Guild Wars 2

Hi! Before posting on this topic I did a little homework to see if others have. Seems this has been an issue for multiple years now, and I’m not as dumb as I look (no, really!) – I know there’s a reason behind not dialing down the range at which players can broadcast emotes.

But I can’t figure out why.

There has to be SOME reason why what should be a simple value change hasn’t occurred. There must be some kind of explanation as to why my character can see every going-on in the Busted Flagon while I’m all the way over at Dwyana’s Waypoint, or why I can see everything transpiring on the first floor of Nok’s Tavern in Ebonhawke while four floors above the action.

But the only “reason” I can think of is “the walls and floors are all made of transparent materials that don’t appear transparent yet conduct sound better than any substance known to any universe anywhere ever”.

It can’t be communication, unless /emote is tied directly and irrevocably into the range for /say. I can understand giving /say a /shout range as it’s the primary form of communication for F2Pers. But F2Pers can’t use the /emote command, so logically that can’t be the reason unless it’s inseparable from /say.

So what’s the deal here? None of the other threads on the topic, it seems, ask “why”. So… why?

Thanks for your time, readers. Feel free to respond however you wish. I’m well aware of this forum’s reputation. ;-) -Sid

I didn’t know Free to Play players couldn’t use emotes!

That said, I agree with you and from a Roleplayer’s perspective it could do with being reined in a bit.

penelopehannibal.8947:

I didn’t know Free to Play players couldn’t use emotes!

That said, I agree with you and from a Roleplayer’s perspective it could do with being reined in a bit.

F2P can use the standard /dance /sit /cheer type emotes, they just can’t use /me. It’s to limit what types of spam/chat/communication channels they have.

I don’t know either Sid, but it’s been like that since Guild Wars 1.

zomg, THIS. There is no reason to have emote ranges that large. And to make it worse, emotes don’t highlight the user name, in case that person needs to be blocked for spamming chat.

You know you can hide that… right?

Rauderi.8706:

zomg, THIS. There is no reason to have emote ranges that large. And to make it worse, emotes don’t highlight the user name, in case that person needs to be blocked for spamming chat.

IIRC blocking someone does not block emotes from that person (last I heard)
I rarely have need to block and always turn off the emote channel anyway so I’m not 100% sure though.

ScribeTheMad.7614:

Rauderi.8706:

zomg, THIS. There is no reason to have emote ranges that large. And to make it worse, emotes don’t highlight the user name, in case that person needs to be blocked for spamming chat.

IIRC blocking someone does not block emotes from that person (last I heard)
I rarely have need to block and always turn off the emote channel anyway so I’m not 100% sure though.

Actually I think it does now, although it didn’t used to. However I can’t say that with absolute certainty.

I would think, that if you can visibly ‘see’ a character then you should see their emote.
Now that would be from a range perspective but I would think best case scenario it should be set to line of sight.

Example: If you on the second floor, 5 feet above someone using an emote, you should Not see the emote because you can not see the character(obstructed).

Yalora Istairiea.6287:

I would think, that if you can visibly ‘see’ a character then you should see their emote.
Now that would be from a range perspective but I would think best case scenario it should be set to line of sight.

Example: If you on the second floor, 5 feet above someone using an emote, you should Not see the emote because you can not see the character(obstructed).

Not a terrible idea. Just make sure there aren’t any trees in between you and your RP buddies. :P

Rauderi: Yes good point.

So let us look at what an emote is.

Per the Wiki: “Emotes are a special subset of chat commands that cause the player’s character to perform an animation”

So you type a /emote and your character can be seen by others to do some kind of body movement. If, like you said, there is a tree in the way then… you would not see it and subsequently, you should not see the text emote either.

So from a game mechanic prospective. If you could fire an instant infinite missile from the emoter to the emotees without it being obstructed then the emotees should see it both visibly and in text, IF they are within ‘line of sight’.

I am not purporting this as easy to program, from a game mechanic perspective but if an emote is obstructed then you shouldn’t see it.

Yalora Istairiea.6287:

Rauderi: Yes good point.

So let us look at what an emote is.

Per the Wiki: “Emotes are a special subset of chat commands that cause the player’s character to perform an animation”

So you type a /emote and your character can be seen by others to do some kind of body movement. If, like you said, there is a tree in the way then… you would not see it and subsequently, you should not see the text emote either.

So from a game mechanic prospective. If you could fire an instant infinite missile from the emoter to the emotees without it being obstructed then the emotees should see it both visibly and in text, IF they are within ‘line of sight’.

I am not purporting this as easy to program, from a game mechanic perspective but if an emote is obstructed then you shouldn’t see it.

It’d be finicky for the RP set. Especially since what the game considers “obstructed” is particularly odd. Like, I could see someone half-way out from over a rock (lol half-cover in D&D), but it’s still “obstructed” for some reason. Or the wisp-thin tree in between me and my target. I can obviously see it, even if my arrows thunk into the wood.

Still, I love the idea, if only so I don’t have to endure very painful quasi-RP moments in public areas like Rata Sum.

I leave the emotes on I like seeing the rp’ers play. Gives me something to look at when buying/selling. I don’t mind if the emotes reach the entire zone but I don’t think they do except in the cities.

What DOES bother me is repetitive npc talk. I wish that would cycle once.