Idea: Positional IRC
For the purposes of this suggestion, I am using IRC to mean the chat capabilities built into the game. I am not referring to the IRC protocol itself.
Maybe it is too late to implement this idea, because maybe Ashes expects us to communicate purely through our microphones, but I, for one, still like using the chat capabilities within the game. One thing I have always wondered is why this communication was not embedded into the game more deeply, and along these lines, I would ask the community to consider what I call Positional IRC.
Imagine going into a tavern, and all the conversations in that space become visible to the player in the chat, but are slightly garbled, and slightly greyed out, depending on the distance the player is from the conversation. As the player moves closer to any one conversation, the garbling becomes less garbled, and the color of the text becomes more solid. So as you get closer or farther from a talking source, it becomes easier to understand. Now imagine that a player WANTS to hear a particular conversation, and they cast a passive spell that makes the garbling go away. Or suppose some players decide to have a private conversation, and cast a passive spell that makes their words MORE garbled in the chat.
Considering this is an RPG, unless people chat as if they are in a Renaissance Fair, the immersion dimension is lost in most MMORPG chat windows. The concept I am describing gives chat a practical immersive reason for being there. This could also tie into language, which is almost ignored in most MMORPGs. Imagine you walk into that same tavern, and different species are communicating in different languages. Again, a spell, (or if you just happen to have the skill of knowing another language), makes those conversations readable.
I think you get the idea, so what do you think? And this system could be in tandem with other tabs in the chat window tied to the normal communications from the devs for system maintenance. Communication to your squad might require a crafted item. World chat by another crafted item.
Thoughts?
Taylors
