"You need Voice Chat to do Coil"

[InVizO]

Yes, obviously you should be able to afford a $50-$100 a month phone bill for a service that you're contractually locked into and have to pass a credit check to obtain if you have the money to afford a $10-$13 a month FFXIV subscription that you can cancel anytime!

You are not locked into anything, but dont feel bad most America views it the way you do. You can pay a pro-rated $250 cancellation at any time to get out, which btw is FREE if you sell your smartphone on the Internet.

We are not speaking about $50-100, just the added premium for the data package which is next to nothing on top of what you already pay to have A phone number.

There are 3 Million more active smartphones in the US than their are people in the US right now. Lol you made a personal choice not be part of the 102%

[Lucavern]

Words spoken in a video I watched. For me that's not a big deal, as I have both a phone and a desktop. But this has me wondering, if said quote is a requirement, why isn't it in the game???

I apologize if anyone has already stated this, but one of the main reasons is that many companies do not want the added burden of dealing with the additional communication method. It requires further resources to be able to process this depending on implementation (either on client or server), and then they could arguably be held accountable for what people say over it. Have you listened to the voice chat in games that have voice integrated? Its usually not even worth turning on a headset. Its easier to let communities use an established voice chat solution and manage it themselves.

[Astarica]

Voice chat is only really useful for very top end. If you're trying to win a corporate sponsorship for your FC sure use voice chat. Due to the game's built in server lag, one of the key advantage of voice chat, which is to allow someone to tell another person position time-sensitive information, is completely lost. According to your screen, nobody else ever dodged an AE anyway so therefore you cannot possibly tell anyone anything useful in real time based on your screen. Non time-sensitive information (e.g. when adds spawn) can be done by simple macros with less room for error, since you already wrote down the correct solution ahead of time instead of having to think about it on the fly. It is useful if you're planning on an ugly win where exactly one person was still standing right as the boss died, but that's generally not how you want to start planning your raids.

[C-croft]

Yeah price matching at best buy a $1999 TV the other week down to $1750. Did my phone just pay for itself? Yes it did.
The utility is what I'm referring to.

Not really, but that is still a good find. The fact is, you can find that information all sorts of ways without resorting to buying a cell phone, thereby increasing your money saved. Even if you were to take that $250 to buy out your contract, you are actually losing more money by staying with a smart phone. At that point, it would be best for you to buy another phone. That way, you are at least justifying the subsidized phone pricing. Although, you are correct a smart phone has quite a bit of functionality. Some people can afford to play FFXIV based on the fact they don't have to pay $30 a month for a janky data plan on a janky phone plan for a janky carrier.

[C-croft]

You are not locked into anything, but dont feel bad most America views it the way you do. You can pay a pro-rated $250 cancellation at any time to get out, which btw is FREE if you sell your smartphone on the Internet.

We are not speaking about $50-100, just the added premium for the data package which is next to nothing on top of what you already pay to have A phone number.

There are 3 Million more active smartphones in the US than their are people in the US right now. Lol you made a personal choice not be part of the 102%

Honest non-trolling question. Do you pay your own bills? As in live on your own, etc.?

[Eekiki]

You are not locked into anything, but dont feel bad most America views it the way you do. You can pay a pro-rated $250 cancellation at any time to get out, which btw is FREE if you sell your smartphone on the Internet.

We are not speaking about $50-100, just the added premium for the data package which is next to nothing on top of what you already pay to have A phone number.

There are 3 Million more active smartphones in the US than their are people in the US right now. Lol you made a personal choice not be part of the 102%

I live the cellular industry practically.

So it's obvious you have an ulterior motive here. What you're doing is bordering on advertising for your job. Please stop.

[C-croft]

So it's obvious you have an ulterior motive here. What you're doing is bordering on advertising for your job. Please stop.

I wouldn't say this is anything like advertising to be honest. It's a topic for debate if anything. Probably doesn't belong on the FFXIV forums in regards to the cellular industry, but hardly advertising.

But since you did quote him stating he practically lives in the cellular industry, and going back to that original comment, smartphones have been free up front, but you are paying the subsidized cost in your phone plan. Which is not free at all. In fact without upgrading, you will still be paying for a phone well after your contract period ends. While I have a smartphone, I am lucky enough to have a grandfathered unlimited plan with Verizon, and believe me, I get my monies worth every month on my data plan. Over 10 GB's worth some months. Never did that until they required people to go to 2GB plans telling people they would save money this way. This is why you shouldn't treat all your customers like sheep.

[Parodine]

Smartphones are also contributing to crappy social skills and a lack of common courtesy in a lot of people, which is why some people have resisted the shift.

But I guess if you're requiring people to have voice chat for 'serious' raiding in an MMO, that isn't exactly your priority.

[Rivienne]

Back to the subject at hand. Some of us do better with text. Audio is a distraction not a help. All this really means is that I won't ever be running end game with those people who "require" VC.

In another thread on this subject someone mentioned they run coil with a group that has two members without chat. To accommodate they use macros and marking. And honestly, did anyone out there get from coil 1 to 5 on the first try going in blind with or without VC?

Whether you start announcing patterns over audio, or add them to a macro and trigger them, you get the same effect. If you are a person who isn't good at reading on screen text and playing, then maybe audio is preferable for you, in which case I can see the argument for having in game voice chat support. But I don't think it should ever be considered a hard requirement.

Even BG on turn 5 what they did with audio, could have easily been done with macros. Clearly they prefer audio, and I have no problem with that. But there was nothing they did that needed to be audio.

[Ri_ri]

I've never experienced this first hand but I know it's there and no not for any games, just games that require you to hold your own or you'll harm everyone. BC is also story related, what if I love the story and only want to play through the turns not for gear but lore. After working 9-5 why do players have to be subjected to work as hard at what should be entertainment?

Some of us are stoic I get that, you play through the pain. But you're not the only audience here. This option is not the best option IMO.

Really, Coil has story?
I didn't knew that. I thought it was just some cool place with Bahamut's name on it. Suddenly I feel a lot less excited about this game.

WoW learned the hard way that hiding lore behind raiding is a bad idea, and made LFR. Then comes FFXIV and copies the old horrible, exclusive model. So, people who can't commit to a schedule, don't want or can't use voice chat, or is just bad a remembering and executing silly mechanics, won't see what's there to see?
Are we in 2003 or something?