Ok, I’ve worked this out. You need to copy the complete first section of the `comment_form()’ from wp core. This is the code
<?php
function comment_form( $args = array(), $post_id = null ) {
if ( null === $post_id )
$post_id = get_the_ID();
else
$id = $post_id;
$commenter = wp_get_current_commenter();
$user = wp_get_current_user();
$user_identity = $user->exists() ? $user->display_name : '';
$args = wp_parse_args( $args );
if ( ! isset( $args['format'] ) )
$args['format'] = current_theme_supports( 'html5', 'comment-form' ) ? 'html5' : 'xhtml';
$req = get_option( 'require_name_email' );
$aria_req = ( $req ? " aria-required='true'" : '' );
$html5 = 'html5' === $args['format'];
$fields = array(
'author' => '<p class="comment-form-author">' . '<label for="author">' . __( 'Name' ) . ( $req ? ' <span class="required">*</span>' : '' ) . '</label> ' .
'<input id="author" name="author" type="text" value="' . esc_attr( $commenter['comment_author'] ) . '" size="30"' . $aria_req . ' /></p>',
'email' => '<p class="comment-form-email"><label for="email">' . __( 'Email' ) . ( $req ? ' <span class="required">*</span>' : '' ) . '</label> ' .
'<input id="email" name="email" ' . ( $html5 ? 'type="email"' : 'type="text"' ) . ' value="' . esc_attr( $commenter['comment_author_email'] ) . '" size="30"' . $aria_req . ' /></p>',
'url' => '<p class="comment-form-url"><label for="url">' . __( 'Website' ) . '</label> ' .
'<input id="url" name="url" ' . ( $html5 ? 'type="url"' : 'type="text"' ) . ' value="' . esc_attr( $commenter['comment_author_url'] ) . '" size="30" /></p>',
);
$required_text = sprintf( ' ' . __('Required fields are marked %s'), '<span class="required">*</span>' );
/**
* Filter the default comment form fields.
*
* @since 3.0.0
*
* @param array $fields The default comment fields.
*/
$fields = apply_filters( 'comment_form_default_fields', $fields );
$defaults = array(
'fields' => $fields,
'comment_field' => '<p class="comment-form-comment"><label for="comment">' . _x( 'Comment', 'noun' ) . '</label> <textarea id="comment" name="comment" cols="45" rows="8" aria-required="true"></textarea></p>',
'must_log_in' => '<p class="must-log-in">' . sprintf( __( 'You must be <a href="https://wordpress.stackexchange.com/questions/102148/%s">logged in</a> to post a comment.' ), wp_login_url( apply_filters( 'the_permalink', get_permalink( $post_id ) ) ) ) . '</p>',
'logged_in_as' => '<p class="logged-in-as">' . sprintf( __( 'Logged in as <a href="%1$s">%2$s</a>. <a href="%3$s" title="Log out of this account">Log out?</a>' ), get_edit_user_link(), $user_identity, wp_logout_url( apply_filters( 'the_permalink', get_permalink( $post_id ) ) ) ) . '</p>',
'comment_notes_before' => '<p class="comment-notes">' . __( 'Your email address will not be published.' ) . ( $req ? $required_text : '' ) . '</p>',
'comment_notes_after' => '<p class="form-allowed-tags">' . sprintf( __( 'You may use these <abbr title="HyperText Markup Language">HTML</abbr> tags and attributes: %s' ), ' <code>' . allowed_tags() . '</code>' ) . '</p>',
'id_form' => 'commentform',
'id_submit' => 'submit',
'title_reply' => __( 'Leave a Reply' ),
'title_reply_to' => __( 'Leave a Reply to %s' ),
'cancel_reply_link' => __( 'Cancel reply' ),
'label_submit' => __( 'Post Comment' ),
'format' => 'xhtml',
);
?>
You can now make your changes, rename the function, and add it to comment_form_defaults
Even if you need to just change one thing, you will need to cope this complete section for the validation to work correctly