Okay, i have a few ideas. They are small, but I'm sure they'd be used by people. Firstly, how about some tabs in the user list. This way there could be a list of people battling, waiting for a battle etc. It'd just make it quicker to find things. There could also be a tab where all the people you have a PM open with, and when you click on one of them, it shifts from the main chat to the PM. Perhaps a blocked user list too, of people who you don't want to PM or battle you. Along with this, how about a friends list? People you can drag and drop, or just add to one of these tabs, that you enjoy battling, talking to, etc. It's only real function would be to quickly get to a user. I know it sounds too small to be worth it, but I'm sure people would like it.
You can already see which users are battling, waiting for a battle or away by looking at the colour of the Pokeball next to their name: Blue means they are battling, red means they are waiting for a battle, and gray means they are away. The PM idea isn't a good one either, as all PM windows are automatically always above the main chat window. If a battle window or a chat window is blocking the PM window, you can just click the main chat window, and your PM window will appear again. I don't know about a list for people you are ignoring. I can't really see the use, as you'll already be ignoring that person. I personally don't like the idea of a friends list either, although I'm not 100% opposed to that.
I also like these ideas. Differentiating the list of all people battling with those that aren't seems like a great idea. The colors of the Pokeballs are really annoying to differ this. Some are away, some are unaway, some are battling. I would just love a list of all battles going on with the person battling and their opponent. Rather then just a Pokeball depicting one battler battling. For the PM system. I find opening a new window somewhat annoying. When you are talking to like 4 people in PM at once, it gets very irritating with three windows. In my opinion, private messages should stay on the server window (similar to Shoddy). As for a friends system. I find that unnecessary.
I disagree, I like the pop up PMs. I often keep PO minimized to systray (TrayIt app) and that still allows PMs to pop up and I can respond if they are important. It's useful for staff who may be needed for a spammer or a troll. On Shoddy, I don't even notice that I've been PMed half the time until they've already logged off.
But, maybe have all Private Messages in one window and not several for each person sending you a message? Like if you're talking to two person at once in PM, have a bigger PM window in which you can click on whom to talk to in that window. Similar to instant messengers like MSN, AIM, etc...
Or, perhaps, an option of choosing between having multiple pop-up windows or one pop-up window with multiple tabs?
very cool idea! the possibility of adding people to a chat window so you can chat with multiple people, but not be in the main chat? is it feasible? also, the differentiation lists instead of pokeballs is not a bad idea, but a main list with all users is necessary in my opinion.
If you want to chat with a specific group of people, start a battle and get them to join. I don't think it's worth the time to code in something like that. I believe that with the next version you should be able to leave the battle open even if the other player exits so that will work well. I like the idea of being able to distinguish players by tier and whatever is done with the PM system, I just hope that we will still have an option for pop-up PMs like now.