Greetings on another happy maintenance day to all of you out there. Last week, I made a fateful decision that solidified my life as a World of Warcraft enthusiast. Stepping back a bit, there are a number of other topic areas, I'd like to discuss still as there is much this noobish player hadn't experienced. One of those items is raid chat.
Typically used through a program called Ventrilo raid chat allows users to literally talk with each other using microphones. There are a number of really interesting dynamics that immerge from this, all of which I plan to talk about. As always feel free to comment with your favorite Ventrilo stories as I'm sure many of you have more than one golden nugget.
First and foremost I want to go on record stating that having raid chat is essential for any groups running 10 or 25 man content. I've used "vent" (as people call it for short) in 5 man instances and even just in questing with a group. I find it extremely helpful, especially when I am new to a particular situation (which, given my name, happens fairly often). It is great to not have to type type type your responses into a chat box, when instead, you can just yell, "HOLY CRAP THE BIG DRAGON IS EATING ME!" (see how much easier that was?).
Regardless of its obvious strengths as a faster communication method than typing, it is because of this strength that it is literally one of the most annoying things on earth (or in Azeroth). There has to be a link between this and television, where as, someone who is exposed to it instantly becomes an idiot. Have you ever noticed that while watching reality tv or even just the news? As soon as that camera is rolling, people just lose their smarts.
Now I'm not suggesting that this always happens or that every single person who gets on Ventrilo becomes a babbling moron, I'm just saying that it seems to happen fairly often, especially amongst those who perhaps don't talk enough in real life. If you were to meet me on the street or at Blizzcon, I could talk your ear off for an hour about nothing important, however once I enter vent chat, I am all business. I rarely make jokes or express my true personality (at least at first), because after all we have a job to do and me making "Yo Mama" jokes, doesn't help. Meanwhile I've played with other groups (usually pugs) where one or two people will just DOMINATE the conversation.
I understand that in raid groups someone has to dominate the raid conversation, typically from what I've experienced, that should be the Tank or Raid Leader, NOT the DPS Hunter (sorry to pick on hunters). More times out of 10 I find myself in groups with people who just talk, and talk, and talk and they're not saying anything relevant or helpful but yet that doesn't seem to matter. I almost wish that I had my own Red Leader or even Jek Porkins to tell everyone to "quit the chatter and report in" (that would make things a lot easier).See how well it worked for the assualt on the original death star?
My worst experience by far had to have been in a raid group a little while back, with an Elemental Shaman, who could NOT stop saying "ah he/she berserked him in the eye" after nearly every boss kill. Now granted that was funny the first time when the fury warrior went berserk and killed the boss. But 11 bosses later, that is no longer funny and I'm wishing I had a mute character button (or the ability to do something beyond /slap to him). Interestingly enough I rarely find females being the ones to overload the chatter. Perhaps that's because there are fewer of them in WoW, or just that they better understand Vent etiquette. After all you never saw Princess Leia trying to take credit away from Luke or Han right? Right?
