Designing for "Quality of Life"
Destiny 2 is video first-person shooter-looter multiplayer online-only game developed by Bungie and published by Activision.
Set in a "mythic science fiction" world, the game features a multiplayer "shared-world" environment with elements of role-playing games.
Players assume the role of a Guardian, protectors of Earth's last safe city as they wield a power called Light to protect the Last City from different alien races.
Current landscape of Destiny 2
Destiny 2 has been losing many of it current players, and the number of players leaving Destiny 2 continues to grow. There are several factors contributing to this increasing number. Most of these factors are considered "quality of life" issues.
Quality of Life Issues
Social Hubs Aren't Very Social
Minimal opportunities and incentive to interact with other players within the social hub areas. Every player goes to these locations, to turn in quests to different types of NPCs, but there is little opportunity to interact with other players besides a handful of emotes.
Too Many Steps to Interact With Others
When inspecting another player's guardian the interaction brings up UI that overtakes the entire screen, removing you from the immersive experience of the "world."
Too Many Things to Carry
Customizing your Guardian is a big part of the experience. Players have the ability to choose different color schemes for 8 different categories by applying "Shaders." But there are more "Shaders" than there are shader slots within a players inventory, and the Vault(storage) has minimal room as well.
Solution
Design new social interactions by creating a new "INTERACT" menu that will allow players to inspect one another's gear and weapons as well as trade customizeable shaders they do not want for shaders they do want. This becomes an economy between players, creating more incentive for players to interact while in the social hubs.
Current Shader Inventory
Currently guardians can only carry 50 different shaders at a time, even though there are well over 50 in game. And with every update Bungie is adding more and more.
New Shader Inventory UX/UI
Toggling L3 while hovering over a shader now allows you to save it as a favorite.
Star icon in top right corner signifies the shader as a favorite
To the right of the shaders main menu now lives the "favorites" section.
- Adding a "Favorites" section to the shaders UI.
- Have up to five favorites saved at any given time
-This will make it easier for trading with other guardians in the future.
-This will show other guardians what shaders you can't get enough of.
GEAR CARD
This card displays the other players currently equipped gear or armor. There are four pieces of armor: Helmet, gauntlets, chest piece and leg armor. Each displays a thumbnail with the current power level of the armor next to the corresponding name and currently applied shader with the total number of that particular shader you currently own.
WEAPONS CARD
This card displays the other players currently equipped weapons and ghost shell. There are 3 weapon categories along with a ghost shell. Each displays a thumbnail with the current power level of the weapon next to the corresponding name and currently applied shader with the total number of that particular shader you currently own.
TRADE OFFER CARD
This card displays what shader is being requested by the player "Ncboy29" and what they are offering in exchange.
When being proposed a trade, the offering shaders (Avalon Teal) are auto-populated from our players' favorite shader menu according to Ncboys29's shader inventory.
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