Chat Bubbles feature is almost perfect. It needs few more improvements.

Chat Bubbles was a great addition to the game, but it's missing 2 important updates.

1. Line Limit
The line limit on the chat bubbles is currently 2 rows. You cannot set it to any higher.
https://i.imgur.com/TBnl2m4.png

This limitation is harsher in English than it is in Japanese. Observe the following example of the same sentence in these 2 languages:
https://i.imgur.com/WTL3CAu.png

https://i.imgur.com/rOWH09P.png
The Japanese version of this sentence is fully within the limit, while the English counterpart is barely half-way through.
(The full sentence was: "The English language does not have Kanji, therefore it takes up much more space. The line limit is strict.")

And it's not just about Kanji either. Since Japanese is a heavily context-based language, it's very common to omit subjects from the sentence entirely, because it is already understood through context. Like writing "It's strict" you would completely leave out "it" and only write "strict" in Japanese.

Furthermore, even if all of this wasn't a factor (and it absolutely is), it would still be better to allow the players to increase the line limit simply because the more options that players have the better! If I want to set my chat bubble line limit to 10, why shouldn't I be able to?

Most common answer and argument against this is "The screen would get too cluttered!", and this is a very flawed argument. Here's why:

• I'm not forcing you to increase your line limit to 10, you can keep yours at 2.
• You and I have different ideas as to what counts as "cluttered" to begin with.
• Even if I clutter my screen, why shouldn't that be my choice to make?

All in all, there is no reason why we shouldn't be able to significantly increase the line limit on chat bubbles. Please allow us to do so.

2. Bubble fade out timing
Currently, the bubble fades away after exactly 4 seconds. This might not be enough time for me to read the text in it, since I might be a slow reader. Especially so if we're (hopefully) allowed to increase the line limit in the future.
There should be a setting where we can set the fadeout timer ourselves, like a little slider in the chat bubble settings. Or better yet, make it dynamic - 2 seconds for each line. So if a text is 6 lines, it would fade out after 12 seconds. Something like that would be nice.

P.S.

I wanted to include this 3rd potential update as well, though I don't think it's as important as the 2 above, but it would still be pretty neat to have.

3. Auto-emote when sending a message in chat.
There are emotes such as /converse and /elucidate and other animations that aren't player-accessible emotes but you can see your character performing them in cutscenes when your character is talking or says something.
It would be neat if your character performed those emotes/animations automatically upon sending a message in chat. Assuming your character is stationary at the time of course. If you're on the move the animation wouldn't play.
Bonus points if you play /insist emote if the chat text ends with an exclamation mark !

Totally agree, the feature is pretty much useless with the current line limit. The entire reason I like using chat bubbles is because they allow me to ignore the chat box and look in the direction of the person I'm speaking with, which is more immersive. With the two line limit I have to constantly look at the chat box to see the whole message which defeats the entire point of having chat bubbles to begin with.

Summarizing the feedback in this thread. Hopefully these issues can be addressed soon.

MUST HAVE:

- Option for unlimited message length in bubbles.
- Option for bubble display duration.
- Option to enable /em messages.
- Option to enable bubbles in combat.
- Fix bubbles only rendering in the current field of view and disappearing when moving them off camera and back. Chat bubbles coming from NPCs do not have these issues and always render independent of where you're looking.


NICE TO HAVE:

- More colors for bubbles.
- Allow users to choose bubble shape for different messages.
- Add a standard plain bubble option like what NPCs use. Variations of the current bubble shapes without the little growth on the upper left would be nice too.

I completely agree with all replies so far! Great topic! Hopefully it gets considered.