Does anyone else find the chat system awkward?

I wish the chat system was improved. I don't know how many times that I mean to chat in crucial moments and then a bunch of other windows in the game start popping up, when I mean to just follow up on a quick conversation. Because of this, I generally don't talk to anyone in the game.

I forgot what Ultima Online did, but I feel chatting was much easier to do.

 

In UO you just started typing (running with mouse) here you walk with WASD so a quick enter is needed to toggle chat mode. That being said I miss it A LOT and get Windows all over my screen

It's not hard though I just need to pace my self more I'm guessing it's the same for you

 

Oh yes. It is one of my pet peeves. I mention it every chance I get. I had 3 people whispering to me one day and try to juggle that. My request has been to take the player chat out of the rest of the noise, separating the chat window showing battle feedback etc in one window and and player chat in another. Also a noise sounding when we get a whisper. Anyway I'm sure I dont have the idea in mind exactly but it does need to change.

 

It is an annoyance, but back in my UO days everyone used ICQ. (Birko - 8953520 - if I end up firing up an old system!)
The devs are aware of this - and other forms of social networking.
A game I played at launch, a few years back, was destroyed because of gold mining spammers taking over the in-game chat system.
Portalarium don't have the resources to moderate this kind of functionality.
It is a backward step with to regards to game chat functionality, but best for current gameplay.
Chat will evolve, but can be a hindrance at this stage of development.
Stick to the forums or IRC - address and info from your initial SotA login page > Community > Chat.

Basically, "chat" is not yet implemented, but it is constantly being discussed.

vcczar, we all share your pain.

 

Isn't there an option to keep the cursor in the chat window?

 

Here is a thread with Dev answers.
https://www.shroudoftheavatar.com/forum/index.php?threads/chat-ui-feedback.23761/#post-345105

 

As I have understood it SotA will never have a general / global chat system.
not enough resources to deal with gold selling spam I just don't believe, there just isn't enough punishment in most games (banned player tell no tales..in game)
I mean if they would get banned over and over it wouldn't be profitable for them either so it should stop no?

 

I'm still campaigning For gold spammers to be Kos to anyone.. its is a crime to sell his Majesty's gold..

 

I think @Sir Frank will be hunting down counterfeiters of the royal mint.

 

Maybe we need Cortana to help us with voice commands or voice to text lol.

I wonder is there a way to get a game to do that? Talk into the mic and it will write it in chat for you? Would be awesome.

 

They'd have to license speech to text software like Dragon Naturally Speaking or something like that. It can be very pricey.

 

Sometimes the community feels really closed off in-game because of the lack of a proper chat system. I am probably one of the few FOR a REGIONAL chat. Not global, mind you, but regional and perhaps only in cities and PoTs. Which means..if I am in Ardoris, there is a general chat channel for everyone in Ardoris. Having the PRIVILEGE of using this feature would require a player complete a somewhat challenging quest from that area's Town Crier. Then you must actually pass a literacy test to make sure A. You're human and not an Obsidian spy or gold spammer and B. You're virtuous enough to use chat responsibly. The first town crier you do this for successfully gives you a fancy looking horn. Each subsequent crier you prove yourself to (and each would have different, random questions) engraves that town's name on the horn and thus allows you to use the general channel in that town. (This would coincide nicely with the mail deliveries). Town Criers would not tell you about this quest though, you would have to ask something along the line of "I would like the Horn of <insert cool name>, please." A game in 2016 should not have to rely on forums, websites or especially IRC for communication. Apart from that, chat does need to be reworked in general so here are some of my ideas:

1. I'm not sure what the importance is of zooming in on the NPCs during conversation. It just emphasizes the fact that they're graphically behind and makes it easier to notice. It also feels sluggish and clumsy having to wait on them to get up or zoom into the conversation.

2. As far as the organization of the chat window itself.--the more customizable, the better. Allow tabs for everything. If I'm whispering with someone and I want to create a new tab just for them, I should be able to right-click on their name and select "Create Tab".

3. Please bring back the x to close a tab. It can be tiny. So long as it's there.

4.Get rid of the solid, unnecessarily long scroll-bar. Why does it need to take up the entire height of the chat window? It's intrusive and could be made to be a simple square resting at the base of the scroll area and hidden until you hover over the window. Which brings me to the next...

5. I don't want a border on the chat window at all. It makes the HUD feel dated. I'd like to be able to customize my chat window to the point where it's almost just floating text. Blended. Streamlined. Modern. Whatever you want to call it.

6. Window transparency slider. By removing the window border and allowing a transparency slider you really allow us to customize the appearance of the chat window and make it feel streamlined and blended. Not intrusive and clunky.

7. Emotes and /em actions are easy to miss in the current grey. Something like this would help them stand out just a little more.

Putting this over in the Wishlist thread.

 

First off I think you make some great points regarding the chat window itself
and the wait before I can start talking to an npc annoys me but so does all other waiting aswell

This I personally don't see a problem with, You don't have to use any of them but they are a great aid.
Forums in my opinion enhances what we have with our personal vendors, it's made to be not as accessible but all the more fun

the quest suggestion is really cool (but not for regional chat ) there is a similar quest in tibia that takes fooorever.
You basically have to go to all the towns in the world talk to some people and eventually get access to the Royal mailboxes (used to send loot from dungeons to your self mostly)
anyhow would be cool if a quest like this was needed to use our (future?) mail system, I actually lost track of its progress :/

 

They are a great aid for sure. I will always use the forums. I would use the forums in addition to a regional chat, however they are apples and oranges serving different purposes. Or at least with different efficiencies. Of course we should have all those mediums available, but not as the primary means of reaching out to people not in our own guild. I'm a social person and this is a social game. I suppose there are certain basic things I've come to expect and enjoy in a game and this feature is one of them.

I vaguely recall that quest in Tibia. The fact that it should be challenging would deter gold spammers and the like. To me having a regional chat would just brighten a very black hole in the game. And the best part is..those that didn't want to hear it could simply close the tab.

If anything were to happen though, I would rather some of those points be addressed instead for sure.