One of the most often overlooked aspects of mass PvP is establishing--and following--a good line of communication. Effective communication within and between groups will often make the difference between a solid line of defense or successful assault and a total wipe. There are two methods of communication I will be discussing, in-game typed chat and voice chat. I will point you in the direction of some great little programs that will let you communicate with your team via voice chat, which, for the serious PvP player, is virtually mandatory. If you have any experience with MMOs at all, you are probably already familiar with them, but I will talk about several that receive my endorsements and the reasons for why. In addition, I will provide some common etiquette you should follow when in Cyrodiil regarding communication. Etiquette is important because you want to make a good impression. When joining a seasoned PvP guild group (the type of group with which you are generally more likely to earn lots of Alliance Points), a certain level of ability to follow chain of command and listen to orders is expected.
Before I get into details, this topic is largely directed towards players interested in cooperative play with large groups of other individuals. If you like playing in small groups of 2-4 players for Cyrodiil PvE, ganking n00bs, or whatever reason, a lot of the information in this post will be unnecessary. But it is still good to be aware of it, because people all around you are likely to be communicating in large groups in some way. You especially want to be mindful of this when behind enemy lines as these are often considered "safe" places to farm dungeons or hunt sky shards by enemy factions.
If you've never joined a large party (often referred to as a raid group) of 24 players, it can be intimidating. On the other hand if you are used to playing in large groups or leading them, you might feel compelled to try to take charge, especially if you detect a lack of leadership. But before you try to hijack someone else's group, bear in mind Cyrodiil is a very different kind of PvP environment from that which you might be used to even if you are a seasoned MMO player. There are only two fantasy MMORPG games which have had anything similar to it: Guild Wars 2 and Dark Age of Camelot. Players familiar with these games, even other styles of massive RvR PvP such as Planetside will probably have an upper hand in essential tactics and are most likely to be aware of effective means of communication. However, it is worth noting that Cyrodiil is on a grander scale than anything like it in an MMORPG before. The world is larger, the potential number of players is larger, and the potential tactics are also greater. That means communication is much more essential.
Let us first talk about etiquette. Every group has a leader, sometimes referred to as Captain, Commander, or General. It should go without saying, but the person with the leader icon (by default a small crown icon) is almost always the only person you should be taking orders from. It is very important to follow this guideline. The only occasion on which you should follow the orders of someone other than the group leader is when the group leader specifically indicates otherwise. For example, group leader Kerzak might indicate as soon as you join that you are to follow the orders of Vanless the Impaler. This could be for any number of reasons. Kerzak might simply be focused on recruiting from guild chats, zone chat, and so forth and has delegated command to Vanless the Impaler for the time being. Kerzak might be giving orders over voice chat and Vanless the Impaler is relaying them through group chat. Or perhaps Kerzak is semi-afk. Whatever the reason, if Kerzak says to follow Vanless the Impaler's orders, you ought to follow Vanless the Impaler's orders until Kerzak says otherwise.
There is more to etiquette than following orders though. It is also important not to clog the lines of communication unnecessarily. Unless you know for certain you are playing with a casual group, a Cyrodiil raid party is not the place to discuss amusing anecdotes or what movie you saw this weekend. Keep voice channels and group chat channels clear for instructions unless you need clarification on an order or have an important question to ask. In voice chat, a group leader might say something like "clear comms" or "break break." This means the leader is preparing to give new orders and there is too much chatter over the voice comms, so it is time to be quiet. Such things are usually unnecessary in typed chat, but the group leader may need to get everyone's attention in typed chat as well.
In general, it is very bad form to attempt to usurp control of a group by giving out orders of your own when you are not the leader. Not only does it confuse other players as to who is in charge (usually doing more harm than good), but it can cause tempers to flare. In Cyrodiil, the enemy is the two opposing factions. Trying to foment a mutiny because you detect a lack of leadership is typically bad for your faction as a whole. If you do believe you would make a better leader and want to take charge, you should try the following::
- Leave the group and form your own.
- Whisper the leader and ask if he/she would like to turn over leader to you.
- Make a simple, politely worded request for better leadership in group chat.
It is best not to burn any bridges or make enemies within your own faction (unless they turn out to be dirty skeever spies). Even if a particular player is not effective today does not mean that such a player will remain so forever. Many people learn from their mistakes over time and leaders often improve their leadership skills with practice.
Before I discuss voice chat, I want to talk a little about some important aspects of in-game typed chat. Every group will have one. If you join a Pick-Up-Group (PUG) composed of a random assortment of players, this is likely to be the primary means of communication. Sometimes the leader will provide a voice chat address to use. But it is my experience that more often than not PUGs do not use voice chat. Before even entering Cyrodiil, you ought to take a moment to set up a chat window which will only show you needed information. I recommend unchecking all types of chat for this window except the following: Group, Zone, Whisper, and your primary guild. (This type of chat window is equally useful when running in dungeons.) I might even suggest you turn off Zone, simply because it can often be flooded with nonsense or large numbers of people pinging up for groups. Make certain the text color for Group is easy for you to see and clear on your screen. Consider increasing font size if you have a tendency to miss it.
Now on to voice chat. There are many options worth considering, and I would recommend having several different clients installed. Why several? Whether you are a PUGger or part of a PvP guild, there are a variety of reasons to have multiple chat clients installed. Hosting chat clients or finding a hosting service usually costs money, especially for the more premier chat clients. Sometimes a guild will change chat clients for financial reasons, such as the person previously footing the bill falling on hard times. Other times guilds will collaborate with each other and join each others chat clients depending on who is leading the army at the time; and not all guilds prefer the same client. If you are a PUGger, then you are at the mercy of whichever chat client is being used (if at all) by the group you PUG into. Downloading the client version of these voice chat programs is almost always free and the program sizes are small so they won't take up much hard drive space. Just be careful when downloading completely free programs like Raidcall not to download the other pre-packaged software during the installation process. The following is not an exhaustive list, only a list of the best and most commonly used in ESO at this point in time based on my experience.
Teamspeak 3 is widely considered to be the gold standard for chat clients, and there are several reasons. The quality of the chat stream is high, the functionality is deep, and the UI is relatively easy to use and understand. In Teamspeak 3 you can search for server names and the servers themselves, password protect your server, channels, and sub-channels, and even set up a variety of hot-keys for whispers to individual players, channels or sub-channels. It is also fully supported by Overwolf which allows for quick access to your Teamspeak 3 server from within the game without having to Alt-Tab out. It even has phonetic pronunciation tools for player screen names. And that is only a handful of the useful features that come with Teamspeak 3. All of this functionality does come at a price. Teamspeak 3 is probably the most expensive in terms of finding a hosting service, although it does come with a convenient feature of free local hosting for up to 32 players if you decide to host it yourself.
Download Teampseak 3
Perhaps just as popular as Teamspeak 3 is Ventrilo, which claims to be the "industry standard." Ventrilo has only slightly less functionality and a less cluttered UI than Teamspeak 3, but many (myself include) believe Ventrilo has a lower quality delivery of voice chat streams. Nevertheless for those who prefer function over form and do not mind a slightly less intuitive UI, Ventrilo is an excellent alternative to Teamspeak 3. Ventrilo has been a staple of voice chat in gaming for years and has a well-established reputation, as well as being a more affordable option compared to Teamspeak 3.
Download Ventrilo
Mumble is another widely used alternative worth mentioning. It is open-source, and completely free, not a commercial product. This obviously has both advantages (namely, it's free) and disadvantages (support is not consistent and often requires self-help). The best thing about Mumble in my humble opinion is the ease of use and simple UI. You really have to be technologically illiterate to be unable to operate Mumble. It is lightweight, simple, and straightforward. Compared to Teamspeak 3 and Ventrilo, it does not offer as many tools and options, but it gets the job done and allows local hosting free of charge. One note I would like to make however is that on occasion, I have had problems running Mumble and ESO at the same time. I usually have to start ESO first then start Mumble after the ESO client is already running to get them both to work. My problem does not seem to be common to ESO users though so it may simply be a port usage issue I am unaware of on my computer.
Download Mumble
Finally, I would like to mention Raidcall. Like Mumble, Raidcall is 100% free of charge. There is not even a server hosting fee. But as always, you get what you pay for. Raidcall sound quality is sometimes absolutely atrocious, especially when multiple people are talking. It can sometimes require a lot of tweaking of settings to get it to sound decent. Furthermore, it is commercial freeware, meaning the installer will try to get you to install other types of freeware during installation, so install carefully. That said, for a free product with free hosting, you could not ask for a much better deal. And I know of quite a few guilds that use it as either their primary or backup voice chat server.
Download Raidcall
I hope you have enjoyed this discussion of communication techniques in Cyrodiil. Next week, I will discuss the dynamics of leading a party, designation of the authority, and other tools to keep your raid groups running smoothly.
