New World welcomes solo players seeking to brave the wilds of Aeternum on their own, but going at it with a group of adventurers, whether friends or randoms with a common goal, can be more rewarding. Communication is vital when you do party up and having the in-game voice chat disabled will make coordinating with your teammates harder.
Reports of New World’s voice chat being disabled have kept popping up since launch and, while the issue remains unsolvable for some players, there are a few fixes and limitations you need to be aware of, especially if you’re just now heading in.
For starters, it’s worth keeping in mind that Amazon Games has pointed out in New World’s release notes that its voice chat is disabled for the first three hours after you create a character, in an effort “to limit poor voice behavior.” If you’re a fresh player, that could be why you cannot talk to others in-game.
Then, it’s also worth keeping in mind that New World’s voice chat could be disabled or limited from your settings. If you click the cog icon in the top right of the menu screen, then go to the Communications menu, you’ll find Voice Chat Mode as its first setting. By default, it’s set to Group Only, meaning that players outside your party cannot hear you.
You can change the option to Enabled if you want to lift that restriction or Disabled if you do not want to use the voice chat and prefer third-party apps like Discord. Before you rush off to slay Corrupted, check the other settings like the Voice Chat Input Mode alongside the Microphone used by the game, its volume, and sensitivity. All of them could play into why others can’t hear you.
If this doesn’t solve the issue, the tried and tested method of restarting the game (and reselecting the desired options) is also worth giving a shot.
Unfortunately, even after trying these potential fixes, players are still reporting New World’s voice chat being disabled days after launch and many hours into the game.
Some have the icon above their character’s heads show that voice chat is disabled when they try speaking in-game regardless of setting, while others simply can’t get it to work even if everything seems to be in order.
It’s difficult to say whether this is the result of server issues, a ban, others simply not using in-game voice chat, or something else. If you cannot get the in-game VoIP to work, it may be worth switching to a third-party app, at least when it comes to doing group content like dungeons or PvP. Hopefully, it won’t be long before the issue gets fixed.
For more help with New World, check out our guides on its house tax and rivercress stem locations.
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