Quick Poll on Microphones

[Molly_Millions]

Its funny the amount of people who say things like "Mumble or GTFO" but they have no concept of the type of different playing environments being used. I think they must be loners who sit in a room and yell at the computer all night.

You caught me. I sit in a basement with my cheeto crusted fingers screaming at my monitor for days at a time. I prefer to do so without pants btw.

[Luluna]

impossible to be serious about raiding in the modern MMO era without using some sort of voice chat

Isn't that stereotyping?

I don't use voicechat and im very serious about endgame...i know it makes things easier but i like a challenge i don't mind those that like using it but i prefer not too and i have enjoyed endgame content many times.

[Andrien]

I don't think its necessary but it does make communicating easier.

I have a built in mic, and I prefer to just listen. Some people are just better listeners.

[fusional]

Isn't that stereotyping?

no, it's looking realistically at an ever-increasing requirement for timing and coordination in battle content with an ever-increasing degree of environmental hazards, movement elements and general difficulty. fights in modern MMOs aren't like fights in XI. you generally can't just read chat and react accordingly strictly on your own.

imagine in pro football you have a quarterback barking plays and audibles to his team at the line of scrimmage. the defense isn't forced to appoint a linebacker to talk to his team and tell them where to go or what to do, but if they don't- they're at a severe disadvantage and generally can't be as competitive as the team which does.

(and i reference pro sports because they're dead serious about winning)

[SkyeWindbinder]

no, it's looking realistically at an ever-increasing requirement for timing and coordination in battle content with an ever-increasing degree of environmental hazards, movement elements and general difficulty. fights in modern MMOs aren't like fights in XI. you generally can't just read chat and react accordingly strictly on your own.

imagine in pro football you have a quarterback barking plays and audibles to his team at the line of scrimmage. the defense isn't forced to appoint a linebacker to talk to his team and tell them where to go or what to do, but if they don't- they're at a severe disadvantage and generally can't be as competitive as the team which does.

(and i reference pro sports because they're dead serious about winning)

Really, even with chat, a group can lose horribly. The ability to talk shouldn't matter if the group is bad, and not having a mic shouldn't matter if your group is good. And neither should matter if you're having fun.

[Almalexia]

no, it's looking realistically at an ever-increasing requirement for timing and coordination in battle content with an ever-increasing degree of environmental hazards, movement elements and general difficulty. fights in modern MMOs aren't like fights in XI. you generally can't just read chat and react accordingly strictly on your own.

I've seen BG's Darnus video and you all say exactly the same things as I do, except I type it: "adjust" "up" "down" "now." It's hardly a barrier between the "dead serious" and the apparently not-so-serious, since I consider Darnus a prime example of environmental hazards, movement elements and general difficulty.

I don't think there's anything wrong with voice chat, but it's not the critical game element you're making it out to be.

[Orophin]

I never used voice chat in FFXI, because frankly the pace of battle was so slow that it wasn't even needed. That and nobody I was playing with wanted to use it, so it never was a point of contention.

In WoW, the guild I was in required it for raids just to listen to instructions. Most of the time my mic was muted in the 25 man stuff. In 10 man stuff I was a tank so I used it a bit more frequently then. After I got kind of close-knit with my 10 man group and some of the other members of the guild, I'd use voice chat a little more socially.

Going forward to FFXIV, most of the people I played with were from FFXI, so again, I never used it. The pace of battle was still slow enough that you could type out what you were trying to get across. I'm not sure how things will play out in ARR though. The pace of battle looks faster and more button-mashy, so it'll be hard to type in between abilities and moving around.

[fusional]

Really, even with chat, a group can lose horribly

with godlike gear people can lose. with the most skilled players in the universe, things can still go wrong. does this mean gear doesn't help? does this mean having skill doesn't matter? so what's your point? voice chat is the same. it increases the potential for success by giving the potential for faster, more effective communication. why would anyone even try to argue against that?

I've seen BG's Darnus video and you all say exactly the same things as I do, except I type it: "adjust" "up" "down" "now." It's hardly a barrier between the "dead serious" and the apparently not-so-serious, since I consider Darnus a prime example of environmental hazards, movement elements and general difficulty.

I don't think there's anything wrong with voice chat, but it's not the critical game element you're making it out to be.

oh jesus christ here we go again. "whatever you're no different, it's pretty much the same for us"

that's fine, though. don't consider all the variables in your argument. don't see it objectively. argue from a position of bias because you don't like voice chat. that's cool. i'm not even opening this can of worms.

[Vilhem]

I don't think it's crucial/necessary for raids...I mean yeah it makes things easier, but I've done speed runs, garuda, ifrit etc without v-chat at all

[Mattia]

I prefer text chat when I'm not really doing anything in game. When my shell and I are doing an event though voice chat kind of feels like a must.