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

[kirorx]

SO, EVERQUEST 2 GETS THIS;

 

We dont even get simple /emotes and chat bubbles.

 

COME ON, ITS BEEN 8 MONTHS THAT WE HAVE BEEN ASKING FOR THE SIMPILIST THINGS.

 

Instead i got some useless family treee thing, great way to waste resources.

 

I got 7 days left, tell us something (we are all losing our voices just asking for a simple response), not leaving forever just untill we get some better features. At this moment this game is not worth 15 dollars a month to me.

 

I mean if everquest can offer such amazing RP features and that game is pretty old and F2P then why stay here, just for the IP. That is not enough anymore,

 

I cant overlook the community being ignored on these features.

Edited August 20, 2012 by kirorx

[LordArtemis]

A toggle on chat bubble feature would solve the problem for everyone. Those that find it causes FPS issues can shut if off if desired. It is a required feature before the launch of F2P IMO.

[SawneyRath]

I'm still in support of this feature.

 

Toggle on off button and scale-able for font size and chat bubble size option. Would be awesome .

[Amarok]

I see myself often become confused by chat spam, it makes roleplay sometimes nearly impossible. Because of that we need Chat Bubbles badly so we can enjoy what's going on on the screen and don't have to focus on the chat box.

 

I'm fine with if there is an option to toggle them on/off, but in the name of the Force - we need them!

[Glzmo]

I see myself often become confused by chat spam, it makes roleplay sometimes nearly impossible. Because of that we need Chat Bubbles badly so we can enjoy what's going on on the screen and don't have to focus on the chat box.

 

I'm fine with if there is an option to toggle them on/off, but in the name of the Force - we need them!

Very well said. The lack of chat bubbles is certainly still a huge, huge concern for rolepayers, socializers and everyone that likes good communication. If Bioware doesn't get them ready in time for the free to play launch, they may just be shooting themselves in the foot. Edited August 30, 2012 by Glzmo

[SawneyRath]

I see myself often become confused by chat spam, it makes roleplay sometimes nearly impossible. Because of that we need Chat Bubbles badly so we can enjoy what's going on on the screen and don't have to focus on the chat box.

 

I'm fine with if there is an option to toggle them on/off, but in the name of the Force - we need them!

 

Well said indeed

 

I'm a Guild Leader and we often hold meetings where we meet up and Roleplay and such. I get bombarded with whispers, Ops chat, and all manner of other chat channels. Sure, I have them set up in different tabs to filter out the ones not important at the time, but holy moly I could use Chat Bubbles to view say WHILE addressing a whisper or group chat. That way I don't need to swap tabs and channels all the time. And it would make the /yell channel more viable . I often /yell at my guild to gather them around, but because there's no chat bubble, it often goes unheard!

[SawneyRath]

I see that the Community Team has been answering questions about things people have asked, so I must ask (and I know was the last person to post in this thread lol....)

 

But: Can we get an update? Even just a "Hey I talked to so and so and they said no information at this time" would be nice!

[Anysao]

I really, really, really hated chat bubbles in SWG. They just don't fit the game.

[LaniAkavir]

I can't believe this hasn't happened yet!

[Vladnar]

Chat Bubbles would get a massive thumbs up from me, it really doesn't seem the same without them. RP just doesn't seem to roll properly at all.

[Foxinator]

"Bioware?! HELLO? Hello? Anybody home? ~*Knock Knock Knock!*~" Listen to your gosh darn players Bioware! Step up your game i'am sick of paying for a monthly fee without getting any content.

[Jadealis]

Chat bubbles pls.

[Frakkensteinse]

Yes. Me want.

[Glzmo]

Since the developers already have a pretty good idea what will be in Game Update 1.4, could we please get information on whether chat bubbles will be in Game Update 1.4 or not? I don't think that's too much too ask, especially since they've recently been answering threads that have been around far shorter than this thread.

If they aren't for whatever reason that many won't understand, it would also be polite by the developers to let us know which patch chat bubbles are currently targeted for. Thank you very much!

Edited September 7, 2012 by Glzmo

[SawneyRath]

Since the developers already have a pretty good idea what will be in Game Update 1.4, could we please get information on whether chat bubbles will be in Game Update 1.4 or not? I don't think that's too much too ask.

If they aren't for whatever reason that many won't understand, it would also be polite by the developers to let us know which patch chat bubbles are currently targeted for. Thank you very much!

 

I agree. A lot of other questions have been answered, and I don't think this one is to hard to say yes or no to.

[Vandrel-Blitz]

Dear developers and other employees of Bioware, Lucas Arts and Electronic Arts!

 

A large part of the player base cannot enjoy the game properly because of the lack of chat bubbles (aka speech bubbles). Therefore, on behalf of the affected players, we are hereby suggesting and formally requesting an option to toggle chat bubbles for spatial chat (/say, /yell, /emote). This thread has started in beta, reposted after the forum wipe and run a long time and has garnered a lot of support ever since. The community has come up with a lot of ideas on how to improve the situation. The following is what we propose:

 

Here are bullet points of what'sbeen suggested/proposed by the players:

• Add chat bubbles for /say, /yell and /emote chat that display whatever is said in these chat channels in it's entirety in addition to the chat window over the head of the player character that is saying it (both over your own as well as characters around yours).
  Preferably have them enabled by default.
  
• Add a client-side option to toggle chat bubbles on/off for any text players type in /say, /yell and /emote chat to Preferences->Chat.
  This allows every player to decide for themselves whether they would like to see chat bubbles or not for whatever reason. Possibly give us an option to turn chat bubbles on/off for each chat channel individually and expand the choices to /party and /ops chat.
  
• Add talking animations that triggers when typing into /say and /yell to visualize that the character is currently talking or shouting.
  Existing character animations may be reused for this, like the one used by the /talk emote.
  
• Lower the range of /say to 25 meters (currently 40 meters) and keep the range of /yell at 50 meters.
  This has proven a good range for spatial chat in other MMOs to prevent clutter.
  
• Add a slider to allow people to freely and individually adjust the range at which chat bubbles disappear from maximum range for each chat channel (25 meters for /say, 50 meters for /yell, 50 meters for /emote) down to a minimum value of couple of meters (10 meters?).
  This will allow players to find a good compromise between the amount of chat bubbles, clutter and performance for their individual taste and computer.
  
• Add a slider to adjust the duration of how long chat bubbles remain on the screen in seconds with a gracious maximum value.
  This will allow players of all ages to freely adjust the duration of chat bubbles remaining on their screen according to their own preferences and reading speed.
  
• Give us the option to freely adjust the font size in chat bubbles and whether the size scales with distance or not.
  
• Chat bubbles for each chat channel/type should have a different appearance style
  Take a look what other MMORPGs like Star Wars Galaxies (still one of the best implementations of chat bubbles in MMORPGs to date) and/or comics typically use for what people say (bubble with rounded edges and tail that points to the character that says it), yell/shout/scream (jagged bubble with longer tail) and "emotes" (square bubble, maybe even without a tail) to distinguish between the various chat channels.
  Chat bubbles could also be sporting the same hue/color (be it border or background, depends on the style you choose) each chat channel is assigned to on your client.
  
• Change the /emote and /yell chat channels to be visible to the opposing faction, just like the /say chat channel is now.
  There is no reason to block /emote and /yell (or even /tell and /whisper for that matter), as opposing factions can communicate via /say already anyway (and there is an /ignore feature for bad things, after all). Blocking those just limits cross-faction socializing between player and cross faction roleplay.
  

 

Here is a short summary of the reasons why chat bubbles should be implemented:

• Chat bubbles encourage face to face interactions with other players.
  
• They encourage multiplay instead of solo-play - most desirable in a MMOG.
  
• Chat bubbles improve communication and group/Ops group coordination between players.
  
• They are an essential tool for building and strengthening the community, which is the main reason that keeps people playing and stay loyal to a MMO(RP)G for many years and even decades, even when the PVE and PVP content may have run it's course.
  
• Without chat bubbles, many players "feel all alone" in the game (the chat window feels very detached from the game).
  
• They allow people to focus on the world in front of them, and not a tiny chat window in a corner or anywhere else but near the center of the screen.
  
• The fast scrolling chat window is impossible to follow conversations while in an area with a large amount of people.
  
• Chat bubbles greatly improve immersion into the game world (click here to read a post explaining how if you don't understand).
  
• The game world seems to be a lot less sterile and more alive when you can actually see player characters talking.
  
• Making new chat channels is not a useful alternative.
  
• People with various visual impairments/disabilities rely on chat bubbles in MMORPGs to even be able to effectively communicate and play with other players at all.
  The same is true for many older gamers.
  
• Without chat bubbles, roleplay and socializing is nearly impossible especially in crowded areas, it's tedious and simply is not fun - especially in areas where there are many people or during questing and other parts of the game.
  
• Chat bubbles help to pinpoint and find people that are talking in spatial chat in large and crowded areas.
  
• Chat bubbles aren't only for Roleplayers - they provide benefits for a great many players with all kinds of playstyles - be it socializers, roleplayers, Group/Flashpoint/Operations PVE players and PVP combatants (that don't rely on voice chat), community builders among others.
  
• A large amount of the player base want chat bubbles as an option. Bioware said they are implementing player's wishes - this is a top priority wish/issue for a large part of the player base.
  
• Chat bubbles have been a standard feature in almost every mainstream, premium priced MMO released during the past decade that a whole lot of players are used to. There also hasn't been anything invented that's remotely capable of fully replacing chat bubbles for communication between players in MMO(RP)Gs yet (text to speech technology combined with positional audio is still far off from sounding natural).
  
• People have started to cancel their subscriptions due to the lack of chat bubbles and missing official assurance by Bioware that they are being implemented soon.
  
• /say and /yell chat channels are practically useless without chat bubbles. They are like /general with lower range.
  
• Having a client side option to freely turn chat bubbles on or off to each player's liking will allow every player to enjoy the game, whether they need chat bubbles or not.
  Everyone has fun, everyone is happy, everyone wins!

 

 

Related Links:

 

• Sprechblasen!!
  
  
  German discussion of this thread / Deutsche Diskussion dieses Threads
  
  
   
  
  
   
  
  
• Roleplaying Suggestions [Chat Bubbles, Char Creator, Clothing, and more!]
  
  
  Suggestions of features roleplayers want to have added in this game. Includes chat bubbles and many other items.
  
  
   
  
  
   
  
  
• Official Q&A Thread for July 27th Blog Post
  
  
  Thread to post questions that will be answered to the devs in a blog post. Make sure to ask about chat bubbles in that thread if you want them in the game and/or want to know what their status is. The more people ask about chat bubbles, the better the chance the developers will finally take notice and give us an update on
  
  
   
  
  
   
  
  
• UI Feature Feedback Request
  
  
  Bioware asks to post UI Feedback and suggestions in this thread. Head over to the official UI Feature Feedback Request thread and request chat bubbles to be implemented as the next UI feature!
  
  
   
  
  
   
  
  
• Official The Old Republic Twitter
  
  
  If you're on Twitter, go to Bioware's Official TOR Twitter account and regularly tweet questions about chat bubbles and an ETA on them! Include the hashtags
  #swtorchatbubbles
  and
  #swtor
  in your tweets and tweet them often about it until we finally get some concrete information and ETA on chat bubbles! Feel free to use these hashtags together in tweets to your friends as well!
  
  
   
  
  
   
  
  
• Star Wars: The Old Republic Facebook
  
  
  If you're on Facebook, go to Bioware's Official TOR Facebook page and ask them questions about chat bubbles and an ETA on them!
  
  

 

 

Articles about Chat bubbles:

 

• Chat Bubbles: Sorely missed and badly needed
  
  
  An article about missing chat bubbles in The Old Republic.
  
  

 

 

Timeline of statements about chat bubbles by Bioware representatives and developers:

 

• November 2011:
  Fan Site Summit: Day 1 -- Q&A with James Ohlen
  ,
  Fan Site Summit 2 Q&A Wrap-Up
  
  
  Articles about the Fansite Summits from November 2011, where Bioware's Studio creative director
  James Ohlen
  promised chat bubbles to be a
  "high priority in BioWare's list of things to do"
  . On a side note, Principal Lead Combat Designer
  Georg Zoeller
  confirmed this on the beta forums as well by posting
  "chat bubbles are a high-priority feature for launch or shortly thereafter"
  around the same timeframe.
  
  
   
  
  
   
  
  
• January 20th, 2012:
  Re: Sprechblasen!!
  
  
  The Old Republic's German Community Manager
  Ursula Brand
  wrote the following in reply to a German thread about chat bubbles.
  
  
  English Translation:
  "We have definitely forwarded your wish. But you can certainly understand that it isn't of high priority at the moment. Hence I sadly can't tell you anything about it at this time, whether chat bubbles are coming or not (much less when they are coming). I myself have colored my chat channels in different (partially very bright) colors. This helps me keep the overview. But yes it's really hard at large RP-events when the chat is speeding to no end..."
  
  
  Original German text:
  "Wir haben euren Wunsch auf alle Fälle weitergegeben. Aber ihr könnt sicher verstehen, dass das im Moment keine hohe Priorität hat. Insofern kann ich euch leider zu diesem Zeitpunkt nichts dazu sagen, ob Sprechblasen kommen werden (geschweige denn wann). Ich persönlich habe alle meine Chat-Channels in verschiedenen (teilweise ziemlich grellen Farben) eingefärbt. Das hilft mir sehr, die Übersicht zu bewahren. Aber ja, bei großen RP-Events, wenn der Chat rast ohne Ende, dann wird es wirklich schwer ..."
  
  
   
  
  
   
  
  
• January 26th, 2012:
  Interview: BioWare’s
  Cory Butler
  and the Future of Star Wars: The Old Republic
  
  
  An interview with Bioware's
  Cory Butler
  from January 2012 which has the first official mention of chat bubbles since
  James Ohlen
  talking about them at the Fansite Summit and
  Georg Zöller
  confirming it on the beta forums in November 2011.
  
  
  When asked about chat bubbles in the interview,
  Butler
  awkwardly avoids the topic by simply saying
  "I can’t really go into the specifics about chat bubbles just yet."
  .
  
  
   
  
  
   
  
  
• February 17th, 2012:
  Community Q&A: Feb 17th 2012
  
  
  in the February 17th 2012 Community Q&A post, Bioware's
  Damion Schubert
  confirmed that chat bubbles will be implemented:
  "They're definitely on the list. We’ve got many active roleplayers in the dev team and chat bubbles have always been important to us. We actually had chat bubbles in beta, but there was unfortunately some serious performance issues that our implementation caused that, for example, made things really suck in warzones and the fleet. They’ll be coming soon, but in priority, the GUI team is focused first on GUI customization. I'll have a better idea of timing once we get past that. And yes, for people who hate them, whenever we do them, they'll be toggleable."
  
  
   
  
  
   
  
  
• March 5th 2012:
  
  
  Bioware's new Lead Designer
  Daniel Erickson
  confirmed on the topic "The future of roleplaying" that chat bubbles are indeed coming and issues with chat bubbles having a negative effect on performance have been resolved:
  "Chat bubbles...yeah, chat bubbles. *bows his head in shame while applause roars through the room* So...this is...this is one of those weird...like... *sigh* ... there are things that you can always tell from our faces when we talk about it. There are things that are just kind of embarassing. Like we had chat bubbles in the game and for whatever reason there was a really strange technical... thing... with the chat bubbles that they totally dragged the performance of the game down. [takes a deep breath] We were like "chat bubbles...really? That's what's doing it?!" And you know, a tech came over and turned off the chat bubbles and framerate went way up and we were like "Oh god, okay." So...uh. We think
  we've got that worked out though
  . So chat bubbles: YES!"
  
  
   
  
  
   
  
  
• June 29th, 2012:
  Community Q&A: June 29th 2012
  
  
  When answering a question about how much of the development is based on the developers' ideas and how much is based on Community input, Bioware's Lead Designer
  Daniel Erickson
  acknowledged chat bubbles as one of the most requested community features although they didn't see them as a "big must-have feature" and confirmed that they will be added to the game in the near future (although he didn't give any details on when that will be):
  "As we come to the end of our big must-have features (like Group Finder), updates are driven more and more by the community. Expect to see far more of the smaller quality of life requested features (color matching for companions, chat bubbles, etc.) start to get real traction under them in the near future."
  
  
   
  
  
   
  
  
• July 24th, 2012:
  SWTOR-RP interviews Daniel Erickson: The ramblings of RP
  
  
  Lead Designer
  Daniel Erickson
  mentioned chat bubbles in an interview conducted by the fine people over at
  swtor-rp.com
  :
  "Chat bubbles are on the short list, stuck behind must-have features like group finder and I expect you’ll see them arrive relatively soon."
  
  

 

 

A quote of the old, prose version of this post that was first posted in the TOR Beta Forums back in Summer 2011 for those that like to read it:

 

Still support this idea

 

Chat bubbles are a must!

[Glzmo]

No chat bubbles in 1.4 according to the PTS Patch Notes. Moving Unify to chest and headslot toggle for companions ahead of chat bubbles in priority for the UI team? Really? Really. Really?! Bioware, you really have no clue what's important to the players.

 

Safe to say I am incredibly disappointed. That's hat you get for trusting the word of Bioware, I guess. Disappointment.

 

Bioware, could you please at least tell us which patch you plan on adding chat bubbles? This waiting and throwing money at you to finally implement things is getting unbearable!

 

In July we've been told by Daniel Erickson that we'd get chat bubbles "relatively soon", which gave me enough faith in Bioware that they'd be in the next big patch (Game Update 1.4) so I decided to renew my subscription in good faith. It's mid-September now, Game Update 1.4 is on the Public Test Server and there is still no sign of chat bubbles while the UI team seemed to put in all their effort to add relatively unimportant features like companion unify colors and head slot toggle for companions.

 

I think I'll just give up on this game as well as Bioware and EA in general after my subscription is up and go play and pay for games created by developers that actually care about (role-)players and stay true to their word instead.

Edited September 12, 2012 by Glzmo

[LaniAkavir]

This is outrageous! I find this lack of chat bubbles disturbing!

[Majspuffen]

Bioware, could you please at least tell us which patch you plan on adding chat bubbles? This waiting and throwing money at you to finally implement things is getting unbearable!

 

Before the game was launched Bioware said that if chat bubbles were not in by launch, then they would be soon thereafter. Bioware also said that if Hood-Toggles were not in the 1.2 patch, then they would be in the next major content patch. We didn't see Hood-toggles in 1.3 and they are not on the 1.4 PTS notes either.

 

So Bioware's word isn't worth much, unfortunately. :/

Edited September 11, 2012 by Majspuffen

[lklinga]

I do not see the point of chat bubbles at all.

 

There are games without them and all they do is spam.

There are about 100 things that you can have as higher priority then chat bubbles. Some games have integrated voice clients that is a way forward not chat bubbles.

[zetroll]

Is that me or 90 pages later there's still no answer from bw ?

 

 

 

Oh and :

I do not see the point of chat bubbles at all.

 

There are games without them and all they do is spam.

There are about 100 things that you can have as higher priority then chat bubbles. Some games have integrated voice clients that is a way forward not chat bubbles.

 

Thank you for such a norrow minded comment. Did you even read the 1st post ?

[SawneyRath]

Still supporting this feature. I do not think holding your subscription as a "hostage" is a way to get an answer though lol.

 

I have seen a lot more feedback from the Devs recently, and I think its only a matter of time before Chat Bubbles get addressed. There are a lot of things going on behind the scenes that we have no idea about. Just got to hold in there. They'll be added eventually .

[Senestor]

That's the prize for trusting in the words that were telling that chat bubbles are a high priority to the ui team. Many people were having hope for this game in many ways. Especially the roleplayers wich needed a new home after soe shut down the swg servers. But we were fooled by bw an ea all the time.... I had real hopes and didn't hear the words others were telling me "that's ea man, they will never give high priority to stuff for roleplayers". Well, they were all right.

 

This was for sure the last time i threw my money into the throat of these companys. Time to install some emu software for swg

[SawneyRath]

That's the prize for trusting in the words that were telling that chat bubbles are a high priority to the ui team. Many people were having hope for this game in many ways. Especially the roleplayers wich needed a new home after soe shut down the swg servers. But we were fooled by bw an ea all the time.... I had real hopes and didn't hear the words others were telling me "that's ea man, they will never give high priority to stuff for roleplayers". Well, they were all right.

 

This was for sure the last time i threw my money into the throat of these companys. Time to install some emu software for swg

 

 

I don't really agree that they don't hear our desires. I think its more a fact that most people do not Roleplay. We are a minority on the majority of games. So our features are always tacked on at the end of big updates to PvP and PvE. 1.4 has emotions coming, I think that is a plus, modifiable gear being added, and legacy bound is also good for us RPers.

 

So to say they don't put us on a high priority may be only slightly true. I think its more a thing of them saying "What content is used by the majoirty". I'm still holdling out for Bubbles.

[skytroope]

As many people know its the little details that can drive players away. As someone who BETA tested Ultima Online (yea been around the block) Chat bubbles are an essential thing . a billion emotes but no immersion with chat bubbles? really? . Oh and all you guys that complain a chat bubble would clog up the game are the same people that like to drive battle ship sized speeders down the crowded hallways on republic space im sure.

 

I know a few people personally that stepped away from the game because they felt they were trapped in the (Grind) with no way to break from that. Just being in character (and im not even a RP er) can be great. you feel much more involved, stylish, personalized . This may seem small but its one of the things that makes the game feel robotic without.

 

OH it ruined beta and didn't work? yea well the marine corps crashed 11 Ospreys in the beginning and that didn't stop them from making it work.

 

Agreed it should be one of the chat options so if u wanna stay on general you can, if u wanna RP chat you can. Also being able to set your viewing distance IE 10 meters ,15 meters for bubbles would make your "Clouding" a none issue. I find it unusual that a company like bio ware continues to ignore the will of the people on CB . And the space combat? My 6 year old Nephew has a better flight Sim on his TI -83 Calculator .

 

One last thing, i see a lot of the people who don't like bubbles are mostly younger players, people that never got to enjoy the games Myself and others grew up on. Or folks that don't work 9 hours a day and what to come home and enjoy something a little more than leveling up. The problem is you "DON'T TAKE THE TIME' Your always grinding to the next thing with no use for chat or any of that rubbish. its that type of adderall infused spaz bulls%^ that has defiantly turned me sour on these types of games as of late. Take the time to enjoy the game, don't be so quick to get through the tunnel. And this isn't counter strike. stop spamming your space bar on PVP

 

- Jake

Edited September 12, 2012 by skytroope