I know this is a Classic version of the game, so maybe this would make more sense for Retail, but every other game I play has Voice Chat on by default when entering into any sort of group or instanced content.
WoW has a pretty great voice chat system, why not have it on by default with some individual toggles to adjust other players’ audio volume or mute them. I feel it could go a long way in everything from regular through Heroic instances to BGs.
Originally the VC in Vanilla, TBC, WoTLK it was not really good. It was clunky and spotty at best. So people started to use Ventrillo and then it migrated to Discord. I think people just got use to Discord now.
I’ve not turned on the VC in years, in fact I forgot about it until now.
I don’t recall it being in the game prior to WotLK, when I first used it. I think I knew about it for longer, and can’t remember if it was something that had always been in-game or was newly introduced at some point.
However, I used it in Naxx in Wrath the first week of launch, and it was actually fine, then. I’m aware of Ventrillo (and was then, as well as BattleComm, which I used to use when I played Counter-Strike, way before WoW even came out) and its popularity during the time as well as Discord now.
I never link or see people linking Discord in Random Dungeons in Wrath, and in other games I play it is very common for voice to be on by default. I have seen people claim that voice communications is a reason that premades out-perform pugs in BGs (though I don’t actually personally buy into this), but I do think that for a modern game it is strange not to have voice enabled by default.
A year or so ago (I can’t remember exactly how long now), during Cata Timewalking, I got everyone to join in-game voice for Firelands. It went well, and we cleared the raid (not that I’m asking for a medal for this). I noticed that some features I would want, like individual player volume control/mute weren’t available, but that would be nice.
I have also hopped into voice chat for many BGs or Random Dungeons I’ve joined, wondering if anyone else is doing the same, but have never run into anyone using it.
It may have not been in game prior to WoTLK – that was a long time ago and I am afraid my brain can barely remember what I had for lunch 2hours ago 
I think most people just equate the default is now Discord and have forgotten (like me) that VC still exists in the client.
Well yeah, and it isn’t really convenient for instances with randoms or arena skirmishes, etc. where you just queue into instanced content with people you aren’t already in discord with. That’s precisely why I am saying it would be convenient for these situations if it was more inline with modern gaming experiences that have voice on by default.
I agree it would be, but you’d have to retrain a whole population of people to use it…that would be a big undertaking.
Yeah. That could get weird
I don’t think that would be a good idea. It would be a surprise to a lot of people and in many cases all the sudden random voices would be playing on your speakers unexpectedly after they first change it. Seems awkward.
I do think they could merge in-game text and voice chat into a joined system and default it to use their already existing speech to text and text to speech so if some people want to use voice instead of type, what they say will be shown in chat (maybe we an icon next to it to indicate it was spoken and converted to text).
Currently they have tts and stt options including having text chat automatically read to you, but if they merged chat into a single thing that would make more sense to have people using audio and text using the same channel essentially. You also may have your sound on and be fine seeing people’s messages in chat but not want to hear them, which currently I’m not sure is an option (though I never join WoW voice chats so maybe you can already do that in the voice channels).
Well for sure it could and likely would take some people off guard to suddenly have people talking. You could pretty easily implement an in-game overlay that directed people to voice settings for this though.
Personally, I feel that audio on by default is much more inline with current online games, and would make a lot of sense in Random Dungeons, and BGs while leveling, arena skirmishes, etc.
Discord works much better, for a variety of situations, such as whenever you’d like to keep talking while switching characters, or have any ongoing, typically coordinated communication that may include time outside of the game or character you are immediately playing.
Voice though makes a lot of sense for easy comms, esp. as more and more people connect on non-traditional devices where they may not be using keyboards. But even whenever they are, it just brings things more inline with modern gaming, in my personal opinion.
i dont speak portuguese/spanish
They added this functionality in TBC, it was terrible, and I immediately opted out of using it ever again, and I would be one of those people who would refuse to use it.
So such as change wouldn’t happen to appease people like me.
Of course it wouldn’t be to everyone’s liking.
Times have changed a lot. While I remember feeling very awkward in voice chat online way back when, it has become quite normal to the extent that people not being in voice comms in leveling dungeons seems strange (for me at least) comparing to other games.
Don’t get me wrong, at the time I would of been using Ventrilo, following that Teamspeak, I have no issues with voice, but I don’t need to be forced to voice with randoms when they won’t even say hello or have a conversation in text.
Dungeons now days feels like I’m playing with bots, so to force me and them to talk on voice would be even more awkward.
I mean, you should definitely be able to opt out. Just most modern games seem to have voice on when grouped. Of course you can mute individuals, whole teams, or just opt-out.
The reason to have it default to “on” would be because that seems more normal these days. I can’t even think of any modern game I’ve played recently that matchmade me with a group where we weren’t in voice chat by default.
But having it default off means if you want it, then turn it on, no reason to start with it on.
Not really. I mean, I get what you’re saying, but that’s pretty much like saying, “If you don’t like it don’t use it” with regards to RDF.
If that’s a serious comment, I’d consider thinking again, but fair enough if you just want to say that you don’t like it and don’t care if people don’t use it.
Not what I said, I’m saying by default its off because people don’t want to be forced to use it, or even forced to opt’d out of it.
Optional features aren’t on by default, you want it? you opt for it.
It’s been around for far longer than it has been “normal to default to voice,” which is entirely my point. If you disagree with my point, then feel free to say so.
I understand that you personally don’t like the feature.
Really not getting it, it won’t be default on ever, Blizzard appeased people long ago, and with this thread you already see people aren’t 100% on the feature which means its not going to change.
It’s literally only you. haha…
But yeah, I get your point. They added a feature like 15+ years ago and it wasn’t immediately a hit. It’s awkward to access, and you need to click a few buttons every time you enter into grouped content just to turn it on, and people don’t use it much. Go figure?!!!
Maybe it won’t. Maybe it will. Like I said,
It was just quite ahead of its time, and now that defaulting to voice comms on is normal, it might be a good time to test it out.
Maybe not though, because it would just cost more operating expenses on their end, and might not have an immediate return on investment. Though it is something that they already have developed.
It probably doesn’t immediately fit in with something like SoD where they are playing with experimental features, but might work out better for RDF… maybe Cata Classic or maybe it’s better for Retail or some other newer game, as it seems to be inline with modern games.