There's a limit of 50 missives in the Norrathian Express mailbox. The Gods know this, even if not all Norrathians do. Every now and then (as the other day) I'll compose a Norrathian Express message to someone, and (because their mailbox is full) I won't be able to send it. Playtime wasted! I've submitted requests in the past to have the mail system warn me once I enter the addressee's name (it would be easy for it to check at that point) if the user's mailbox is full (or if the user no longer exists, or has me on ignore) so I don't waste time writing a message I can't send. For whatever reason, that request has fallen on deaf ears. But it just occurred to me that there's a nalternative to this; one that attacks the problem from the other side, and should be even simpler to implement. When my mailbox receives a new message, a nicon appears on my HUD to tell me about it.* The icon is white. It should, I would think, be easy enough to make the icon RED instead, if my mailbox is full, to let me know I need to rush to a mailbox** and sort my virtual life out. This is pure selfishness on my part, of course. The point being that if the Gods make it easier, not just for me, but for other busy Norrathians (rushing from alt to alt to sort their own virtual lives out) to realize that their mailboxes are full, they might, you know, do something about it. So the next time I try to send one of them a message, I might not have wasted my time. Thank you for listening ___________________ * Irrelevant aside: When this feature was implemented, a few years back, I resented it, because, like easier travel, cheap deaths, faster combat and quest sharing, it was YAITTGWGF.*** ** Yes, I do know I can access my mail directly from that icon without going to a mailbox -- but I refuse to do that. Call me an old fuddy-duddy if you will: I try hard to maintain the illusion that I'm in a fantasy land, despite the Gods' bizarre priorities. *** Yet Another Indication That The Game Was Getting Faster
for when you need mail and you don't have an unread msg handy: /start_mail i like your Red Mail idea for when your box was full. also - maybe we could have the Mail icon up all the time since people might quit ignoring their new mail and not have to see You Have Mail messages every time they switch
As I said, I refuse to read mail unless I'm at a mailbox -- but I know I'm weird; I'm sure others will appreciate your gnomish solution. I think that having the 'mail icon up all the time' would be a mistake. Users get blind to things that are there all the time; changes in the field of view are more easily noted (something to do with the dim and distant past where we needed to be aware of whether the movement in the grass ahead was just the wind -- or a tiger). Glad to hear you like the 'Red Mail' idea Here's hoping The Makers think it's good, too...
the reason i think the mail icon should be up in time is my own behavior before i discovered /start_mail : i sent mail to all my alts and didn't read it - ever - so that i would always have the mail icon up in case i wanted to send mail at a time i didn't have any unread mail and, therefore, no mail icon up this led to every time i switched "You have mail!" and i did ignore that so when i got some "real" new mail, i didn't notice.
