Video, voice or text — which to start with
These are not quality tiers with video at the top. They are three different arrangements, and the right one depends on what you are willing to spend — in exposure, in attention, and in coins.
Text: the cheapest way to find out if you like this at all
No camera prompt, no microphone, nothing about you visible. You type, they type.
It is also the only mode that costs nothing to run: text matching does not consume free rounds and does not spend coins. If you are unsure whether random matching is for you, this is where to find out, and you can find out for as long as you like.
The trade-off is that text is slow to become real. Everyone edits themselves in text, which means it takes longer to tell whether there is an actual person on the other side who is interested in talking to you.
Voice: most of the signal, none of the exposure
A voice carries an enormous amount of what you actually want from a conversation — timing, hesitation, whether someone is amused or bored. Most of what makes text ambiguous disappears the moment you can hear a person.
And it asks nothing of your appearance, your room, or your lighting. No camera permission is requested in voice mode at all.
For a lot of people this is the honest sweet spot, and it is underused because it sits in the shadow of video.
Video: the fastest, and the most exposed
Video collapses the distance immediately. You know within a couple of seconds whether there is any point continuing, which sounds brutal and is actually merciful — it is the mode with the least wasted time.
It costs the most in exposure, and it is where free rounds and coins apply. It also requires a camera the browser can reach, which is its own small hurdle.
A reasonable way to sequence them
Start in text if you have never done this and want to know what it feels like with nothing at stake. Move to voice when the typing starts feeling like a bottleneck. Switch to video when you have stopped thinking about being on video.
You are not committed by starting somewhere. Mode is chosen per match, not per account.