Highlights
- Final Fantasy 14 will soon be adding chat bubbles, a staple feature in many MMOs, allowing players to easily notice when others are speaking.
- Currently, mods and plugins exist that add chat bubbles, but they go against the game's terms of service and can result in penalties.
- The addition of chat bubbles is highly anticipated by players, especially roleplayers, and it is expected that Final Fantasy 14 will make them toggleable to accommodate different player preferences.
Final Fantasy 14 recently confirmed chat bubbles are coming to the critically-acclaimed MMORPG soon. A staple feature in many of its competitors, Final Fantasy 14 players can finally look forward to chat bubbles in Eorzea.
Though social multiplayer games handle chat differently, many MMOs like World of Warcraft and Guild Wars 2 feature bubbles that appear near a player’s character when they speak. Final Fantasy 14, however, does not feature this, with all player chat appearing exclusively in a separate window.
Final Fantasy 14 Offers More Details on Graphical Update
During the London Fan Fest, Final Fantasy 14 gives players another look at the graphical improvements coming to the game in the Dawntrail expansion.
During Final Fantasy 14’s Fan Festival in London, major MMO content creator Preach asked if the developers were considering adding chat bubbles to the game during a meet and greet. He got confirmation that Final Fantasy 14 was indeed working on the feature. That said, Preach didn't get a time frame for when chat bubbles would be coming, meaning the feature could arrive well after the Dawntrail expansion.
Technically, there are mods and plugins for Final Fantasy 14 that add chat bubbles into the game. However, these third-party tools are against Final Fantasy 14’s terms of service, meaning their use could lead to penalties against one’s account. For this reason, Final Fantasy 14 adding this feature natively is a huge deal.
Needless to say, players are ecstatic to hear this feature is coming to the game. Chat bubbles make it much easier to notice when players are speaking to one another, and they are a huge immersion tool for FF14 roleplayers as well. Some players are concerned they could be distracting during battle, but most assume Final Fantasy 14 will make these chat bubbles a toggleable feature so that these fans can play without them.
Final Fantasy 14’s second Fan Festival showed off a bunch of other new features coming in Dawntrail next year. The Final Fantasy 14-original Viper class–a dual-wielding DPS that can combine their swords together into a double-bladed weapon–is the first of two jobs coming in the expansion, with a new limited job planned for a subsequent content update. Additionally, Dawntrail introduces the first graphical update for the MMO in 10 years, featuring some phenomenal visuals.
Fans still have one more Fan Festival in January, so they can expect to learn the last bits of information about Dawntrail after the new year. They can also look forward to a story prologue in Patch 6.55, plus a long-awaited crossover event with Final Fantasy 16, so it is no exaggeration to say 2024 will be a big year for Final Fantasy 14 fans.
Final Fantasy 14 is available now for PC, PS4, and PS5, with an Xbox Series X/S version launching in Spring 2024.
