I posted before about it here and I see no other option than posting again. All other games I play behave properly, I can’t see why WoW can’t do this…
When I am playing WoW by myself I usually have my speakers as default audio device on Windows and it works great. Then when it comes to do group content I switch my audio device to my USB headset and everything switches to it automatically except WoW.
I have to manually go into the in game System settings, then go to Audio, then switch to some other device and back to the default device to make the audio work properly on the headset.
Then once I am done with group content and I want to switch back to my speakers it is the same dance all over again.
Why can’t you fix this issue? It has been at least 2 years I have to live with this problem and I am getting tired of having it ignored just as everything else in this game is ignored unless it makes ActiBlizz money…
Is it possible to try the following? While you are running the game, in-game the option should be the default audio device, as you mention. If that is the case, can you check the Windows Sound Settings → Advanced Sound Options.
In the App section you should have World of Warcraft, using the Default Output/Input. Additionally I would suggest that you try to reset the settings to the Microsoft default settings, with the appropriate button.
Thanks for getting back. I’ve tried looking into this matter for you in more detail and was unable to actually reproduce it, despite testing it out in a few systems.
This leads me to believe that there is something specific with regards to options in the game, Windows, or even your sound hardware/driver, which is further reinforced as you mention in your first post, WoW seems to be the only game that this behaviour is encountered.
One last thing that I would suggest, and this may be a bit of a longshot, could you create a new Admin account in Windows and run the game and the Battle.net app in Administrator mode? This article here, has some information on how.
If that fails, my only suggestion is to report this in-game as a bug, if you have not done so already.
I find it hard to believe you couldn’t reproduce it… I have a desktop and a brand new laptop (Legion 5 Pro) and they both behave the same way.
Try this, get a USB headset (mine is wireless but I don’t think it matters, my wired headset I had 2 years ago had same issue), plug it in the PC, start WoW with your speakers as default sound device (I run WoW windowed, not sure if that matters). Now on the windows tray icons, switch the default device to your headset and watch as WoW continues to play the sound on the speakers. My speakers are also USB, again, don’t know if that matters, probably not since it also behaves the same with the built in speakers on my laptop.
This process that you described, is exactly what I have done, on three separate systems - work computer, personal computer (both desktops) and laptop. The only difference that I see is that the speakers on the desktops are connected via the output of the on-board sound card.
I was not able to see the behaviour that you have described at all, and the sound changed automatically from the speakers to the USB connected headphone, once I changed the default setting from .
Now I would like here to say, that I understand the frustration on this, and I’m not saying that there might not be an issue. I’m trying to troubleshoot this, and since I have not been able to reproduce it or encounter it, and looking into potentially other options.
So please if you have not so far, try out the admin troubleshooting from the previous response and if that does not work, use the report a bug function in-game.
I tried doing the new administrator account and it behaved exactly the same way. I even tried to switch the audio device while on the character selection screen, so no addon would be loaded.
Just checking, are you changing the audio device on the in game settings or on windows?
My issue happens when I change it on windows while the in game settings is set to the default device.
I also tested this and it’s issue with WoW. I think this GM do not follow the steps provided above or do not understand the issue.
I tested this on 4 different setups and no matter what, WoW do not change the sound on different devices automatically.
Vossprey, have you had a chance to look further into this? Sorry to keep bothering but I really want to get this issue fixed… Did you check the video I made above?
I have indeed checked your video, and I am doing the exact same thing that you are trying there. On the computers I have been using the sound while I’m in-game changes and is no longer heard from the speakers and the same thing happens when I change the audio from the USB headphones back to speakers. So as I have been saying I simply cannot reproduce this issue.
As per the previous response please report this as a potential bug in-game and I would suggest that you include the specific hardware that you are using.
I am very confused now… I did as you suggested and sent a bug report then got an answer from an engineer saying the behavior I am experiencing is the intended behavior of the game, but Vossprey just had it behave differently (as I wish mine behaved) on many machines.
Can I get an actual clarification on what is going on here?