I agree and support speech bubbles.

I actually tested how many players replied to my random conversations in /SAY while standing next to people, I rarely received a reply because there's no "Hey look a white bubble thing that wasn't there before.. and wait it says something"

Really to all players who dislike speech bubbles due to "Too much clutter or the view that it degrades the game", A simple fix will be an On / Off function in the options. Don't want to see it?, turn it off.