Smileys, stickers and battle emotes: how players talk in Zarhold

In an MMORPG people don't talk in words alone. A "GG" after a duel, "Need a healer!" before a boss, a laugh at an unlucky throw — a picture says it faster. Zarhold, a card MMORPG in your browser, has its own smileys, stickers, message reactions and emotes right in battle. Here is what every player gets for free, how to unlock your class stickers, what trophy stickers are for and how to mute an overly cheerful opponent.

Zarhold smileys

The game chat has 36 smileys of its own instead of system emoji: faces of humans, dwarves, orcs, elves and the undead, potions and mana, a bag of gold, a chest, a skull, a cup, ale, a fish, "GG". They are drawn in the game's own style and look the same on every computer and phone — system emoji differ from device to device.

Smileys are free for everyone. There are two ways to add one:

• the smiley button next to the input line opens a panel with every picture;
• a code: type a colon and the start of a word — ":gg", ":laugh", ":healer" — and the game suggests matching smileys; Enter inserts the one you picked.

A message made only of smileys shows them bigger. Old system emoji in earlier messages are now drawn as the new pictures too, so chat history stays intact. Four more smileys — "Smile", "Hooray", "Clap" and "Crown" — wait on the free track of the Battle Pass.

Stickers every player has

A sticker is a big picture sent as its own message. Every player gets these for free:

• the Basic pack — 12 stickers for every occasion, from "GG" and "Need a healer!" to "Wipe…" and "Victory!";
• your guild's banner with its crest and name — handy for calling your guildmates to a group (how to find a guild: “Guilds in an MMORPG”);
• your own class pack — 8 stickers featuring a hero of that class. It unlocks by itself once any of your heroes of that class reaches level 20 — for the whole account, forever. Not sure what to play? See “Which class to choose”.

Trophy stickers

A trophy can't be bought — only earned. Nine trophy stickers are awarded for the first kill of a raid's final boss and of world bosses by any hero on your account. In chat such a sticker carries a "Trophy · first kill" tag, so everyone sees who has already cleared the raid. To start on your first trophy, read “How to clear your first raid” and “World bosses and heroic mode”.

How stickers behave in chat

• In World and Trade you can send at most one sticker every 15 seconds, so the shared chat doesn't turn into a picture feed.
• Identical stickers in a row stack into one picture marked "×3".
• Don't like pictures in chat? Settings has "Stickers in chat": large, small or hidden.
• You can delete a sticker you sent, like any of your messages (a sticker can't be edited — it's a picture, not text).

Besides the free ones, the game has other stickers too: animated packs — one for every class plus themed ones — and animated role stickers (tank, healer, damage) that come with the premium track of the Battle Pass. You'll find them in the Cosmetics section.

Halloween: stickers for event days

From October 24 to November 7 the game celebrates Halloween. For every event day on which you play at least one fight, you receive a new festive sticker — four in total. Stickers you earn stay with you forever, even after the holiday ends. What other events the game runs: “MMORPG events”.

Message reactions

To answer a message without words, hover over it (on a phone, tap the line): a strip of six reactions appears — laugh, like, fire, heart, shock and "GG". The count shows under the message, your own reaction is highlighted in gold, and pressing it again removes it. Reactions work in World, Trade, guild and party chat.

Battle emotes

During a fight your hero's portrait has an emote button with six short lines: "Hello!", "Good game!", "Thanks", "Oops…", "Charge!" and "Ha-ha!". The line you pick pops up in a bubble over your portrait.

Who sees them:

• live opponents and allies — in duels (including judged tournament duels), in group arena and battleground fights and in live group runs;
• only you — in fights against the computer: in the world, in solo dungeons, in the arena against an opponent's snapshot and at the training dummy. A computer-controlled hero sometimes replies with an emote of its own; monsters and bosses stay silent.

To keep emotes from turning into spam, each one has a 10-second cooldown, and you can send at most three in a row. Tired of an opponent? Press 🔇 and their emotes disappear until the end of the fight; Settings also lets you turn off "Opponents' emotes in battle" entirely.

Most importantly, an emote is not a move. It isn't in the battle log or the replay, it doesn't use up your turn and never affects the outcome. How fights against live players work: “Duels in an MMORPG” and “PvP in a card game”.

Smileys, stickers and emotes FAQ

Are smileys and stickers paid?

Smileys, the Basic pack, the guild banner, reactions and battle emotes are free for everyone. Your class pack unlocks for free at level 20 with a hero of that class, trophies come from first boss kills, and festive stickers from event days.

How do I unlock my class stickers for free?

Level any hero of that class to 20 — the pack of eight stickers unlocks for the whole account, so your other heroes get it too.

Can I buy a trophy sticker?

No. A trophy is awarded only for the first kill of a boss, so it shows at a glance who has really cleared the raid.

Does the computer see my battle emotes?

In fights against the computer only you see your emotes, and a computer-controlled hero sometimes replies. Live opponents and allies see emotes in duels, in group arena and battleground fights and in live group runs.

How do I hide stickers and emotes if they get in the way?

In Settings: "Stickers in chat" — large, small or hidden; "Opponents' emotes in battle" — shown or not. You can mute a single opponent's emotes with the 🔇 button until the end of the fight.

Does it work on a phone?

Yes. Everything is the same on a phone, except that a tap replaces hovering: tap a message to react, and the smiley and sticker panel opens with the same button next to the input line. You can play right in your browser, no download needed.