Local chat is a joke

[Jasdemi]

Xsyon, what the hell was going on in your head when you set the local chat to 9 (YES NINE) whole zones?!

Right now when I go to a neighbor, I have PM every single of them, because hundreds of players in the 9 zones would be seeing what we're talking about and possibly set us on their ignore list.

Set the local chat radius to 50m or so, BUT NOT ******* 9 zones!

This huge local chat kills the atmosphere hard.

[bOOmerDK]

Yeah, local chat should be local. Again, Realism is my thing

[Saorlan]

We have too many posts all saying the same thing.

I do however agree with you.

[Kropos]

With such a large radius, Local has become the new Global and is inevitably filled with smack talk and griefing. The only other method of communication is /w and cannot be used for a group of people in the local area. We need chat channels or something adding down the line...

I realise that there are other priorities atm and its good to see the improvements in reduction of lag, but it would be good to get some atmosphere back in the chat :)

[Heolstor]

I agree 100% with this, it's as bad as global was before.

[Escargot]

You're thinking of it as 9 zones. Try thinking of it as adjacent zones and you can see the "why" it's setup this way pretty easily. Lets you hear the guy 10 feet away from you, but on the other side of the zone line.

It's a different type of coding and resource problem if you set it up as straight proximity...and one that has the potential to create more lag between clients.

I'm not saying I wouldn't prefer a proximity based chat, but I'm not at all confused why it is the way it is.

[Larsa]

Many threads about it already, I hope the chat system is the thing the developers tackle after the current technical problems are solved. I don't even mind the current zone chat as long as we get a real local chat (say 10 or 15 meters around the talker).

[Sirius]

You're thinking of it as 9 zones. Try thinking of it as adjacent zones and you can see the "why" it's setup this way pretty easily. Lets you hear the guy 10 feet away from you, but on the other side of the zone line.

Was going to say exactly the same thing. I'll just add that measuring chat channel membership via zone is probably a lot less difficult (and resource-intensive) than actually calculating a live radius around moving players to determine what they can hear or not hear in real time. I'm assuming the devs are not going to pursue a costly solution to this "problem".

[Dade512]

Personally, I would like to see local as your zone, a trade channel that acts like the current local and an alliance chat so you talk amongst friendly tribes/people. Also, tabs so you can sort your chat.

[Sirius]

I'd also be happy with the ability to click through chat faster than 1 line per mouse click. Realistically, if somebody said something half an hour ago, it's gone, unless you want to spend 5 minutes clicking up to it, and then clicking back down to current chat/system messages so you can see what is going on.

Honestly, this interface is a joke. It's like it was designed by a student.

[bruisie159]

Keep local as it is but add option to turn it off.
Add proximity (25metres or so) chat.

Current chat system is crap.

[Dubanka]

i dont mind it being 9 zones, i just wish i could turn it off :p

and a /say would be nice.

and a /shout (zone you're in)

[Andro Bourne]

The only reason at the time I do not agree reducing the range on local would be for trading reasons, we have no official town or location where we trade only other thing we can do is add trading in the forums.

I think til something is in place we shouldnt reduce the range

[kergan]

I agree with the OP 100%. Hopefully we can get a new channel for true immediate-vicinity chat. A tremendous amount of political/RP gameplay is impossible with the current system not allowing us to walk up to a camp and speak only to the members currently in front of us. The most basic genesis of player interactions such as, "Hello the camp!", "Who goes there?", "I come in peace.", etc are completely impossible with the current system. IMO this is the worst chat system possible for a mmorpg. Hell, even the mud's I played back in the day all had short (normal) chat range channels. It's basic, it's required, and I very much hope the dev team has plans to implement a semblance of realistic communication very soon. Every aspect of player interaction is hindered by the current system.

[bruisie159]

I agree with the OP 100%. Hopefully we can get a new channel for true immediate-vicinity chat. A tremendous amount of political/RP gameplay is impossible with the current system not allowing us to walk up to a camp and speak only to the members currently in front of us. The most basic genesis of player interactions such as, "Hello the camp!", "Who goes there?", "I come in peace.", etc are completely impossible with the current system. IMO this is the worst chat system possible for a mmorpg. Hell, even the mud's I played back in the day all had short (normal) chat range channels. It's basic, it's required, and I very much hope the dev team has plans to implement a semblance of realistic communication very soon. Every aspect of player interaction is hindered by the current system.

spot on mate, its weird in a game that seems to pride itself on realism that the chat system could have been so totally overlooked.

[Chibi]

Agreed to OP, no chat all together

[Kiriath]

they should put global back, give it the restrictions local chat have now, and then make local a 100 meter radius chat.

[VeryWiiTee]

25 or even 50 might be a bit too small an area.. I'd agree with about 75 - 100m would be appropriate (remember large tribes have a vast area you need to be able to cover some of it..)

[Haunt]

I agree 100% with this, it's as bad as global was before.

Yes it is, why can I hear people talking for MILES away. And why isn't whisper easier to do? When someone whispers me I should be able to do a short command to reply. Some MMO do /r. IMO General chat should only be heard if you are in visable range of your target. Maybe 100 click radius tops. If I want to trade I should have to go to a trade hub area or seek out other tribes. Please put this in.

[Kajones]

Local, at 3x3 zones, is actually more of a Regional chat. And would be fine if that's what it was, and you could select a tab to use it or not. In addition to area trade, 'regional' chat is also useful for warning others in the area of any marauding forces approaching an area. So it has it's place.

Local should be 1 zone, or the radius broadcast. Yes Radius broadcast will take a bit of coding, but it is do-able... I've played another sandbox game very similar to this that has been using it for years now. However, even with radius type local chat, you are still going to get occurrences of one side of a conversation.

I think an ally chat is probably a good solution for neighbors to be able to converse without jarring interruptions, smack-talk from a regional narcissist or what have you.

[Zarin]

Please at least add a default 'say' chat that is for people that you can see around you. Would be nice to communicate with people around you without having to /w them - would help with realism a lot too.

[Haunt]

Please at least add a default 'say' chat that is for people that you can see around you. Would be nice to communicate with people around you without having to /w them - would help with realism a lot too.

GREAT idea

[Phazaar]

Keep local as it is, name it 'Regional'.

/whisper 10m radius
/say 25m radius
/shout 75m radius

(arbitrary numbers; don't really know distances in game too well).

Really easy to quick-code proximity in; rather than having dynamic channels (until code for that can be made), use speech bubbles (no need for scrolling chat) a la SWG. There's plenty of code for graphics appearing at certain distances, and it should not be difficult to implement this.

[Sirius]

I'd be happy with the ability to reliably reply to whispers without having to type "/w playername" on every line.

Or the ability to scroll through previous chat lines. Or any one of a number of basic interface features which this game, unsurprisingly, lacks.

[Zouharian]

The other problem with the channel being based on proximity is that you get a lot of conversations where you hear/see one side of it because one part in that conversation is within your zone, but the other is not.
If the proximity zone was much smaller this would of course be less of a problem.

[chaosegg]

Signed.

While I do love the 'intel' gained through general chat, I also hate it.

[xsuman80]

Yes. And remake chat UI - it very bad.
Hope work is going about changing.

[Dade512]

I think local at the least should cover the largest tribal area. I think there needs to be a separate channel for zone and one like the current 'local' for trading. As well as keeping tribe and adding an alliance chat to talk between friendly tribes/homesteads. Then the ability to turn channels on/off, plus tabbed chat. I know some of that would go against realism/immersion but /w doesn't always cut it.

Edit: hmmm...it appears I said part of this before. Oh well... =P

[Haladmer]

Just as long as we don't get chat bubbles...

I know there are a few people who support these being added and this has been suggested at least once in this thread and a few more times elsewhere. But really, the only true benefit is in the radius at which they are visible which would likely be the same as the radius based chat modification. This would add the hassle for the need to be looking in the direction of the speaker which, unless you read lips as your primary form of communication, would only change the break in "realism" so many are seeming to ask for.

Reduce the perception radius, add channels, but please do NOT add chat bubbles.. there is enough on my screen to watch for with out chat bubbles blocking my view (and which HAS been exploited in other games that used them and had PVP)

[Delvie]

There is already tribe chat in game. Zone chat can easily be done the same because we just join zone channels as we enter the zone. Local chat would be nice but it's not as easy to do. Current chat system is basically regional and not much different than global honestly.

Definitely need to add chat channels to the interface - to start with just give us 4 tabs - Regional (shows all), Zone (shows Zone, Tribe and Whisper), Tribe (shows Tribe and Whisper), and Whisper - let the whisper default to last person whispered unless you override it.

Most IMPORTANTLY either allow us to change the opacity or change it for everyone. I thought Red on White snow was bad, new level of agony achieved with White on White.