want to talk to.

Open-world voice chat sounds nice in theory, but in practice it can get messy fast. In crowded areas it would just turn into noise, and unlike text chat you can’t really ignore it as easily.

And since it would be optional, it risks splitting the player base, some people would use it, but many wouldn’t, which means it wouldn’t become a consistent or dependable way to communicate anyway. Even more than that actually, it can divide groups of friends that already exist into those 2 sides.

Also, voice chat usually means a more direct and longer interaction. If someone wants that, they can already join a Discord call. That extra step kind of matters, because it means everyone there actually wants to talk.

So yeah, I just don’t really see the benefit on PC. The current setup with text chat in-game and voice chat through external apps already works well and gives people more control over how they communicate. To me and many others it would feel very intrusive to get this feature out of nowhere as it was never there for us.

wolfie1.0. · May 3

I would prefer it not get implemented.

But if it does I would prefer some settings be put into place.

Push to talk
Settings to limit to players in group, friends only, and proximity.
Disable cross faction talking in pvp.
Allow me to opt out.
Players on you ignore list cant speak to you
An increase to the ignore list.

LunaFlora · May 3

wolfie1.0. wrote: »

I would prefer it not get implemented.

But if it does I would prefer some settings be put into place.

Push to talk
Settings to limit to players in group, friends only, and proximity.
Disable cross faction talking in pvp.
Allow me to opt out.
Players on you ignore list cant speak to you
An increase to the ignore list.

the way it currently is on Playstation and Xbox:
You decide whether or not your microphone is on. in case you only want to listen to others.

There are different channels which you can join and leave anytime:
- Group.
- Area.
- 3 channels per Guild.

if Voice Chat ever gets added to PC, i can imagine ZOS might change it to add missing things that are in your comment.

For the thread i feel like it is important to add this quote of ZOS_Kevin from another thread
https://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/comment/8430347#Comment_8430347

ZOS_Kevin wrote: »

Erickson9610 wrote: »

After the recent news of privacy concerns impacting voice chat solutions for PC, it's imperative that ESO players have some fallback method of communicating with one another.

I want to see the voice chat feature from consoles brought to PC when Crossplay happens, and have voice chat be off by default.

Giving PC players access to the Voice Chat feature would allow them to communicate with each other, as well as allow them to communicate with console players. It's fine if the feature ultimately goes unused, but it should always be an option in case our preferred options are no longer viable.

We can't expect everyone to agree on and use an external platform for voice chat, so it makes the most sense to make a feature like this usable on all platforms that ESO can be played on.

We'll pass thing along to the team working on Crossplay to see if any of this is possible and the use case. No guarantees though.

Erickson9610 wrote: »

It's fine if the feature ultimately goes unused, but it should always be an option in case our preferred options are no longer viable.

One note we wanted to follow up on. We do need to be mindful of the potential usage of what we make. Spending resources and dev time on something that could mostly go unused is not a great way to spend those resources. Especially when we could be making something that could hold more utility for more players. Just wanted to add context there as it is important when considering features.

FurryCandyHearts · May 3

I will have to quit for good if that ever gets implemented. I don't want to hear the filthy things all of you have to say.

Danikat · May 3

I assume they're going to need to add some sort of in-game voice chat to PC when cross-play comes along, because I think it's the main way to communicate on consoles (understandably, typing with a controller and on-screen keyboard is annoying) so if they don't we'll likely end up with a weird situation where in theory everyone is playing together and in practice we're still seperated because the two groups can't really communicate with each other.

It's going to be a problem for me though. It's rare that I can use voice chat (even just to listen) and even rarer that I want to when even in small groups there's inevitably someone eating with their microphone on and often a couple of people talking with their mouth full.

I'll occasionally do it with one group where the leader also has misophonia so that kind of thing is strictly forbidden. But even then more often than not I can't be voice chat because I need to hear what's happening in real life and won't be able to hear people talking over it.

LittleLionLeone · May 3

FurryCandyHearts wrote: »

I will have to quit for good if that ever gets implemented. I don't want to hear the filthy things all of you have to say.

Good thing you can turn it off. I don't get why people are so determined to act like it would be a bad thing to have. Must be people who never actually played on consoles and don't know you can just turn off area chat.

Zero reasons not to have it. If any mmo is to have it, it would be ESO. It just fits.

Hamish999 · May 3

Good god no!

FurryCandyHearts · May 3

If it ever gets implemented im streaming gospel hymns through it while i play. VERY VERY LOUDLY!

Danikat · May 3

LunaFlora wrote: »

wolfie1.0. wrote: »

I would prefer it not get implemented.

But if it does I would prefer some settings be put into place.

Push to talk
Settings to limit to players in group, friends only, and proximity.
Disable cross faction talking in pvp.
Allow me to opt out.
Players on you ignore list cant speak to you
An increase to the ignore list.

the way it currently is on Playstation and Xbox:
You decide whether or not your microphone is on. in case you only want to listen to others.

On Discord (and I think a lot of other programs) there's 3 options:
Microphone off - you can listen but cannot talk.
Micophone on - everyone else in the channel will hear any sounds your microphone picks up.
Push to talk - the microphone is on but only transmits when you hold down a button.

Push to talk is useful, because it avoids your microphone accidentally picking up other noise, like if you're eating or you sneeze, or other people in the room talking etc. which makes listening to you both less annoying and more practical for everyone else in the group.

Some microphones have that function built in, with a dedicated button, but it can also be done through programs like Discord and then you can set whatever button you want to use.

Emeratis · May 3

I really don't trust ZOS to understand just how much moderation and cost pc voice chat will need. I also want to point out that even in games with good communities, baked in voice chat often leads to a lot of harassment of minorities so every time this is brought up I ask: do people think ZOS will hire enough people to properly moderate that and protect people and if by some miracle they do are they okay with losing other content for the cost it takes to properly moderate that because that will probably become part of the budget to create/maintain that moderation and could cut into other teams/features?

I have been harassed before for my regional accent and I have several trans friends who are afraid to vc with strangers. It's important for people to realize for some of us, being selective/safe about voice chat is a major concern and ZOS doesn't have an amazing record with even text chat harassment from my experience.

Discord allows people to at least choose who they chat with and on what terms and you can opt out of joining a voice chat you don't feel comfortable with. I have done hm dungeons and trials without voice chat before just fine, and I fear that if ZOS added voice chat to pc, people would pressure/force others to use it even if it isn't wanted or needed and it would lead to a whole host of social problems.

I have other concerns but this alone I hope gives some people pause and understanding why some of us see this kind of thing as more of a bane than a boon.

Orbital78 · May 3

An easier way to incorporate discord or other platforms would help. If they did an official internal voice chat they would just need to increase the ignore/mute list. Helldivers does it well enough. I don't think it needs moderation, just a easy way to blacklist players that do things like furry guy mentioned.

Vonnegut2506 · May 3

LittleLionLeone wrote: »

FurryCandyHearts wrote: »

I will have to quit for good if that ever gets implemented. I don't want to hear the filthy things all of you have to say.

Good thing you can turn it off. I don't get why people are so determined to act like it would be a bad thing to have. Must be people who never actually played on consoles and don't know you can just turn off area chat.

Zero reasons not to have it. If any mmo is to have it, it would be ESO. It just fits.

Probably the same reason people pretend that there is no downside to adding it as though they have never seen zone chat in any low-level zone.

blktauna · May 3

Vonnegut2506 wrote: »

LittleLionLeone wrote: »

FurryCandyHearts wrote: »

I will have to quit for good if that ever gets implemented. I don't want to hear the filthy things all of you have to say.

Good thing you can turn it off. I don't get why people are so determined to act like it would be a bad thing to have. Must be people who never actually played on consoles and don't know you can just turn off area chat.

Zero reasons not to have it. If any mmo is to have it, it would be ESO. It just fits.

Probably the same reason people pretend that there is no downside to adding it as though they have never seen zone chat in any low-level zone.

PCNA zone chat is toxic and it is the last thing on earth I'd want coming out of my speakers.

Orbital78 · May 4

blktauna wrote: »

Vonnegut2506 wrote: »

LittleLionLeone wrote: »

FurryCandyHearts wrote: »

I will have to quit for good if that ever gets implemented. I don't want to hear the filthy things all of you have to say.

Good thing you can turn it off. I don't get why people are so determined to act like it would be a bad thing to have. Must be people who never actually played on consoles and don't know you can just turn off area chat.

Zero reasons not to have it. If any mmo is to have it, it would be ESO. It just fits.

Probably the same reason people pretend that there is no downside to adding it as though they have never seen zone chat in any low-level zone.

PCNA zone chat is toxic and it is the last thing on earth I'd want coming out of my speakers.

I would want to fairly customizable, like only for groups and not vicinity. I am not opposed to just making console folks get in discord or just not grouping with them if need be.

SolarRune · May 4

Dont see it happening, not least because of all the legislation changes over the last 9months to do with "voice data". I think it would be more likely that, if this is a ZoS tool, it would be removed from other platforms to adhere to the internationally growing rules around voice data, or farm it out to a specialist third party or other part of Microsoft (if that's not already what they are doing).

katanagirl1 · May 5

FurryCandyHearts wrote: »

I will have to quit for good if that ever gets implemented. I don't want to hear the filthy things all of you have to say.

On console if you don’t want it, you just leave it turned off. Text chat isn’t even up by default.

It is safe to assume that if implemented on PC it would work similarly and you would have 10,000 options that we don’t have on consoles as well.

AScarlato · May 5

Let us hope if they did, it would not have the same playerbase that Friday the 13th had on PS4 which was mostly 8 to 12 year olds who had no parental supervision lol.

allochthons · May 5

On PS, no one I know turns on zone voice chat. It's too toxic.

And I make my zone text chat dark green because I've found that's the hardest to see (even more so than black) most of the time. When I do happen to catch what's going on there, I end up blocking folks about 30% of the time.

But guild text chat, and guild voice chat can and is very useful. And there is also a group voice chat that is often used for dungeons and trials, esp if PUGing, because setting up a PSN chat is too much work for a short dungeon.

I used Discord voice chat for a guild event for the first time a few days ago (discord integrated onto the playstation a year(?) or so ago), and that worked surprisingly well.

The 1 exception to turning off zone voice chat: in Grahtwood, on the 2nd floor by the banker, there's 1 player who is there for 12+ hours a day, playing music over the zone chat. They're usually lying dead, but when they get rezzed, they immediately attack a guard and see how long they can survive. They die, lie there for an hour until they get rezzed again, attack the guards... all the while playing music.

I haven't checked in months to see it they're still there doing it, and of course it depends if you get the right instance, but they sure did do it for years.

Sallymen · May 5

Voice chat for groups would be great. Especially when queuing for vet DLC dungeon and being able to coordinate without needing to pause and type.

BretonMage · May 5

LittleLionLeone wrote: »

Zero reasons not to have it. If any mmo is to have it, it would be ESO. It just fits.

I disagree that voice chat fits ESO. ESO's music and voice-acting has been designed to be as immersive to Tamriel as the other TES games, and arguably even more. Real world sounds like other players' background TV, talking roommates or blaring electronic/rap music would clash miserably with ESO's audio environment.

In fact, if any MMO should NOT have it, it's ESO.

And if it's ever implemented, I agree it should be optional and off by default. And limited to groups. To be honest, there is absolutely NO REASON for zone voice chat. Like, WHY? Perhaps some players want voiced guild spam? More trolling? I can see the reasoning behind optional voice chat for groups/dungeons, but otherwise, it's mostly going to be a negative experience.

CalamityCat · May 5

I think as long as it's something you can opt in or out of and have adequate settings - eg in your group you could set so only you speak (say for a random trial group) and being able to mute people in your group/local chat etc. But that you could also be in a random dungeon group with newbies and talk them through mechanics instead of having to type it all.

It would also be nice to not have to use different software on top of ESO, as I often play with randoms and there are so many lovely players in ESO that it'd be fun to actually talk to them in dungeons etc. This is coming from a player who used to freeze up at the thought of voice chat in games

Also because I've lost track of the times I've been trying to type and autorun in a dungeon and fallen down a hole and died...

KalevaLaine · May 5

Please no.

On PS the quality was always horrible. Screaming people, dumb music and an never ending list.

ThoraxtheDark · May 5

If zos wants to follow through with their sentiments on having a living world surrounded by fellow adventurerers they will most likely try to add it.

They already stated this is their philosophy when it comes to not separating zones by instances for difficulty. I join party on xbox when talking . I never use discord voice and probably never will. I think hearing people in the game is healthy for the representation of a living breathing world. Being able to opt out of chat should be a button press .

Pc isnt ready for riften