Discord, I like you, however oh boy do I hate you on the similar time. I have been utilizing the platform for eight years now, and in that point I’ve seen a whole lot of adjustments. A variety of them have been fairly good, too: Video calls and display screen sharing in 2017, threads in 2022, profile biographies in 2021—significantly, how did that one take so lengthy?
On the flip aspect some updates have been… not so good. Most of them appear to have taken place over the course of the final 12 months, and I’ve to confess, I am sort of bored with it at this level. For the way a lot Discord has grow to be so closely intertwined with my day by day life, I sincerely want they might cease messing round with what makes it such a superb platform to be on within the first place.
I do really fairly like sure stuff Discord has launched this yr. Uploadable file sizes have been elevated throughout the board which, as somebody who loves sending random clips and seize I’ve taken, is a much-appreciated change. Discord even has an in-house clipping perform now too, one thing I have not taken a lot benefit of however looks like an excellent evolution of display screen share.
I’ve additionally had means an excessive amount of enjoyable dicking round with soundboards and entry sounds—the place you’ll be able to take a soundboard sound chunk you may have and Discord will use it to announce that you have joined a voice name. It is not a obligatory function, certain, however I’ve discovered entry sounds surprisingly helpful for figuring out who’s becoming a member of a name with out having to tab out of no matter I am doing to decipher the newest arrival. My foremost gripe is that it is a function locked behind Discord Nitro, locking out my buddies who do not pay for the subscription.
However actually that is… sort of the place it ends. As I used to be attempting to wrack my mind and take into consideration what’s pissed off me a lot about Discord this yr, it is bloated options, what looks like an more and more unstable consumer, heavy monetisation and a knack for in some way making all the pieces a lot worse to make use of.
That is simply on the PC consumer—don’t be concerned, I am gonna get to regardless of the hell Discord is doing with its cell app in a bit—the place issues are beginning to really feel just a little raggedy. We’re huge display screen sharers in my good friend group, which made the current color points for these of us with NVIDIA graphics playing cards much more annoying.
Streams would disintegrate to a washed-out monochrome palette, inflicting me to desperately try to piece collectively regardless of the hell my good friend was enjoying or watching among the many trash-tier bitrate and color palette that appeared straight out of an previous 256-colour GIF. Contemplating one in every of Discord Nitro’s advantages is the next stream high quality and framerate, it wasn’t probably the most splendid state of affairs.
Don’t disturb
You then’ve obtained some fairly questionable additions this yr. Tremendous reactions by far really feel like probably the most pointless options added to Discord in a scorching sec. It is one thing I not often make use of, as a result of why would I? Common-ass reactions are actually proper there. It is cute to see just a little emoji explosion on the display screen from time to time, however I battle to consider a superb use for them.
Let’s not neglect the 2 or three days the place Discord determined so as to add the “AKA” perform to everybody’s profile playing cards, which meant anytime I needed to see what a good friend was listening to or enjoying I needed to first scroll down each single alias that they had in all of our shared Discord servers. It is already neatly tucked away in a single bar on the prime of my DMs, having it shoved right into a tiny field was not the reminder I wanted that my one good friend goes by about 50 totally different names, for no matter cause.
There was additionally the much-maligned username change that got here into impact earlier this yr. Discord switched out its discriminators for full @-style usernames akin to Twitter and Instagram, a transfer that wasn’t significantly cherished. Many, together with myself, welcomed the truth that discriminators felt just a little extra non-public and tough to seek out for any overly enthusiastic folks in our lives, and the flexibility for a number of folks to have the identical title was appreciated. Discord appeared to disagree, and the adjustments went by means of regardless. It is nonetheless probably the most heavily-criticised adjustments the app has made to this point, and one which I am actually not overly keen on.
We have seen the swift loss of life of a function that I genuinely actually favored. Emoji packs may have been a incredible approach to declutter my checklist of all of the rattling servers I am in only for cute, tiny JPEG reactions of cats and bunny rabbits. They have been small bundles of emojis that servers may put collectively and be utilised by different non-members throughout the app, one thing which I believed was actual helpful. But it is a function that by no means made it out of the experimental part, being killed off in December.
Pay to bitch
All of this has been occurring within the midst of encroaching monetisation. Paid profile decorations and avatar frames have slowly been trickling in, and whereas they are not too in your face with pushing gross sales, it is positively a noticeable factor each time I try to edit something in my bio. It does really feel like a protracted overdue addition from a purely monetary perspective—Nitro has been Discord’s foremost income for a scorching sec, and there is at all times a want for elevated customisation. App themes are locked behind Nitro too, however none of them are significantly fascinating sufficient to justify the $10 a month if it is all you care about.
My frustration with Discord on PC this yr has been effervescent within the background, however nowhere extra does that feeling come to fruition than with its cell app. Crashes, fixed makes an attempt to attach when booting up the app or becoming a member of voice calls and, lastly, the dreaded new UI change. It is one thing that was really pushed to me just a few months in the past, however now appears to have hit the broader person base.
I’ve by no means seen this many individuals label a evaluate as useful within the Play Retailer, not to mention twice! from r/discordapp
It sucks. It sucks so unhealthy. It feels so rattling unhealthy to navigate. Admittedly it was in some way even worse when it was first pushed out to me in October—server lists obtained moved to a tiny collapsible bar on the backside of the display screen fairly than in an easy-to-parse scrollable sidebar. Issues are trying just a little nearer to the unique cell format now however oh boy, is it sluggish as hell.
DMs have been plucked away from the server checklist and tucked away in a separate tab which makes it much more annoying to examine on my common servers and again out simply to examine who’s despatched me a message. The underside navigation bar takes up a ridiculous quantity of display screen area and the elevated reliance on swiping round feels terrible. It is an replace so unhealthy that Discord’s discussion board is flooded with folks begging for the entire thing to be reverted.
It is irritating as a result of I actually do take pleasure in utilizing Discord. It is the place I speak to all of my associates, each in teams and individually. It is the place I do quiz nights, streams, sport events, film nights and video calls. It has been my platform of alternative for years, and the very last thing I need is to resent one thing I’ve put a lot psychological funding into.
I additionally perceive that Discord has to strive all of those irritating little adjustments or consider new issues to throw in to innovate and develop. That is enterprise, child, however simply because I get it doesn’t suggest I’ve to find it irresistible. I am maintaining my fingers crossed that they’re going to finally cease messing with all the good things and provides us extra of what we may really do with. Rising the DM group dimension is my greatest pet peeve proper now. For actual, why is it solely 10 members within the yr of our lord 2024? I am going to take that over an excellent response any day.