No world chat in Shroud is a security risk, kills newbies, and perhaps a kitten or two.

What I had in mind was for you to get a quest in solace bridge to talk to someone in say Owls head. So you start there and do a travel quest to kingsport. Then maybe a few more travel quest so you get to know some beginner areas. By this time you are already with enough skill to kill a few animals for skin to turn in for a quest. Then at the end perhaps a few crafting quests to round out the player. Now by the time they are ready to enjoy the game without the training wheels they can fend for themselves.
They know how to harvest, craft their own armor, combat etc.

As it is in the tutorial you pick up a sword and kill a few mobs and you are off to discover the rest with a lot of questions and time on the forums.

Adding global chat will just make me want to sell my account.

 

it is, actually.

just start typing. you will speak in a local channel.


here's the reason i think the Devs decided against zone/global chat: gold sellers and spammers breaking immersion. in my opinion, that is a wonderful tactic and wish more dev studios would implement it...ever since i started playing MMOs, i've turned off the global channels because that is the one thing that breaks immersion for me the most, all the out of character chatter..

 

I agree with OP. Not having in-game global or regional chat at least + an automated in-game mail system only serves to cripple the game by turning off a large demographic of players due to making communication inconvenient. Yes, IRC and the forums are nice supplements for when you can't get on the game but it's almost 2016. A game of this caliber shouldn't need to rely on primitive (albeit practical) third party programs for communication.

Some solutions to the worries:

1. Have players go through a quest chain followed by a random virtue test to gain a special item that so long as it's in their possession will enable them to use the chat. This could reduce spammers, bots, etc.

2. It might be a good compromise if the channel was only linked to the major hub cities like Ardoris, Owl's Head, Solania, Kingsport, etc. This would encourage a more cohesive community as people visit these cities to conduct their business like:
a. Find guilds
b. Ask for help
c. Find party members for dungeons

3. If someone didn't want to see the channel, there's a handy way to simply close tabs. (Hopefully the 'x' is brought back.)

 

All this stuff can be found on the forums or IRC.

 

Guess you didn't read the first paragraph?

I can list the reasons why to clarify:

1. A lot of people don't want to have other programs running in the background, especially considering Shroud currently demands so much from RAM and CPU.

2. It's silly to have to tab in and out of the game.

3. It's even sillier to have to have the windows resized and not everyone cares for dual monitors.

4. Having to download another program for communication is inconvenient.

5. The forums are not a convenient means of real-time communication.

6. IRC can be confusing to those not familiar with it or weren't using it decades ago. It is not appealing to the average user. I've had to help several a player just figure out how to send a private message.

 

Ya I read it, but its still valid despite your almost 2016 time frame. Sota does not need a world chat channel spammed with crap.

 

World Chat would also reinforce a world economy instead of a regional economy. People would be setting prices by large on a world scale, not a regional scale. The vision of the game is regional economies but yet I see people just want to ignore that major part of the game. I see large guilds and organizations lobbying for world domination already, instead of regional markets. The groups like tantalus and bmc are trying to price fix for the world economy already, and this will break regional markets. So many people fixed with the eye on the shinies instead of wanting to just play the game and let it develop organically.

 

There are a lot of things in the entertainment arena we don't need. Kanye, anything Kardashian, Bieber, MTV, oh the list is nearly endless. The solution, TURN IT OFF.

The same applies to global chat. If you don't like it, don't use it. Give it to those who do want it.

 

no, because of the reasons I stated above. Its more than ignoring it. Its about price setting and regional economies.

 

You're not going to have ANY economy if you don't have people playing the game.

 

lol!

 

fear tactic. Its your opinion. Do you have a source to back your claim up?

 

Serious, do you live in a cave? Actually I think you do.

You realize there are websites devoted to selling Shroud items? This is the Internet. The Internet is all about communicating. Next the anti-global chat people will say the world is flat and they are scared of sailing off the edge.

 

What claim? That it actually takes people to have an economy? That one speaks for itself I believe.

Or did you mean claiming that not having a global chat will hinder the game? I can tell you of three four people that have given up on it because communication was too tedious and or non-existent. At least that was a large part of their complaint. They were all from the younger generation that have come to expect very simple features such as global chat of some form. And without that demographic, we won't have much of a population. And without much of a population, the idea of a player-driven economy will not work.

 

That is external, and nothing to do with in game play. If I could do something about that I would. I have told those people that own those websites to keep my town and name off of them. I am talking about Shroud in game. I do have a voice for that. And yes I do live in a cave. It is cool in the summer and warm in the winter.

 

You can only represent your own voice, unless you have a list of testimonials. you have stated your opinion and I have stated my opinion. Why are you trying to argue over opinions?

 

IRC and the Forums are both external to the game.

Check out this post...

https://www.shroudoftheavatar.com/f.../august-2015-player-marketplace-update.36709/

 

They are supported by the game. They are the official shroud IRC and official Shroud forums.

 

I have facts, people I've invited to check out Shroud. A few won't even take a chance because they say the graphics are bad. I discount those as better off without. I have others who laugh when I tell them the chat system is really archaic and no global chat, but hoping its implemented. Go and try to sell Shroud to some people.

I guarantee between graphics, combat, and the pathetic state of chat in an online game, its a tough sell, to all but the hardest core RG fans. The chat issue should be a relatively easy fix. The graphics are objective. The combat, well who knows, at least we have a nice sky.

 

Prove your facts. The rest of your statement is opinion, and everyone has them. Perhaps this game is not meant for some people. I like the direction of the game. I could make up some statement on how I have hundreds of friends love it too. I also could say I have ocean front property for sale. I could say I am the emperor of China. Unless there are facts presented none of this is believable, and is just words to make an argument seem more substantial.