While I do think that the chat system needs a big overhaul, I understand that that takes a lot of effort and planning to get right.
To make the chat system better without too much effort, I think adding the possibility to bind keys to the different chat channels would be very nice.
Right now the only "channels" that you can bind keys to is:
- Local (speaking distance/party) chat, default key 'enter'
- Reply to latest tell/whisper, default key 'r'
As I find my self typing '/g ' more than anything else in this game I would really want guild chat to be just a single keystroke away. But there are other channels that could be nice to have easy access to too.
Some channels that would make sense and be easy to implement for the devs:
- Guild chat, keystroke that would be short for 'enter chat' + type '/g '
- Officer chat, keystroke that would be short for 'enter chat' + type '/o '
- Zone chat, keystroke that would be short for 'enter chat' + type '/1 '
- Trade chat, keystroke that would be short for 'enter chat' + type '/2 '
As the mechanics are already in the game (compare with 'r' for 'reply to tell'), this should be very simple to implement.
Even the sometimes suggested 'Friend Chat' would be nice, albeit needing a bit more work to implement. Whether or not 'Friend Chat' would be a new source of spam or very useful is probably dependent on your 'friends' and a topic for another tread.
Update:
Luguiru writes:
Did you know that pressing "/" skips the need to hit "enter"? Try it next time you log in, unless they patched it in the past few days.
- No, I did not know that. Thanks, it helps somewhat but is not really what I was hoping for.
The above quote was said to me, in person, by a Mormon. Thank you.
Did you know that pressing "/" skips the need to hit "enter"? Try it next time you log in, unless they patched it in the past few days.
Turning to Wakfu as a reference, they have a chat log which allows players to go through various channels from general, private, and so on; the problem with their system is the "global" channel is restricted to premium users to prevent robots from spamming as in Dofus; they also disallowed non-premium accounts from being able to trade to further discourage robot abuse. It may annoy cheap people, such as myself, but getting your own equipment is fairly easy in that game.
Where am I going with this? Skip to the example.
"La la la, I am skipping through the Clockworks while typing monotonously. Oh, look, my guild is chatting and what not."
"Hurr we are guild people chatting and stuff durr."
"Quickly, to the Bat Cave! Wait, wrong skit. Quickly, I must reply to people in my guild quite guild chattily!"
"Why you no reply fast even though I can see in the guild list you are in the Clockworks while I am typing without punctuation in a run on sentence yes?"
"No, you are smelly and smell like stupid."
"No!"
"Yes!"
"Shut up you two, this is getting too silly."
"No, you should shut up because we are having an amgurment!"
"Aha!"
"Aha!"
"Ho ho!"
"Honk honk."
That went nowhere.
What was I going to post about?
You were going to headbutt trees because they look at you funny.
Oh, thanks for reminding me. I must attend that business immediately.
Stop that.