I, too, was disappointed to see this was still in place.
I still believe this is genuinely a bug, because it’s so…arbitrary. It’s not that people can’t communicate, it just adds an odd layer of difficulty. People can still use /party, /channel, and /whisper.
I don’t know anything at all about coding, but I feel like when someone (on the forum) suggested it is probably related to Pandaria Remix allowing players without Dragonflight to make level 70 toons? That feels accurate.
It is annoying as all heck.
Edit: So, I saw that on the EU forums? There was a bit more activity from someone on the team.
I…am uncertain how to proceed from this point. I do not have access to the EU forums (I think), but I have not seen any “official” word on the US ones. I would like to provide information that can assist them, though I do not know the mechanism to do so. Is there a suggestion thing?
I can already answer that this is explicitly happening in standard WoW for me and mine, not WoW Remix.
As an example:
- I, Vanaelia-Moon Guard have Dragonflight.
- Friend (also on Moon Guard) does not have Dragonflight.
- Friend is able to whisper to Vanaelia. Friend can speak in party to Vanaelia.
- Friend is able to use the say, or emote function.
- Vanaelia cannot see anything friend is saying. Vanaelia does not even see the animation that friend is talking.
- If Vanaelia is on a lower level character (40s, when I checked), there is no problem with seeing what friend is saying or emoting.
I hope that provides some context, to whomever is checking this. Thank you.