55 replies to this topic

[zverofaust]

I would be very disappointed if there was no in-game VOIP at launch. One of BF3's biggest, most massive failures is the lack of VOIP. It is a massive negative modifier on the enjoyability of a game.

[pesco]

Alan Grant, on 09 March 2012 - 12:29 PM, said:

Although even then there is nothing stopping you from setting up a teamspeak/ventrillo system, and if you have a 'cam mode' [mw4 style] it'll be abused. Unless it's like WoT [maybe othe games not sure] were you can only see your team mates, and what they see.

Morgana, on 09 March 2012 - 12:40 PM, said:

A lot of those times, we would have it set like Alan stated WoT was like, you can only see through your team mates' eyes.

For the record: It has been stated in another thread that MWO will not allow you to "snoop" after death.

On topic: As some have pointed out, the idea of comm jamming/disabling isn't gonna fly because it's readily circumvented (and honestly, not that useful in gameplay-terms IMHO). I wonder though, how much of a difference in immersion would it make if there was some simple yet effective filter magic that adds subtle distortions, noise, cackle, whatever. Not enough to actually disturb or disable communication, just enough for atmosphere.

Important to note, I think, is that having the game manage comm channels for you would be more convenient than manually switching around in an external application, directing everyone to their respective "rooms", etc.

All this being said, I'd much rather have an awesome Mech game without any voice support than a Mech game with crappy voice support.

[Rnadmo]

Hellblazer, on 09 March 2012 - 04:43 AM, said:

Comm jamming is a fantastic concept. Has any game ever had that?

There's a level in L4D2, Hard Rain, in which you have to progress through a torrential rain storm. When the rain starts coming down and the wind picks up it becomes so loud that it intentionally makes it nearly impossible to hear your team-mates. It adds a dose of realism that is pretty neat.

For this game though I would wonder at how effective would be. If you made jamming taking out voice comms effective, it would likely drive players to pick up Mumble or Vent which would end up nullifying the advantage.

[Ragotag]

zverofaust, on 09 March 2012 - 02:28 PM, said:

I would be very disappointed if there was no in-game VOIP at launch. One of BF3's biggest, most massive failures is the lack of VOIP. It is a massive negative modifier on the enjoyability of a game.

Heck, DICE put VoIP in the PS3 version of BF3 and it still didn't work; took them four months after open beta (three months after release) to figure it out.

Edited by Ragotag, 09 March 2012 - 02:58 PM.

[Sean Lang]

NGNG hosts a public teamspeak 3 server for all mechwarrior/battletech fans, groups, clans. We have unit logo's, rooms etc.

Teamspeak 3: ts9.gameservers.com:9144
www.nogutsnogalaxy.net

You can see who is online through our webpage, ts3 plugin on the left! If your part of a unit/clan please contact me so I can set you up!

Edited by Sean Lang, 09 March 2012 - 03:21 PM.

[LordKelvin]

Sean Lang, on 09 March 2012 - 03:20 PM, said:

NGNG hosts a public teamspeak 3 server for all mechwarrior/battletech fans, groups, clans. We have unit logo's, rooms etc.

Teamspeak 3: ts9.gameservers.com:9144
www.nogutsnogalaxy.net

You can see who is online through our webpage, ts3 plugin on the left! If your part of a unit/clan please contact me so I can set you up!

That's the whole problem though. As much as I appreciate the willingness of people to set up a system such as this, I don't want to have to go through the hassle of downloading and installing TS3 (I only have the installer for TS2 on my computer right now), then typing up the connections, finding the people I'm in a room with, and getting everybody into a single channel/room on your TS server, only to have to repeat the process again the next day (or even 30 minutes or an hour later when I find a new group of people to play with). I would rather have it all integrated into the game so that, with the press of a few keys once the match starts, I can start telling my lancemates where I'm going to head off in order to begin spotting enemies, or ask a fire-support player to position him/herself somewhere specific on the map, and so on.

As of right now the clan I'm in has only a handful of players who may be interested in MWO, plus we're scattered all over the US and Europe (with a couple in Australia as well), so even though we have our own Mumble server it would be nearly impossible to coordinate play with all of them. Additionally, what about if I run into a stranger on my team who's a good/competent player, and I want to coordinate with him/her a bit better? Or maybe offer to recruit him/her?

It's for these reasons, and more, that I believe in-game comms are a must. I won't always have time to take my hands off my control stick to type up a message relaying an enemy's position to my lancemates, or call in for support while I'm in the middle of a firefight, or what have you. In-game comms are not a simple convenience, they can really create a major tactical edge if used properly.

[Sean Lang]

It takes 2-3 seconds to join any particular room on teamspeak 3, with unit identification, rooms, servers etc. There is no wasting of time.

[XSive Death]

Sean Lang, on 09 March 2012 - 03:42 PM, said:

It takes 2-3 seconds to join any particular room on teamspeak 3, with unit identification, rooms, servers etc. There is no wasting of time.

Takes a lot more than 3 seconds to alt-tab out of the game, load up teamspeak, enter the details of the relevent server and connect to the proper channel.

While I have no doubt the initial setup phase the game will offer should help mitigate these sorts of issues, it would be preferable for the game to have an inbuilt VOIP. After all this intends to be a successful F2P game which will mean for every hardcore/clan player, you'll have possibly hundreds of pubbers who have no interest in Teamspeak, or ventrilo and the likelyhood of any one player on your team even having a server running will be close to zero.

Having in-game VOIP provides everyone with a potential benefit, which reflects well on the game as a whole. A player can choose not to use it, if they want.

Not having in-game VOIP makes the developers look short sighted, the game look half-finished, forces potential customers who just downloaded Xgb's of game to now either hamper their game experience OR go and download more stuff generating ill-will in the community. *Points at the Battlefield 3*

[wwiiogre]

in game voip should be part of the pay to play model, in other words if you want it, pay for it, if you don't want it don't pay or use it. Trust me, organized merc units are gonna want it, so are organized House units. In the meta game this will be important, as part of the Northwind Highlanders I am sure we will require players to use voip. Otherwise no you can't play with us and no you can't stay in the unit cause we are serious team players and we need to communicate in match and follow orders and achieve objectives and plan nasty tactical surprises for the bad guys.

so I see it as a must in game offer, how they sell it is up to them, but they should sell it to those who want it.

chris

[LordKelvin]

wwiiogre, on 09 March 2012 - 04:26 PM, said:

in game voip should be part of the pay to play model, in other words if you want it, pay for it, if you don't want it don't pay or use it. Trust me, organized merc units are gonna want it, so are organized House units. In the meta game this will be important, as part of the Northwind Highlanders I am sure we will require players to use voip. Otherwise no you can't play with us and no you can't stay in the unit cause we are serious team players and we need to communicate in match and follow orders and achieve objectives and plan nasty tactical surprises for the bad guys.

so I see it as a must in game offer, how they sell it is up to them, but they should sell it to those who want it.

chris

Sorry, but that's a terrible idea. Communication between players plays a major role in teamwork, to make people pay for in-game comms is tantamount to buying a tactical advantage over other players, which the devs have explicitly said that they will not do.

[Ragotag]

LordKelvin, on 09 March 2012 - 05:25 PM, said:

Sorry, but that's a terrible idea. Communication between players plays a major role in teamwork, to make people pay for in-game comms is tantamount to buying a tactical advantage over other players, which the devs have explicitly said that they will not do.

Yep, that would fit into the category of "Selling Power" since comms allow for much better coordination which equates to a force multiplier. "Selling Power" is a big no no in the F2P world.

[wwiiogre]

I call it commitment myself

chris

[Volume]

I think that in addition to real voice chat, they should have an in-game VGS/bind/macro system, where certain quick-speak macros are bound to certain keys (Think UT, BF1942, Tribes 2, things like that).

I would like having a bind to say something like "Alpha two counts two assaults spotted at seector G-9. Please advise." than "HOLY **** GUYS 2 ATLAS OVER HERE WERE GONNA GET OUR *** KICKED" from public voice chat. Obviously it depends on the quality of the player, but I'm sure plenty of people will turn it off due to nasaly voices stroking their e-peen and encouraging each other to "RAEP" their opponents.

[LordKelvin]

wwiiogre, on 09 March 2012 - 05:38 PM, said:

I call it commitment myself

chris

If you're committed enough, then you would fund your own TeamSpeak, Ventrilo, or Mumble server and communicate using that. Then you aren't tied down by in-game communications, you can talk with people who aren't in the match you're playing, talk to people while not playing (which is extremely helpful if you're trying to recruit people for your clan, since you can interview them and get to know them a lot better), and so on.

Paying money for comms isn't a show of commitment, it's paying for a tactical advantage.

[wwiiogre]

not if everyone can pay for it with ingame currency instead of real dollars, then it is not pay to win

chris

[Orzorn]

wwiiogre, on 09 March 2012 - 06:03 PM, said:

not if everyone can pay for it with ingame currency instead of real dollars, then it is not pay to win

chris

Then what the hell is the point?

When it comes to a game that claims its all about team work and role warfare, it certainly would be a total kidney shot for them to expect us to pay for communication utilities common in other games. Team Fortress 2 has it standard. Dota 2 has it standard. Left 4 Dead has it standard.

VOIP is not a difficult concept, guys. Its pretty standard these days. If MWO doesn't have it, I will be severely disappointed.

[wwiiogre]

not saying you should have to pay for it, but it wouldn't bother me if we did so that we could support the game and best implementation of voip. I use ventrilo and TS all the time. So if they don't provide it I will be fine by using whatever the merc group I work with wants to use. Either way I will be paying someone to use the voip, either donating to my merc group for it, paying PGI for it ingame. Just saying I would rather give my money to PGI in which ever way they want to take it.

chris

[Ragotag]

wwiiogre, on 09 March 2012 - 06:03 PM, said:

not if everyone can pay for it with ingame currency instead of real dollars, then it is not pay to win

So now you have to pay for comms with CBills? Pretty sure a futuristic military weapons platform would already include a basic radio.

[wwiiogre]

was just answering the accusation of pay to win, when I meant nothing of the sort

chris

[Tryg]

While teams might have their own voice comms established, the problem with voice comms comes with the lone wolfs dropping alongside merc units (Or random assignments of house units), where not all players will be on the same channels. Battlefield 3 is the perfect example of how a game can go so very wrong due to lack of comms. Wind up on the opposing team from your friends, and no one in your squad is in any sort of communication with you, or worse, they stop and stand still to type, allowing themselves to be offed by those pesky snipers. In modern gaming, and especially in team-oriented gaming, voice systems are a must!