Epic thread needs epic music. So the change to Bungie.next has made the look and feel of the website very different, lots of people like it, but many older users are up in arms over the loss of features they did like, or addition of features they don't. I know I can't speak for everyone, but I thought I'd list off what I think of the new look. The good, the bad, the ugly, and the 'needs more data'. This is going to be a bit lengthy so break out the reading glasses and settle down by a nice fire with some cheese and crackers. [u][b]Positives[/b][/u] [b]( I ) Increased Account Control[/b] [i]Ability to Change Username[/i] For a long time users of the forums have been asking for the ability to change their usernames, while I feel adding this feature is overall positive, I would like to suggest that the original alias of a user be more readily accessible, and that the time between changes be increased to prevent confusion. Steam allows you to change your name as often as you like, please never allow this. Some people are prone to Username ADHD and change it so regularly and to such strange things that it is occasionally a struggle to figure out who is who. [i]Ability to Tag Your Own Interests[/i] Before, if you wanted to find a place to talk about a specific topic that wasn't already a Forum (Halo or previous Bungie games, mostly) you needed to go off site or find the appropriate group. Now, the forums are the appropriate group, as long as you have the proper tags. Searching the proper tags can net you any subject you desire, but there's a major flaw. What if I don't feel like #offtopic but I want all my other tags to show up? I guess I'll remove it...but wait, there is a solution. I'm actually rather proud of this and I think it's one of the most important parts of this thread. A fantastic feature would be the ability to create, sort, and label collections of tags, thereby creating your own 'forum', the moderators could be given the ability to edit tags as well so instead of becoming spam, every thread may have its place. A 'master list' of tags could be compiled somewhere on site so that people could choose tags that are actually used by others, it could be broken down into pieces in a way that would allow one to mime the older forums if all tags in a group on the list were selected. Obviously the Flood Section would be a little less organized, but things like the Community Forum could utitlize one or all of the tags #Community #Bungie #Septagon #SeventhColumn or a 'Halo 4 forum' could have tags #Halo4Matchmaking #Halo4Customs #Halo4Forge #Halo4 Other important tags could be registered for use by Admins/Mods only to allow pinned threads to exist again with #pinned or #important In this way, people could recreate the old forums by grouping tags (and then you would click on the group to instantly search all tags in it with highest relevance afforded to threads using all those tags) and they could also create their own custom forums that would appear just by grouping the proper tags. It's essentially a way to still have some method to this madness. [i]Muted Users[/i] This is brilliant and very useful, though if you haven't already it might be a good idea to make sure people can't block the mods or admins. I have nothing to complain about here, now everyone can self-moderate the forums. Hate someone? Mute them. [i]Link Account[/i] It's great that you have a way to link your account from other sources, hopefully it will increase traffic, I anticipate a multiplatform title. :) [i]Notification Settings[/i] Now I don't have to refresh the page if I'm engaged in a particularly good conversation in a thread and I'm waiting on a reply, I can just go on my merry way and wait to be notified. I think this was a good thing to implement. [b]( II ) Groups[/b] While I think most of what has been done to groups was negative, I like the ability to converse with the rest of the forum via public group topics, it removes the need for a recruitment forum, or I hope it will if used properly. [b]( III ) Navigation[/b] While many features that were added are annoying, the navigation of the site does seem to have been streamlined by removing the separate forums, the tags are a bit of a roadblock to communication though because there's really no "town square" on Bnet more, instead there are a large number of podiums scattered around the metaphorical town, with every one having only a few speakers. It feels like Off Topic is dominating everything else, which is why I'd encourage an Off Topic Forum be added as a place where all non-bungie related discussion can go, and could then be divided as I said earlier, using groupings of tags that the users chose or that were pre-arranged by the webteam. That said, the home-page and other less community-oriented things are very easy to find, and the home page itself looks very good. [b]( IV ) Forums[/b] Embedded images and video, and spoiler tags. The create a post box looks much better and bold/underline/italics/linking is so much easier, but it still needs some work to apply that change to the proper text. I think it's good, in a way, that you removed pages from threads and responses load as you scroll, but it may cause trouble if someone wants to find a specific post (where they would usually remember the page number). Perhaps an ability to 'bookmark' your place in a thread, after making posting chronological in order from oldest post to newest post again, of course. It is nice to be able to sort by when threads were created and Latest/Popular/Debated. [b]( V ) Miscellaneous[/b] - Conversations is a nice replacement for messaging, but I think it needs an aesthetic makeover, much like other parts of the site. - [u][b]Negatives[/b][/u] [b]( I ) Aesthetics[/b] [i]Color Scheme[/i] Now, I did say that my opinion may differ from everyone else's, but the amount of white glaring out at me from the middle of the screen is blinding. I've seen some code floating around here to change it to black and the improvement is obvious even at a glance. What I think would be a fair compromise for those few who do like this color scheme is to create a couple alternatives that you can select in your profile settings, with the default set to black, and an option for a 'glass' look that allows one to see the full site background. [i]Posting Appearance[/i] Posts seem much less defined, they all blend together into a mess. Their needs to be some kind of divider between individual posts, it used to be the reply button. Speaking of buttons, they stand out more and are easier on the eyes and I think you should bring them back. I don't think replies to other non-OP posts should be in a drop down hierarchy, I think the posts should continue linearly and stay in place as they did previously, with links redirecting to the post that was replied to (a la Youtube and 4chan). Posts should not be bumped by replies, but maybe they could stick out more, by changing their alignment with the other comments or their color perhaps? I think it just makes sense for threads to display in chronological order. [b]( II ) Forums/Groups[/b] [i]Pinned Topics[/i] These seem to have broken, while I suggested restricted tags could be used to replace them, I still thing some threads should remain pinned or archived somewhere on the main forums, and group administrators should have the ability to do so as well. [i]Offsite Links[/i] Please include the ability to remove the confirmation dialogue, many people here are internet savvy enough to know what to click and what not to. It's fortunate that Right Click > Open In New Tab or center clicking still works without the annoying popup. [b]( III ) Small Changes[/b] I'll just list these as I don't feel they need much explanation - Is the 'motto' really a motto? Or is it an 'about me'? Why not have both with the motto visible when you see a user and click their name and the about me visible on their profile - Liking and following seems really gimmicky and unnecessary to me [b][u]Other[/u][/b] Some things are neither good nor bad, and some things the webteam didn't even think of at all, so why not suggest those things? I'll fill this out as I come up with things to fill it out with. [b][u]Updates[/u][/b] I'm sure I've missed some things so I will post them under this heading if I think of them (unless they belong in "Other").