UI Change Request (Destiny)

by Kermit , Raleigh, NC, Monday, November 10, 2014, 15:41 (3912 days ago) @ scarab
edited by Kermit, Monday, November 10, 2014, 16:19

I think I disagree with this suggestion. Having no room for stuff should never be a standard state or accommodated as if it would be.

What does that mean? It happens and, for me, it is annoying. You seem to be saying more than it doesn't bother you. You seem opposed, in principle, to accommodating other people.

The best usability for everyone might not result from accommodating your individual annoyance. Perhaps my opinion will change as I get more valuable stuff that I want to keep, but as is I've got quite a few legendary items and several exotics, and the fact is, I don't need the space I have now for each character as I'm actively playing the game. The only time I've run into the problem with not having room for whatever the postmaster has is when I've failed to dump the green garbage I've picked up out in the field. I don't understand how you can say there is "no way you can pick it up." If you're ever going to manage you stuff and make room, isn't the Tower the ideal place to do it?

Bungie uses agile development. It should be easy to add this request to their product backlog. It seems to involve an if statement that calls the function that says if there is room for an item and using the result to select the shape of the icon behind the exclamation mark. You could fit that into a sprint along with other work.

Sure. I've worked at a software company for 15 years, and I work with UIs. The problem you describe what might be an outlying case. Items from the postmaster aren't that common if you've got room to pick up stuff as you go (and trash the trash as you go). Accommodating you isn't free either. You're asking them to add more complexity to an already complex UI.

It is not as if you have to do the work and, I'm sure, that the Bungie devs are the guys who can best make the decision to make the change or not.

Yes, and the fact is that there are pluses and minuses to your solution (the fact that two of their users disagree should give them pause as well). Accommodating a "simple" request often has unintended consequences. Just because you can do something doesn't mean you should. There's a logic to how they've implemented it. Is changing the nature of an infrequent event so that it doesn't annoy a fraction of users worth breaking the logic of how the system is designed to work? Isn't there already an expectation that if the postmaster has something it may be because I missed it or didn't have room to pick it up in the field? I don't view not having room for something as useful info to be communicated via the Director. I think that by design not having room for something is intended to be a very temporary state.

Unless this special icon also communicated more details about the item, you'd still have to figure out what's triggering it, and having the icon reveal more also takes away from the fun aspect of going to the Tower to open presents.

It would not stop me from opening my presents but, to strain the analogy, it would save the disappointment of finding an IOU or a it's-not-ready-yet when I try to open my presents.

I don't view those as disappointments. How can it not be ready? Got too much glimmer, keep an eye on it and buy ammo packs to keep you well under the limit. Items slots are full? Clear out the trash the moment you set foot in the tower, if not in orbit or even during breaks in the fighting on the planets.

I really do agree with you that item management can be improved. Where I don't agree with you is that I don't think the simple notifiers from parties in the Tower should be made more complex to indicate whether your pockets are full. I don't agree that that's the logical place to communicate that info.