VoIP Required?

Eternia-Star · #1 10-25-2008, 06:11 PM

I've played with several other guilds before founding my own, three different times, but this is the first time that I've considered to use something such as TeamSpeak or Ventrilo for organized gaming within an established group.

As a Guild Leader to other Guild Leaders..do you find VoIP to be absolutely necessary for when you are playing with your members?

Armaya · #2 10-25-2008, 06:25 PM

Yes, if you do any type of organized raiding or pvp.

Roxianna · #3 10-25-2008, 08:09 PM

VoIP is needed when you are trying to coordinate group play. Many guilds require it for group PvE and PvP including ours. We ask all new members to have Ventrilo with a working mic. We have many members from an earlier time that refuse to talk though. They are grandfathered so to speak. Even they listen in however.

Retodon8 · #4 10-25-2008, 09:48 PM

I started using voice chat for an FPS game actually, but it made things a LOT easier.
Once you get used to it, typing is a lot more annoying in many ways.
I'd definitely advise you to try it out.

revlazaro · #5 10-25-2008, 11:50 PM

Love voice chat. Have had guildies in the past absolutely refuse it; but in most cases especially raids/PvP I refuse to play without it. It really adds to the game as well as getting to know the peeps you're playing with.

If hosting and costs become a problem, aside from TS and Vent I'd recommend GSC. I just started using this lately and I'm pretty sold on it. It's kind of like an in-game messenger like Xfire, but the real jewel of it is the voice service allows you to create free private chat servers (with 200 slots!) hosted dedicatedly on one of their many available data centers.

We're using the Speex codec at max settings on the 1.0 client (2.0 is still in beta and a little wonky) and its quality is easily on par with Vent. But I mean, a free dedicated 200 slot server, it's hard to go wrong for that price.

Aspendawn · #6 10-26-2008, 04:08 AM

I never use it. Although we have a guild channel through EQ2's recently added in-game voice chat. only a couple of our members use it.

So in answer to your question, it's definitely not necessary for our guild groups.

revlazaro · #7 10-26-2008, 06:01 AM

I think it also depends on the nature of the game and what exactly you're doing. Retodon8 mentioned he didn't start until FPS, Aspen mentions they hardly touch it in EQ2. Having played Guild Wars, I will say that even though we've rolled in PvP plenty of times without VoIP, it was only after we've become used to eachother's play style and role in a team.

Until then, considering some builds require the firing off of skills with only a 1/4th of a second window of error, push to talk beats typing really fast or even Ctrl-Clicking to call targets and display conditions.

Eternia-Star · #8 10-26-2008, 05:56 PM

Thanks for all of the feedback everyone. Yes, l'll be looking into renting a vent server.

Anyone suggest a good provider, please?

revlazaro · #9 10-27-2008, 03:33 PM

Our GW alliance uses these peeps. I love their payment options and we've had no probs in terms of lag/connections etc:

http://www.instantventrilo.com/

Mumbo · #10 10-27-2008, 04:00 PM

It is worth looking into and can provide you with a different experience in regards to group play, but I don't think it is always required. If you're playing in a casual or social setting, then it isn't really needed. People might use it so they can chat about things easier with each other and don't have to spend the time typing, but you can easily pull off the same thing through typing out conversations with guild members.

It is when you try to move into a more competitive nature or pvp focused nature that having direct voice communication with each other really helps. Being able to press a button and say whatever you need to for strategies or calling out targets is so much easier for yourself and the group then having to type it out. The biggest difference is that you don't have to stop what you are doing to type out what you want to say. You are able to deliver the information to your group while still doing whatever it is you were doing before. Unless everyone is trying to talk at the same time you are also less likely to miss information people are trying to pass. With the text chat systems, your window is only so big and with all the information that is normally presented in the windows you might miss something important.

I've played many different fps, rts, and mmo's with and without voip over the years with different people. If I'm just getting on to play socially of casually with some friends I don't normally join the vent server unless they are old friends of mine. If I am playing competitively though or trying to melt faces in some pvp, the only time my group has been effect without voip has been when I am gaming with friends that I've played games with for years and we know each others styles inside and out.