Guild Wars 2

Hey all,I’m pretty new to GW2 and I was just wondering 2 things… 1:why is there no internal voice chat in game? And 2: Is the in game lfg service so bad that so many are using websites like guildwarslfg or whatever its called instead? These are standard and easily well implemented things in almost every mmo game iv ever played ,it baffles me that in a game that seems to do so much right these fundamentals are fumbled or missing entirely.

Voice chat is not fundamental and there are numerous options to use. I’d prefer that they work on the game itself rather than hash out a voice chat option.

The in-game lfg works very well. The lfg outside the game are essentially dead now.

1) most games such as these use Teamspeak, Ventrilo Mumble etc and the users or group/guild decide. Blizzard tried to implement a voice chat in WoW and it was widely avoided… all I can say is that it seems like it should be in these games but it never is and guild wars 2 is the same as most games that leaves voice chat up to the popular options that players decide to use.
2) whether it is really true or not, many people believe that standard LFG tools ruin gaming communtites. There are a gazillion reasons for this… SWToR really was against a looking for group tool when it was released. Many call it an old school MMOs mentality and many others think it is mandatory for MMOs.

Guild Wars 2 did not release with a LFG tool and there was quite a debate on whether it would help or hurt the game.

Currently, we are in halloween seasonal plus the first season of world vs world so that could be a part of why you are seeing less traffic on the new in-game LFG tool. You will find all too many opinions on the LFG tool in this game on these very forums.

I never thought I’d say this but I guess I was spoiled by DDO… For all of the games issues ,grouping and voice chat were both done extremely well. Within minutes of logging in u were in a pug group and connected to the chat server at the press of a button. And of course voice chat is fundamental ,lol were not in 1997 playing ultima online 56 k style… It’s 2013, I can’t and won’t stop to type in the middle of a heated fight. :p

gripshift.5673:

And of course voice chat is fundamental ,lol were not in 1997 playing ultima online 56 k style… It’s 2013, I can’t and won’t stop to type in the middle of a heated fight. :p

I like both

I’d like to see both available equally to whatever the person preferred.

The main issue with adding a voice-chat in game is that they are usually quite useless and thus they would spend time and resources on develop something that most people would never use.

lordkrall.7241:

The main issue with adding a voice-chat in game is that they are usually quite useless and thus they would spend time and resources on develop something that most people would never use.

That is simply not true! The voice chat in Lotro is amazing. Like the op says push of a button, all you need a headset with a mic and ur immediately talking to ur team or guildies. The only stipulation for use in Lotro, is that ur in a group.

Here, you have to be with a guild that hosts one of those external voice chats, or go through the problem of setting and hosting one yourself and paying for it.

Sure, some offer limited access to free voice chats, but those are very insecure where basically anyone can use them and there’s nothing u can do about it.

I asked about a voice chat way back in beta for gw2, never got any response. Of course, i now know why, there were never planning to put one in, but imo, in game voice chat is fundamental to be able to communicate to ur team and ur guildies and an essential QoL tool besides.

I really thought a modern game like gw2 would have implemented an in game voice chat or at least have plans to put one in. I think it would make a world of difference in improving both the social and cooperative aspects of the game.

PS. major reason why i rarely do dungeons or group in gw2, yet i group in Lotro all the time.

Funnily enough I used LOTRO as a basis for ingame voice chat. And that chat IS quite bad. There is a reason why most raids and PvMP groups chooses to use Mumble or TS instead of the built in-voice chat.

lordkrall.7241:

Funnily enough I used LOTRO as a basis for ingame voice chat. And that chat IS quite bad. There is a reason why most raids and PvMP groups chooses to use Mumble or TS instead of the built in-voice chat.

Weird, u obviously had a bad experience with it, r u sure it’s not ur equipment? Anyway, i think it’s great and all my friends and kin use it without any problems. If for nothing else, in game voice chat is good to be able to hear group leader’s instructions etc. one doesn’t have to use it to talk but being able to hear those crucial details in a difficult dungeon etc, is extremely helpful.

I’m pretty sure any LFG websites pre-date the addition of the in-game tool. Last time I looked the one I used to use was dead, everyone uses the in-game system now because it’s so much quicker and easier.

You don’t need voice chat for anything in this game other than to coordinate in WvW and possibly tPvP. Dungeons do not require that much coordination and obviously the PvE zerging (80% of PvE) doesn’t either.

Voice chat would take up way too many resources to be worth it. I’m not just talking about what it would take to develop it. The servers already lag enough when under high traffic from game processes. Having so many instances of voice chat channels will bog it down.

You don’t need voice chat for anything in this game other than to coordinate in WvW and possibly tPvP. Dungeons do not require that much coordination and obviously the PvE zerging (80% of PvE) doesn’t either.

Voice chat would take up way too many resources to be worth it. I’m not just talking about what it would take to develop it. The servers already lag enough when under high traffic from game processes. Having so many instances of voice chat channels will bog it down.

You don’t need voice chat for anything in this game other than to coordinate in WvW and possibly tPvP. Dungeons do not require that much coordination and obviously the PvE zerging (80% of PvE) doesn’t either.

Voice chat would take up way too many resources to be worth it. I’m not just talking about what it would take to develop it. The servers already lag enough when under high traffic from game processes. Having so many instances of voice chat channels will bog it down.

dang forum lag…lol

The game is at its core built for SPVP. And ANet has likely assumed that any serious SPVP team will bring their own VOIP server.

Similarly it seems as if the profession skill spreads are built specifically to cater to people using gaming rodent and specialized keyboards.

Even if you are of the opinion that communication is mostly unnecessary in this game,I just have a much more fun engaging and social experience when I can actually talk to people,even if we,re both just livling on opposite sides of the world its fun to just have a few beers and BS with my friends

most of the time ppl dont like in game voice. They don’t use it cuz either they don’t have a mic or maybe antisocial? and then ppl how do have it on are usually trolling on it. In addition others have complained that if you did use it, it slowed down the game. These were at lest my observations when wow added them once upon a time. things could have improved. When i wanted to voice with friends then id skype.

well,its more about ease of use when just meeting random people and less about communication with already established friends.

lets say your just running around doing PvE lvling,u run into someone or a few people that are around the same lvl/area that are doing alot of the same events as you, u ask them if they want to party and then bam your in a party and if you have a mic your chatting,just by joining a party with out having to do all this extra stuff like tab out and “whats your skype name?” and “are you on TS server”. just join up and chat.

i think that would make PvE alot more social and fun. but maybe thats just me,im not really into PvP at all,but iv never played a game that actually had good PvP.

for me,what people call the “PvE zerg” (i think?) is the most fun,but only if i can do it while meeting random new people and being able easily chat with them.

Join party->chat. The way it should be.

And iv never noticed any performance drops while using voice chat. if anything using TS and overwolf or having skype in the background give me a performance hit. and i f someone is trolling,you mute/kick/squelch them and be done with it. thats simple.

O,and everyone has a mic or can easily Aquire one for like 10$,thats not a reason,lol

but i dont know,this may not be so of WoW,iv never played WoW,i come from DDO and LOTRO, and console gaming before that. All of which Voice chat is a staple.

i think its just archaic to chat in text for anything but the most basic communication.
thats just old school. i cant get to know people through text chat,theres no personality to it. i dont know how people “met the love of their life” on like AOL or compuserve or a chatroom back in ancient 56k times,lol.

People talk to each other on Facebook through text and also mainly text message each other rather than call. Communication via text is still far from archaic.

Voice chat would be a waste of resources. Vent, TS, etc are all commonplace enough that if you can’t take the 5secs to download and install, then you’re only hurting yourself.
Chances are, in-game implementation wouldn’t be up to everyones expectations and would use vent/TS/etc.. anyway. I’d much rather they work on the game itself than a project that is not needed as the void is filled by numerous options.
Text needs to remain as a mainstay anyway. Not everyone lives in quiet solitude.
I have a family. Do you want to hear my kids yelling on voice chat? Or their TV shows? Or the music? Or anything else from my rather noisy household? I don’t suppose you would and it’s more of a courtesy that I stay off voice-chat and use text while there’s a lot of background noise. There’s alot of reasons some people may not be able to use voice as freely as others.

LFG tool is good. The LFG sites pre-date the in-game tool and are mostly dead now since the in-game implementation as far as I know (i’ve removed them from bookmarks as I dont need them anymore). I never have a problem for pug fractals or dungeons with the LFG tool. If there’s no group currently, start your own, usually fills pretty fast. Hell, have even used it for FG champ parties. I really have no idea where you’re coming from on this one, coz it works perfectly fine.

I still prefer external services for voice chat, it works better to create a real gaming community not restricted by game, I can switch to any game and still interact with my friends from other games.

MrRuin.9740:

… Text needs to remain as a mainstay anyway. Not everyone lives in quiet solitude.
I have a family. Do you want to hear my kids yelling on voice chat? Or their TV shows? Or the music? Or anything else from my rather noisy household? I don’t suppose you would and it’s more of a courtesy that I stay off voice-chat and use text while there’s a lot of background noise. There’s alot of reasons some people may not be able to use voice as freely as others.

This one is mine, I don’t even have a mic (or want to get one). I usually game when the baby and most times wife is asleep, I don’t want to wake her up anytime I’m gaming, which I usually do late at night.

MrRuin.9740:

Text needs to remain as a mainstay anyway. Not everyone lives in quiet solitude.
I have a family. Do you want to hear my kids yelling on voice chat? Or their TV shows? Or the music? Or anything else from my rather noisy household? I don’t suppose you would and it’s more of a courtesy that I stay off voice-chat and use text while there’s a lot of background noise. There’s alot of reasons some people may not be able to use voice as freely as others.

Same here. My PC is in the main room of my house and when I’m playing Guild Wars my husband is usually watching a movie, or playing something on Xbox, there’s kids yelling outside, often if I can I’m listening to music….. It’s just not practical for me to use voice chat, even just trying to listen to it and not speak would be a pain.

I think it’s a good idea for people who are able to use it, but I’m glad it’s not the main way of communicating in this game.

of course you would not get rid of text chat entirely. but voice chat should be an internal option available to everyone. theres no way around the fact that this is now an INDUSTRY STANDARD feature. across the whole of multiplayer gaming,be it MMO or shooter,pc or console,it is everywhere and very easy to implement,the fact that its not here is nonsense.

when i payed my hard earned money for this,i didnt even consider the lack of internal voice chat a possibility.

this would have definately effected my purchase decision.

A separate chat program means you can use it in different games, or even with out a game.

Tiger Ashante.1792:

lordkrall.7241:

Funnily enough I used LOTRO as a basis for ingame voice chat. And that chat IS quite bad. There is a reason why most raids and PvMP groups chooses to use Mumble or TS instead of the built in-voice chat.

Weird, u obviously had a bad experience with it, r u sure it’s not ur equipment? Anyway, i think it’s great and all my friends and kin use it without any problems. If for nothing else, in game voice chat is good to be able to hear group leader’s instructions etc. one doesn’t have to use it to talk but being able to hear those crucial details in a difficult dungeon etc, is extremely helpful.

I played LOTRO for many years, the voice chat was literally rarely used, most people hated it because it was bad and always used Teamspeak, Mumble, or Ventrillo. It is not worth the development time for how very little in game voice chat is actually used.

There is no need for Arenanet to add one in, cost to much in development and support for something that a very small minority of people would actually use. There are plenty of 3rd party options that people can use.