I agree that local chat needs to be "local". I'm hearing conversations that are very far from me and really, what's the point? 15 meters is probably too restrictive, I'm thinking about a quarter zone so I believe that would be 256 squared meters. Even smaller would be fine.
If someone in local is spouting nonsense they think is funny, they should be close so I can kill them.
Pretty sure I read somewhere local chat will be reduced. Any confirmations/links anybody?
How far could you realistically communicate with someone via sound? 100m? 200? 300 meters?
9 zones is pretty ridiculous to expect everyone in those zones to have good manners about.
Specifically people are just too lazy, or the game is not set up right, for people to constantly type /w nameA blahblahblah and /w nameB ablabhlbah. and /s blahblahblah /t blahblah.
I don't mind, because I usually consider the fact I might be pissing off a ton of people when I speak in /s no matter what I say.
But clearly for the average person the system is cumbersome at best, and at worst encourages chat spam.