61 replies to this topic

[mekabuser]

Imagine no team speak, skype etc.. HOw would you rate the ability to communicate with your team in game?
Imagine even.. you could drop with a clan. You would be able to launch as a group into the game on the same team... THen.. imagine... trying to convey tactics, targets.. need for help etc using only what the devs have given us to use..

Imagine it..

How do you think its working?

The fact is, the majority of players find them selves only able to use what the game gives them.
Dont say, use TS... DOnt... You will just sound like an irate woman..

This is about looking at the game for what it is... for a majority of the players.

Thank you.

Edited by mekabuser, 02 February 2013 - 11:06 AM.

[Tikkamasala]

If it wasn't for the option to mark certain spots on the map as a commander i would have voted "really bad". The map thing is a nice touch and should be expanded on: e.g. in alien swarm (free game on steam) every player can paint their idea of a battle plan on the mini-map (in their own color) or different "pings" on the LoL mini-map.

The other remaining communication tool in MWO is the text chat that just vanishes too fast and cannot be scrolled back (at least i haven't found an obvious way). That needs to be improved, perhaps even with text macros (although that can be done with macro keyboards/mice, copy&paste or the comm-rose [see below]).

Other team games often have a command/communication rose (e.g. battlefield xyz) to mark certain areas and/or send a predefined message often with coordinates.

[mekabuser]

keep em coming.

[MustrumRidcully]

I'd say it's very bad, though maybe I am too harsh - after all, their are the Command functions. But in a way, they seem pretty redundant - there are like 12 different symbols, but it seems it all boils down to "Go Here" - some symbols may be called flank left/right or what-not, but what does it really mean if you can only send one position to your team? If everyone si supposed to "flank" from the same spot, it's not a flank.

The game should offer target calling - a simple outline around an enemy mech indicating that it's the enemy - and maybe also a follow/defend call on an allied target.

More advanced would be the ability to select individual units of your team and give them an order like "move here" or "attack that". Managing all that in the heat of battle will not be easy, but it would be a million times easier than trying to chat the commands. Especially since the chat interface is so primitive. You cannot even scroll in the history, you can't prepare sentences or commands in advance...

[JD White]

I find rapidly hitting the "R" button once I encounter a group of enemy mechs to be useful. No, wait, I mean I HOPE doing that is helpful to my team. Well, if any one is paying attention, and not already engaged. Or already dead.

[Joseph Mallan]

Command functions
"R"
Chat (last on the list cause I need my hands to drive and Kill)

[Gammanoob]

Wouldn't matter much to be honest, especially if I was dropping with a trusted group.

Granted it would be slightly less effective to use ingame chat, but a lot of tactical actions can be done without talking.

For example, I don't need to tell my group to target that one Atlas charging way to far ahead, we all pretty much know to when to attack a mech, which targets to prioritize and when to fall back/attack because we play together enough to develop an "instinctual" sort of communication.

Honestly though I find the original comparison is not very good. The problem isn't always that a 4-man communicates more, it's that they usually work together(which doesn't always need a lot of communication), have decent builds and know what/who they are dropping with.

Edited by Gammanoob, 02 February 2013 - 11:49 AM.

[Vassago Rain]

You won't believe how fast my fingers are until you play against me.

[skullman86]

I play solo 99% of the time and I would say "poor". The comms available could probably be called "average" before major combat takes place or after it has died down a little, but during combat they are trash. All you can do is hit R and hope people see it because using team chat in the middle of a brawl is a good way to get killed.

[M4NTiC0R3X]

I don't need to hear or type much to know what's going on. A lot of the time when I report information and present tactics I feel as though it has fallen upon deaf ears, it's frustrating at times.. but it is just a game and failure is the nature of warfare. When that happens I just assume casual players have gone foreverstallone, the pre-made is not open to input or that these newbs are just enjoying a stress reliever and can't comprehend the battle at hand 'cause their music is WAY TOO LOUD!!!!

Edited by M4NTiC0R3X, 02 February 2013 - 12:11 PM.

[Joseph Mallan]

push came to shove i could always use my unlimited minutes on my Cell to have a conference call!

[SVK Puskin]

mekabuser, on 02 February 2013 - 10:56 AM, said:

Imagine no team speak, skype etc.. HOw would you rate the ability to communicate with your team in game?
Imagine even.. you could drop with a clan. You would be able to launch as a group into the game on the same team... THen.. imagine... trying to convey tactics, targets.. need for help etc using only what the devs have given us to use..

Imagine it..

How do you think its working?

The fact is, the majority of players find them selves only able to use what the game gives them.
Dont say, use TS... DOnt... You will just sound like an irate woman..

This is about looking at the game for what it is... for a majority of the players.

Thank you.

Stay in reality dude. Do not ask what if...

[Taizan]

With the tools currently given in the game ? Between poor and average. Still better than no communication.

[p00k]

never used voice comms in mpbt3025. had a 93% win rate

take players who don't suck, and are used to playing with each other, and you really don't need to talk all that much once the fight starts. shoot what others are shooting, finish who/what is most damaged

[Zeus X]

I don't have to imagine this at all, we did typing comms back in Mechwarrior 2 and basicly everything that used Kali. Everything back in the 90's was over a modem with speeds ranging from 28.8, 33.6, or a 56k if you had money. But that's how we did it, and we did it well. Imo kids these days should not even be complaining, you all have instant ways to communicate with each other in every game, so put forth some effort into it little kiddie's and stop this entitled whinny BS.

Edited by DCM Zeus, 02 February 2013 - 12:57 PM.

[Rippthrough]

Needs preset commands a la BF1942.

[DodgerH2O]

Before discovering TS (and purchasing a mic) I used ingame messaging, grouping, and chat exclusively. The main issue is not with my communication skills, but the fact that the rest of the team needs to communicate back or at least listen. If I had a team that I played with regularly we often would fall into roles that didn't even require constant instantaneous communication. An entire match could go by using only the commander map and 3 or 4 short sentences like "pushing ridge, flank right" or "lights rtb" or "help, 2 atlas at base".

[Kobold]

DCM Zeus, on 02 February 2013 - 12:54 PM, said:

I don't have to imagine this at all, we did typing comms back in Mechwarrior 2 and basicly everything that used Kali. Everything back in the 90's was over a modem with speeds ranging from 28.8, 33.6, or a 56k if you had money. But that's how we did it, and we did it well. Imo kids these days should not even be complaining, you all have instant ways to communicate with each other in every game, so put forth some effort into it little kiddie's and stop this entitled whinny BS.

This is a horrible argument.


Text only communication in this day and age counts firmly as "poor" for in game communication options. DDO had in game voice for parties in 2006. Valve had it in Half-Life/CS/TFC years before that. Hell, Bungie put it into Marathon in 1994!

Yes, experienced players playing together don't need it built in. I've been parts of groups, including 5, 6, 7 man groups back before the 4 man limit was implemented, who were together on TS when the chat server went down. We still continued to play just fine. However, using that justification only continues to push the divide between casual solo players and the semi-organized, marginally less casual players.

[Merky Merc]

I use my mech to give hand signals that's what those slot wasting hand actuators are for right?

I don't have too terrible of a time typing out terse commands or enemy locations, even when fighting. But no one reads the chat, or they rarely do, between people ignoring my warnings as the team flanks around behind us to many LRM boaters ignoring advice from everyone concerning the minimum distance of their weapons. There have been matches where people actually pay attention to things and coordination happens through chat though.

[Zeus X]

Kobold, on 02 February 2013 - 01:27 PM, said:

This is a horrible argument.


Text only communication in this day and age counts firmly as "poor" for in game communication options. DDO had in game voice for parties in 2006. Valve had it in Half-Life/CS/TFC years before that. Hell, Bungie put it into Marathon in 1994!

Yes, experienced players playing together don't need it built in. I've been parts of groups, including 5, 6, 7 man groups back before the 4 man limit was implemented, who were together on TS when the chat server went down. We still continued to play just fine. However, using that justification only continues to push the divide between casual solo players and the semi-organized, marginally less casual players.

My comment is by no means an argument for non-comm's or for comm's, and yes I agree with you within this day of age, there is no reason to not be using some kind of VoIP communication tools.

It still comes down to this, get on comms, find a group, and play this "team" game.