Chat Channels

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Zaqwert wrote:

Say one trade chat for levels 1-10, another 10-20, 20-30, etc.

This is exactly the kind of thing we do not want: being stuck in a particular channel with no way to change it.

What we should have is ten chat channels, one for each act/difficulty plus maps. This would allow you to return to town to vendor items without interrupting conversations, while still distributing users a little to mitigate message overload. Technically, these chats would be separated based on town portal destination, not act (so you'd still be in Act 1 chat your first trip trough The Forest, and players who haven't yet beat normal Hillock wouldn't have chat at all, or perhaps an eleventh channel that works mostly as a bot-trap).

Also, maps should be divided into two zones, a small town (really nothing more than stash and a jewelry vendor) and the Eternal Lab. I say 2 zones because of another suggestion of mine: map device activation should be given a short cooldown (30 seconds?) so that once cuttroat league is up, players have to worry about their Eternal Lab instance being invaded.

You could change channels by moving to an earlier act/difficulty, which is very easy with the waypoint system, allowing the chat-based sale of low-level items fairly easily; with non-random chat fragmentation you'd be more likely to have an interested party see your message.

Note that this would also help against future spamming attempts: you can't use a level 1 character to spam players running maps.

It's great to see the possibilities of a more organized chat channel system. I personally like most of the ideas posted here but wanted to add my own opinions.

First, with the "act" chat, in my belief that should kind of replace global chat completely. A default chat for everyone in the act/difficulty you're in. Could make asking for help with say, the bandits in merciless a lot easier. This keeps the "act" chat in a more localize sense to the users who are in these chats.

Global chat could be replaced with something like a "default" chat for PoE. This could be just like global is now, just a place for anyone and everyone to just... chat?

Even though I love the idea of segregating the trade chat, I still don't think it would do any justice. Especially with the massive amounts of people selling all types of gear. This would slow their ability to sell or buy multiple different items quickly something fierce. I think for the simple fact that trade is what it is; it should be left alone. Just be happy the hardcore trades are segregated from the standard chats.

I do however propose an idea that could help with this entire trade chats are completely insane. I am strictly against an auction house; which just completely ruined any chance of a major competitors game of having any lasting economy. Not that that game was anywhere near as good as PoE, but I think people have seen the detriment to the economy.

My idea however would be more like, "Want ads". This would definitely help reduce those flying trade channels over time. I'm not sure how it would be done by the great guys here at GGG, but I'd suggest some type of integration with the trade forums. Most of the players I have befriended never even visit these forums, much less the trading on them. So if there was a way to integrate "WTB" or "WTS" in the forums to the game directly; would really boost the ability of trading in the game. And it may just help eliminate something we all despise.

Just my ideas there. Either way, I'm sure the guys at GGG will take everyone's opinions into account and chose the best method of helping eliminate these problems us users are having.