I have a few suggestions on how to improve text chat. I've seen it done much better everywhere else. For a social game, the current text chat is strange.

For starters, the current way to get to the chat isn't exactly the best. It's a little unconventional and is buried in a menu. I highly recommend some sort of shortcut key as well as an optional controller binding in order to access chat very quickly. This is a social game after all, and being able to respond quickly can be important.

On that same note, the character limit for the chat may see small for some people. I would suggest around 256 characters instead of 128, but that's my opinion.

A friend of mine brought this up. Text chat also needs a chat history so you can see what people have said in case you missed it. This could definitely be something to add to the quick menu, even if it's just a wing module.

Something else that would be useful for those of us that can hear is a sound notification for when someone has typed something, and the sound should come from that person so we can look towards the sound we heard to see what was said. This would prevent people using text chat from being accidentally left out of conversations. For hard of hearing or deaf people, perhaps a simple controller vibration or maybe an icon displayed on the hud. The sound and other notification methods should have an adjustable range, though, preventing you from getting a notification from someone typing on the other side of the map or in a different room.

The ability to change how quickly chat bubbles disappear would also be good. Probably a maximum of like 60 seconds would work. Definitely a minimum of 10 seconds.

And finally, for desktop mode, the keyboard interface needs to be different. Right now it takes up the whole screen and blocks you from seeing anything. I really recommend a more traditional chat box for desktop users.