Greetings, Veridian!
Thank you for posting your concerns about the chat mode showing up grey. In order to make sure that we have all of the information that we need for the investigation, it would be a great help to us if you provided as many details as you can in the following form:


Platform:
Specify which version of Windows was in use to play the game.

ISP:
Name of ISP you use to connect to the Internet.

Type of Internet Connection:
Specify the type of connection. (dial-up, DSL, CATV, Optic Fiber, Other)

Internet Connection Speed:
Specify the speed of internet connection. (Example: 768Kbit/s, 5Mbit/s)

Also, buritoslicer did bring up a point that may help (thanks, buritoslicer!). Please let us know if you continue to have trouble after trying to log completely out of the game before logging back in. Thanks again for your participation!