Chat Bubbles: We need an option to enable them for say, yell and emote chat!

[Zin-Zin]

Any update on this please?

[kirorx]

Since there are still no NEW informations about Chat Bubbles, i just canceled my subscription. Roleplay without chat bubbles just makes no fun and i have reached everything else that is interesting for me (having 4 chars maxed out, not the mind for another one, cleared every operation that is currently available in all modes, no joy in pvp.).

 

Maybe i will reactivate with the release of chat bubbles. Till then *wave*

 

I can second the feeling.

 

Not just for RP reasons its just basic communication with other players out in the world.

 

Most players are not watching that box while questing but if you say hi and a chat bubble is there you will know that player is talking to you.

 

I was surprised this was not in a launch, I have been shouting the need at a brick wall since well before release.

[Mathaka]

Still no word on Chat Bubbles?

[Frakkensteinse]

Neeed.. more... chatbubbles!

[mattgyver]

Chat Bubbles ... ... Maybe that's what they will talk about at E3

[Glzmo]

Still no word on Chat Bubbles?

Nope.

 

Chat Bubbles ... ... Maybe that's what they will talk about at E3

I really hope they do announce them for 1.3 or at least give us a firm date/patch number for them. If not, then I'll likely just leave the game as well.

 

Hopefully the people at the E3 panels will ask them about the ETA on chat bubbles alot as well. I wish I could go myself, but no dice.

 

I'd love to roleplay a Cathar, but without chat bubbles, it's useless.

Edited June 4, 2012 by Glzmo

[AscendantWyvern]

I vote for this, the biggest issue with bubbles is the clutter it would create, especially during RP events on RP servers. That said, that problem is a quick and easy fix/control and is easily outweighed by the pros of chat bubbles: you know who is talking when everyone is, you can feel slightly more immersed than having to read the same list that has people shouting "LFG", and it would make heavy RP events more understandable.

[Safariii]

I concur 100% I love this idea and miss it because we had it in rift.

 

Great Post. If this gets coded in. I will be the first to enable it. This builds a sense of community to know people close by are trying to interact with us. With so much visual to this game. The last place I want to look is General Chat. As it stands I have say and Emote going to my main active chat windows. But I am way too busy enjoying the awesome animations for the game, to fully monitor what is said in say and emotes and yelling.

 

Being able to turn it on or off will make everyone happy and give us the freedom of choice.

 

LoL if you really want to develop this idea with keeping in theme to the game ... rehire those voice actors and let our characters actually SAY it out loud like the NPC random conversations. LoL yeah I know that is a big stretch, but maybe something you genius developers might be able to do and really PULL a NEW idea out of the hat, something NO ONE in the Galaxy has ever done before. With Text-to-Speech technology now in our grasps. I would have to say its not entirely impossible. I am sure we can all be accommodating with a slight mispronunciation. But I would be happy with speech bubbles too.

[Orotho]

I cancelled my sup 3 days ago... ill be off untill this feature is implimented. I still havent seen anything in the 1.3 update about chat bubbles.

[MajikMyst]

I cancelled my sup 3 days ago... ill be off untill this feature is implimented. I still havent seen anything in the 1.3 update about chat bubbles.

 

Good grief?? What is the big deal with chat bubbles?? Why is the game looking like a comic book so impoirtant?? It is really so hard to read from the existing chat box??

 

Please understand.. I am not saying they shouldn't be added.. I just don't see this as a make or break issue that some other folks appear to.. I am curious as to why?? Is this really more important than the content they are adding?? Like operations and warzones?? Or fixing game mechanics??

 

Why are they so important to you??

[Elfindreams]

Good grief?? What is the big deal with chat bubbles?? Why is the game looking like a comic book so impoirtant?? It is really so hard to read from the existing chat box??

 

Please understand.. I am not saying they shouldn't be added.. I just don't see this as a make or break issue that some other folks appear to.. I am curious as to why?? Is this really more important than the content they are adding?? Like operations and warzones?? Or fixing game mechanics??

 

Why are they so important to you??

 

For those that feel they are important, it is a game mechanic. Keep in mind that a lot of these are RPers for whom RP is just as valid a game part as an operation. For a lot of RP events it is necessary to at a glance see who is saying what in space. I.E. where is that being said, not who said it. So in a sense for these people it is fixing a key game mechanic and is more important than a new operation and warzone (some of these wouldn't even play an operation or warzone).

[Halaek]

Game mechanics are the bread and butter of any MMO, fix them first then worry about content. Whats the point of having lots of content if the basic tools are not working? Chat bubbles are a industry standard feature, all the new generation of MMO's have them. Granted there are some older ones that do not, but even the daddy of all MMo's have chat above players heads! This game is brand spanking new and does not! *laughs*

[Glzmo]

Good grief?? What is the big deal with chat bubbles?? Why is the game looking like a comic book so impoirtant?? It is really so hard to read from the existing chat box??

 

Please understand.. I am not saying they shouldn't be added.. I just don't see this as a make or break issue that some other folks appear to.. I am curious as to why?? Is this really more important than the content they are adding?? Like operations and warzones?? Or fixing game mechanics??

 

Why are they so important to you??

For those that feel they are important, it is a game mechanic. Keep in mind that a lot of these are RPers for whom RP is just as valid a game part as an operation. For a lot of RP events it is necessary to at a glance see who is saying what in space. I.E. where is that being said, not who said it. So in a sense for these people it is fixing a key game mechanic and is more important than a new operation and warzone (some of these wouldn't even play an operation or warzone).

Indeed.

 

Let's try to explain how playing without chat bubbles feels to a roleplayer or socializer or any other player depending on the visual cue of which character on the screen says what and where in the space in realtime (let's not forget that there are some people wit certain disabilities/impairments that depend on it, too!).

 

So here it goes:

 

If you are a combat player, assume this game would have combat but no combat animations, no particle effects (like blaster bolts, saber blated, lightning, etc.), no indicators on who's attacking who with what, no flytext, nothing.

Instead, all you had was the combat log in the chat window which showed you which player hit which one for how much. The characters on the screen, however, would just stand there still, seemingly doing nothing. There would also be no health or action bar. Everyone, no matter if player character or non-player character would just be standing there on the screen.

All of a sudden your character would drop dead, not knowing where it came from, not knowing from the "action" on the screen that you had been attacked at all, not knowing that you had been hit, not knowing whether your attacks were executed, had connected or not. Sure, you could still glance at the chat window to look at the combat log, where you would perhaps see that you were killed by NPC X or Player Y using a lightsaber and special Z. That wouldn't be a very fun game to play for players that prefer the PVE and/or PVP combat playstyle now, would it?

 

Well, this is exactly how it feels for the aforementioned player types that depend on communicating with other players via chat and seeing which player character on the screen and where in the space the chat came from when there are no chat bubbles.

 

I hope that this example has helped you, MajikMyst, to understand that for a lot of people chat bubbles are a basic and essential game mechanic that are needed for roleplaying, socializing and communication just as much as all the combat animations, particle effects, flytext, etc. are needed for combat player.

Without chat bubbles, much of these players' gameplay - their "endgame" if you will - becomes useless and can be easily replicated with an instant messenger program just as well - which doesn't cost a monthly fee.

 

Not having chat bubbles in a MMORPG propels us back into the dark ages of the first MMORPGs, arguably even back to the text-based MUDs of the late 1970s/early 1980s. These are certainly not game mechanics that should be acceptable for a game from 2011/2012.

 

Keep in mind that all players pay the same monthly fee for TOR and it's development - be it roleplayers, socializers, ground PVE combatants, ground PVP combatants, crafters, space PVE combatants and more. It would be good to have the basic game mechanics for all of them on an equal level, which currently just isn't the case.

Chat bubbles are a bare minimum many players need to be able to enjoy the game and justify the price of the game and the monthly fee. Many of them have done so in good faith, because Bioware had publicly promised chat bubbles to be here soon from back before release and on numerous occasions since then (check the top post of this thread for more details).

Edited June 5, 2012 by Glzmo

[sithhammer]

i've got a great idea rather than focus on chat bubbles lets focus on fixing the countless other things wrong with this game, chat bubbles are not going to save the sinking ship, the twin life rafts of fewer server and pvp/pve end game will. adding chat bubbles should be the last thing on a very long list of things to do.

[Glzmo]

i've got a great idea rather than focus on chat bubbles lets focus on fixing the countless other things wrong with this game, chat bubbles are not going to save the sinking ship, the twin life rafts of fewer server and pvp/pve end game will. adding chat bubbles should be the last thing on a very long list of things to do.

For PVE and PVP players, perhaps. But for roleplayers, socializers and other players that rely on good communication between players in the actual game space for their "endgame content", chat bubbles are a top priority.

 

You need to understand that the game mechanics for PVEers and PVPers in this game are in a much, much better shape than they are for roleplayers, socializers and the likes. And while almost every patch brings something new for PVEers and PVPers, it seems like almost nothing is done for the socializers and roleplayers in comparison (you can go over all the patch notes and classify them by playstyles and count them for each which should reveal the "shocking" truth).

 

It's quite ironic that PVEers and PVPers keep demanding more and more, while socializers and roleplayers would even be happy if they had as good of game mechanics for their playstyle available to them as PVPers and PVPers do for theirs...and chat bubbles are one of the items on top of the list.

 

Read my previous post (the one just above yours) that will hopefully explain it a little better to a PVEer or PVPer like you.

 

Besides that, PVE and PVE issues as well as server merges would be handled by different developer team than chat bubbles anyway, so developing chat bubbles wouldn't take much development time or resources away from those things if any at all. I'm not saying these things aren't needed. It's just that this thread is about an option to enable chat bubbles, not other things.

Although one could argue that the need for server merges is due to the dwindling of communities, which could also be attributed in part to the lack of good communication and community building tools which I would consider chat bubbles to be part of...

Edited June 8, 2012 by Glzmo

[Lyriel]

Indeed.

 

_snip_

 

If you are a combat player, assume this game would have combat but no combat animations, no particle effects (like blaster bolts, saber blated, lightning, etc.), no indicators on who's attacking who with what, no flytext, nothing.

Instead, all you had was the combat log in the chat window which showed you which player hit which one for how much. The characters on the screen, however, would just stand there still, seemingly doing nothing. There would also be no health or action bar. Everyone, no matter if player character or non-player character would just be standing there on the screen.

All of a sudden your character would drop dead, not knowing where it came from, not knowing from the "action" on the screen that you had been attacked at all, not knowing that you had been hit, not knowing whether your attacks were executed, had connected or not. Sure, you could still glance at the chat window to look at the combat log, where you would perhaps see that you were killed by NPC X or Player Y using a lightsaber and special Z. That wouldn't be a very fun game to play for players that prefer the PVE and/or PVP combat playstyle now, would it?

 

Well, this is exactly how it feels for the aforementioned player types that depend on communicating with other players via chat and seeing which player character on the screen and where in the space the chat came from when there are no chat bubbles.

 

-snip-

 

 

You do still have access to the chat information, just not in the format you prefer. I'm not arguing it's not a vaild request, or that it doesn't deserve to be honored, but it is not analagous to having no input whatsoever.

 

My personal preference is for them to be toggle-able to off, because they break what immersion I manage to have in a game. Seriously, I hate them. In other games where they appeared, I switched them off instantaneously. If they are implemented in such a way that I cannot avoid them, it would be as much a dealbreaker for me as it seems their lack would be for you. So hopefully any implementation will take both sides of the issue into account.

[Glzmo]

You do still have access to the chat information, just not in the format you prefer. I'm not arguing it's not a vaild request, or that it doesn't deserve to be honored, but it is not analagous to having no input whatsoever.

And that's just it. If you didn't have combat feedback except int he chat window (like the combat log you can turn on), would that suffice for combat gameplay? You would still have the information about the combat happening in the chat window, but you wouldn't have it in the 3D space of the game at all. Would that suffice for the game to be enough fun to keep playing? That's just like it is now for those that want and need chat bubbles for their enjoyment of the game.

 

My personal preference is for them to be toggle-able to off, because they break what immersion I manage to have in a game. Seriously, I hate them. In other games where they appeared, I switched them off instantaneously. If they are implemented in such a way that I cannot avoid them, it would be as much a dealbreaker for me as it seems their lack would be for you. So hopefully any implementation will take both sides of the issue into account.

Of course, and that's good for you. If you read the top post of this thread (or even just the thread title), you'd know we've always been asking for an option to enable/disable chat bubbles for the players that want them and don't want them. Besides, the developers have already confirmed that it will be a toggle (which can also be read in the top post). So don't worry, if you don't like chat bubbles, you won't have to use them. But for people that hate playing without them just like you hate playing with them, being able to turn them on is dearly needed for their enjoyment of the game.

 

Contrary to what some seem to believe, this thread is not about ruining the gameplay of the people that already enjoy the game. It's about improving the gameplay of a large number of those players that haven't been able enjoy their preferred style of play so much so far without ruining the gameplay of anyone else.

Edited June 5, 2012 by Glzmo

[Hendar]

Disappointed we didn't see chat bubbles in 1.3... Not sure what that means for my sub really, can't be arsed to RP without chat bubbles. It's fine 1 on 1 but when you're in a room with 20 other people...

[Stubacca]

Disappointed we didn't see chat bubbles in 1.3... Not sure what that means for my sub really, can't be arsed to RP without chat bubbles. It's fine 1 on 1 but when you're in a room with 20 other people...

I feel the same way. I'm really, really, really disappointing that chat bubbles aren't in 1.3...and still no word on which patch to expect them either. Edited June 6, 2012 by Stubacca

[Crimson_Merc]

Bioware still claims that Chat bubbles are one of its top priorities. With Character Transfers soon out of the way, I think it will come out before 1.4 maybe in a smaller patch?

[Hendar]

I feel the same way. I'm really, really, really disappointing that chat bubbles aren't in 1.3...and still no word on which patch to expect them either.

Yeah a rough estimate on when to expect it would be nice at least.

[kirorx]

i've got a great idea rather than focus on chat bubbles lets focus on fixing the countless other things wrong with this game, chat bubbles are not going to save the sinking ship, the twin life rafts of fewer server and pvp/pve end game will. adding chat bubbles should be the last thing on a very long list of things to do.

 

They might actually help though. RP aside its about community.

 

Chat bubbles make communication on fly a whole lot easier.

 

If your out killing mobs and come across another player and that player says something that shows up on the screen your going to notice, where now its up in the corner where its mixed in with all the other dialog.

 

The interactivity had been an issue in the game back pre launch. Even before servers were dead peole felt alone, this is major part of that feeling.

[wutru]

Chat bubbles enhance visual clarity in 3d space.

It's better for communication during combat and gameplay, instead of having your eyes wander to the chatbox.

I'ts not only for RP'ers.

[Glzmo]

Has anybody noticed the mysterious new tab currently labelled "None" between Game and Key Bindings in the Preferences Menu in Game Update 1.3 on the Public Test Server?

 

http://img338.imageshack.us/img338/2531/placeholderforchatbubbl.jpg

 

Could this be the placeholder for a new Chat Bubbles tab, where you can turn chat bubbles on and off for /say, /yell, /emote and possibly individually for /party and /ops chat channels as well as adjust the maximum distance chat bubbles show up on the screen, the possible the maximum amount of chat bubbles on the screen at once, duration of chat bubbles lasting on the screen, choosing colors for various chat bubbles and text, and more?

 

I guess it's only wishful thinking, but one can hope, right?

Edited June 8, 2012 by Glzmo

[MajikMyst]

For PVE and PVP players, perhaps. But for roleplayers, socializers and other players that rely on good communication between players in the actual game space for their "endgame content", chat bubbles are a top priority.

 

The problem is, and I think a lot of pro chat bubble people miss this.. You do have a means to communicate.. We have a chat box that works just fine.. The only difference is the location of the text. It isn't in a pretty little bubble over someone's head..

 

No matter how your dress it up.. It isn't a game mechanic nor it is something that is broke.. There are some real things broke in this game in that people can't do them at all.. At least you can still chat.. PVP in many ways is non functional completely.. Chat has never not worked in this game..

 

I understand that for some chat bubbles is a high priority.. But I hope you can understand that it isn't a high prority to add chat bubbles.. Things need to be fixed and at least made functional.. You all have chat.. It works just fine.. You don't need a bubble to communicate.. We do need some game mechanics to be fixed to help PVP and other things just work and be playable..

 

We all agree that chat bubbles with an option to turn them on or off needs to be added to this game.. Our issue is when.. Talk to me when your chat stop working and you can't talk to someone at all.. Maybe then you will understand where the rest of us are comming from..

Edited June 8, 2012 by MajikMyst