13 replies to this topic

[fitzmogwai]

I'm happy playing my games as a PUG, but as I understand it, voicecomms are limited in the game (and I'm not talking mumble or teamspeak here) to premade groups only.

Nearly all the online games I've played before have had built-in VOIP that will allow pick-up teams to talk to one another. So why (and correct me if I'm wrong here) can't unaffiliated players benefit from voice comms with team-mates?

After all, it's not as if a mech doesn't come with a radio...

And before anyone jumps in with "join a clan" as an answer, I'm happy doing what I'm doing at the moment, playing pick-up games with the team I'm randomly assigned as best I can.

[Redshift2k5]

Keep in mind you do not need to join an organization to use TS3/etc. The many public TS3 servers for MWO feature many channels for temporary grouping and finding fill-in players.

MWO does not have built-in voice chat: Instead PGI has partnered with vivox to use the C3 third-party voice application. It is currently in beta, and it is currently semi-integrated into MWO. There are C3 channels open to act as a lobby but they are nto well-populated (players prefer to use tools such as TS3 that they are already familiar with)

If you form a group using the Social menu in-game, it will automatically attempt to connect those grouped members into a private C3 comm channel. (assuming they have not disabled C3 in their menu options).

It seems reasonable to expect C3 will become more integrated into MWO at some point in the future, but we have not been given any info on that front. The fact is, by allying with a 3rd party voice app, it saves a lot of development time/money for PGI.

[Valleros]

Let's see... You should get the following comments:

"This is a team based game. If you don't want to play in a team, play something else."
"Download TS3, it's free."
"People who don't want into voice chat are lazy and/or socially impaired."

My own opinion? They will implement voice chat and lobbies later. I the mean time, enjoy the game the way you want.

[Redshift2k5]

Technically they did implement a lobby in C3 and nobody used it.

[Taryys]

Yea, the C3 voice chat integration currently only supports premade groups, which is not too helpful at this point, but that will change in the future. Lobby and voice comms for all coming eventually.

[Guide] Playing with Friends, Groups, and Teams

[Valleros]

Redshift2k5, on 03 December 2012 - 06:21 AM, said:

Technically they did implement a lobby in C3 and nobody used it.

You're right, but for me personally, what isn't ingame doesn't exist. That's just for me though. I have nothing against the ts crowd.

[Redshift2k5]

Valleros, on 03 December 2012 - 06:24 AM, said:

You're right, but for me personally, what isn't ingame doesn't exist. That's just for me though. I have nothing against the ts crowd.

The fact remains, C3 is the official product. I was just very poor at connecting non-merc players into temporary groups, due in part to being a new UI that nobody was familiar with. TS3's advantage it market penetration; everyone already has it and knows how to use it.

[Taryys]

... and do not forget C3's eye-bleed factor.

Redshift2k5, on 03 December 2012 - 06:30 AM, said:

The fact remains, C3 is the official product. I was just very poor at connecting non-merc players into temporary groups, due in part to being a new UI that nobody was familiar with. TS3's advantage it market penetration; everyone already has it and knows how to use it.

[Rotaugen]

I do both premades and pugging. Premades are more fun, but an be slow. In between rounds, people often want to tweak their mechs in random semi-premades. That, and people sometimes start chatting about what build to use, need a drink, etc. I can get in about 4x as many pug games. This isn't playing with a permanent Premade group however, so I can't speak to that experience. VOIP in pugs will make it much better for the average player.

[Valleros]

Redshift2k5, on 03 December 2012 - 06:30 AM, said:

The fact remains, C3 is the official product. I was just very poor at connecting non-merc players into temporary groups, due in part to being a new UI that nobody was familiar with. TS3's advantage it market penetration; everyone already has it and knows how to use it.

Yep, as I said... You're right.

[Shiney]

Lots and lots of posts on this subject, follow the linky in my sig, the game's different with comms.

[Tremendous Upside]

fitzmogwai, on 03 December 2012 - 06:06 AM, said:

I'm happy playing my games as a PUG, but as I understand it, voicecomms are limited in the game (and I'm not talking mumble or teamspeak here) to premade groups only.

Nearly all the online games I've played before have had built-in VOIP that will allow pick-up teams to talk to one another. So why (and correct me if I'm wrong here) can't unaffiliated players benefit from voice comms with team-mates?

After all, it's not as if a mech doesn't come with a radio...

And before anyone jumps in with "join a clan" as an answer, I'm happy doing what I'm doing at the moment, playing pick-up games with the team I'm randomly assigned as best I can.

As has already been stated, you don't have to have a group preset to use the TS servers. I did it myself for the first time last night. I logged onto the NA Comstar server, moved into the looking for group queue, and then the 4 of us sitting there moved to a dropship. It was as easy as that. And the difference in the game? Night and day. I've been pugging for more than 3 months now, and while I almost always post good numbers, I've always been stuck with a low winning percentage (between 30-40%). One night in a pickup group of 4 on TS, and I lost 4 games the entire night... And my K/D ratio went up a full tenth of a point (which is pretty good considering I've had ~1000 games played.

I'm not saying its how "everyone" should play their game - but it's not like you're going over to the dark side by trying it. It may not be integrated directly into the game - but using TS honestly couldn't be all that much easier...

[LynxFury]

Taryys, on 03 December 2012 - 06:23 AM, said:

Yea, the C3 voice chat integration currently only supports premade groups, which is not too helpful at this point, but that will change in the future. Lobby and voice comms for all coming eventually.

[Guide] Playing with Friends, Groups, and Teams

Thanks for that link.

I had no idea that "C3" was a separate program.
I went through the business of downloading and validating the account, only to find there were five or six possible "mechwarrior" channels, none of which are clearly the official one. Ow...and all showed zero online. Still not clear how this interacts with the C3 checkbox in the MWO client.

Anyhow, I'm sure I'm not the first to go through this head scratching; It needs a lot of work including a description of what C3 is, making it part of the client installation and labeling the C3 channels so folks know it's the official game channel and of course connecting it somehow to the game.

[Lykaon]

Valleros, on 03 December 2012 - 06:16 AM, said:

Let's see... You should get the following comments:

"This is a team based game. If you don't want to play in a team, play something else."
"Download TS3, it's free."
"People who don't want into voice chat are lazy and/or socially impaired."

My own opinion? They will implement voice chat and lobbies later. I the mean time, enjoy the game the way you want.

Actually I would say "It is mandatory to the success of Mechwarrior online to have a fully intergrated voice over IP system that is accessable to every player".


Many of the issues with building a match maker system are related to a lack of intergrated and robust communication tools.

Right now by a large margin the most frequently posted concern on match making is Pug v premade.

In my opinion the one factor that makes the greatist differance is the use of VOIP by premades.This alone grants a significant advantage to the premade.

There needs to be a leveling of the playing field for the health of this game.