Destiny 2: Vault Updates
Introducing New Sort and Filter Options
Final Vault Iteration
*More documentation work available on request.
Introduction
For years, the Destiny 2 community had expressed their wish for better ways to manage their Vault, which holds a collection of accumulated weapons, armor, and other equipment.

As it was, the Vault lacked filters, and the available sort options didn’t return meaningful or clear search results.

The need for robust filtering and sorting was apparent after The Edge of Fate, which introduced additional item characteristics, such as Gear Tier and Armor Archetypes.  
Release Info and Feature Goals
  • Release Title: Renegades
  • Release Date: December 2nd, 2025
  • 300 additional Vault slots
  • New multi-filter selection system
  • Updated sort options
Auditing the Old Vault
Uncovering Issues
So why had the previous Vault created issues for players?

A short investigation didn’t take long to uncover the reasons:
  • Parsing up to 700 items, including duplicates and variations.
  • Sorting limited to four options - Default, Quantity, Rarity, Newest.
  • Sorts didn’t cover the range of category-exclusive characteristics, or combinations.
  • Unclear feedback: “What does Sort by Default actually mean?”
During a snack break, a colleague expressed their own frustrations: “Sometimes I just want to see my weapons, and the sorting doesn't help me find the stuff I actually want.”

They went on to say that they have tons of items they don’t even use, but navigating the Vault was so tedious they’d rather leave them than clear them out.
Audit Outcomes
  • Identifying shared and category-exclusive item characteristics.
  • Determining item characteristic combinations – reinforcing need for stackable filters.
  • Examining existing systems frameworks.
  • Updating a list of proposed filters and sorts.
  • Building interaction flows based on player use cases.
Referencing Frameworks
Before jumping into wireframes, we addressed scope by wading through the many intertwined Destiny 2 systems – were there other places that used multi-filter methods?

The clearest samples were the Eververse Store and Fireteam Finder:
Player Use Cases
With strong reference points, we began shaping player journey goals. These flows focused on player needs, expectations, and interaction behaviors, while identifying potential issues and constraints.
The player interactions informed which characteristics to prioritize as filters or sorts (or both). From there, it allowed me to curate a live, updated list of the filter and sort criteria players might need.
Finalizing UI and Visuals
During the process, we kept consistent check-ins with other teams to stay aligned and on the lookout for immediate and long-term issues.

After several drafts, we eventually we landed on the final filters and sort list: 
It helped to have many eyes and feedback sessions on the wireframing process, as area knowledge feedback across multiple fields pinpointed problems with interactions, feedback states, state changes, and displays.

Because of the strong feedback-driven process, our technical, engineering, and visual teams were well-informed and led to smooth handoffs.

Our visual designer brought the Vault to life with updated layouts, new direct pagination, color language, and iconography:  
Conclusion
Learnings
It was crucial to consistently update the teams, which helped me learn about other disciplines and systems I hadn’t explored before.
  • Keeping open lines of communication and feedback sessions among involved teams.
  • Making sure updates/proposals were shared with the teams to determine scope and workload.
  • Maintaining a logbook of proposals, feedback sessions, iterative changes, and scope constraints to create smooth adjustments and handoffs.
While the updates don’t cover every aspect of item characteristics, it was enough to give players better control when managing 1,000 items; and better yet, an in-game feature accessed within the same space.

Our hope is that the updates are a better, longer-term solution for an evolving game.
< Pathfinder