Chat location and function (Assuming this isn't planned)

[Ithirahad]

Functionally, I'm loving the new chat system in the dev builds. However, the accessibility and visibility of the UI bugs me. Rather than the chat menu/interface disappearing completely, I propose that a small version of the chat menu should always be visible in the corner, like this:

Pressing a different button/combination (Tab-Enter? Tab-C?) would bring up a larger chat menu with more options, particularly for admins, but this smaller menu would be persistent whether you're chatting or playing the game. (Ideally, it would become semitransparent if you don't hit enter for a while so it doesn't obstruct your view, but it should never disappear, or for that matter turn into an ugly white rectangle.)

Of course, this feature is still in development and for all I know this is in fact the exact plan for the chat layout. However, in the event that it isn't, I just wanted to suggest that it be laid out this way to improve accessibility and convenience. The menu seems to scale to this size nicely without modification anyway, so I can't see it being too hard to simply make the menu non-clickable when inactive without making it disappear. (If it requires a new feature in the UI system itself, then it's probably one that should be added anyway - I can see other potential uses for this.)

 

[jorgekorke]

I'd prefer the chat remaining transparent, but with tabs for switching "channels" , such as the "All" chat, "Faction" chat, "PM", and "Regional" chat, perhaps in the future. Should look like one of those chat tabs from an MMO.

 

[SmilingDemon]

set them to open and on hud and full and place them wherever you like on the screen ... you can follow then every open channel at once.
in transparent windows

 

[Ithirahad]

set them to open and on hud and full and place them wherever you like on the screen ... you can follow then every open channel at once.
in transparent windows

Yes, but that becomes a mess on the screen, and I don't really find it necessary. In most games (MMOs particularly) with chat channels, you simply have tabs or a menu to switch between channels within one mini-window that stays open all the time, and I rather like that solution. The less screen clutter we can have while keeping easy access to all channels, the better.

(Also, the appearance and disappearance of the opaque menus every time I hit enter is incredibly annoying... I'd rather have the opaque menus always stay open but just "fade" a bit when I don't use them for a while.)

EDIT: Hey, where did my In Development tag go? I liked being the first one to get a suggestion tagged with that. :P