Curse

Lunarhound · May 10, 2005, 12:18 PM // 12:18

I've mentioned this a few times before, but never in its own thread. Has it been brought up anywhere else? I wasn't really certain what to search for, so I couldn't find a topic specifically related to it.

The more I play, the more I think that the game would really benefit from a form of chat in town allowing us to communicate only with those in our immediate area (say, within 100 feet or so), rather than everyone in the district. As it stands, starting conversations with strangers is extremely awkward. You either have to spam the entire district with whatever it is you're talking about, or send whispers, which limits you to one person. It would be great to be able to walk around town and see little groups of people gathered together, chatting individually instead of this one big constant mess of spam on All. Adding a form of chat with limited range may help turn towns into true social hubs. The All channel should stay, of course, but not as the sole means of public communication.

Holoman · May 10, 2005, 01:34 PM // 13:34

Yeah, currently the chat system is more like shout in EQ where everyone in the zone can see what you're saying. I agree that they should add a chat type that only the people around you can see what you're saying.

Vangor · May 10, 2005, 02:13 PM // 14:13

Most areas are within such a close proximity that this would be almost useless. Only in those others are people necessarily far enough away that you could do it this way, and then, join up in a team, be in a guild, or send em whipsers for direct person to person, since if you're picking up on something then I'd bet you're right next to everyone else. In Ascalon, everything is too tightly knit for this to help, Lion's Arch would have half the people missing stuff but you'd still get a whole lot, Henge you have the section which has nothing and the section which has a bit, then Amnoon I guess is the only suitable locale.

Plus, no one really cares if you spam the all channel between three people or more, direct conversations should be whisper, and you did say chatting individually.

Besides, another channel for this kind of thing...people barely know how to use whisper when speaking, the complexities of moving off to the side is too far beyond them.

Defafnyr · May 10, 2005, 02:59 PM // 14:59

Yea, the chat system is the only thing that I don't like about the game. I'd like to be able to separate my guild-chat, say, and whisper channels into different windows. With all the spam in towns the the melee spam out of them, I OFTEN miss whispers and things that go on in guild chat. Most other games give you a "ding" when you get a whisper so you can at least scroll back and see what someone said rather than them thinking you're ignoring them becuase you missed it buried in all the melee/say spam.

Also would be nice if we could have player made chat channels.

Ramus · May 10, 2005, 03:33 PM // 15:33

With all the advertising that it would be the greatest mmorpg etc etc, they really left out the biggest part about a mmorpg (even though they now call it a corpg) The SOCIAL aspect of the game. They need to fix up the chats a bit, add a few more emotes, maybe a few roleplaying districts.

Deagol · May 10, 2005, 04:38 PM // 16:38

Did ArenaNet ever claim Guild Wars would be a MMORPG? In all the interviews I have seen they call it a CORPG (competitive-orpg).

Lunarhound · May 11, 2005, 12:28 AM // 00:28

Exactly what "kind" of game Guild Wars is, is irrelevant. The point is that a form of chat that gives people the option of having seperate public conversations in the same area, without them all getting muddled together, would help the social aspect of the game immensely. And, MMORPG or not, ArenaNet has always said they want to encourage social interraction between players. The cities are not too small to accomodate something like this. Ascalon and many other public areas are quite sizeable, and having no way to speak with those in the immediate vicinity without broadcasting the conversation to people far offscreen is extremely awkward. Guild Wars is a great game in terms of gameplay, but chat is, at the moment, very barebones and could stand to see a lot of improvement. A form of public communication with limited range and, as someone said earlier, player created chat channels would do go a long way.

NiGht_HaWk · May 11, 2005, 01:16 AM // 01:16

Quote:

Originally Posted by Defafnyr

Yea, the chat system is the only thing that I don't like about the game. I'd like to be able to separate my guild-chat, say, and whisper channels into different windows. With all the spam in towns the the melee spam out of them, I OFTEN miss whispers and things that go on in guild chat. Most other games give you a "ding" when you get a whisper so you can at least scroll back and see what someone said rather than them thinking you're ignoring them becuase you missed it buried in all the melee/say spam.

Also would be nice if we could have player made chat channels.

There is a built-in filter where you can block a whole channel completely. Like for example when there is a lot of spam in the All channel, i can simply uncheck the box in the chat window and it is all filtered out. Its very useful when you dont want to hear the all channel spam and hear guild chat/team chat.

Lunarhound · May 11, 2005, 01:38 AM // 01:38

That doesn't solve the problem, though, it simply allows players to ignore it. I usually find that I'm forced to spend all my time with All filtered out, to avoid the spam. I have conversations only with my guild. If GW is attempting to foster communication (and ArenaNet has claimed that it is), that shouldn't be necessary. But I also like having conversations with strangers without being forced to either send a private message to one single individual, or else have the entire district hear me saying hello to the person standing next to me.

And that's what it's all about, really. I'd like to be able to say hello, publicly, to the person standing next to me without everyone in the entire district hearing it. I'd like to have a conversation with people standing nearby without bothering everyone else, but still have it be out loud so that people passing by us can hear what we're talking about. It's a pretty simple thing, really, but I have a feeling that it would help the social aspect of the game immensely. At the moment, they're far too limited.

LiquidLithium · May 11, 2005, 04:22 PM // 16:22

want to talk and only have a select few hear you?

team with them and use the team say.

Nicholai Phoenix · May 11, 2005, 09:50 PM // 21:50

Okay, if they do make it dependent on how far you are, then when you are whispering with someone, if someone else is RIGHT next to you, they should be able to hear it. And I wouldn't want that.

I don't see why you people keep saying that there is a lot of spam in the 'all' chat, for me its mostly the trade chat, I keep seeing WTB blah balh WTS blah blah WTT blah blah and frankly I can care less most of the time. And also the emote chat, THAT should be only to the people around you, cause its not like someone across the city can actully see/hear you do that.

ManadartheHealer · May 12, 2005, 01:37 AM // 01:37

The only real spamming/problems I see going on is with Trade chat/emotes.

So many people spam in trade channel. We already said we don't want to buy your crap for an excessive price, so shut up

. And with emotes, they should only be for the people around you, as someone on the other side of town cannot see you laugh, wave, dance, etc. Also, I see (at random points in time) large "nude" dances around the fire in Ascalon city. Not really a problem, per se, just random.

johnnylange · May 12, 2005, 03:23 AM // 03:23

I'd have to say that if you want to chat privately then whisper. Otherwise having distance controlled chat will require you to run trying to find that person that you want to chat with...in this game how would u measure feet, inches, etc? That's something that would make a minor annoyance and turn it into a royal pain in the *** However I do agree with having seperate chat windows for whispers and the general chatters. Or like the other person said, party up! Also they could add a fitter to ignore emotes, Yeah you'll still see them, but you don't have to hear them atleast.

Lunarhound · May 12, 2005, 05:05 AM // 05:05

Running toward someone wouldn't be required. The All channel would still exist, for those who wanted to use it. I'm simply saying that, in addition to All, a channel that allows people to communicate with anyone within a limited range would be a nice addition. Forming team chat with strangers simply to talk to a group of people privately isn't practical. When someone invites someone else to a team, it's automatically assumed that they want to leave town for a quest, mission, etc. Plus, the number of people that can chat in a team channel can be extremely limited, depending on where you are.

I doubt something like this would be very complicated. It's been implemented in plenty of online games before now, particularly RPG's, and has never caused any problems or confusion.