From our President XOOM:
"IVC or Integrated Voice Communications is a game changer for WWII Online. We've talked about implementing this into the game for years, and for many, it's been a "that would be cool but probably won't happen" sort of thing, but I am here to tell you that it is and that we are in a more advanced testing phase where we are experiencing what kind of impact this is going to have for WWII Online. Continue reading to learn more about what IVC means and how it will radically improve the in-game experience for new and veteran players alike."
WHAT IS IVC?
IVC stands for Integrated Voice Communications. Players will be able to simply load WWII Online with no external programs running in order to access voice chat and work with players in-game in real-time. Until now, this has just been a pipe dream of "what if."
HOW WILL IT WORK?
Players will have access to a Mission Radio channel where they can communicate with anyone who is currently on their mission regardless if they are spawned in or at the mission briefing screen. This will not be distance-limited, so pilots for example can communicate with each other on the same mission all across the game world.
In addition to mission radio, every player will be able to speak to other players on their side when they are close to each other (within 25-40 meters) by using the local 3D positional proximity chat system. This means you don't have to be on the same mission to talk to someone next to you.
Each channel will have a certain key for you to use which will be something you can modify in your keymapper should you choose.
Of course, we will also have a way for you to disable IVC (though we don't advise it), and we will also allow you to mute other players you don't want to hear - and the Game Moderators will have a way to silence others who are causing disruptions. So no worries guys, we're aiming to keep things game-focused.
WHAT DOES THIS MEAN?
When you're in a city fighting you can call for support, call out enemy positions or just track where friendlies are. It massively enhances your situational awareness and immersion. And this is all done without the reliance on a third-party program, so we anticipate a larger number of players (new and veteran) to engage in voice comms.
What we know is that ever since the Roger Wilco days, and now throughout the TeamSpeak / Discord days, WWII Online is a dramatically better and more immersive experience once you get on voice. For some it has even meant the difference in whether or not they continue to play due to the game's large learning curve, it cuts through all of that and puts players into a more clear understanding of what they need to do and how those contributions matter to the overall war effort.
OBSERVATIONS SO FAR
It takes only a little getting used to using the controls, but logging in and joining a mission, and starting to hear people talk is a huge improvement in the user interface from what has been a mostly lonely and uncertain experience for many (those not currently using Discord). We've asked questions like, "Hey I'm about to spawn in, what do you guys need?" Which is followed by the appropriate response. You can also just listen in briefly to see what's going on and figure out what the urgent priority(ies) might be and make your own choice.
Upon spawning in, you've got your typical gunfire and explosion SFX going on but now you can hear people talking around you - wait what!? That moment is surreal and mighty impressive, perhaps more impressive than the mission radio itself because again, with 3D Positional audio you can tell where it's coming from and gravitate towards that direction if you choose.
For Pilots, it's an incredible opportunity to talk to anyone who joins your mission and to have direct comms with them. This works to keep your six clear of bogeys and get more people on target while cutting out all of the other dependencies of relying on which Discord radio channel am I connected to. But the added benefit is, you can still use Discord for squad comms if you want (pilots or anyone)! Best of both worlds wrapped up into one.
SUMMARY
Our quality assurance team is working aggressively to help the development team fine-tune the experience before it goes live, but the fact that we are in there testing and now with multiple clients simultaneously is very encouraging and we now have full validation that integrated voice communications will be a game changer in all of the positive ways we were hoping for upon drafting the concept. We are very much looking forward to a strong reception and believe it will be the next major evolution of WWII Online that works to retain new players better and foster better gameplay for all.
We will provide a work-in-progress demonstration video "Soon" (September) for how this all works.
We'd like to thank all of our subscribers for supporting WWII Online's continued development and helping to make things like this possible. We are 100% community supported and without you, we wouldn't be able to do this.
The Rats are hard at work
Salute!
PS: An unofficial video from "RedCoat" sharing his observations about the news. Timeline to implementation not yet announced but we will keep you posted.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lliLDhGbPEk