At the 2008 SOE Fan Faire we saw a very cool Station Voice demonstration. Two players were chatting via the Station Launcher while a third called in from a cell phone. There's no sign of the cell phone feature yet, but spotted in the June 11 EQII Test Update Notes were these tidbits:
- Station Launcher will soon have a new release with voice capability.
- Station Launcher will allow you to start voice chatting as any of your EQII characters before running the client or while patching.
- Going into game while voice chatting in Station Launcher will be seamless. If you're already chatting, the client will detect this. If you're voice chatting as a different character than you're playing, a new button will appear on the voice bar allowing you to switch (or you may switch in Station Launcher).
- Station Launcher will keep voice chat active after the client closes.
Dan Kinney, on the Station Launcher forums, confirms the good news:
"Yes, the Station Launcher is joining the voice party. We are working out the final details between each of the games - they each are just a tad bit different.
You will have this before we get to Fan Faire."
Since you only need a Station Account to use the Launcher, not a subscription, this could make for a very powerful chat tool.