218 replies to this topic

[Troutmonkey]

Yes, there are a few of these threads. However none of them are new, or have working polls.
http://mwomercs.com/search?q=voip . For such a requested and core feature, how is this not in the game already?

I don't have any friends who want to play MWO, for various reasons (it's kinda buggy, and has a steep learning curve). So for me to play MWO in any sort of coordinated fashion, I have to communicate with PUGs via text chat. Now this is all well and good at the start of a match where I can say " Lights go kappa", but the whole form of communication rapidly breaks down the moment I get into combat. You just want to call out for help or warn your allies not to walk into the Atlas blob at Theta, but you're too busy torso twisting to find the time to type your way out of that.

C3 exist but I've never used it. Why? Because it's not built, and likely no one else uses it. TeamSpeak / Vent is also a non-option because trying to get PUGs to join your crappy server within 30 seconds is nigh impossible.

To make this game truly accessable, we need VOIP. It's been around for over a decade now, majorly since the original Counter Strike. It's an essential part of any good team game, and at the moment it's giving premades with 3rd party Voice comms an insane advantage.

All good VOIP games now use a quick one-click mute system, meaning any players abusing the system won't be heard for long. And, if you really hate voice an option to completely disable would work fine too. However for the rest of us VOIP would go a long way towards making MWO a much better game. An option to party up at the end of games would be another awesome feature, but that's for another thread.

Implimentation:

• Push to Talk
  
• Click a player on the scoreboard to mute / unmute them
  
• Currently talking players names appear on the HUD and have an speaker icon on the scoreboard

Benefits:

• Can communicate much faster, and with much more information
  
  • Can communicate even when in combat
    
  • PUG's will be able to communicate with the same effeciancy as premades with 3rd Party VOIP
• Requires no additional setup which means players will actually use it, unlike C3
  
• Team work and communication will increase (many cannot be bothered to type)
  
• Number of PUG stomps will decrease
  
• New player retention will be higher
  
• No need to spend time searching for a group or find an active TeamSpeak/Ventrillo/Mumble server.

Negatives

• Some players may abuse the system and spout obscenities, music or make stupid sounds (you can easily mute these people)
  
• Extra strain on the servers
  
• Requires development time

TLDR: We need VOIP, because teamwork is OP.

Edited by Troutmonkey, 18 November 2013 - 02:58 AM.

[Veranova]

I used to feel the same in a lot of ways. I don't know anyone who wants to play this with me.
However when I joined my clan, my perspective totally changed, and now I'm not bothered about playing with my real life friends. It's much more fun to be in a session with people who love Battletech for what it is, not just as a transient computer game.

Also if there was VOIP, I don't think it would be used positively. We'd just end up with arguments and VOIP-warriors, not to mention idiots with bad mic's being utterly useless. VOIP is for the organised and prepared, not pugs and casual gamers.
COD's VOIP on Xbox is used more for general chit-chat and trolling than teamwork.

Any of the clans under recruitment would be pleased to have your application however, and most of them use Teamspeak.
Just as a gentle plug, Phoenix Company is my clan and we'd love to have you on board if you know your torso from your legs!
We even have a few Australians on board so you'd find some locals potentially!
http://mwomercs.com/...-is-recruiting/

Edited by Veranova, 13 November 2013 - 04:08 AM.

[Troutmonkey]

Veranova, on 13 November 2013 - 04:07 AM, said:

Also if there was VOIP, I don't think it would be used positively. We'd just end up with arguments and VOIP-warriors, not to mention idiots with bad mic's being utterly useless. VOIP is for the organised and prepared, not pugs and casual gamers.
COD's VOIP on Xbox is used more for general chit-chat and trolling than teamwork.

As stated, any unhelpful or disruptive players could simply be muted.

As for Xbox VOIP it really depended on the game. CoD doesn't require much strategy, however I regularily PUGed in the first two Gears of War titles and found VOIP a major advantage if a team used it properly. I often got paired against "evil premades" but with some great leadership skills and VOIP at my disposal, the playing field was leveled and we often triumphed.

Veranova, on 13 November 2013 - 04:07 AM, said:

Any of the clans under recruitment would be pleased to have your application however, and most of them use Teamspeak.
Just as a gentle plug, Phoenix Company is my clan and we'd love to have you on board if you know your torso from your legs! [color="#0f72da"]http://mwomercs.com/...-is-recruiting/[/color]

I tried joining a Clan / Corp once, but due to my irregular and sparodic hours organising any sort of group play was difficult. All I want to be able to do is effectively communicate with my current team, regardless of who they are. I think that once you impliment built in VOIP a lot of the "teamwork is OP" threads will dry up, because everyone will have access to the same tools. Currently premades have something which PUGs do not, leading to a lot of "PUG stomping" and some very unhappy players.

[Rasc4l]

Veranova, on 13 November 2013 - 04:07 AM, said:

Also if there was VOIP, I don't think it would be used positively. We'd just end up with arguments and VOIP-warriors, not to mention idiots with bad mic's being utterly useless. VOIP is for the organised and prepared, not pugs and casual gamers.
COD's VOIP on Xbox is used more for general chit-chat and trolling than teamwork.

Yeah, it's the Internet. Of course it won't be used positively.

When I see these "Add voicecom!" threads, I just can't help thinking how centered it seems on anglo-american world view. I mean the people who when they're abroad, just use louder English and wonder why they are not being understood. Based on the front page, a Canadian company is making a game for Russians and Germans so that's what we would hear. So the "Speak english you gibberish talking xyz!" whine of the English-speaking part would be great.

If they added voicecom, they would probably make it on by default like all the other silly choices like armlock, 3pv and hold to run. Boy would I troll that PUG-channel in Finnish. Yeah, it's this language:

http://linustechtips...sh-decline-dog/

Bottom line: anyone interested in real voice communication have their own servers. Otherwise the channels will be filled by amateurs who use voice activation instead of push to talk.

Edited by Rasc4l, 13 November 2013 - 04:20 AM.

[Levon K]

I voted No.

I'm not in a position to play the game with a headset on (ie. have to be paying attention to the real world). Not only that it's a huge pain in the butt to be putting the headset on and taking it off every match since I usually get up and do something between matches.

That would mean the VOIP would be playing over the external speakers, not sure I agree with that, would definitely have to mute the VOIP. And you know what that means? People will be trying to talk to me when I can't hear them. And you know what that leads to? Rage that a teammate is not listening / not responding. Doesn't work very well.

I'm not against VOIP, by all means include it for those that need that type of edge. I do perfectly fine without it.

If it is included, there should be some sort of indicator that people can see if the user has VOIP enabled or not, just so there's no confusion.

Just as a side note: If a player is capable of donning a headset, they can use teamspeak. There's really nothing stopping them.

[Troutmonkey]

Rasc4l, on 13 November 2013 - 04:16 AM, said:

Bottom line: anyone interested in real voice communication have their own servers. Otherwise the channels will be filled by amateurs who use voice activation instead of push to talk.

So how am I supposed to convince 11 randoms to download TeamSpeak, Ventrillo, or Mumble, configure it, and join my server within 30 seconds to play for maybe 5 to 10 minutes?

Rasc4l, on 13 November 2013 - 04:16 AM, said:

If they added voicecom, they would probably make it on by default like all the other silly choices like armlock, 3pv and hold to run. Boy would I troll that PUG-channel in Finnish. Yeah, it's this language:

Yes it should be default, because then it will be used. Don't like it? Disable it.
Someone starts abusing their mic? Mute them in one click from the scoreboard, easy.

More options is never a bad thing. Don't be so selfish in your decisions, because even if you don't, a lot of other people will greatly benefit from this addtion.

Levon K, on 13 November 2013 - 04:18 AM, said:

Just as a side note: If a player is capable of donning a headset, they can use teamspeak. There's really nothing stopping them.

Except trying to get 11 random players to join the same teamspeak server....

Levon K, on 13 November 2013 - 04:18 AM, said:

I voted No.
...
I'm not against VOIP, by all means include it for those that need that type of edge. I do perfectly fine without it.

Then vote Yes to the feature, and vote "No I wouldn't use it".

Edited by Troutmonkey, 13 November 2013 - 04:25 AM.

[ShinVector]

I would vote. No as well.
Reason being TS3 and other alternatives already existing...
PGI themselves uses it.. *looks at Garth

In built VoIP more likely to be abused and annoy the hell out of people rather than be used for team work.
I can imagine the huge e-peen fellows cursing and swearing at the noobs.

However I would vote yes. It the high chance of abuse, i stated above doesn't happen.

Edited by ShinVector, 13 November 2013 - 04:28 AM.

[Troutmonkey]

Levon K, on 13 November 2013 - 04:18 AM, said:

If it is included, there should be some sort of indicator that people can see if the user has VOIP enabled or not, just so there's no confusion.

That's a good idea, and quite common in other VOIP enabled games.

At the very least I would LOVE to see Lance VOIP in much the same way that BF4 does Squad VOIP.

ShinVector, on 13 November 2013 - 04:25 AM, said:

In built VoIP more likely to be abused and annoy the hell out of people rather than be used for team work.
I can imagine the huge e-peen fellows cursing and swearing at the noobs.

Muuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuute Buuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuttttttttttooooooooon.

Edited by Troutmonkey, 13 November 2013 - 04:28 AM.

[Rasc4l]

Troutmonkey, on 13 November 2013 - 04:25 AM, said:

So how am I supposed to convince 11 randoms to download TeamSpeak, Ventrillo, or Mumble, configure it, and join my server within 30 seconds to play for maybe 5 to 10 minutes?

IMHO you're not. You're supposed to make a post in the forums indicating that you would like to join some people using voice. 2 flies with the same swat, you also increase the quality of the experience by being in a group.

Troutmonkey, on 13 November 2013 - 04:25 AM, said:

Yes it should be default, because then it will be used. Don't like it? Disable it.
Someone starts abusing their mic? Mute them in one click from the scoreboard, easy.

More options is never a bad thing. Don't be so selfish in your decisions, because even if you don't, a lot of other people will greatly benefit from this addtion.

Sure, my position can be attributed to selfishness like every single action that a human being take in his/her life.

However:

1. Lack or progress with the game means PGI is short on resources or cannot distribute them efficiently
2. PGI is usually having hard time getting things done right the first time

This means that I really hope PGI is using their limited resources for the actual game rather than a feature already available from 3rd parties.

And do you honestly think you could just mute people from the scoreboard with a single click? Considering that for their first UI 2.0 test, PGI didn't manage to do the very basic thing all (excel and whatnot) mechlabs have been doing for tens of years, showing the mech and its components in one view, I don't think they would manage to make it so easy.

[Troutmonkey]

Rasc4l, on 13 November 2013 - 04:34 AM, said:

However:

1. Lack or progress with the game means PGI is short on resources or cannot distribute them efficiently
2. PGI is usually having hard time getting things done right the first time

This poll is assuming ideal circumstances, as are all the polls in the feature suggestions.
Under ideal conditions, with perfect implimentation as I described, at a reasonable amount of development time - would you vote yes? If so, vote yes. If you are completely against VOIP because you think it's an absolutely worthless feature, that no one could possibly benefit from, vote No.

Saying that I believe that adding VOIP would positively impact the game just as much, if not more than UI 2.0.

Edited by Troutmonkey, 13 November 2013 - 04:47 AM.

[Rasc4l]

Troutmonkey, on 13 November 2013 - 04:46 AM, said:

This poll is assuming ideal circumstances, as are all the polls in the feature suggestions.
Under ideal conditions, with perfect implimentation as I described, at a reasonable amount of development time - would you vote yes? If so, vote yes. If you are completely against VOIP because you think it's an absolutely worthless feature, that no one could possibly benefit from, vote No.

I'm sorry but I'm not gonna base my voting on an imaginary world.

Troutmonkey, on 13 November 2013 - 04:46 AM, said:

Saying that I believe that adding VOIP would positively impact the game just as much, if not more than UI 2.0.

I respectfully disagree in the extreme. In my books, this is at the bottom of the long todo list that would make the game better.

And can you even imagine the forumrage, when some parent of a 12-year old hears their sweetheart playing the game and someone on the channel says the word ****. And nope, I don't think there would be any live censorship, which would required by the 1st world people living in bubbles.

[Troutmonkey]

Rasc4l, on 13 November 2013 - 04:53 AM, said:

And can you even imagine the forumrage, when some parent of a 12-year old hears their sweetheart playing the game and someone on the channel says the word ****. And nope, I don't think there would be any live censorship, which would required by the 1st world people living in bubbles.

Troutmonkey said:

Muuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuute Buuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuttttttttttooooooooon.

Also, proper parenting online is the responsibility of the parent.

[Rasc4l]

Troutmonkey, on 13 November 2013 - 04:57 AM, said:

Also, proper parenting online is the responsibility of the parent.

You could not be more right. But the amount of irrational behavior/language increases exponentially when it comes to children. All it would take is some worried mom from the biblebelt posting in some women's forum how she caught her kid playing this horrible adult game, where players curse. Little bit of bad press like that and PGI would fold like a pocket knife and remove the voicecom they worked hard on, because they can't afford to lose customers. Considering how dead the forums seem nowadays, I'm really wondering if they are still getting customers in or are they bleeding already. I'm sure the Phoenix money insertation did good but considering that the "exclusive" offer keeps on being sold, I think they're desperate. I hope I'm wrong, of course.

[Levon K]

Troutmonkey - how useful is VOIP going to be if half of your team has it turned off? Try giving commands to half your team..

Also, what happens when a teammate has you muted?

Not only that, how long is it going to take for everyone to say Hi and get used to each other when you're VOIPing randoms every match? Which voice is coming from which mech?

I think if you want VOIP, use teamspeak.

It's not sorely needed. The only problem with pugging is randoms getting mixed with organized teams. They don't mix very well.

[Troutmonkey]

Levon K, on 13 November 2013 - 05:27 AM, said:

Troutmonkey - how useful is VOIP going to be if half of your team has it turned off? Try giving commands to half your team..

Also, what happens when a teammate has you muted?

Not only that, how long is it going to take for everyone to say Hi and get used to each other when you're VOIPing randoms every match? Which voice is coming from which mech?

I think if you want VOIP, use teamspeak.

It's not sorely needed. The only problem with pugging is randoms getting mixed with organized teams. They don't mix very well.

Some valid concerns, many of which have been pretty much resolved in every other VOIP game, especially the part about knowing who's talking. A simple symbol <) on the scoreboard, as well as a small area of the hud (usaully bottom left) would show who is talking at any given time.

And the reason I need VOIP is because teamspeak does not solve my issue.

Here is the delimma: I need to communicate with my team, who have been randomly assigned to the same game as me. Given that typing is too slow, and "Commander" commands to fiddly to place (and actually obscure the map), VOIP and Comma Rose are the only two solutions. Comma Rose still loses out to VOIP because it's not nearly as compreshensive, and unless memorised cannot be used quickly and on the fly. BF3 had it and it was ok, but BF4 is a greatly improved experiance because it now includes squad VOIP.

[Henry Morgan]

Troutmonkey, on 13 November 2013 - 04:46 AM, said:

This poll is assuming ideal circumstances, as are all the polls in the feature suggestions.
Under ideal conditions, with perfect implimentation as I described, at a reasonable amount of development time -

Which makes the poll not have a lot of value. Players don't play in "ideal circumstances", they play in the real world situation. They draw upon their real world experience to make decisions. This includes experience with VoIP in other settings, that is open to everyone.

Troutmonkey, on 13 November 2013 - 04:46 AM, said:

would you vote yes? If so, vote yes. If you are completely against VOIP because you think it's an absolutely worthless feature, that no one could possibly benefit from, vote No.

Saying that I believe that adding VOIP would positively impact the game just as much, if not more than UI 2.0.

The other part that lessens the value of the poll, the bias in the wording. Any forum poll is not an accurate representation of the player base to begin with (unless its a forum-specific question). However the bias in the wording of the questions is designed to make some answers more appealing to others. That makes the results carry little to no weight.

[Troutmonkey]

Henry Morgan, on 14 November 2013 - 03:23 AM, said:

Which makes the poll not have a lot of value. Players don't play in "ideal circumstances", they play in the real world situation. They draw upon their real world experience to make decisions. This includes experience with VoIP in other settings, that is open to everyone.

So, vote against every poll under feature suggestions, because, given PGI's record, they will likely screw everything up anyway?

[Mercules]

*sigh*

DDO and other MMOs have in game VOIP. In DDO you go into a dungeon with limited resources(supposedly most people have played so long they have ways around that) and are required to work as a team to get through. Take too much damage then you waste extra potions/wands/scrolls or the Cleric's spell points getting healed back up. The Wizard/Sorcerer throws up a Mez or DPS AOE and wants you to pull the mobs into it or not hit certain mobs they need to let you know so the Barbarian/Fighter doesn't use a Cleave attack to hit everything at once. You really need to coordinate in that game and sometimes on the fly.

People use VOIP and they behave for the most part because if they don't people will ignore them and leave them to their fate. The community ends up policing itself. If Someone is annoying you mute them and let the rest of the group know. Those people tend to learn manners fairly quick.

PGI needs to do a better integration of C3, bring it into the game, have it auto place you into it when you join a random group at the start of the match, pull you out of it when done, and allow you to manage the volume of people you are in channel with.

[Drunk Canuck]

Use the ComStar NA Team Speak server (or EU if you are from Europe), there are numerous drop ship channels where pug players can gather and you can get a group together rather easily if you aren't a huge jerk to people. PGI shouldn't have to implement something that is easily available if you bother to take the time to look for it.

Edited by Drunk Canuck, 15 November 2013 - 12:52 PM.

[Mercules]

Drunk Canuck, on 15 November 2013 - 12:51 PM, said:

Use the ComStar NA Team Speak server (or EU if you are from Europe), there are numerous drop ship channels where pug players can gather and you can get a group together rather easily if you aren't a huge jerk to people. PGI shouldn't have to implement something that is easily available if you bother to take the time to look for it.

Which still doesn't solve the problem of telling the other 8 Random people in the group what I am planning on doing or where the enemy is coming from.


Look... I agree people are stupid to complain and then not use the little bit of a tool we have to make their life better, but at the same time countless games use built in VOIP that adds people to the channel when they join a group and removes them when they leave. It really is about time.