Virtually every match I’ve played of this Role Queue Beta competitive season in which my teammates were all or mostly on comms we’ve won.
And just about every match in which I was the only one or one of a few in chat was a loss.
Blizzard, please show that you actually take Competitive seriously and make voice chat for competitive compulsory with no option to leave.
Communication is a key part of successful teamwork.
You can easily mute the toxic people, but don’t disadvantage your team by completely avoiding team chat.
If it’s good enough for Overwatch League, it’s good enough for the rest of us playing ranked.
Not being in team chat is akin to throwing (the rules only state that not speaking in team chat is not considered throwing) and should be reported as such.
At the very least, give us an option in game to be able to say “Please join team chat” to the rest of the team (remember consoles don’t have text chat).
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So you’re not a team player. Good to know.
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Nah, I have a much better time not being in voice.
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I agree with you. It suck to check who is in team voice and see only one more guy in there. Sombra refusing to join and trio who talk only in their group… Usual setup.
Its big issue in EU, its kind of ok in US where people are in voice usualy.
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Could do a search and find topics like this and the answer to why it’s not enforced.
I don’t mean to sound rude, but there are deaf people who play, mute people who play, people that just aren’t confident speakers who play, but don’t get me wrong, i agree teamchat helps.
If you can join please do, even if you don’t talk, you could be the difference helping your supports when they call out flankers, or tacticts.
But VC only or no comp? Nahhhh.
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I agree with you OP.
On a positive note: All pro’s and Gms can climb unranked to Gm without their teammates being in voice. Yeah they will lose here and there but it won’t affect them climbing. These guys are ofc always in voice if only to communicate with that one person.
People who are not in voice aren’t gonna climb too high, and climbing will take them ages, luck, and god knows what if they even can touch masters.
Not being in voice is like making yourself handicapped.
And to be fair, one dude even made it to top 500 without voice, who in fact was deaf. Not just to teammates but the game itself. Look him on yt, it’s pretty dope.
My point is that there is a difference between players who just plainly reject voice and player who learn to play around it, because they have to.
Other than that, even if blizz made voice an obligation people would just mute 5 players before the match starts so…
What can you do?
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Personally I find it very difficult to focus on playing the game as well as I can if I have other people talking/shouting/complaining in my ears.
I used to play often with some friends and I realised after they stopped playing how much better I can play when I don’t have them distracting or outright tilting me with their complaints, bad calls, telling me what to play etc.
Would you rather have someone in voice chat than playing at their best on your team?
It doesn’t make you ‘not a team player’. I fill (solo main tank or solo Mercy more times than I care to remember). I group up and try to get the team to do the same using the voiceline (works fairly often). I use the ult % button to notify when I’m ready to use mine. I pay attention to my team switching heroes and try to synergise with their changes.
I agree voice chat can be very powerful, if people are making good calls and trying to work together whilst not being toxic at all otherwise it’s a hinderance.
I think it’s up to the player to use it if they want, or not.
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Agree. I imagine it won’t be as bad now but I don’t like hearing some kid screaming into the mic because we aren’t running the same comp as X overwatch league team or our DPS aren’t playing whatever hero is currently OP. I just want to play. I’m usually still in chat until someone gives me a reason to leave but some days i just leave from the start and stay out all day.
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Neah, I prefer to skip out on that toxic mess.
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Points that are irrefutable:
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Having communication in a team based, competitive game improves performance.
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There are always going to be toxic, annoying, and otherwise needing to be muted players. This doesn’t limit #1, but is merely a roadblock and a step towards getting back to #1 when it occurs. You don’t avoid #1 just to avoid #2.
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There are people who cannot afford a mic, are deaf, have speech issues, language barriers, etc… that will not speak in chat. That doesn’t prevent them from being able to listen (except deaf, obviously) and benefit.
I’ve always suggested having team chat being in the background. So even if people are in group chat, party chat, don’t have a mic, etc… you’re required to hear your teammates. You can always mute as well as report players who abuse the voice chat. It’s not hard, and frankly taking these steps helps the system to remove them for everyone. If you don’t like communication, don’t play a team based game, or at least not this team based core variant (competitive). No one will complain that the Sombra not calling out her hacks and coordinating EMP isn’t in team chat in Quick Play.
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Tldw, on solo queue there is more potential for tilt than help on voice chat. It’s still advised when you are on a premade.
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Not everyone can deal with toxicity yes, but in that case you can mute toxic people. If you have some serious emotional problems then maybe stay out of voice chat.
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I agree with OP.
Especially on the eu servers, their is almost never any form of shot calling.
Mostly because voice is mostly being used by russians who only english words they know are curse words. And lots of toxicity. The chance people will listen to your calls is almost 0.
Lots of players not even joining voice because of the above. Or staying in group chat to talk with their friends in their native language.
Forcing players to join voice in comp will be a good thing especially now with 2-2-2 and more team work is needed. Muting people of course should still be possible. At the moment there is almost not a single game i dont have to mute someone. And i report at least one player each day for abusive chat. But i keep joining and trying to focus call etc… As long their is at least one player that is using and acting on my calls we will have a big advantage over the other team, on eu servers where team work is often very bad.
Shot calling and responding(filtering -> people screaming focus targets or for help) to it is also a skill you need to practice and/or learn. Just like aiming and game sense. Compare 2 voice chats one of a match in GM with a gold or something. You will be able to choose what one the GM is within 30 seconds with a 100%. While it is sometimes hard to compare 2 short videos (without sound) and guess who is the GM and who is the diamond (guess my SR).
So maybe even it is the most important skill to have. But most players only learn it in the top most ranks.
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That you may, but the rest of your team suffers for being a player down in voice chat.
How very selfish of you.
Seen that video before but a lot of the claims they make are fallacious.
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I agree, being in teamchat should be mandatory.
Your mic doesn’t have to be unmuted, and you can always mute your teammates, but initially, I agree with you.
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Yes apsolutely. Why i the world would you leave entire voice and not make callouts instead of muting the people disturbing your gameplay.
I had a tank who made no callouts and only complained - muted
Moira with dogsh*t callouts hasn’t shut up since the begining + is toxic - muted
Still have 3 players who when make callouts they matter, and are not disturbing. + I’m myself in voice and I’ll call before I ult and when someone is 1 and where.
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I’ve done better without any form of communication on from a personal level.
Take the time to see that I’m feeding and stop it. If I get picked off and then try to get back to my team when it’s going to be 3 or 4 v 6 by the time I get there.
Actually look around for flankers or out of position enemies.
Are my supports ok?
Whereas before I’d rely on teammates for these info but then when they release that Intel you might actually be working on something else, then they or you get upset and it just lowers the overall mood. I don’t have to deal with that anymore, I just focus on what’s important without any communication and it’s been working out much better.
We aren’t pros, the comms we get are mostly negative from your enemies but especially your teammates. Chances are one lost teamfight and either everyone stops talking or everyone gets frustrated beyond belief.
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I have an easier time playing when not in voice.
I still turn it on. But i will mute back seat drivers or toxic people. Or if the entire team is screaming ill just leave.
Having voice enabled results in me making more mistakes, tbh. People give the most idiotic demands. One time a mccree was popping his high noon, but a healer screeched for me to turn around to kill a moira working his stuff in. Good thing i didn’t listen and eventually muted him.
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for the reasons I already gave…
and tbh, I play EU console, no one is in there anyway lol
