This game needs better VOIP implementation for PC.

The one thing missing from this game is stable VOIP support to help bring pubs together. Working in teams of six players makes it easy to get coordination going (as opposed to games like Red Orchestra where trying to cooperate with 32 people on your team on a massive map is inherently more challenging) provided you have people communicating with one another in the game.

I have had a shockingly low encounter of VOIP users with such a teamwork oriented game. It seems like the quality is fairly low, there is no indication of WHO is talking, and worst of all it's very difficult to hear many players speaking over the game's volume.

If we had VOIP we would hear a lot less whining about Assassins and Snipers. A good Sniper in a pub can easily deal with players when they come at him one by one when shifting between good positions and placing his traps and grenades well to deny area movement. Coordinated attacks -- namely getting his attention while someone comes in to ruin his fragile *** -- absolutely dominate Snipers, however it's very difficult to coordinate the attacks with such horrible VOIP support, since you can't see who is speaking, who is asking for help, or worst of all you simply can't hear him (or it just plain old doesn't work flat out).

I'm not saying the VOIP in its current state is useless, but it should be the #1 thing on your list to address next in a team oriented game like this. Pulling pubs together for teamwork with only six people on your team isn't difficult at all, I have a decent job doing it blathering over the microphone myself (even in its sub-par state), but it would be nice for the VOIP system to be more clear and polished so that coordination happens more often.

More like #4th thing.

#1 Dedicated Server remote controls
#2 Fixing known bugs
#3 Late Map editor

UberEnt can't adress the quality since it's done by the Steam Client.

An indication of who is talking for pubs would be nice though

@MikeyTWolf:
I only say it should be #1 because fluent and easy communication is essential for good coordinated play. Adding indications of who is talking and perhaps a dampen sound option to make it easier to hear (or an inbound voice volume control) is probably one of the easiest additions they can make to the game.

In my opinion this takes precedence over your list of issues (bugs, etc) only because it is far easier to fix and amend while providing so much benefit.

@Grimbar:
Thanks for the clarification. The quality isn't too horrid, I've actually gotten some clean sounding voice chat as of posting this (and before), perhaps the microphones of other players just aren't up to snuff...who knows. An indication would be a FANTASTIC addition.

Improved VOIP should definitely be a priority, including..

- In Game Voice Options Menu
- Transmit Voice Volume Slider
- Receive Voice Volume Slider
- Mic Test (to know it's actually working)

Basically, what every other game that has good a decent, working voice chat implementation does. Like your TF2s and L4Ds to name other steamworks titles. As well as a voice transmit key that's clearly labeled. In many shooters, Talk & Chat mean the same thing. I know most of us can figure out which is what by experimentation, but you can't expect everyone to.

On top of all of that, what would really be nice is two separate channels for team talk & all talk. As MNC tops out with 12 players max, even the chattiest players can get lonely with only 5 others on their side to talk to, plus smack talking the other team and players is always fun. Would require a second keybind option for all talk as well.

I don't know how hard it is for the Uber team to fix the voice in MNC up right, but I hope they give it a shot sometime. I'll patiently wait for the day when we won't have to load up an external voice chat program for MNC ever again.

Good VOIP, builds better pubs.

VOIP should be close to the top of the list.