Ventrilo?

The Emerald Flame

A World of Warcraft Guild Site

Ventrilo?

January 22, 2008 at 2:21 pm · Filed under Dungeons, Guild Politics, Mods, World of Warcraft and tagged: vent, ventrilo, World of Warcraft, wow

Since Blizzard included a chat option for the user interface in WoW, we’ve seen little need for using Ventrilo or TeamSpeak. However, there are many raiding guilds that still use these programs. In the past, we have laughed at these people since using the WoW chat is “easier”, but is it truly easier?

First off, I have to turn all my sounds down and the chat options up in order to hear anyone. So when I log off of WoW and try to watch “Planet Unicorn” or listen to music, I have to turn those way down as well. As a result, using the WoW voice option requires that I change the sound on every other program I use on my computer if I don’t want to continually adjust the volume of my speakers (which actually doesn’t sound too bad, but I still think it is a valid point :)

In addition, I can’t change the volume of individual people. So I am constantly saying stuff like, “Is this better? How about now? Okay now? No?” It’s annoying. I have a couple other minor problems, but I don’t think they are that important. Maybe people could comment on this post and tell us what they like/dislike with the WoW voice client.

Now, would Ventrilo be better? Many people comment that Ventrilo is a great way to stay in touch when the servers are down. This would have been great to have when the servers went down during our Kara raid on Sunday. I also think Vent would be a great way to stay in touch all the time, not just during a raid or even while playing WoW.

Vent has a lot of advantages and I think we should seriously discuss what we want to do. The only problem is that we would need to get a computer to host a server, right? However, I think Greg has a computer available for that. Anyway, I know I have kinda rambled, but I am not great with the technical stuff, just opinions :)

Discuss.

-Pumkin/John

Permalink

21 Comments»

feril wrote @ January 22, 2008 at 3:34 pm

I picked up Vent for the Kara ran that I pugged. I will say my ability to hear people was awesome compared to the wow chat client.

I’m not a huge fan of needing to load up another program for playing WoW, and making sure any pugger has it as well. However, this would allow people like Jeff and Morgan to continue talking to us if we’re in a raid group with people in a PUG.

To be 100% honest, I don’t think I’d have it loaded up when I’m not playing WoW, since I also make work calls over my computer and what-not.

So yeah.. I guess I’m kind of “up in the air” about it. I still hardly know how to use vent, and that might be part of my “meh”ness to it ;)

lilypadjohn wrote @ January 22, 2008 at 3:42 pm

I just remember that before they introduced the wow chat client, Vent was a requirement for high level raids. So you could assume that anyone you PUGed would have it, though I don’t know if that is the case now.

I texted Dan about it, and his response was, “FUCK VENT” :)

caelorum wrote @ January 22, 2008 at 4:08 pm

The “FUCK _____” List, as compiled by Dan:

1. Fishing
2. Pants
3. Engineering
4. Ventrillo
5. Parades
…and it seems like I’m leaving one out. ;)

I had Vent installed back when I played on Dark Iron, and I barely used it. I recall that I wasn’t really a fan, but I’m willing to give it another try. My ambivalence is due in part to the fact that I haven’t had any issues with the WoW chat function yet (though I know others have said that they have).

Morgan wrote @ January 22, 2008 at 4:56 pm

I did notice that as of the latest patch I no longer need to restart WoW to get it to recognize my USB headset, so that’s a plus in favor of WoW voip.

I have the same problem. I just figure it can’t really kill me to turn my music off and concentrate on the game for a change.

Feril: However, this would allow people like Jeff and Morgan to continue talking to us if we’re in a raid group with people in a PUG.

Is that really a plus, though? As much as I love talking to you guys, do you really need friendly cross-chatter from lowbies while running Kara?

Honestly, I like Vent a lot. And there are a lot of things we could do with it that we can’t do (or I don’t know how to do) with WoW voip, but they’re mostly frivolous. I’m thinking stuff like music piping, voice filters, extra-raid chat like Feril said, etc.

There is one major benefit that I can think of, which is that I would be able to fire up Vent just to see who’s online and talk to people without opening up the WoW client. That’s partly frivolous (I could ask Dan, “whatcha wearin’, sexy?” from outside the game) but it also could be useful… I could ask anybody who’s online if they’re planning on doing any content I’m interested in; or if I were at my computer but doing something else you could ask me to log on if necessary.

Also, if WoW crashes, Vent stays up.

Cleonicus wrote @ January 22, 2008 at 5:12 pm

I’ll look at setting up Vent on the extra computer in our living room. I’ll work on it when I have time, and I may need Jeff’s help. So I don’t expect it to be functional until Saturday night.

Morgan wrote @ January 22, 2008 at 5:13 pm

By the way, it costs $5-10 per month in energy costs to run most modern mid-tower PCs 24/7 sans monitor.

We can subscribe to a hosted ventrilo server at speakeasy.net for $5 mo/15 users or $8/mo / 25 users and we wouldn’t have to go through the hassle of hosting our own box.

Morgan wrote @ January 22, 2008 at 5:32 pm

Since it’s only $30, I’m willing to front the bill for 6 months of hosted Vent if we think we’ll actually take advantage of it and if Greg doesn’t want to have to fuck with a Vent box in the living room.

caelorum wrote @ January 22, 2008 at 7:10 pm

(I could ask Dan, “whatcha wearin’, sexy?” from outside the game)

O_o I hate you so much, Morgan…

lilypadjohn wrote @ January 23, 2008 at 12:19 am

hahaha that was so hilarious, great link!
k, bed time for me. Gonna go cuddle up with my new jammies.

Morgan wrote @ January 23, 2008 at 9:45 am

You wear leather jammies?

Kinky.

lilypadjohn wrote @ January 23, 2008 at 10:41 am

mebbe…

Morgan wrote @ January 23, 2008 at 11:35 am

As long as it helps you give Brittany a good night kidney shot, who are we to judge?

lilypadjohn wrote @ January 23, 2008 at 11:40 am

don’t forget the “cheap shot” is faster too! if only it made the money shot faster…

brittastic wrote @ January 23, 2008 at 3:17 pm

I don’t even know what just happened here!!!

brittastic wrote @ January 23, 2008 at 3:19 pm

Well, I don’t really care either way. Since I am sitting next to John/Pumkin when we play, I can hear everything, just not speak….granted, I am thinking that it may be time for me to get a microphone.

We will see, whatever you guys decide is fine by me, as long as it’s not too expensive.

caelorum wrote @ January 23, 2008 at 3:51 pm

Updated “Fuck ____” List!!!

1. Morgan
2. John
3. Pants
4. Fishing
5. Engineering
6. Ventrillo
7. Parades

Morgan wrote @ January 23, 2008 at 4:11 pm

Get in line, John.

lilypadjohn wrote @ January 23, 2008 at 8:07 pm

hehhehe #2!

brittastic wrote @ January 24, 2008 at 2:23 pm

Hehehhee, glad to see that I am no where on that list.

Granted,
I like Morgan.
I sleep with John.
I wear pants.
I have a character that can fish.
I LOVE engineering and wish I could do it more often.
I know nothing about Ventrillo therefore have no quarrels with it.
…………….I fucking HATE parades!!!!

So, yeah.

lilypadjohn wrote @ January 24, 2008 at 2:58 pm

While I hate parades, I would totally support a Geek Pride Parade. You could have balloons in the shape of d20s, dragon floats, and the storm trooper marching band!

Delduwath wrote @ January 27, 2008 at 11:48 am

I do think vent is a good idea. Individual voice controls is really nice. It does tend to boost the feel of community as well – there is a lot less hassle to use it compared to in game voice imo. I think it would be a good idea to destinate a paypall that we can chip into for hosting cost, so that someone generous doesn’t have to pay for it all. I’m not sure which server to go with though. Gameservers.com are the best price out of the extra reliable ones; I also found hypedgaming.com which is cheap, but I haven’t heard of. I’m leaning towards gameservers.com; it’s not much of a difference in price.

Anyways, like $1 a month from 8 people would cover it. We can start with one month to see how it goes then go for a longer term.

P.S. The ‘lowbies’ being able to talk in raid is because I have a fair amount of advice on how to run kara. :)