Skype......?

Hi All

I've been pondering the pro's and cons of Skype and CoX. Do many people use it? Does it add or detract from the game?

Yours thinkingly
Noodle

I think its actually the better program compared to push-to-talk programs like Vent or teamspeak. Clearer quality, but its a constant feed, no need to push buttons to talk (although I think there is a option for that.), so hopefully you dont have people with loud noises in the background like a radio or TV, and with their mic volume up high. I believe it does use more power than the other programs, so ya gotta look out for that. Otherwise, I likes it and it goes well with games like CoH/V.

wantz to cyborz ??

I prefer Ventrilo/TS because of push-to-talk: sometimes there's things I don't want everyone to hear, whether they be conversations with someone in the room, background noise, or whatever else the case may be. Of course, Skype's convenient because you don't need to bind a hotkey to talk. I've used both, I don't mind either.

You can set vent up to not use a hotkey.

Personally I prefer Skype or Teamspeak because of one factor:

http://www.teamspeak.com/?page=downloads
http://www.skype.com/intl/en/download/skype/ (hoping this works properly)

You'll find that of the voice programs, Skype and Teamspeak are multiplatform across all the OS's CoH runs on.

Ventrilo... well, it could be, but it's been in development for a while for one of those platforms.

So if you are in a large SG, or a large coaly, or a large global channel, skype or teamspeak are more likely to be available to everybody whose playing the game.

That being said, Skype does chew up a bit more processing power... and a bit more bandwidth.

***

As to whether or not it adds or detracts?

I guess depends on how seriously you take the game.

If you approach every single Task Force as a Timed Objective and you're out to get the fastest time possible... a voice chat system is head-over-heels better than trying to type out instructions and commands.

If you're just in the game for pick-up-groups and you don't have a stable of people you play with on a regular basis... well. You might find voice chat is a bit overkill.

Skype is free, which is a huge plus. I hate not having push to talk on big teams, though. You hear everything: coughing, crunching of snacks, drinking, breathing, etc. I can deal with most of those, but some people don't have headsets or play with game sounds on really high volume settings or argue with family/roommates, etc. I don't really want to hear people yell at spouses and kids. My friend and I use it when we duo and Skype is great for that, but the more people you add, the crazier it gets.

I'd say try it. If you like it, it's absolutely worth the fee of $0.00. If you like the chat function but not Skype, you may at
least learn it's worth while and decide to invest I'm a paid server for another chat system.

I like the mouth breather's and ice chewers on skype. Makes me giggle. Skype is fun especially if you know the people you're on the team with. There is a microphone mute button. You can also keybind that. Took a lil bit to figure out but you have to bind two keys together for that in options. Like mine is Ctrl Z.

Yes people will hear everything in your background. I like it though because if someone laughs about something or has a side comment I actually hear those instead of never hearing it. The sound quality is so much better than T.S. Vent's is pretty good but it's the constant ding-dong every time that someone joins the vent server, it can get annoying. If someone does something that is annoying like has a dog that barks all the time or coughs into the mic a lot, or has children being loud in the background or has loud music, I just ask them to mute their mic usually people are good about that.

It's also good for task forces. That's when I like it the most unless I'm with sg/coalition members or people I know or team with on a regular basis

and there's nothing like being in a call with Guill when he has all of us on his external speakers and then his girlfriend calls and we all start screaming Pass the lube

noodle i use skype alot there are people who prefer the usage of TeamSpeak and Ventrilo i like skype better no requiring of internet set-ups and passwords just make an acocunt add friend and free also it's a pin to use the push to talk function when playing the game on 1 machine andrunning TS or Vent on the other

LOL thanks Zapp love ya for that hehehehe

Thanks for the help guys! I'm going to ponder it for a little longer methinks, just 'cause I can