The Daily Grind: What in-game sounds drive you bonkers?

Way back when I first started playing City of Heroes, I became enamored with the Defender archetype. I made Defender after Defender until all my slots were full, and then deleted some to make even more. But the one powerset I'd never choose, even on the pain of death, torture and Arby's, was Force Fields. Why? It's really quite simple: the sounds.

Oh, those high-pitched whiny sounds that set my teeth on edge! I hated grouping with anyone who had those turned on, and for years I deeply wished that NCsoft would allow us to disable some game sounds while retaining all of the others.

But I don't mean to pick on just City of Heroes here. Every game has sounds that annoy and grate on our ears, and today we want to hear about your most-hated in-game noises. Which sounds do you wish developers would change or eliminate altogether?

Every morning, the Massively bloggers probe the minds of their readers with deep, thought-provoking questions about that most serious of topics: massively online gaming. We crave your opinions, so grab your caffeinated beverage of choice and chime in on today's Daily Grind!

Reader Comments (61)

Bard sounds in RIFT used to drive me crazy. I think they lowered their volume, but still..

The orcs in WoW that say "blood and thunder" drive me nuts because it sounds like they're saying "motherf***er".

To go way back, the bleating sound that giant harts made in UO when you attacked them was grating.

@dayna

Never thought that.

But I hate what the Dwarf's say. "Watch your back" sounds to me like they are saying "Wash your back!" Which I always took as an insult.

Easy one. As much as I like LOTRO, I hate the sound that is made when a character eats anything. There re times I have probably not used food that would help increase stats before a fight just because I did not want to listen to that sound.

4 years of that game and not one hobbit, elf, dwarf, man, or woman has learned how to eat with their mouth closed.

LOTRO has hideously load and annoying sounds for eating and smoking, but what really takes the cake for me is the various shout-themed abilities, which are horrible.

AHHHHHHHHHHH!
YAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!
WAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!

It makes the game sound like a nursery full of hyperactive two year olds. Drives me insane.

@j1083

You beat me to it, but ABSOLUTELY it's LotRO for their annoying shouts. I can't play a Captain because of it, and that's a fun class. I could of course lower the volume (which I do) but that's not the point.

I like LotRO. I want to love it. But things like this are what keep me from really becoming dedicated to it.

I dislike the Eve mining laser sound. After a few hours of mining I almost wanted to go to the dentist and get some drill work done, in order to decrease my misery.

One of my favorite game sounds is in Blizzard's Starcraft II. The protoss have a unit that says "My life for Ire" but I swear it sounds like "My wife for hire!"
Needless to say I make too many of those just because I like the sound.

Any "pling" sound used to emphasizes UI action or looting or xp gain that has any Japanese/Korean/Chinese feel on it.
Aion anyone?

Although it doesn't bother me too incredibly much I hear a lot of in game moaning about DDO's wizard prestige class the Pale Master. It is their version of a necromancer and they have a death aura that can be activated. I think it is supposed to sound like ghosts moaning but it sounds like bees attacking sick cows.

The heavy weapon sounds in Champions Online sound all wrong and are disappointing.

The Bard songs in FFXI were kinda cool at first. Now they have me rushing for my mute button. That little ditty haunts my nightmares....

There's a bug in Champions right now. Every time a character (yours, someone else's, even NPCs) use a weapon of any type, an explosion is heard when said weapon animation is done. Millennium City, with all its gangs, sounds like a true warzone now. It was funny at first, but now it's really starting to grate.

Agreed with aove poster on the shout sounds in LotRO. Captains, wardens, minstrels... they're all screamers. Fortunately, I don't really notice it anymore.
That's the thing with annoying sounds: first they irritate, then they send you into a homicidal rage, then you kind of phase them out and finally you just don't hear them anymore. Unless you start paying attention to them again and you're right back where you started.

The shout noises from Lotro. It's like I stabbed my little character or something, poor thing. Also some mobs in any other game will have a very annoying "being killed" noise. But all that is easy remedied, I just put the sound way down when I'm not in the mood.

Back when Old Spice was advertising on Planetside they played their Semi Pro commercial constantly. My friends and I would be sitting in the HART building and suddenly we would here this whistle every 20-30 seconds. We never heard the rest of the commercial over the ambient sounds, just the whistle. Really annoying.

Worgen sniffing. en masse in SW Auction Houses.

@dudes

It's snuffling. And it's the most annoying sound in the world. :(

Insect swarm from the moonkins in WoW. I hate that sound! It's bad enough to hear it in RL in summer when you want to sleep and know that you'll wake up with several itching mosquito bites. I definitely do not want to hear that sound in the game.

Also, like others mentioned, the screaming sounds in LotRO. I play a warden and one of her three basic skills has that sound attached. But I usually play without any sounds at all or just on very low volume, so it's not too bad. ;)

Lotro hit sounds, when an enemy hits you. It sounds so LOUD and out of place. Lotro shouts are annoying as well. Lotro sound of falling and hurting your legs. Besides the fact that the distance fallen is pathetic and then put that annoying mechanic of slowing you down for a minute. But the sound itself is always the same no matter the distance, and I'm sorry, no one would be limping away if their legs made that sound.

Sounds like LOTRO needs some sound reworking from the comments here. One thing I like, is the drain power sound loremaster has. That sound rocks but needs to be louder.

Aion has the worst sound setup I have ever experienced. Although I enjoy it's music, the combat and voices are enough to drive me nuts.

WoW gnomes. Anything. I never rolled alliance once because of them (that and alliance is teh fail :P )

@fallwind Male gnomes, agreed. But not the female ones. I played one for five years. I loved the sound work done on them. (Any "for teh win" Horde players only loved the dying sounds they make, and I see where they're coming from; a female gnome dying is as a female gnome living: cute as a button.)

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The Daily Grind: What in-game sounds drive you bonkers?

Reader Comments (61)

Posted: Jul 19th 2011 8:13AM hylax said

Posted: Jul 19th 2011 8:18AM dayna said

Posted: Jul 19th 2011 8:26AM Bramen said

Posted: Jul 19th 2011 8:22AM Tanek said

Posted: Jul 19th 2011 8:24AM j1083 said

Posted: Jul 19th 2011 5:07PM C Rose said

Posted: Jul 19th 2011 8:30AM Bramen said

Posted: Jul 19th 2011 8:31AM lmollea said

Posted: Jul 19th 2011 8:33AM Vulcanis said

Posted: Jul 19th 2011 8:35AM OmegaDestroyer said

Posted: Jul 19th 2011 8:39AM (Unverified) said

Posted: Jul 19th 2011 8:44AM Lenn said

Posted: Jul 19th 2011 8:46AM Carolina said

Posted: Jul 19th 2011 8:46AM Donau said

Posted: Jul 19th 2011 8:47AM dudes said

Posted: Jul 19th 2011 1:35PM Utakata said

Posted: Jul 19th 2011 8:55AM Paeroka said

Posted: Jul 19th 2011 9:00AM MMOaddict said

Posted: Jul 19th 2011 9:02AM fallwind said

Posted: Jul 19th 2011 9:27AM Lenn said

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