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Brunwing
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re: VoIP/Chat client preference

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Hello kinmates!

I wanted to broach the subject of a VoIP/chat client that would be used in conjunction with raiding/groups/skirmishing or just general chatting aside from the in-game channel. Most of the kins I have been with use Ventrilo or TeamSpeak, which can cost. I've been trying out Razer Comms, which seems to be a good option (free) but there isn't much of a LOTRO presence that I can detect.

I'm starting this as I realize that the kin is growing and levelling, and at some point, having such a client for the kin would be very helpful in coordinating tactics so the group doesn't wipe on a raid. Thoughts? I'd be happy to try and set up a Courserrim group on Comms if there was interest.

Brun

Siltharan
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I really don't know much about things like that. Not sure what the barriers are to using something like Skype (which I have), but really 99.99% of the time I don't use voice on Skype. Just not a talker. :)

Brunwing
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The main problem with Skype is that since it's been acquired by MSN/MS, it's a little hard to have consistent mass-group chats/voice calls. The clients I mention help with that.

I'm not the biggest talker either, to be honest but it's nice to have the option and the in-game version tends to lag me out while the 3rd-party doesn't.

Briallan
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I know that many people prefer not to talk, but I was on an instance last month with one of our sister kins (KWL) where I found that it was useful for the instance leader to communicate via voice, even if the other people were only listening. I would be in favor of getting something set up for our kin -- it is always an option to use it -- having a chat server does not mean that you HAVE to talk, only that you CAN talk.

There are many options out there for chat servers and I know that some are free and some are costly. I tried out Mumble for example (which KWL uses), and found that it was very easy to set up and test, even though I never actually used it 'live' with a group.

Even though Skype is part of Microsoft now I believe that Skype also offers free chat, and I know some teams use that as their chat client. Brun when you say "it's a little hard to have consistent mass-group chats/voice calls," what is the particular issue that makes it hard?

I know nothing about Razer Comms, but maybe I will install it and check it out.

Does anyone who has used other chat clients care to relay their experiences, both as to cost and how well the various clients work? Free is good, of course.... :)

Also, there is no rule saying we can have only one chat solution. Many kins use a combination of typed chat, in-game chat and 3rd chat server -- we could even have more than one 3rd party chat solution if people had different opinions as to what worked for them (to reiterate, though, free is good lol).



Last edited by Briallan on Sat Jan 18, 2014 11:40 am; edited 1 time in total


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Brunwing
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Yes, having the raid lead talking can save the instance! I've had that on the end-game raids and without talking...we'd have been fried.

I've used TeamSpeak and Vent, both of which were okay but they can and will cost you to have a dedicated server. Since it was through another kin, that was fine but a bit clunky. I personally-think Comms is good, free (http://www.razerzone.com/comms). Never tried Mumble but have heard good things.

Albertine_Courserrim
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Would the Google chat thing work for this? I don't know how resource heavy it would be with Lotro running at the same time, but some of my previous MOOCs have used hangouts and stuff for group webchats. As long as you don't mind setting up a spare account for Google to snoop on, it's free to do as well.

 

Trower
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Mumble would probably be the best choice, from my understanding. There is an ingame voice system that works for groups and raid groups. Maybe play around with that a bit before we make a choice?

Hobbelion
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I think it would freak me out to hear your voices. Obviously we have this mental image of what each person might sound like when they type something out and to have an actual voice might destroy that vision. It's like reading a book and having a vision, then going to the movies to see that character sound and look completely different.

This has been the argument as to why some characters like Link has remained silent all these years.

And getting back to the heart of the discussion, I'm hard-of-hearing so I always shy away from exclusive voice chat in the event I missed a command or something. The one random instance I joined, they were very understanding and even offered to type out what was being said. So if we get to that level, I'll just have to figure out how to make it work.

Duiloras
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I agree on the freaking out to hear voices.

I think it's hilarious that I don't know what gender player is behind the gender of the character...and I kind of like that. It would totally ruin the idea of meeting up in a non-gender non-race non-age based space. I understand you from what you say in chat, what you choose to put on your character (or not), and how you interact. Nothing more...and I like that.

I was also part of a small fellowship that got wiped on a recent trip to...well, something about the Red Maiden. I think. :D Anyway, getting wiped was part of the fun of the experience for me. I liked what happened when we regrouped and replanned. 

Now, having said that, I'm certainly not going to stop anyone else from doing voice chat. But I might choose not to listen because I don't want to spoil the illusion, and I don't want to talk and reveal, either. I hope I can still join up with you for some quests even if I'm opting not to use voice.

Briallan
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Well these are great points ... I had always assumed that voice chat would just be a neutral or a plus, but not that it had a down side.

What would really cool is when you talk, it takes the voice stream and automatically creates substitles, and you could select to receive either the voice or the text or both -I'm sure there is something like that out there but maybe not as a cheap commercial product.

So, I guess this needs more thought

 



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Hobbelion
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There is voice recognition software, but it's still unreliable. If any of you use Siri on a iPhone, think about how accurate Siri is. Even if you think it is accurate, think about how you actually talk to Siri. If you speak slowly and enunciate, then she'll get you almost all the time, but if you are speaking rapidly, using LOTRO slang and acronyms, the accuracy rating goes off a cliff. In fact, you should try using the Google transcribing service on a YouTube video. Again, unless the video is like some kind of lecture in a controlled environment, it's actually pretty awful and confusing.

That said, real-time captioning would be very useful for deaf and hard-of-hearing people. It will happen sometime soon.

Ice Weasel
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Voice-rec is also the key for people with motor impairments, like my nephew with Cerebral Palsy. Hard for him to MMO, even with macros and special keyboards. 

Still... we're getting there, more every day. Soon we'll be able to do all this with gestures and voice. Then we get the Holodecks working...

 



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Siltharan
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Great considerations. As I was saying... Last night during our concert both Bri and I probably wouldn't have been great to listen to, freaking out over things going properly :P

Briallan
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right HAHAHA I am glad I didn't have voice chat on....

Also, I have to give Razor Comms a negative review based on my LIMITED PERSONAL experience. I often run 2 lotro clients on a single box, which used to work fine until I installed Razer Comms -- after I installed Razer Comms -- both clients crash after about 5 minutes. I know how to set up LOTRO so that it works with multiple clients so that's not the issue. After I rolled back to before installing Razer Comms, everything works again.

So this may not affect people who don't run multiple clients on one box  .. but ... I won't be using Razer Comms myself. I do notice that RazerComms is listed as a beta product, so that might be an issue they will fix later.



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Jestro/Pinestro/knifesedge
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Ventrillo has always been my preference, mainly because there's is an iphone/ipad app for it, so I can run it on a seperate device removing the need for seperate mic on my pc. We use it to great effect on Windfola and even if only the group leader is the one speaking, as long as everyone can hear them, it can be the difference between success and a wipe.



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