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Phase I of Alpha Two testing will occur on weekends. Each weekend is scheduled to start on Fridays at 10 AM PT and end on Sundays at 10 PM PT. Find out more here.
Check out Alpha Two Announcements here to see the latest Alpha Two news and update notes.
Our quickest Alpha Two updates are in Discord. Testers with Alpha Two access can chat in Alpha Two channels by connecting your Discord and Intrepid accounts here.
Every encounter doesn't need to end in PVP
Kaishang
Member, Alpha Two
I have played Mortal Online 2 a few times with friends. It's very PVP-focused. The group I play with are PvErs with some PVP when needed to defend ourselves. Having the optional VOIP really change some of our confrontations with other players. Many times we were able to trade and become online friends just because of the option to speak. Things move very fast when meeting other players not know their true intention. I know some fellow players don’t like open comms, which I totally understand, but with the ability to turn off or on (with the default being off) we can experience some emergent gameplay rather than just ending with pvp. I’m really looking forward to the caravans, being on either side of things. 
5
Comments
You choose who you help, who you ally with and who you become friends with, instead of queuing up for a 20min instanced run and not say a word (I am playing ff14 2 days now. Havent said a word to anyone), or ignoring EVERYONE while you do one easy quest chain after another.
You choose who you fight, who you mark as a kill-on-sight, who you go to war with, as opposed to queuing up in a bg, fight for 15min, or force to fight blue or yellow or red alliance, or Horde or Alliance.
Real human interaction, guild gameplay, player driven story.
Exactly!... Many times we were outnumbered and no way could have escaped, but using “charisma
My pvp gaming experiance comes from a totally different background. We use comms all the time, in fact we hop in comms before we hop in game to get a update of whats happening. For me it would be unthinkable to use a non secure (passworded with background checks if your not a spy before your allowed to enter) in a game of what i hope Ashes will become for my player group. So we'll still be using that most likely.
That said, Voip is a low entry form towards such systems, so i'll give you a +1
If it's easily implemented and not gonna push the development back by an insane amount I believe it would be a nice addition to the game. However I would not say it's a must have.
If the game doesn't have it, it means players can make that first introduction via text, and then move seamlessly to voice chat simply by inviting the people to a group (or inviting a group to a raid).
Most players are not going to turn off group/raid voice chat, so this should always be an option.
The option to meet with text is still there with VOIP. I'm not sure how many people will keep it muted but it's a more convenient way to communicate which means more people will communicate then if it wasn't present which I see as a positive in a social game.
You type with the same input device you use to control your character. Not only do you have to use your keyboard but also your hands. You can use voice without stopping control your character. It's also something you can take in with your ears, instead of your eyes which you use more often to control and react in-game.
To type you have to stop controlling your character and to read what is being typed, you usually have to look away from what your character is doing.
When something is more convenient to use, people are more likely to use it.
That's a fair point.
VOIP would enable sending messages without the use of hands --> no need to leave yourself defenseless for that duration.
VOIP would enable receiving messages without the use of eyes --> better control of character cuz we dnt need to read the message.
VOIP makes communicating far more convenient than the default solution of typing everything and managing different chat windows for different chats like guild chat, node chat, world chat along with talking to friends.
So I believe other than extremely casual/new players, most people would have it on. After all, convenience always wins. Moreover it shouldn't be very hard to implement.
It's not proximity-based.
Dunno if it will be available outside of a party/raid/guild/siege.
In the end we did it, both had low hp, so i kill them and can t stop launghing all night..
However, I am not against toggleable proximity VOIP. It won't make any difference to me, as long as it doesn't hurt the game performance.
But in Ashes I don't know if it would work equally as good, I very much doubt it.
If you want voice comms with your team, the out of game voice call ecosystem is probably the healthiest it's been. Or learn to type real quick between actions.
This is not an example of MMO but it is a good example of what VOIP can generate
In an MMO, the people that are not casual don't care what some random passer by has to say.
Most people that are actually in to MMO's will log in to their guilds voice chat at the same time they log in to the game, and will not use voice chat at all.
In fact, in my experience, most (not all, but most) people that are in to MMO's turn all sounds off from the game completely.
So, your assertion thatnit is only casuals that will turn it off is blatantly incorrect. Casuals are the most likely people to use it, as they are the least likely to have existing guild chat.
Within my friend groups everyone that plays stuff like rust or new world all use guild voice chat, true, but they also leave in game voice chat on. Basically have a press to talk for your discord to mute your mic on discord whenever you speak in the game. It's the best of both worlds.
In a game like Rust, sure.
In a game like Archeage - not as likely.
Keep in mind, after a few months, you'll know most of the people in the area/time you frequent.
Rust is my example of why proximity chat is so horrible.
I disagree, but I’m curious as to what your argument is. 20+ years of mmos with TS, Vent, and Discord haven’t run into a need for proximity chat, which 9/10 times is just noise.
My opinion is similar to yours but with the addition that diversity generates more diversity and that's why I say that not having it would be more damaging than having it.
It is not that it is 100% necessary, right now, in the past there have been many other ways to communicate as you have exemplified but that does not mean that VOIP should not be, it is like removing a tool that could have a function at a specific time, and since we are talking about AoC that will have a lot of social content, I guess at some point it will be the time to use VOIP.
I must admit that I am very influenced by RUST's VOIP , and I understand the point of view of @dygz, many times VOIP is used in a way that generates more toxicity than sociability, that is understandable but that does not mean that ALL the moment generates toxicity or it is not necessary to have it, there will be times when it will be necessary, removing it from my point of view is removing an option that could be used correctly (as incorrectly, I do not deny it) and generate a more sociable environment.
For instance :
Let's imagine a mission where necessarily a group of people should communicate, out of a group of 16 people, 14 are in the same discord, the other 2 should get that discord to communicate. With VOIP that process would be much easier, it is not 100% used but for certain times where you need quick communication with people you don't know if it is useful.
Of course, we must also take into account the work that will lead to the AoC system having a VOIP, if it is not profitable in terms of development to have a VOIP in an MMO like AoC then VOIP is not necessary even if you have the possibility of losing those interactions.
These are all excellent discussion topics, and spur further discussion for the betterment of the game from a community perspective. So sure, you and everyone you know doesn't enjoy it, but some people do. The Universe of opinions is vast, with all weighted equally.
Personally, I think VOIP is an incredible mode for RP to be taken to a whole new level. Before you say, "Hey, Ashes isn't a dedicated RP game", remember it is an MMO-RPG. The RP still stands for roleplaying
*EDIT* I realize after re-reading that people are discussing proximity VoIP and not VoIP as a whole. My bad, thought I understood but I was wrong. My comment on others disregarding opinions now applies to myself alone