Breakfast Topic: To talk or not to talk on Ventrilo
by Mike Schramm 
Mar 19th 2009 at 8:00AM
I like Ambrosyne's Vent chart, even if it is a little harsh. It's true, when you're not part of the raid leadership (and especially when you're a talker like me), it's sometimes a little hard to tell whether it's ok to try and crack a joke in the middle of the raid on Vent or not. Usually: no. I've learned the same thing by my own experience -- no matter how easy the fights are or how your guild is doing, the raidleader probably won't appreciate you trying to play some "Safety Dance" over Vent during Heigan's dance-off.However, in my experience, there usually is a place for joking during raids, and it's the guild chat channel. Actually, that's where I do most of my communicating -- I leave the Vent chat open for raidleaders to address the whole raid with the actually important stuff, and the rest of us hang around in the peanut gallery of raid chat, grats'ing each other on good loot and slipping in some commentary for the raid. You've got to have fun, right?
Raidleaders, are there any good times to open up Vent and let everybody talk? And everybody else: have there been problems in your raids thanks to an unwanted Vent outburst, or does your guild pretty much understand that silence is golden?
Filed under: Fan stuff, Guilds, Odds and ends, Blizzard, Breakfast Topics, Raiding, Hardware
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 5)
Sinthar Mar 19th 2009 8:07AM
in my guild - when the tactics are being read - silence is golden. Rest of the time, we have a humourous pally singing, sound clips and music (from the GM), and ofc a laugh is obligatory for a good raid
notworksafe Mar 19th 2009 12:14PM
Same here. If instructions are being given, we stay quiet. Otherwise, it's pretty much anything goes.
Kakistocracy Mar 19th 2009 4:29PM
Yeah, vent is handy for explaining things faster, but it's not like wrath has any fights people need to told what to do for. The closest might be something like Grob, but really, if people can't figure out when they need to move on their own...
So I don't understand why some people demand silence from the raid party for farmed content, certainly makes it less fun, and I can't see that being the goal.
Deadly. Off. Topic. Mar 19th 2009 4:35PM
Agreed.
Sinthar Mar 20th 2009 5:58AM
@ kakistocacy
Probably because were a large social guild. So while we have it on farm for the majority of players, we always seem to have 2-3 new ppl in our runs also while we gear em up for the heroic versions. Basically training runs. But yeah when we got everyone on thats done it before - tactics are 'KIELLL' and thats about all. THEN theres nothing BUT fun on Vent (or TS in our case)
Thebum Mar 19th 2009 8:14AM
In my previous guild we had problems with people who kept interrupting the raid leaders during important fights and it slowed our progress quite a lot that people just couldn't keep quiet during a fight like Felmyst for example. When everyone screams "beam on top/middle/bottom" at the same time you can't hear what's said and you risk getting mind controlled and killed. In my new guild people are usually quiet on vent during boss fights and only talk during trash, this works a lot better and is usually more fun for everyone too as we don't need to be angry at the interrupters.
Sagara Mar 19th 2009 8:15AM
I RL my guild's run, and honestly, apart from the small "Reminder Minute" before each boss, it's pretty much FFA (easier on 10-man, than on 25 though).
Hell, I remember opening a fight on Horreb with a Mario-like "Yahoo!" We probably weren't at 100% efficiency, but boy was everyone back the next week :)
David Whyld Mar 19th 2009 8:17AM
To be honest, I'd be happier if my guild stopped using vent altogether. There's nothing more annoying than trying to tank a boss with half the guild chatting about every random subject under the sun.
zappo Mar 19th 2009 9:29AM
Then just put it on mute. I've never seen people even say much that is useful on vent aside from explanations. Usually it's just "run" or "watch out for the fire". None of which is all that surprising, I mean this stuff is scripted. So I just put it on mute and listen to music. My guild also knows this, so they just message me to un-mute when they need to have a chat with me. The main tank in our guild does the same thing actually.
smcn Mar 19th 2009 10:41AM
Vent truly is optional in most cases. Before my subscription ran out, I did a full clear of Naxx25 (a pug no less!) with the "main" vent muted while being on a second vent with a couple friends who were in the same run just shooting the !@#$ through the entire thing. I did try to explain the positioning for melee on KT (since most of them including the RL and MT had never done it on heroic) but I was basically completely ignored. We 1-shot him anyways.
When I resub and start up a guild it's definitely going to be vent-optional.
exiled247 Mar 19th 2009 11:41AM
Vent allows for multiple channels... My guild has a specific channel for dungeons/raids. Granted there's random chatter in that channel during dungeons/raids, but that's only during downtime when mana and health is being replinished...
Wrar Mar 19th 2009 8:20AM
Our guild only uses Vent as a social tool. It makes for a lot more fun and much better players.
jerzz80 Mar 19th 2009 3:28PM
I am a pug raider. And I dont mind vent for both informative and entertainment purposes. I realize the WOW community is made up of people with bad social skills, but we are playing a game here. Theres times to be serious and times its ok to be a human.
Ill tell you what Im not a fan of....People that just pop on vent to say things like "whoa!" "man hit hits hard". Those items dont help from a constructive perspective and certainly dont have any entertainment/social value.
My Vent rules...if its funny or informative, go for it. But if u jsut want to here urself through ur speakers/headphones, zip it.
Zythern Mar 19th 2009 8:21AM
I think it depends on the size of the raid, and what is really expected out of the raid.
In a 25 man raid, if people were constantly cracking jokes, I would be annoyed when I needed to relay important information. With 10 man raids, it is much easier to get a word in without talking over someone. Obviously there are circumstances that nullify this, but this is a generalization.
Also, if the guild is working on progression, I believe most people come to their senses and quiet down, however, if its something trivial, people feel more comfortable to talk. Obviously there are places where the raid leader needs to be heard, but generally if its on farm, most people already know that I am about to say Locust Swarm.
Thirdly, it depends on the atmosphere. I run with roughly the same 10-12 people every week. We know each other pretty well. Some of us talk too much, some of us make jokes when I need to relay instructions. But its also expected, we are there to have fun. I think this is the biggest factor. How comfortable the raid and raid leader coexist well running. I like the safety dance over vent during Heigan. It's funny, but I can understand why someone else would disapprove of it.
Esoteroth Mar 19th 2009 8:23AM
I think what you can do when on Vent totally depends on your guild, my guilds a tight nit group whos been together since Vanilla and we're constantly joking about something I remember Onx back in the day when one of our guildies was yelling don't burn me baby over vent the whole time
Shardrell Mar 19th 2009 8:26AM
My 10-person raid jokes around a lot in Vent, but since we're all adults and have reasonable social skills, everyone knows when it's time to chat and when we need to concentrate on hitting the bosses. It's really not rocket science, and Vent chatter has never hindered our progress.
Bluemain Mar 19th 2009 8:31AM
On our vent its laughs and giggles for the most part (like a guild member playing chariots of fire in BWL during the slowing traps phase....had to be there) but in places like naxx and eye, it stops and goes serious for the fight briefs and the fights themselves. after we win or scrape are bloody corpes of the floor the jokes are back.
The Hammer Mar 19th 2009 8:29AM
Man, I love Vent chat. Making up jokes about the bosses whilst you're killing them? That's like, the main reason for raiding!
Emma Mar 20th 2009 12:11AM
Totally off topic, but is that a Monkey Island skull in your avatar :P?
The Hammer Mar 20th 2009 5:55AM
Yeeeeah, it is. :)