"[Complaint] Pokemon GO: A crazy-fun, always-improving bug fest that still has terrible UX"

#PokemonGO: I'll start off by saying that I'm a fan of Niantic. They have (if not in all but in many ways) listened to some of our major concerns about gameplay and created new and interesting mechanics for the bare-bones geocaching game we started with two years ago. We got weather. We got stardust buffs. We got raid cycles and events and trickle releases to keep things interesting. And even if we got a ton of bugs in the process, Niantic has learned from some of those mistakes and even turned around impressively at times.But aside from the major victories and catastrophes, there is one thing, one critical thing, that has remained consistent about the game and its development.It's clunky.It's supremely clunky, like insane on every level clunky.Let's go through a hypothetical go sesh. I start up the game. I'm greeted with a popup, possibly two, possibly three, concerning weather and news.5 seconds later...My friend zthrowaway69 on Discord said he needs a gift. Guess I'll do that real quick. Wow, I forgot how long my friends list is. Scroll... Scroll... Scroll... Pause, loading... Scroll... Scroll... Scroll... Pause, loading...30 seconds later...Gift sent! Walk around. Spin a stop. Touch a pokemon. Whoops, I can't touch that one because it's bugged, time to restart the game.20 seconds later...There we go. Now I have to carefully navigate my finger to poke that Natu instead of the Weedle that is now stacked on top of it. Whoops, I missed anyway, now I have to wait for the intro sequence to play out before I can cancel.5 seconds later...The Natu isn't shiny. Next!5 seconds later...Hey, a Machop.20 seconds later...What was its CP again? I just threw right away. I can't tell the CP because a popup is telling me about all the items my friend got from my gift.8 seconds later...Let me try to dismiss it. Oh, what? This goes to the friend screen, I don't want that.12 seconds later...Eh, this machop is crap IV, time to transfer. I thought I saw a Chansey on my radar, but I can't tell because I just checked Discord and from changing focus the game has cleared all the spawns from my field of view. Sometimes the radar will stay up while the spawns are gone, sometimes it won't. Time to restart again.20 seconds later...Spawns are back up. I track the Chansey over the next two minutes. It disengages from tracking multiple times! Well, maybe I'll take a break and spin that stop I started at, since it's blue again. Zooming in tells me I'm in range, but spinning it does nothing. Time to move closer.Okay, now I'm definitely in range. Spin! "Try again later." Looks like the "pokestop ready" timer is out of sync. AARGH! Well, maybe I can get a quest from this other pokestop."Your bag is full."Say what? I can't get a quest from a stop because I have too many items?10 seconds later...Okay, finally. Now I - Oh, god dammit! I spun it but my list was already full! Now I have to wait five minutes to try again. Well, that gives me plenty of time to hunt this Chansey.Closer... Closer still..."The Pokemon fled!"SHIT! Sixty seconds, right? Runrunrunrunrunrun MADE IT. There you--"Oh?"I'm now the proud owner of a new 5km Barboach.Ten seconds and a transfer later...WHERE'S THE CHANSEY? WHERE IS THE MOTHERF-In software development, they often say "the road to hell is paved with premature optimization." Or something to that effect. But when it comes to playing a game? Things that aren't strictly gameplay should always be snappy.Making stuff move as fast and as unobtrusively as possible that isn't involved with the actual mechanics doesn't take away from the game's challenge, it just minimizes unnecessary frustration.And Pokemon GO is RIFE with unnecessary frustration. Can I challenge you, Niantic, to instead make the basic experience of playing this game an absolute joy?Because honestly, even after the crazy amount of time literally spent just navigating popups and interfaces or just plain old waiting in this game, it's still one of my favorites. And I know you guys have it in you to make it even better. via /r/pokemongo https://ift.tt/2PAHxZg