tips for following the chat?

[Hyperly]

i'm not sure where to put this thread but, feel free to move this thread if this doesn't seem to fit the topic. nontheless,

 

do any of you guys have anything that helps with keeping up with the chat during roleplays in public places, or any tips? i find myself sometimes struggling with the chat with how monotonous (or i guess i mean how it's just a lot of the same colored text) the text can be, and since there's no separators between each message, it's hard to find a certain message in the sea of text ;;

[Unnamed Mercenary]

I tend to adjust the chat filters in RP-heavy areas to only show /say and /emote text. While each of those can be assigned their own color, if you're around a lot of people, you'll still see a lot of the same. One thing I personally try to do to tackle this is to alternate my posts between /say and /emote so that the log is a bit easier to work with in public.

 

If you're doing private RP, then I recommend switching over to /tell, /party, or /linkshell chat and separating those off to another tab. The game will give you 4 and you can totally customize general and battle despite their hardcoded names. 

 

Other things I've seen people do to enhance their experience is make a RP-only HUD setting. Something where you can disable any unneded components of the game and make room for a larger text box, see more of the characters/environment, etc.

[Aedan Marceaux]

You can also create a new tab by hitting the + button on the bottom of the text box. Said tab can then be named as desired and pulled out from the other tabs so that you have a second chat window devoted to whatever chat channels you want in it. To modify chat colors and what chats show up in said boxes, click the gear looking icon.

 

I'd offer screen shots, but am currently at work and on my cell phone.

[Tregarde]

Oh, how I miss chat bubbles. They make following who says what so much easier, even more so the more people that are around.

 

Even having player names highlighted in the chat box would help so much, it would provide a visual break between lines instead of getting a wall of entirely same color text.

 

I can't really give any advice that hasn't already been said. All I can say is that, for me, beyond a certain point I just can not follow the chat in FF-XIV anymore, and thus I don't go to large events often.

[Erah'sae]

In the friends list, by right clicking a friend (if I recall right) you can assign a 'friend group'.   You can also use these to identify lines of text that are potentially more important in a crowd.

 

Other than that, practice.  The more you go to larger events and have to deal with the chat spam the easier it gets.   As Unnamed Mercenary said, creating a RP specific hud isn't a bad idea, though if I recall, chat window placements aren't saved in the hud settings.   I, while RPing scroll the chat box out to cover most of the bottom portion of my screen.  

[Faye]

There's no easy way, but a few tips...

- You can create a chat tab with only /say and /emote in it. You can also drag this out into a second chat window if you would like! You can change the placement and size of the chat window(s) whenever you'd like simply by dragging them; no need to open the HUD menu so you may want to expand the chat for RP events.
- Communicate with the people you are RPing with when you each have made a post.
-  Form a party with those you're RPing with and use /party for RP.
- If RPing with someone on your friend list, as Erah'sae mentioned, you can assign them to a friend group and put a special symbol before their name to make them stand out.
- Focus on the people you are RPing with and look for their names and your character's name in the chat. Try to tune out the rest of the text. Keep an eye on the avatars around you. If someone unexpected is going to write an emote at you, their character will probably be targeting yours and near them.