How does wow's voice chat system work?

[Rokondrius-stormreaver (Rokondrius)]

I’ve never seen a clear explanation in any thread so I’m asking and hoping I can’t get some actual answers:

Can I use voice chat for pug BGs/Dungeons/LFR?

Is voice chat only for Bnet friends?

Is there a tab I just don’t see that shows voice chat function like in overwatch? (if not there really should be)

Is there a sound icon that shows I’m talking (like in overwatch) cause while my mic test shows I’m making noise, I have no verification if others can hear me?

Can only dungeon leader/raid leader enable voice chat? (it’s often grayed out for me when I right click my portrait)

I really want to use this feature to make pugs more coordinated but it doesn’t seem well integrated and I suggest blizzard make it more like overwatch where people can opt out rather than opt in because I have no idea how to opt in at this point and can’t seem to find an explanation anywhere.

please and thank you

[Elenaltarien-aerie-peak (Elenaltarien)]

I’m not really sure how WoWs voice chat works to be honest with you. So I can’t really help you out on that front.

What I can tell you is that the vast majority of the player population uses Discord when they want to voice chat.

If you are interested, I found a thread that is just community feedback on the voice chat system.

Voice chat feedback

So in the Q&A Ion asked for some honest feedback on why people aren’t using the integrated voice chat feature. I dont know how helpful this is going to be for the devs in charge of it, but basically here’s how I feel: It doesn’t matter how well this feature works and it doesn’t matter how crystal clear the audio is, I will never, ever willingly join a voice chat service with a bunch of strangers. Between the toxicity, immaturity, lack of manners, etc. it’s just not ever going to happen. I actua…

[Kéres-sargeras (Kéres)]

I don’t know that anyone actually does use the in-game chat. It was kind of a “too little, too late” addition to the game on Blizzard’s part, as 3rd party VOIP programs like Ventrilo, Mumble, and Discord have already been in use by players for about as long as the game has existed.

If you’re looking to coordinate pugs through voice, it is very easy to make your own private Discord channel (as Elenaltarien said, the majority of players are using this service already). It’s completely free, and you can customize what permissions any given person has while in your channel. You can even kick people out of your channel afterwards if you want.

[Tinkerizmo-dalaran (Tinkerizmo)]

I used it for the 3rd or 4th time yesterday and while I could hear people I couldn’t be heard. It was very frustrating.

Some people I’ve talked to have had similar issues with it and for some people it works great.

Discord is a great option for many players

• it’s free
• it works, very reliable
• setting up a new server can take as little as 1 minute or as long as 5 to get default user permissions set correctly.
• you can also create temporary invites that last only a little bit of time so if your don’t want to speak to people again, you can.

[Nok-winterhoof (Nok)]

VThird party chats like dis cord are generally preferred by raid teams.

If your PC crashes or disconnects, you can explain to the group through discord that you are coming back online however the ingame chat would have crashed with the game.