Chat

Chat is the primary form of text-based communications in World of Warcraft. It is usually initiated by pressing Enter or pressing "/" to get to a command line. Voice Chat was released in Patch 2.2 along with the Chat Channels pane in the Socials window.

Specifying chat channels uses slash commands. See below for basic chat channel info.


 * Additional notes:


 * Player characters from opposing factions can only use /s, /y, or /em (say, yell, or emote) channels to communicate and all messages will be seen by the opposing faction will appear in the faction language of the speaking character, except through emotes.
 * In most chat channels except the /# channels (the /2 Trade channel supports this now), you can shift-click an item to insert its name into the chat message in a clickable form that will show the item's description and stats. You can also shift-click an item name in brackets (&#91;&#93;), like, from another chat channel into your current chat channel.
 * You can also shift-click a quest from your Quest Log to insert its name into the chat message in a clickable form. Or you can Apple Key and click on the quest and it will insert the objectives of the quest into the chat.  (This second feature appears to work only for the Mac).
 * A profanity filter is on by default.

Basic Chat Commands
For more info see Slash Command or the Slash Commands page on the official World of Warcraft site.

GM Chat
In patch 3.0.8, a special, separate chat UI was introduced for communicating with GMs.

When a GM wishes to speak with you the Help Request minibar button will glow.

Guild Specific Chat
Also see Guild Commands under the List of Slash Commands for non-chat commands.

Advanced Chat Terminology/Details

 * Ten Channel Limit : You can only be in ten chat channels at any given time. This does not include other chat types such as say, yell, party, raid, guild, officer, or whisper which are not considered channels.


 * Chat Channel Order : The order in a chat channel is determined by the age of the characters within the channel (based on the character's creation date, not total time played). In custom channels, when a current channel owner leaves, automatic ownership/moderation will be transferred to the character with the next highest 'seniority,' which will be the first person in the channel user listing.


 * 'Server Mask Channel' or 'server channel' or 'mask' : One of the default channels that is different for each zone. It changes when you move between zones and is represented without its zone suffix. The normal Mask channels are 'General', 'Trade', 'LookingForGroup' or 'LocalDefense'. 'WorldDefense' is also a server channel, but not a mask because it is not identified with any zone, and does not change accordingly.


 * 'Chat Type' : the various methods of chat communication in WoW as seen in the ChatTypeInfo table. Some common types are SAY, YELL, EMOTE, PARTY, RAID, GUILD, OFFICER, WHISPER, CHANNEL, SYSTEM.


 * 'Sticky (Chat Type)' : remembered chat types between messages.
 * Ex: It's what party chat does by default as opposed to channel chat. If you send a msg to a party or use the /p command the chat becomes party the next time you open the chat box. That's because PARTY chat is sticky as opposed to channel chat where if you type in a channel the next time you open the edit box with enter or / it will be on the last sticky type you were using before you chatted in a channel.
 * Default Sticky Chat Types - SAY, PARTY, RAID, GUILD
 * To set the stickiness of a chat type set

/script ChatTypeInfo["CHANNEL"]={sticky=1};
 * (1 is sticky, 0 is non-sticky)


 * Capital Cities
 * Alliance - "Stormwind City", "Ironforge", "Darnassus", "The Exodar"
 * Horde - "Orgrimmar", "Undercity", "Thunder Bluff", "Silvermoon City"
 * Neutral - "Shattrath City", "Dalaran"

NOTE: "The Exodar", "Silvermoon City" and "Shattrath City" were added upon release of the first expansion, a.k.a. The Burning Crusade, and are only available to characters / accounts who have installed this expansion. NOTE2: "Dalaran" was added upon release of the second expansion, a.k.a. Wrath of the Lich King, and are only available to characters / accounts who have installed this expansion.


 * Trade Channel Exception : The server "Trade" channel is only usable within capital city walls. Outside of these cities the channel is still included in the 10 channel limit but the client no longer sends CHAT_MSG_CHANNEL events for the trade channel. You can still leave a hidden trade channel using LeaveChannelByName("Trade") but you can only join it again inside capital city walls.  It also only appears in GetChannelList when you are in a capital city.

How do I switch my Chat language?
From Official Chat Interface: Q & A: Click on the "Chat Bubble" on the chat box tool bar, then highlight "Language" with the cursor. A list of which languages you know will appear. From there you can click one to choose which language you prefer to speak. Humans and Orcs only have one language.
 * How do I speak in another language I know?

Chat Channel Troubleshooting

 * 1) I can only see join/leave messages in a channel but cant talk or see anything else.
 * You have an 'undead' channel. Leave all your channels in-game. Exit the game. Open your WTF/Account/ / /chat-cache.txt file on the affected character. Find the first place where it says "CHANNELS". Replace the next few lines with the following:

CHANNELS END ZONECHANNELS 0


 * Now save the file and log into wow. This will have reset your channels and you should be able to freely join the affect channel again.


 * 2) I can't see chat in a channel (or say/yell/guild/whisper/party) I just joined.
 * Right-click the chat tab for the current chatframe and look for the 'channels' menu under 'filters'. Make sure that the channel in question has a check next to it to be visible in that chatframe.
 * ChannelFilterMenu.jpg


 * 3) I can't see System Messages.
 * This is a Blizzard bug of unknown origin. It can usually be solved by logging off, deleting your WTF/Account/ / /chat-cache.txt file and logging back in. If that doesn't work your database files might be corrupted and require a reinstall.


 * 4) I can't get anything to use the #2 channel slot.
 * You are probably in a Trade channel that is only visible in the capital city. You can leave Trade from outside of a city, but you can only join it from inside one.


 * 5) My channel color settings aren't saved across sessions.
 * Channel colors are saved according to channel number. If the channel number changes for any reason the color will be different than previously specified. Note that when you log in the channels you were in are rejoined, but WoW doesn't necessarily know what order they were in. In general the server channels are joined in the following order by WoW: '1. General', '2. Trade', '3. LocalDefense', '4. LookingForGroup', and '5. WorldDefense'.


 * 6) I can see a channel's chat but cannot talk into it.
 * (this solution also fixes most other miscellaneous channel problems)
 * Exit the game,
 * Back-up and delete or rename your WTF and Interface directories,
 * Log in on the trouble character,
 * Type "/leave " for all of the trouble channels (makes sure system channels are correctly capitalized: General, Trade, LookingForGroup, LocalDefense, WorldDefense). If you are having problems with the linked Trade, or LookingForGroup channels, you have to use the command "/script LeaveChannelByName("Trade - City")", or "/script LeaveChannelByName("LookingForGroup")", to leave those channels.
 * Exit the game,
 * Delete the current WTF and WDB folders,
 * Login, rejoin the trouble channels using "/join " and make sure they are working,
 * Log out, restore your Interface directory (make sure to enable Sky in the addon menu if you were using it),
 * Log in and things should be fine.


 * If you want your settings/saved variables back, copy the new chat-cache.txt from the WTF/Account/ / / directory one put it into the backup (replacing the old one). Then replace the new WTF folder with the backup. Note that your chattype and frame colors and additional chat windows will be reset to default (unless you're ambitious and manually edit your chat-cache.txt).


 * 7) I can't click on links in chat.
 * Chat windows can have chat links in text enabled/disabled by right clicking on the tab name and choosing Make Noninteractive/Make Interactive from the right click menu.