It’ll be quite beneficial to the Destiny experience if Candland and the UI team can incorporate the following changes to the Destiny player input feedback loop: 1. [u]Weapon switching[/u] During active play (PvP, PvE), we need faster access to alternate weapons. Opening the menu, eliminating your combat view, waiting for load-in, slow navigating the cursor to the weapon to select it, load-out, combat reload-in and reorienting yourself take at minimum 3 seconds, and often longer to execute. Much like Halo’s Y secondary weapon switch, and Destiny’s Hold Y tertiary weapon switch, Destiny should introduce faster switching infield. [b]Hold X (Reload) to switch weapon classes[/b]. With a hand canon equipped, and a scout rifle immediately next to it the menu, holding Reload switches between the 2. The same applies for switching between a shotgun and a sidearm. [b]Ammo switching rules apply[/b], so switching sniper rifles may reduce ammo count, switching from fusion to shotgun in Crucible leaves you with no ammo, and switching from sniper to sidearm leaves you with 1 magazine. This switch is not the Quake weapon wheel where you cycle through all your primaries, for example. It incorporates Bungie’s UX simplicity by restricting you to one other primary, secondary and heavy weapon. It becomes particularly useful when you need to switch from sidearm to sniper to open a special ammo crate, or switch from your rocket launcher to LMG when you feel like actually aiming. Often, in Crucible and strikes, we need to switch within a weapon class to pick up ammo while keeping our eyes on the motion tracker (it’s statistically rare to use more than 2 primaries, 2 secondaries, and 2 heavies for an extended duration during any activity). Opening the menu to do so always takes us out of the experience, especially as we reorient on return. This feature improves their experience. [b]It allows you to stay focused within the activity, not fiddle around your menu[/b] when down instead of calling out. It keeps players in the game. It also encourages combat versatility, allowing you to switch from a scout rifle to your bullet hose (at a cost of ammo, of course) when some shotgun-wielding madman is skating towards you with no care in the world. And did I mention how pleasant it’d feel? I remember holding Y, and tapping Y so many times to just appreciate that 3-weapon control innovation Destiny introduced 2 years ago. Now, you can [b]cycle through 6 weapons, using 2 buttons, in real-time[/b]. 2. [u]Faster cursor movement[/u] The cursor movement in the Director and Player Menus should be faster. For experienced users, the slow cursor movement becomes a notable bottleneck. Imagine if your mouse movement on your computer were limited to a slow speed because 1980s users had to get used to using the contraption to shift their focal intent on the screen. Every experienced user increases their mouse/cursor speed or adds acceleration so they can accomplish their intent faster. The same should apply to Destiny. The intended actions/minute while navigating the interface or Director is low right now. For advanced users that perform tens of thousands of intended interface actions over the course of a year, it’s a glaring issue. I recommend [b]faster cursor speed[/b] or [b]acceleration[/b]. If a consensus can not be reached here, please add it as a [b]toggle switch[/b] for advanced players. 3. [u]Custom Controls[/u] A major problem arises for those of us that play multiple games competitively, or even Destiny at a fairly high level. [b]Different buttons perform the same action. Similar actions require different input.[/b] Older gamers have it worse, since it begins to require active recall rather than instinctive presses. Playing Destiny, Halo 5, the Master Chief Collection and any Call of Duty in the same day or week becomes maddening if you don’t use the default control scheme. Sure you’re on Jumper, Hell Jumper and Bumper jumper across games, but now your crouch action has switched across thumbsticks, and to a button. Sprint is different in every game, so is melee. So you acquire an Xbox One Elite controller and remap 4 buttons in Destiny to match your Halo 5 control scheme. Now, the interface becomes confusing: “Hold X to dismantle" Oh, you mean B. Press B to honk your horn. Eh, is B mapped to LS? Advanced Destiny players will greatly benefit from custom remapping. Jumper might be an awesome control scheme, but crouch needs to on LS, not RS or elsewhere. [b]Give the player control over the most important avenue available to them[/b], their method of interacting with the game. Simplification is key in UX design, while it works for casual or beginner use, optionality is necessary for advanced players. Instead of using the Call of Duty or Halo approach to add a litany of control schemes, or Destiny’s 6, give the player the option to decide what button performs what action and have the interface correspond accordingly. [b]Introducing a player-selected control scheme will set a precedent[/b] for AAA games. 4. [u]Faster Activity Launch[/u] Instead of navigating to an Activity in the Director, selecting it, navigating to the Launch button, selecting it, and waiting for a multi-second countdown, it’ll be quite useful if multi-tapping A (or your confirm button) short-circuits the process. [b]Double tap A over an activity to instantly launch it[/b]. In the rare instances where the wrong activity is selected, the matchmaking process affords you time to cancel the activity. Please [b]remove the activity countdown, especially in fireteams of 1[/b]. Can [b]double-tapping X in Orbit launch the last activity[/b]? You’re returning to orbit and would like to quickly resume the matchmaking process. Double press X and off you go, saving you 10 seconds. When an activity is performed thousands of times, it’s necessary to optimize the time-wasting sections. 5. [u]Carnage Report[/u] Shrinking the columns allows for higher information density. The reward screen and score screen often have the same information and omit may stats such as sprees. Less notable records, such as KDA, can be moved to the reward screen. [b]Having the assist column immediately succeed the kill column[/b] (in relevant gametypes, including Rift), will bring more focus on the importance of teamwork. The columns could be Kills >> Assists >> Deaths. KDA should replace K/D as it offers more accurate information. [u]Fini[/u] For 15 year now, I’ve thoroughly enjoyed Bungie’s UX across its games. It has introduced many innovative input and UI elements that have become industry standards. Destiny’s interface is designed around the free cursor and we’ve all come to admire its functionality and high usability. The suggestions I’ve listed above should dramatically improve the player experience for gamers that enjoy playing Destiny.