Please implement a simple and lightweight feature to the UI that will allow us to toggle on squelch. Many players really dislike the emotes and find them either distracting, annoying, and in some cases, infuriating. I dislike them so much that when I see one, it really sours my whole play experience. So to avoid seeing an emote from my opponent, I squelch them at the start of every match. This is rather tedious after many many matches. This would be a simple “Quality of Life” improvement to the squelch feature that would be a nice convenience for those of us who are squelching our opponents anyway.
The only “official” Blizzard objections all refer back to a 4+year old tweet from Brode that expressed fear of options bloat and potential reduced emote usage. Adding one small checkbox above the “Allow Spectators” checkbox is not options bloat. It’s one added feature in an already pretty bleak set of options. Also, I don’t see why emote usage would change appreciably at all. People who would be using auto squelch would be manually squelching anyway. Further, it doesn’t preclude the opponent from emoting; it only keeps it hidden on our side.
Additionally, there is a chronic problem with the way squelch is designed. When we play on a mobile device and experience either a brief disconnect or simply receive a phone call, the squelch falls off, and we are forced to endure the opponent’s emotes before squelching again. So at times, we need to squelch multiple times per match, adding to the tedium and frustration. Adding a squelch toggle would fix that issue as well.
Blizzard, please implement this change and/or please offer your reasoning behind your refusal to do so (something more that just referring back to a 4 year old tweet).
[Moderator’s Note: Closing this thread, as while the original feedback and request raises a valid point, the whole thread is just degenerating into arguing. The development team is aware of the request and has provided an answer on it. Thank you for the suggestion.]
No one likes to be BM’ed when they lose. It’s not just you.
But HS is an online game and not an offline game with smart bots.
The only communication that’s left with strangers ARE the emotes. Taking that away can give lots of players a sad, lonely and even depressing feeling and yes, if people auto-squelch then there is no point of using emotes. HS would be a silent online-game.
Look at Artifact, the game had 0 communication between players. Many Artifact fans expressed to Valve that they felt lonely, isolated during the games. That’s a depressing message for an ONLINE MULTI-PLAYER game. Most expect AND want some level of communication and clear evidence they are playing against real people.
Artifact pretty much died because of the “silenced online-gaming”.
/signed I squelch every game anyway, and when I forget, I regret it.
The point many anti-squelch arguments don’t recognize is that people are squelching already. It’s just a quality of life feature to have a toggle for a feature that already exists, instead of being even more annoyed having to do the hero portrait every game.
And it isn’t just about rude people or being anti-social. It’s also about having peace and quiet to think about your plays without distractions, or just chill without dealing with the social experience.
I think this feature would be fine. Since the people who squelch anyways will just have a better feature. However it might be nice to have a feature where your opponent knows that you squelched.
One of the main features the game really needs right now. I am so sick of being taunted when some aggro/tempo deck curves out and burns me down before I have a chance to play my deck.
I am NOT suggesting that emotes be taken away. I can’t possibly see how you inferred that from my post. In fact, I’ve even supported those who’ve asked for more emotes. All I’m suggesting is an improvement to the squelch feature that already exists. People who would use this squelch toggle are already squelching you anyway. It doesn’t change anything on your side during the match. You can continue to emote to your heart’s content.
What’s the difference if we squelch you manually or if it’s done automatically? There is already a 3rd party bot script that works through the deck tracker which executes the clicks to squelch the opponent automatically at the start of the match. (Unfortunately, it’s only available to PC players, not mobile device players like me). Yet people have not stopped using emotes. That people would not emote just based on the mere existince of a squelch toggle is a fallacy.
Surely you aren’t suggesting that I be forced to endure your emotes and even be forced to respond to your emotes? Just so you can see proof that I’m a person and not an AI script?
But HS won’t have zero communication. The implmentation of a squelch toggle will not change the level of “communication” at all (save for a very small, very rare niche situation that has been noted and addressed). People who are squelching will continue to squelch. People who enjoy the emotes will continue to emote. The mere existence of a toggle isn’t going to cause people to suddenly decide that they no longer like emotes and start squelching.
Gonna add the same statement I once put in the original “mega cooking recipes” we had in the other forums.
If people want a way to cut comunications during game why not give it to them, this means CUTTING ALL COMUNICATIONS as in the person that has this hipotetical feature turned on should not be able to emote itself since to me fair is fair and if you want to silence me you should first stay quiet yourself.
I would have no objection to this. Although I don’t understand the reason why, but it wouldn’t adversely affect me, so I’m fine with it.
I’m ok with the silence being both ways. But I still don’t really understand why though. It’s not like you have any indication that your are squelched. You can emote. And your opponent is emoting. The fact that your opponent can’t see your emotes is largely irrelevant as it’s completely unknown to you.
However, as I’ve also said in previous threads, your suggestion applies to squelch and is independent of the call for an autosquelch toggle. The desire by some for a two way silence effect would apply to squelch regardles of how it was applied, manually or automatically.
I don’t really see this as a debate. I personally won’t be using it if/when they add the feature, since emotes are the the only player interactions you have in a match. Since a lot of people don’t like emotes(for whatever reason), this is a simple adition for those players that would have to do it manually every match.
Tldr : It’s an option for people that squelch every match, saving them a bit of time(and nerves) while players like me that like to emote won’t be affected by it in any way.
Thanks for the support Pollox. I think your perspective is the vast majority of players, i.e. they wouldn’t use it but are happy to have it available for those who would.