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All of the latest Mists of Pandaria newsBreakfast 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 5 of 5)
Quidamtyra Mar 19th 2009 4:31PM
I'm not a raid leader, but an officer. I can say this: it's really annoying when we are doing a fight (say... 3drake?) and people who shouldn't be talking are calling out flame tsunamis, doing death counts or anything else of the sort.
My guild is pretty relaxed but has a huge problem with loud mouths and people who just won't shut up! I hope they see this article and take something from it.
I don't mind joking around during trash, or even farm content. But progression content (like 3drake) I wish people would just be quiet and let officers call out what needs to be called out, others calling events out has often times wiped the raid because everyone does what that one person says.
There are definitely in/appropriate times to joke and to be quiet.
Tziva Mar 19th 2009 4:38PM
This is a very bitter topic for me. I have long raided with groups where half the raid was very social on vent and the other half wanted peace and quiet. Most of the people in the former category did not mean to be obnoxious and just genuinely did not realise how much they were talking or who they were talking over (like the raider leader).
I am in the camp who hates chatter on Vent during raid time. I don't care if it's just trash or a boss we have on farm: if I don't NEED to hear it, I don't want to. It may not be distracting to you to talk, but it's distracting to a lot of us to listen, often including my healers. I want to hear my in-game sounds and otherwise have a nice, relaxing time participating in my favourite hobby.
I resent that I have to mute half my raid -- and risk missing important info -- just to be able to play comfortably. Furthermore, I find it really rude that people think it's okay to yammer on to a captive audience about whatever they feel like talking about. Just because 24 people have to listen to you talk about your favourite American Idol contestant doesn't mean we want to. Many people seem to be under the mistaken impression that they are funny or cute or we want to hear their gnome impressions every night but the reality is that no one finds them amusing but themselves.
I am all for being social during raid time. Raiding is supposed to be fun; it's not a job. Also, if everyone is on good, friendly terms with one another, any problems that may arise later are a lot less painless to work out. However, I reallyreallyreally wish more people had the self control to limit it to typing and leave vent open and clear for instructions, important fight call-outs and loot distribution.
Namus Mar 19th 2009 5:01PM
In my guild is usually chat, jokes and fun on trash, clear vent on bosses, my RL friends and me have key bindings so we can all talk to each other and not disrupting the raid's attention (besides we speak spanish so nobody would understand us anyway).
A bit off topic here: I really really hate when people start posting the recount results in raid chat after every single pull! damn that's annoying!
Aresia Mar 19th 2009 6:16PM
"the raidleader probably won't appreciate you trying to play some "Safety Dance" over Vent during Heigan's dance-off."
It is actually required that our OT plays "Safety Dance" over Vent during the Heigan fight. So far we've only lost 1 person during the fight while it's been playing. Pugs love us for getting them the achievement and for the fact that we reduce the fight to a joke.
The last time we didn't play it, we wiped. Coincidence?
Akeber Mar 20th 2009 10:30AM
Joking and carrying on in 10 mans can be okay, if you know the group and everyone knows the fights. In 25s there are just too many "comedians". No, you're not as funny as you think you are, keep vent clear.
The raid doesn't need to hear when is "down". We don't care, shut up and let the rest of us kill the boss.
The raid doesn't need announcements about the current level of the boss's health. There is nothing anyone should be doing differently whether the boss is at 20% or 2%. For some reason it always seems to be the afore mentioned dead DPSer that feels the need to "contribute" this "vital" information.
There are 24 other people in the channel, there is a good chance that half of them don't share your taste in trance/hiphop/country/etc., don't play it in vent.
Akeber Mar 20th 2009 10:33AM
Hmmm. Part of my paragraph dissapeared:
The raid doesn't need to hear when "insert random DPS that had no specific job" is "down". We don't care, shut up and let the rest of us kill the boss.
vocenoctum Mar 20th 2009 2:59PM
I'm not in a guild, currently, but I do have Vent for when a group insists on it. I don't have a microphone, and in general don't feel I need to comment as Random DPS Guy #7.
But, what I hate with Vent is when you're in a mostly guild group. When you're #5 to help four guys do a dungeon, and they just keep up chatter. Meanwhile complaining if you don't have vent. It's just irksome.
What I would like to know is how often a self-healer should worry about health. My warlock heals as part of his normal spells, but my boomkin needs to drop form to cast some heals. I'm not worried about the DPS "chart" in this case, just wondering what the expectations are.