Noisy Taverns and a Wish for Chat Bubbles

[Taki'a_Venn]

So I stopped by the Quicksand last night (easy to do when you're in single-digits of levels and your quests take you there anyway...  ) and was immediately overwhelmed by the sheer volume of role-play going on.

 

Reaction #1: This is AWESOME!  Look at all these people!

 

Reaction #2: I can't follow a darned thing going on...  too much.... argh!

 

Reaction #3: I miss chat bubbles....

[Desu Nee]

You can either use tell, or just expand the chat window, and well...pay attention. The Quicksand is a great place for rp, indeedles.

[Warren Castille]

Something to consider: The Quicksand is larger than a character's normal /say range! If you're hanging out in the center or at one of the tables, you can expect a ton more scroll than if you're near, say, the levemete counter or just outside the front (not side) door.

[Unnamed Mercenary]

While SE will probably never add chat bubbles for players, there are a couple ways to work with the current system.

 

1) As said above, attempt to move to /tell or /party chat if you're with a group. While this effectively kills open-world interaction, if you're in the QS for a more private scene, or for something other people don't need to engage in, it's an option.

 

2) Expand the chat box/filter unneeded text. The character settings allow you to customize the chatbox tabs. I generally try to block /shout, as it is rarely used for RP, but is used for many other things. If you know the RPers you're going to interact with don't use a certain kinda of text (like /yell), you might be able to filter the chat down to something a little more manageable that way.

 

3) Try to relocate! Perhaps you were able to keep up earlier, but it it's becoming excessively more difficult. See if you can get the person/people you're RPing with to relocate someone outside the general /say range. Some people like to use the little bar by the airship for just this!

 

4) Temporarily blacklist unrelated people. This is more a last-resort method to slow down your chatbox. Perhaps some people are having some really chatty scene and it's flooding your box. You know their scene is, or really looks closed. Add them to your blacklist while you're at the Quicksand and remove them when you leave. This has the possibility of cutting people out of the RP scene who may wish to join, however. Use with caution.

[Blue]

Personally when I go to RP in the Quicksands, I invite to PT who I RP with and RP in /party, using /say only for things that I think my character would say loud enough to be overheard by those nearby. After all, when you walk into a bar IRL you don't hear everything people say at their tables, no?

 

I'd recommend more people to do this, but then there's the "but I want others to know I'm RPing so they can approach!" argument.

 

Which brings me back to the daaaamned "IC/RPing" status icon to show next to our name over our heads I've been asking to the Devs for a year now. We need that thing ; ;!

[FreelanceWizard]

While SE will probably never add chat bubbles for players

 

I'd have to dig up the dev post, but this is true. SE won't do it because of VRAM limitations, particularly on consoles.

[Taki'a_Venn]

The part I really struggle with is connecting the lines of text with the people who said them, but those aren't bad ideas either.  Probably just a consequence of getting older and the eyesight not being what it once was and all.  (darned kids!)

 

In the meantime, I'll muddle along as best as I can.  I'm sure there are less crowded places to RP in and then as I get more involved I'll try things like using party chat and such.

 

Thanks for the tips

[Harmonixer]

While SE will probably never add chat bubbles for players

 

I'd have to dig up the dev post, but this is true. SE won't do it because of VRAM limitations, particularly on consoles.

 

Ah, that's a serious bummer.

 

Another thing to add to the list for 4.0 then!

 

 

Personally I found that recoloring all of my chatbox text and making specific chat windows for everything to be quite helpful. I also tend to fiddle with my posts in notepad. Making notes and writing down things I find important so I don't lose my place. It's more multi tasking, but breaking up the info into smaller bits could work.

[ShoggMommy]

Only way I would personally support use of a chat bubble is if they make them toggled. It is especially obnoxious when your screen is covered with them in a large group. I'm seemingly a minority with this but eh.... cest la vie.

 

This being said, I would suggest some of the other suggestions for the time being. Also you can turn off non custom emotes if you don't so much care about them being written out, I've fought troll spam that way.

 

*apologies if font is huge, mobile always makes it massive.

[Steel Wolf]

It's precisely for the clutter and the lack chat bubbles that I avoid the Quicksand.

[Haven's Fox]

Turning on timestamps for the chat window is handy.

[Taki'a_Venn]

Turning on timestamps for the chat window is handy.

 

Does it help make the start of chat lines stand out a bit more?  The worst of the many problems I had was one person's /say chat would nearly blend completely in with the next persons.  Me clearly needing new bifocals wasn't helping I'll grant, but anything to add a bit of differentiation would be helpful.

[ShoggMommy]

Turning on timestamps for the chat window is handy.

 

Does it help make the start of chat lines stand out a bit more?  The worst of the many problems I had was one person's /say chat would nearly blend completely in with the next persons.  Me clearly needing new bifocals wasn't helping I'll grant, but anything to add a bit of differentiation would be helpful.

 

 

I agree with Taki'a the time stamps help a lot for finding things. I don't know if it makes them stand out but, it does help me locate posts by time.

[Mae]

It's precisely for the clutter and the lack chat bubbles that I avoid the Quicksand.  

Same, or any event where there's more than 8 people and I can't move far enough away to limit the range of what's popping up on my screen (FC-tavern RP in a small house, for example). I actually get sort of motion-sick trying to keep up with a busy chatlog. I tried blisting once at one of those events, I was spending more time on the blist screen and scrolling back up through the log to see if I missed something than I did RPing... and actually discovered that I had accidentally blisted someone I was RPing with, which was probably why they eventually 'got up quietly and just left'.

 

Chat bubbles can clutter a screen, sure, but... it was always easier for me.

[Kage]

My mind just instantly filters to the immediate partners in the scene. Even then I might still filtering through characters who my character may or may not know to see what they may or may not do.

 

Example: I was RPing with a friend I'd made over a year ago at the railing where we met and where our characters like to go when they're at the Quicksand. Eventually, another friend of Kage's joined in (unexpectedly but delightfully). It was an addition that at first I wondered if it was IC or just an OOC drive by because of character model closeness but soon found out was IC interaction. Anyway, later on he mentions having a girlfriend. Kage doesn't -particularly know them but I saw the girlfriend that Kage had no idea of and innocently egged questions that I thought made for interesting character reaction.

 

And I was able to see the girlfriends' reactions and also other people who started to interact with the people Kage was with.

 

Honestly, it mostly just means I filtered it a little thinly, seeing first the immediate RPers by seeing their names in chat log. Then, I broaden and take off less of the limits by seeing who might be around that may add some interesting RP or who are also reacting to the current.

 

I don't think it makes sense. ;

 

I just scroll and scroll/

[Aaron]

Just tell everyone to shut up if you need quiet. It works every time. 

 

 

 

 

Don't listen to me.

[Kellach Woods]

I'd have to dig up the dev post, but this is true. SE won't do it because of VRAM limitations, particularly on consoles.

Add it to PC options, problem solved.

 

(Also if they killed the PS3 version maybe. I don't envy the people working on the port-down version of Heavensward...)

 

* * *

 

One of the (many) reasons I avoid the Quicksand is pretty much that A) it's impossible to walk-up RP without a fuckton of OOC communication because of the chatter B) even within the RP itself following the actual chatter is a clusterfuck unless you're RPing in a party, at which point you may as well take it elsewhere unless you need to be at the Quicksand because reasons.

[PerkPrincess]

WHO ELSE IS READY TO MAKE AN ADDON TO SPECIFICALLY ADD CHAT BUBBLES?

 

I am. Because dear god I need them for big scenes.

 

Yoshi P, please hear my cry.

[Kellach Woods]

If add-on support ever comes I'd certainly take it.

[ShoggMommy]

Even though I don't care for chat bubbles, I severely and seriously support the idea of add-ons for them, because I'm not playing a single player game. ^^

[Darien Cadell]

Only way I would personally support use of a chat bubble is if they make them toggled. It is especially obnoxious when your screen is covered with them in a large group. I'm seemingly a minority with this but eh.... cest la vie.

 

Minority, but not alone. I'm also one who always toggled chat bubbles off when they were an option. I'd rather skim endless pages for the name I'm looking for and possibly miss it than have bubbles all over the place.

 

That being said, obviously people miss it not being an option, so maybe it's something that should be considered.

 

I don't know what I'd do without timestamps, though. Probably lose my mind.

[Tregarde]

I just started and played over the weekend, and I noticed the lack of chat bubbles for players. I'm a social player, and in even a lightly crowded room with people I don't know (yet) it's very difficult to tell who is speaking. Or even if someone says something at random on a nearly empty street in passing, I still have to look around to see where it came from.

 

A toggle to turn text bubbles on would be most welcome. That way those of us who want them can have them, and those who don't can live without.