Yeah. Went to a roleplay event on my server on Nar Shadda, and it was a total nightmare. Not only because we have no chat bubbles in this game (silly bioware) but also because for some insane reason, the distance my character can "hear/read" the conversations and emotes of other players is massive.

 

My text box was like a scene from the matrix. If I literally looked away for a second I'd miss conversations and have to scroll up, only to then have to scroll down slowly looking for my friends words.

 

It needs to be fixed and quicksmart.

 

Put a slider selection bar in "chat" options to allow us to customize how far away our characters can read peoples words. Right now it feels like well over 100m (for emotes at least) , when it really should be no more than 30m max, with 10m being the smallest setting.

 

PS, we need chat bubbles...everyone needs em, even raid groups and pvP'ers.

Well, hope it's brought up at the summit and Bioware gives us a set-in-stone answer to this question then.

I completely agree.

I've been in the Mando Enclave on Dromund Kaas and was able to catch an RP going on in the Sith section next door.

 

The size is quite extreme.

I completely agree.

I've been in the Mando Enclave on Dromund Kaas and was able to catch an RP going on in the Sith section next door.

 

The size is quite extreme.

 

That is nuts. It's a combination of bad things that makes this such a problem. Not only can we see the words of everyone in a massive radius, but we have no chat bubbles to focus our eyes on the group around us..and, we can't resize our chatbox to make it big enough to handle wall'O'text.

 

We are thrice goofed, ergo!

 

I demands justices!

That is nuts. It's a combination of bad things that makes this such a problem. Not only can we see the words of everyone in a massive radius, but we have no chat bubbles to focus our eyes on the group around us..and, we can't resize our chatbox to make it big enough to handle wall'O'text.

 

We are thrice goofed, ergo!

 

I demands justices!

 

You can resize your chatbox.

 

As for wall'o'text, I consider it a skillful RPer who can eloquently roleplay and be concise. I aim to fit my character's dialogue and actions in one post, so as to avoid splicing and give other players a chance to react.

You can resize your chatbox.

 

As for wall'o'text, I consider it a skillful RPer who can eloquently roleplay and be concise. I aim to fit my character's dialogue and actions in one post, so as to avoid splicing and give other players a chance to react.

 

We cannot resize it to make it big enough to handle WALL'O'TEXT. I can touch type, and I type and read really quickly, but even I struggle sometimes to keep track of what is going on.

 

They could fix this easily, as they already have a limit on chat awareness distance, they just need to change it. Even a flat limitation of 30m would improve things.

First of all, you can't post Wall O Text anyway. There is a character limit.

 

And yes, you can resize your chat box by simply dragging it open from the lower right hand corner. I do it all the time when in large RP groups.

 

And try to avoid Wall O Text anyway. It had better be flawlessly written or odds are it's not going to be read, and considering how text formatting and paragraphing are lost in a chat prompt... WALL O TEXT went out of style. At least it did for me.

He doesn't mean that individual people are posting walls of text.

He means that at large RP events, the sheer number of people posting causes the chatbox to become flooded.

 

For this reason, when I'm actively RPing, I will resize the chat box and temporarily leave public channels like General and such, to keep things calm.

 

 

Imagine you and some friends are in a crowded resturant.

Each table is trying to have their own conversation, but you can hear the people across the room just as easily as you can hear the people right in front of you - with enough active conversations, it becomes impossible to seperate the conversation relevant to you from the rest of the chatter.

Size is far too big, but I wouldn't say it's useful to have an adjustable size because I could be able to hear you if mine is larger so say something and you don't hear it because yours is a smaller size. This is of course, not going to happen anywhere near current sizes but if it gets scaled smaller.

 

I would say it just needs something like a 5 metre radius, that fits in terms of what you would normally hear, so don't need to be too close. Chat bubbles would work better though IMO.

 

For the time being all I do is to make the chat box as large as possible so I can keep up with it.

He doesn't mean that individual people are posting walls of text.

He means that at large RP events, the sheer number of people posting causes the chatbox to become flooded.

 

For this reason, when I'm actively RPing, I will resize the chat box and temporarily leave public channels like General and such, to keep things calm.

 

 

Imagine you and some friends are in a crowded resturant.

Each table is trying to have their own conversation, but you can hear the people across the room just as easily as you can hear the people right in front of you - with enough active conversations, it becomes impossible to seperate the conversation relevant to you from the rest of the chatter.

 

I have a seperate channel just for /say and /e, although I do that anyway as I like to have everything organised and not be bombarded with irrelevent information. I don't get any problems. Barely need to resize the box in fact, just do it because it makes it easier.

Maybe it's from coming out of RIFT where the chat distance was something like 150-200m, but I thought the distance here was pretty good and standard to most MMO's

 

I will say the Idea of having a bar that can limit how far you can "hear" local chat would be nice. Take it a step farther and make it so we can control our own /say distance even.

I have a seperate channel just for /say and /e, although I do that anyway as I like to have everything organised and not be bombarded with irrelevent information. I don't get any problems. Barely need to resize the box in fact, just do it because it makes it easier.

 

Even with a seperate channel only for /say and emotes, and the chat box extended to max with chat text at it's smallest, in a large roleplay event keeping track of specific conversations is a pain. It is possible if you never blink, but it's not ideal, and brothers and sisters, the ideal is always what we should aim for.

 

An adjustable chat reading range bar, with settings between 10m and 30m would be ideal.

I'm happy with the size. Coming from WoW, the /say /em range was too small. I constantly had to ask in whispers/party if my /say /em could be heard when we were were running, walking, or even if it was just one of us walking away dramatically and the other RPer wanted to still talk as the other person walked away. There were even times when I and the other RPer were standing perfectly still and we still couldn't hear each other.

 

Sure, it wasn't happening all the time, but it was happening enough to be be really annoying. And it was happening enough to make talking while walking/running a real challenge sometimes. I'm glad I don't have to stand right next to someone for them to hear me.

 

This is a biiiig improvement from WoW. Don't lower the range; give us chat bubbles instead. It makes it easier to find random RP too, since I can hear farther away.

Edited February 5, 2012 by JadeBranch

Resizing the chat box is a good thing. Turning off general chat or putting chats in different windows or colors helps. Moving to a more private area helps as well. Once you meet your RP group, step over into a far corner, or just out the door - wherever you can limit some of the chat clutter but still be in the RP area.

Resizing the chat box is a good thing. Turning off general chat or putting chats in different windows or colors helps. Moving to a more private area helps as well. Once you meet your RP group, step over into a far corner, or just out the door - wherever you can limit some of the chat clutter but still be in the RP area.

 

Those are fine ways to deal with the bad system we have, but not real solutions. There is an illness here, and we'd like a cure, not a sedative or pain killer.