On the topic of radio communication

Argent Dawn
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Hello, fellow forumposters! :wave:
So, we all probably know of the little roleplay cliche (especially on Alliance side) with radios/buzzboxes being used commonly as hell (and people very often complaining about them being on the verge of metagaming or breaking the steampunk-like atmosphere of WoW’s universe) and it is for this reason I decided to write up this post, giving a couple of examples of my own for radio-like communications and then hearing what y’all have to say. So, here we go.

Exhibit A - Ulduar

In the beginning of Ulduar you talk to Brann Bronzebeard before beginning the assault and the following dialogue occurs:

Brann Bronzebeard: Pentarus, you heard the man. Have your mages release the shield and let these brave souls through!
Archmage Pentarus: Of course, Brann. We will have the shield down momentarily.
Brann Bronzebeard: Okay! Let’s move out. Get into your machines; I’ll speak to you from here via the radio!

The last line Brann says already has the appropriate radio noise, with the player seemingly being outfitted with a easy to carry radio rather than the noise coming from something in-built in the machines.
The machines in question are obviously the siege engines, choppers and the demolishers. However, all of them have ‘Salvaged’ in their name, leading me to believe that these machines aren’t of the highest quality out there. Moreover, there isn’t much space to place the supposed radio comms on something as small as a chopper. This is probably the closest example I’ve found to the game’s lore portraying modern-like walkie-talkies.

Exhibit B - Buzzboxes & Gnomecorders

Buzzboxes are shown in Darkshore and are seemingly a rather new creation with only 10 of them ever being shown in-game. Furthermore, all of them have been looking like bulky consoles made of metal that you wouldn’t exactly carry around.

Gnomecorders have been shown in-game 3 times (according to Wowpedia). Generally speaking going off their model (see Redridge questline) they are a fair bit lighter than buzzboxes and are carried by the player to turn in and receive jobs. Probably carrying one would look like a hefty backpack, if I had to guess.

Both buzzboxes and gnomecorders seem to have 2-way communication. Notably, Gazlowe tells the player to “radio him when they’re done” (over the gnomecorder) in a quest in Northern Barrens, implying that radio comms seems to be well-known, to goblins at least.

Exhibit C - Alliance Listening Posts

Something that I’ve found not so long ago in Battle for Azeroth’s Alliance war campaign - spies on Warfang Hold seemingly had a number of listening posts set up for them to communicate. To be exact, Kelsey Steelspark sets up one in order to try and talk to Mathias Shaw. The listening post itself looks like a plain metal disk with an antenna. Take from that what you will.
https://www.wowhead.com/quest=55183/seeking-higher-ground
https://www.wowhead.com/quest=55185/listen-up

Exhibit D - Comparisons to Real World

Probably the lamest I could come up with, but if we were to take away most of magic business out of Azeroth it appears that Azeroth’s technology is around late 19th century - early 20th century, as evidenced by tanks and the existence of a couple of gatling guns here and there. And radio tech indeed first appeared in late 19th century, apparently being able to transmit the info for a good couple dozen kilometers by the 1900’s. However, the first walkie-talkies didn’t appear until 1937 and it wasn’t employed properly until 1940. Even so, those walkie-talkies were more like bulky backpacks you’d wear rather than the handy telephone-like things that come to mind these days.

So there’s that, I’d love to hear what the others have to say on the matter! :slight_smile: Feel free to add any lore examples you can think of.

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I don’t mind the concept of radio RP, but in WoW it can be very OP.

No, I don’t mean it’s OP because a whole guild can drop on your head, but roleplayers use their radios when another person could have a chance to prevent them from doing it a lot or simply when it’s inappropriate. Here’s an example…

/e stabs you.
Guardsman Jones wails in agony as the dagger stabs his kidney, clenching his teeth as he struggles against his attacker. He then brings out his gnomecorder. “Ugh! I’m being attacked by a man dressed in red with a white hat! I’m going to need backup on my location. You know the bridge between the Trade District and Old Town? Yeah, that one.”

I’ve seen this a bunch a times and it just seems odd to me.

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This really is the primary issue. People treat it like a free, unblockable move, and that just doesn’t fly.

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Another example, on Horde:

In this questline of Horde War campaign which you dive down to retrieve Marshal Valentine’s body (and find Derek’s aswell) Hobbart communicates with you using such thing. Although it loses connection and stuff, as it is deep within the sea. :slight_smile:

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I’m okay with them. They do fall into the category of “technology too useful not to be used by just about everybody” which was my main gripe with them. There was a phase like that with tazers for a while. I’ve always enjoyed technology in WoW as a specialist thing, but I’ve lightened up my stance over the years.

This is one of those IC/OOC character issues that happens pretty much all of the time. I’ve always personally considered an emote to take up roughly six seconds of in-character time because I’m a tabletop nerd, but that one emote can conjure up an entire guild even though only twelve seconds has passed in that specific scenario. The same thing happens if anybody starts a fight along a busy road in Stormwind, and a crowd starts to form.

Basically, cool idea. Technology is cool but runs the risk of being used as a crutch. I use my character’s buzzbox to encourage people to /w me when they’re looking for RP, so they have their uses!

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If buzzbox tech was prevalent then buzzbox jamming tech would also exist.

throws EMP grenades wildly

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Set up a buzzbox somewhere that blasts the gnomish national anthem over every frequency, that’ll work.

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I think nobody can deny the possibility for a common warband/organization to have buzzboxes as available equipment.

Now, who should be allowed to use them? It always depends on circumstances… for instance, if an orcish warband or a battalion of sentinels starts using these items IC, it can be very offputting for the general feel of the race, regardless of how easy they are to acquire.

On the contrary, for a gnomish/goblin guild to -not- have buzzboxes available would be somewhat rare, as I’ve been in many myself and there’s always some sort of crazy device we can use to communicate with each other. It’s just an incredible commodity which is also backed up by lore.

For the metagaming part, I think that using buzzboxes to call on your allies, especially if they’re near, should be a perfectly acceptable IC action, as long as those being called upon don’t pop out of random walls and actually take their time to run all the way over there. If you’re OOCing however, and you see a message in the guild chat of someone asking for help through buzzbox, and you decide to go assist IC just for that reason… that can be a bit of a stretch.

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Tech is as reliable and useful as the plot demands. Forcing it on others is as bad as other powerplays. Using it internally or as a self contained DM story tool doesn’t hurt anybody.

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Can you elaborate on this? I don’t really see an issue with going IC because of something like that. It’s not like my characters just stop existing when I’m not RPing them.

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They don’t?

Welp, I didn’t know this.

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I am fine with the concept of a buzz box, within a reasonable range (if you’re not in the zone, it probably won’t work or will be heavily impaired unless the original broadcast is not being made from a buzz box itself but a radio tower in The vein of a guild communication. I would expect this to be reatricted to Gnome and goblin guilds or guilds with clear investment In the tech of these races. The average criminal gang is not going to have a broadcast tower to contact members from far away.

I disagree with the notion they’re fairly common as well. Well you look at how many quests involve one against those that dont, its safe to say they’re not a commonly held object. Rather they tend to be held by specific persons or races only. Most of their use is either via gnomes and goblins or dwarves. The other use is military personnel and we’re talking top brass here (7th Legion, whom are not a standard military unit).

So I take issue with the stance that most military guilds could procure a set of them
Honestly I dont think they could. There are tons of quests with generic soldiers in WoW such as footman and grunts and very very rarely, perhaps even never do they communicate with you via a talkie type device unless a Gnome or goblin is involved. Redridge is one exception to this, but the device is clearly gnomish, but there’s clearly only one pair of them, not several.
Combine this rarity with the means to operate them, maintain and repair them, honestly unless the military outfit has an engineering wing or such it dont think its believable. The average footman, law keeper or grunt just doesn’t seem to use such devices to do their job.

Criminals may be able to steal them, bit again I’d say they are not a common object, in so much that it’s fairly implausible to have a criminal ring of several members each having one. Unless said criminal wing has plenty of inventors schooled in gnomish tech.

7th Legion are an exception as they are an elite unit. Again I wouldn’t imagine every single member has one though, rather leaders of squadrona to communicate with their superiors and relay orders etc.

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I guess it can become an issue if you’re suddendly surrounded by players of the same guild, some of which were not even in the area to begin with.

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Oh, yeah, I do agree that if it’s not at all where the buzzbox’d character would logically be, it becomes a bit of an issue.

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Every guild does this, however. People want to roleplay. I’ve seen plenty of guilds and members pop up out of nowhere purely because someone mentions what’s going on OOC. This isn’t really an issue either if it’s done in a public place, the only time I would question people turning up out of nowhere is if the area was secluded.

Radios were often used to justify if someone calls you out on a OOC whispering for help sure. But we both know there are guilds who claim to use things such as ‘spirit links’ (the ability to whisper in roleplay) in tribal guilds. I think that’s is a worse problem than actual radios, because at least they have the opportunity to be countered.

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Its off-putting when someone calls for aid through his radio, only to have his guild move from their campaign in Kalimdor, back to Stormwind, through the Swamp of Sorrows into the Blasted Lands in a matter of literal seconds. And in time for him to get a 5 second heal from one of the Priests/Druids/Shamans and instantly rejoin the fight… D:

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As with all RP it depends how you use them, They can add a fun twist to RP if you RP them as not always being super reliable, maybe some being bulky or needing some setting up and the actual communication not always being super clear. I.e more old style radio technology over your modern cell phone.

Never really have the issue with any of my current RP characters as being elves of one sort of another they would likely never even look at using such a device, and probably would have no clue how to make one work if they were given one.

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I’ve been in guilds that have used some form of buzzbox, be it a radio or some other form of communication device, and it really depends on the execution, for me personally. There also has to be the consideration of what Blizzard has used for the player character and what we actually have access to as normal citizens of Azeroth.

If I’m not mistaken there was some post about the power of the rifles we the players have access to, I don’t have it to hand but I recall it going something along the lines of the average denizen having gunpowder weapons akin to that of muskets, naturally correct me if I’m mistaken.

It’s hard to pinpoint exactly what we do and don’t have access to, and in a world of steam tanks and airships, why can’t we have radios? And if not radios, people can communicate via various different types of magic. Do we have the technology? Yes. Does EVERYONE have the technology? I suppose that’s up to the character.

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It’s entirely feasible to use them (and I’ve been in/around guilds that used them semi-regularly), but personally I’m not a fan. I like the sense of adventure you get from being in a world without phones; there’s no way to smoothly contact people aside from writing them a letter or finding them in person. Using a radio (even if it’s in the same zone) makes the world feel smaller and less dangerous to me.

Not going to stop anyone else from using them, but they’re not the sort of RP I look for in WoW.

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It’s the abuse of buzz-boxes and radios which are the issue. More often than not it’s used as a cop-out for a dangerous situation; you lead somebody into a secluded ambush, they then emote in one paragraph calling for help (now you can’t stop it) then before you’ve even finished your emote. Fifteen guild members magically appear at the location. It’s linked with the taboo of people ignoring time to get to an objective. Worse when people slow their emotes deliberately to give their guild members opportunity to turn up too.

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