Results: How did the voice chat rollout go?

by Elizabeth Harper Oct 5th 2007 at 10:50AM

Earlier this week, voice chat was rolled out to all of the US realms that didn't yet have it active -- meaning that by now, all of us should have access to in-game voice chat without the bother of any 3rd party programs. However, the rollout was a bit shaky, with numerous players suggesting it was causing unplayable lag. We asked our readers what their experience had been with voice chat, and while 25% clearly experienced some trouble with the system, an astounding 40% just don't care about the feature. I have to admit -- I'm in that camp as well. While voice chat is a handy feature to have, World of Warcraft has been on the market for a while now and everyone who was interested in voice chat has become accustomed to those 3rd party solutions.

Tags: voice-chat, world-of-warcraft, wow

Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Blizzard

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)

Hank Oct 5th 2007 11:00AM

I had some problems initially, but I was prompted to replace my headset because the primary complaint was that no one could hear me.

Got a new Microsoft USB Headset (instead of my logitech plug in to the mi-and-headphone jack) model, and that resolved my issues.

Now, can I relocate that little blinker that tells me who is talking to the top of the screen?

Pyrolupus Oct 5th 2007 11:05AM

We tried it out, but the quality is just not as good as I am used to. We went back to our Vent client after a few minutes.

I do think it's a great thing to have, particularly when PUGging, but I am not going to end up using it very much myself.

Pyro

Nathan Oct 5th 2007 11:10AM

"...everyone who was interested in voice chat has become accustomed to those 3rd party solutions."

Correction - people with 70s in well-organized raiding guilds have become accustomed to them. People like me, and everyone else without a main decked out in tier gear, got screwed. We got to PUG through instances, difficult enough as it is, with maybe a skull and a moon for direction. Get a vent server? For a pug? Find a good guild? Below 70? That does't just want me to run a level 14 rogue through the deadmines? I'll get to work on that.

Honestly, I know it's a fan site, so the clientelle are more hardcore than most, but posts like this continue to convince me that wowinsider doesn't give a crap about anyone who's enjoying the game for the first time.

Paul Oct 5th 2007 11:19AM

Chances are, the type of people taking this poll lean more to the hardcore gamer side. (I mean if you read up on everything WoW related it's safe to say that you are not just a casual gamer).

I believe most hardcore gamers know all about the 3rd party chat programs, but one must think of the tons of casual gamers that might not be aware of them.

For the casual gamer, this now makes getting voice chat going extremely easy. Just plug in a mic and go.

It also makes it easy if you are the gamer that meets new people in WoW all the time and doesn't have a set group of guildies that all hang out on your TS/Vent server.

Pros?
- It's really hard to get a brand new group and get them all to join some 3rd party chat program. With in game, this problem is solved.
- Makes it easy for casual gamers or those "technology impaired" to get voice chat going
- You can now switch channels in game to talk to different groups of people without having to switch TS/Vent servers.

Cons?
- Lag? I never got any or saw any so I can't really comment on this.
- Find out a guildy you thought was a woman is actually a man?

Doffencrag Oct 5th 2007 11:20AM

@3: I second the motion.

I'm just a casual myself, and I think the addition of the in-game voice chat is a boon. Not everyone has to use it, but it's very nice to have the option available. Nice to see Blizz is also thinking of us "little people".

native Oct 5th 2007 11:24AM

i was able to move the "who is talking" thing around.

i use Bongos2 so i can move pretty much everything though.

Thijz Oct 5th 2007 11:35AM

I have to agree with #3, this stuff is great for PUGs.

FantomRedux Oct 5th 2007 11:36AM

I don't even use Vent or anything like that. But I'm a lowbie so I don't really have a need to.>.

Xaveri Oct 5th 2007 12:07PM

Last night I used it for the first time. I was in a party of three and we were questing. We had been playing for about an hour when suddenly someone mentioned that we could chat. We all turned on the chat capabilities and in 5 minutes of setup we were all speaking.

I must say that questing was faster and communication smooth. It is much better to talk than to type. Im not a hardcore player so this is perfect for me. I believe it is a great addition to WoW and after last night Im sure I will use it more often. This tool is intended por people like me, and I think it has accomplished it's purpose.

Krick Oct 5th 2007 11:47AM

It's actually a lot easier to set up your own ventrilo server for PUGs than most people think.

The only tricky part is setting up port forwarding in your router (if you use a router) and there's lots of information on the web about setting up port forwarding for other applications (mainly file sharing apps).

Once you have that set up, you just use a site like http://whatsmyip.org/ to find out your IP address so you can give it out to people you want to PUG with.

If you want to get fancy, you can use a dynamic DNS service to give a real domain name to your computer so people don't have to use the IP...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dynamic_DNS

The free ventrilo server is limited to 8 users so it will work fine for a 5-man PUG.

Doffencrag Oct 5th 2007 11:58AM

@9: Thanks very much for the tips. I'll have to cut and paste and save this somewhere for future reference. Very useful stuff!

Although I think this is just half of the problem. If you PUG a lot, you'll have to explain to (possibly) four other people how to set their Vent up. Whereas it's easier to just "plug and play" with the built-in voice chat.

Diaz Oct 5th 2007 12:00PM

I have mixed feelings about the voice chat feature.
Yes its good to beable to hear my guildies but...

Do I like the added lag I am experiencing from wow? No.

Am I feeling the pressure to go buy a headset and thus put even more money into this game? Yes.

Will PUGS now demand that you have a mic to get an invite? I don't know but I suspect, yes. (as a DPS class it's easy to get replaced in PUGS)

Tridus Oct 5th 2007 12:04PM

I tried to use the built in voice chat.

Set the volume to 100% on my mic. Nobody can hear me. Turn it up to 150%. One person can hear me. Turn it up to 250%, now they can hear me. Get them to repeat the same process. I can hear them (barely). Jack up the game volume to twice its usual setting so I can hear them at a normal volume, but its broken up and/or tinny.

Try tweaking it for five minutes to get things working so that the three of us can have a half decent quality conversation. Gave up, logged into Ventrilo.

I was excited about built in voice chat, but the sound quality is terrible. Like, mid 90s dial up Netmeeting terrible.

Karl Oct 5th 2007 12:13PM

@3...Over 9 million people play the game. Yeah, this site is primarily for them, but there are a lot of "how to" articles written on this site as well, and a lot of people that are willing to offer some sound advice in them. Take from the site what you will.

@OP...I have not noticed many people actually using the Voice Chat in pugs. I tanked a Botanica run last night, and half-expected to hear someone talking out the boss explanations for the first timers in there with us. I have only been in a few groups that even bothered using it, and even those only had 1-3 people using it.

I like it well enough for pugs. I'll continue to use it if other people are on it.

Buckshot Oct 5th 2007 12:41PM

Tried it, baaaaaaad sound quality. Went back to Vent.

Rich Oct 5th 2007 12:48PM

I got a TS server hosting for $20 for 6 months. It allows 8 people on. I am not in a guild and play pretty casual. All of my friends that I play with are in different guilds.

All of my friends have their own logins and when I run a pug, I give people the server password, let them in, run the pug. I change the pw the next day after the pug. No problem, no hassle and I can handle $40 a year for my casual TS server.

Swiss Oct 5th 2007 1:24PM

I tried it last night for the first time in a PuG. Sure, the sound quality wasn't all that great, but the thing I did love about it was that you can set it to automatically mute in-game sounds during the times that people are chatting. It restores the game volume when the voice chat transmission is finished. Nice! :)

That's my biggest peeve with Vent/TS. I have to turn my game sounds way down in order to hear what's going on in Vent- this seamless transition that Blizzard has developed for WoW is genius.

ErsatzPotato Oct 5th 2007 1:28PM

Voice now expected for *everything*, need it or not = getting to hear the idiots call stuff gay instead of seeing them type it.

It's every bit as irritating as I'd dreaded. Within hours I was making excuses for why I couldn't turn on the voice instead of the real answer: "we're going to group for ten minutes in STV, and I don't want to pause the movie I'm watching to listen to a stranger".

WoW turned into a long flight stuck next to the guy who won't shut up so you can sleep. Someone actually wanted to group up so we could chat *while I crafted something* for him. All, what, twenty seconds of it?

PallySucks Oct 5th 2007 1:39PM

I use Vent and the new Voicechat system. I think Vent will go away eventually.

If you look at WOW Voicechat, this is 1.0, its got some nice ideas and its built in the game.

Sound quality will only get better, I have a feeling they are using low-quality codecs in the beginning rather than allow you to change to a higher bitrate codec.

So the folks complaining about sound quality, just wait.

Problems with Vent, once your Vent server is hacked it takes hours to have your whole guild change vent settings. Always 1-2 noob without new Vent info.

In-game VC can't be hacked.

So just be patient and it will get better as Blizz optimize it further.

I find the new VC easier to configure than Vent, how many times you have a guy with a horrible mic on Vent, yet none on VC.

Psyclerk Oct 5th 2007 2:12PM

I have a 50-slot Vent server that I pay $14 a month for. I originally got a Vent server for WoW but since then have used it for all sorts of PC co-op games. You get so much more control over a Vent server as opposed to the in-game voice. I can change codecs/quality, set all the channels I want, make private channels easily, record conversations, monitor other channels...well worth the money. Once you have one, you'll find yourself wanting to use it outside of WoW, too.

| 1 | 2 | Most Recent | Next 20 Comments

Breaking news Feed

WoW Insider Show

Subscribe via iTunes for our latest show.

Hot Topics

Upcoming Events

Event	Date
Love Is In the Air	2/2 - 2/15
Blackrock Foundry Normal and Heroic open	2/3
Darkmoon Faire	2/8 - 2/15
Blackrock Foundry Mythic opens	2/10
Lunar Festival	2/16 - 3/2
Blackrock Foundry LFR wing 1 opens	2/17
Blackrock Foundry LFR wing 2 opens	2/24
Darkmoon Faire	3/1 - 3/8
Blackrock Foundry LFR wing 3 opens	3/10
Blackrock Foundry LFR wing 4 opens	3/24