Vanity Slots

[Urteil]

***Updated with gear "lock" option.

Wouldn't it be a good idea for SE to implement a vanity tab or gear section?

For people that don't know, vanity slots are a place where you place gear simply for appearance, while your equipment slots are the ones that are counted for stats etc.

Once setting the gear in the vanity slot, you simply retain that appearance despite changing out other pieces of gear in your 'real' equipment area.

Using gear for a vanity slot doesn't use it up per say, it simply just marks it as the designated appearance you wish to show.

If everquest can do it, FFXI sure can, the fact that EQ just got a new expansion and can do this and FFXI can't should be really embarrassing.

This way blinking in battle would be a thing of the past without third-party plugins, and we could choose our full-time appearance in battle while keeping gear swaps.

Some armor is just god-awful (I'm looking at you camlecac trousers), and it would allow for some neat diversification.


Option 1, the Gear Lock Command:

Instead of taking the time that we know you won't, to develop a system of new inventory and update the UI.

It has been proposed farther along in the thread that a new command akin to /gearlockimage (or whatever) be introduced into the game.

Which does not lock your equipped gear but only "locks" the appearance, stopping blinking and armor to be changed mid combat.

This would take much less time then the other route which I will just throw in for the sake of it, and is in many ways more feasible, as highlighted by many later on.




Option 2, the Vanity Inventory:

Create a new accessible inventory tab where players can select armor from their inventory to put into these appearance slots.

Just shove it into a sub menu under the equipment menu, much like how a Puppetmaster can access the inventory/equipment of their Automaton.

By placing gear in these slots this is the "locked" appearance for your character and regardless of gear swaps you will not blink or change your modeled appearance.





**And for the dev team, there isn't a need to make the vanity tab /checkable, keep it completley invisible to everyone except the user, as I can see how displaying two sets of inventory would probably be impossible.

Only display "real" equipment, so all those people who are hard as e-diamonds can still get their peen on.

[Lushipur]

doubt it will ever happens.
ps2 limitation.
too much code work to implements.
etc etc.

[Puck]

100% support this. A friend of mine was telling me how they do this in DC Universe Online and all I could think about was how much I wish this was a feature in FFXI. Basically every piece of gear you acquire is added to your "fashion" inventory that you can choose from when gearing up your character for their visible appearance, separate from the actual stat gear you have on (just as in the OP).

Unfortunately, though, I fear that it's too big of a change to work within FFXI's framework. PS2 limitations, whatever. Actually I think it would just require more reworking of the game than they'd like to spend man-hours on, and since it's cosmetic they'd skip on it.

[Amalah]

I would love this! I want to be able to wear the most efficient gear possible, but I would also like to look good while doing it.

[Soranika]

I totally support this.

[Alhanelem]

I don't, because then I can't tell what someone is wearing just by looking at them.

[Amalah]

That's not always possible anyway, some pieces of armour look the same. Checking somebody is better, at least then you can see the accessories being worn too.

Perhaps a toggle option so you can choose whether you see the vanity items?

[Mirage]

I don't, because then I can't tell what someone is wearing just by looking at them.
You can't now either.

Is that AF+2 or AF+0 that monk is wearing?

Is that bone leggings or ace's leggings?

Is that a perdu voulge or an atlas +2?

[Elexia]

You can't now either.

Is that AF+2 or AF+0 that monk is wearing?

Is that bone leggings or ace's leggings?

Is that a perdu voulge or an atlas +2?

You also have to use common sense. Anyone under 70 logically wouldn't be wearing Ace's leggings. Considering ToAU is pretty much dead and magians is easy as hell, there's your answer.

I dislike Vanity slots in MMOs for various reasons (mainly because they're the cashshop shit) but it also would kill the use of JSE. You could appoint your RDM gear to vanity slot then be a WAR, it would just look silly.

[Malamasala]

Vanity slots is pretty much the primary reason I'm looking for alternative MMOs. If all MMOs were about looking like clowns with mixed armors, I'd have no reason to go from FFXI.

[Mirage]

You also have to use common sense. Anyone under 70 logically wouldn't be wearing Ace's leggings. Considering ToAU is pretty much dead and magians is easy as hell, there's your answer.

I dislike Vanity slots in MMOs for various reasons (mainly because they're the cashshop shit) but it also would kill the use of JSE. You could appoint your RDM gear to vanity slot then be a WAR, it would just look silly.
So just require the vanity items to be wearable by your current job?

[Alhanelem]

Vanity slots is pretty much the primary reason I'm looking for alternative MMOs. If all MMOs were about looking like clowns with mixed armors, I'd have no reason to go from FFXI.
Uh, FFXI isn't like that at all, and most games with "vanity slots" ARE like that. Your statement contradicts itself.

The only way to look like a clown in FFXI is to play PUP.

[Tannlore]

I don't, because then I can't tell what someone is wearing just by looking at them.

/check them then?

[Romanova]

I dislike Vanity slots in MMOs for various reasons (mainly because they're the cashshop shit) but it also would kill the use of JSE. You could appoint your RDM gear to vanity slot then be a WAR, it would just look silly.

not all vanity slots are cash shop required, eq does it and as others stated it has to be gear 1. you own 2. you could actually equip normally.

Blizz is implementing it as well. cash shop ones are usually f2p mmos that do that, this isn't one of those so I doubt that's how it'd be set up.

[Nefertiri]

Hey, nice! I had a classic idea pretty much like this, as well. Tried expressing the idea to others years ago but it didn't go over so well. :p

Vana'diel Vanity has a certain ring to it.~

In a world where only select few equipment choices are accepted as "the norm", there sure isn't much room for fashionable diversity. Ever wanted to tank in wedding garb, swimsuits and other such event wear? Wear a full AF/Relic set without being called a gimp, freedom to choose exactly what you wanna look like for others? Well, if only stuff like this existed..!

By registering equipment to vanity slots you'd be able to change your appearance without altering your statistics. The only requisites? You need to be able to actually equip the "vanity" gear according to your job/level. The vanity slots might be too difficult to create a new menu or equipment tab for, so why not let an NPC (such as your own personal moogle) handle it? Can it really be that difficult~?

The best part? Wearing vanity equipment would allow you to always appear as such no matter what, even if your "real" equipment is swapped around, your appearance will stay the same until you specifically change your vanity set ;). A solution to the ever-present "blinking" issue as well!~

The only complicated snag, I feel, is what to do with weapons. I think maybe they wouldn't get vanity slots. It just wouldn't work. Wouldn't be much of an obstacle anyway - as front-line jobs don't change their weapons all that often. While back-line jobs do change weapons often, they generally need less cures and support than front-liners tend to, usually. Thus, weapons would remain as-is and you'd still blink when swapping them around.

It'd be really nice to have this, I feel.

[Camiie]

I wouldn't have an issue with it. I like the idea of requiring that your vanity items be something your job could equip anyway. Also, IF they were to do weapons, the vanity weapon must be of the same type as the one actually equipped.

If people have an issue being checked for their real gear, they can turn off the message or get over themselves. (or, SE could remove the message entirely and there'd never be an issue). Some guy on my server actually likes to chase people down and spam them with "death" and other such kind comments after being checked. Why people like that don't get banned is beyond me, but another topic for another day.

I think it's moot though, because I'd bet the game engine makes no allowances for this, and I doubt they have anything that would require any drastic changes to the client in mind.

[Dijana]

Normally I would be all for this sort of thing in a game, and in many others I have spent alot of time collecting 'fashion' items..but I really dont see the point in 11. Some people like to know what others they have to work/deal with in game are actually wearing, and yes they can just /check them but, they're going to have to then check them again throughout fights if they want to know are they changing gear for ws, for spells, etc.

Most games I've seen with vanity slots, use completely different appearance, things made to look good, not just the appearance of an existing piece of armor. When it comes down to it, nobody is going to care what another person's character is going to look like beyond are they using decent gear or not (though they may want their own char to look nice). In that case, why dont you just swap your dats so you are wearing what you want.

That being said, even if it was possible to do this now I dont think it completely shouldnt ever happen. But if this sort of thing were to be implemented, I wouldnt even want it to be considered by the devs until we have more important things to do in game already aside from making our character tank something in what appears to be a swimsuit.

[Limecat]

Haha, I'd love this if only to macro in my old elemental staves as vanity when using the affinity magian ones. It's minor but it annoys me that I can't look at these blocky-ended things and see a colored ball to instantly know which one is equipped.

[SpankWustler]

With this, my dream of appearing in a bronze subligar of the lowest quality no matter what I'm actually wearing could come true.

I suspect it would take entirely too much time to implement, but if not, this would be neat.

[Yamimarik44]

I don't know about Vanity slots in FFXI, I like seeing people in mixed matched gearing knowing "Oh lol they're wearing Twilight Helm/Mail with Hachiryiu pants!" Just interesting seeing all the different gear people are wearing, and when I see the gear actually on their characters that's when I /check them to see what else they have equipped. I just go pimping around my AF3 in town anyways, that is my Vanity gear and I worked hard for them being +2 lol(ok not so much on some pieces, but others yeah!)

[Runespider]

FFXI is way too set in it's ways about judging people by the gear they wear. "omg full pearl war, he sucks" So I doubt it would go down too well with most.

I would actually like to see it added but I know it won't be because the devs are stretched too thin to add something like this. Everyone would wear opaline/swimsuits/dinner suits to everything.. :D

Hell I wouldn't even mind if they offered the sale of vanity items to go along with this, as long as the money was actually used on FFXI and not syphoned off onto other things.

[Cair]

FFXI is way too set in it's ways about judging people by the gear they wear. "omg full pearl war, he sucks"

That's not judgement, it's applying mathematics.

That said, assuming this idea were at all possible, I'd love to see it implemented..but I really doubt it's possible.

[Puck]

As has been said before, and continues to be overlooked: if your opposition to this idea is founded on the notion of "Oh, I can't judge how much someone sucks/is awesome based on their looks," well there's the fact that /check has always existed. If it really concerns you, you could still use it. /check being some sort of etiquette faux pas seems to have gone the way of the dinosaurs anyway, judging by how /check-happy people are nowadays.

If vanity slots were implemented (unlikely due to the amount of work it would require and SE's recent lack of ambition for such grand undertakings), you can still judge people with /check. Problem solved. It's not like visible gear is the only gear that matters, either. If you really want to size up someone's worth you need to /check anyway.

That, and you can surely judge suck by poor fashion sense and/or lack of creativity, too.

[Behemothx]

Worst-idea-ever.

[Mirage]

You haven't heard many bad ideas in your life, then.

[Kaisha]

Simplest means I can see of this happening is Equip Cosmetic Gear -> Hit a command (/gearlock on or something) -> Swap to your other stuff and continue beating on the mob.

Granted, I'd much prefer them to properly fix losing target when people gear swap first and foremost than adding frills like this. Last thing I need is half the Mithra on the server running around in events in wedding gear.

[Puck]

Simplest means I can see of this happening is Equip Cosmetic Gear -> Hit a command (/gearlock on or something) -> Swap to your other stuff and continue beating on the mob.
That's an ingenious idea, and it wouldn't take an overhaul or a huge amount of man-hours to achieve. It's even achievable within PS2 limitations. Adding extra equipment slots simply for vanity purposes would be far too difficult to implement. However, a simple command like the one you determined, would work perfectly.

It would simultaneously fix the "blinking" issue so many people (i.e. bad mages) complain about if everyone's "/gearlocked" in the party. Top that off with a removal of the "So-and-so examines you" message altogether (as has been suggested already), and you've got a winning combo that pleases everyone adequately.

[Malamasala]

Uh, FFXI isn't like that at all, and most games with "vanity slots" ARE like that. Your statement contradicts itself.

The only way to look like a clown in FFXI is to play PUP.

The difference is that they chose to look like clowns. In FFXI you are forced to look like a clown unless you want to be half-good with a full armor set. I mean, my SMN is wearing a jijitsu gi and subligars and some chain boots. I look more like a MNK than a SMN while walking around, since it is the best walking set.

I liked Aion a lot just because you could just tack on a full dress on your body slot and you still could use all your other armor slots for bonuses and defense. What mostly annoyed me about Aion was that they had no-fly zones... what's the big deal with a flying race that isn't allowed to fly? Leveling started to slow down a bit too much around 25 also.

[Rayik]

I would be in complete favor of this. I've seen so many pieces of equipment I thought looked amazing, only to find they have bad stats and would never get worn. Or if you find a piece of gear that just has "the look" that you envision for your character?

Call me crazy, I actually like how the Perle set looks.

Sporting Calmecac trousers, and Ace's legging's alone are enough to make me 100% in full favor of this idea. Some people on PC can just swap dats, but I play on console, blah blah.

[animatedex]

I guess my objection to this would be that i've seen it executed poorly by many MMOs. I would be so bold as to bet that shortly after "vanity slots" would be implemented, SE would begin making armor sets that are much like the wedding garb; completely useless. It wouldn't even be much of a stretch to say that they would charge real currency for these in-game items, much like other games that won't be named.

I don't want to say that the idea isn't a cool one. But, one staple of FFXI has been "town gear": a set that is pleasing to the player aesthetically, but has almost no utility.

[Romanova]

It wouldn't even be much of a stretch to say that they would charge real currency for these in-game items, much like other games that won't be named.

1. 10 bucks says those games you're referring to are f2p MMOs. (p2p mmos I've played that have this didn't charge)

2. even if they did charge, you know what you do? Don't buy them.

[Coldbrand]

It's awesome in Spiral Knights, it'd be awesome here. I'd kill for this. It'd make the game 1000 times better because of the way gearing works.

Edit: No more worrying about how stupid tp sets look, could even eliminate blinking!

[Puck]

I guess my objection to this would be that i've seen it executed poorly by many MMOs. I would be so bold as to bet that shortly after "vanity slots" would be implemented, SE would begin making armor sets that are much like the wedding garb; completely useless. It wouldn't even be much of a stretch to say that they would charge real currency for these in-game items, much like other games that won't be named.

I don't want to say that the idea isn't a cool one. But, one staple of FFXI has been "town gear": a set that is pleasing to the player aesthetically, but has almost no utility.

The vast majority of gear in the game fits that criteria. The amount of gear that's functionally useless compared to other gear that's easier to obtain is staggering. The developers don't develop most of this "town gear" on purpose; the fact that it occurs is not a "staple" of the game's design or the intent of the developers. They don't make a piece thinking, "I'll make this look cool, but give this a weird, stupid, or crappy set of stat bonuses, it will make nice 'town gear!'" With the exception of holiday gear, which IS developed only for wear around town and for use in events, a majority of the "cool design/nearly useless stats" gear exist just because of underwhelming or outright bad stat bonuses chosen by the developers.

So if anything, the developers should welcome an idea like this to see their efforts (especially those of the artists/modelers/texture designers) not go to waste and to see old gear be appreciated in a new way.

Think about the way things have been over the years and throughout the history of FFXI. How many amazing head pieces were added to the game that weren't good enough to get people to take off their Optical Hat, regardless of how silly it looked? How many melees wore a hideously mismatched ensemble of daily wear based around their Scorpion Harness or Haubergeon? How many wondrous robes can a WHM clothe themselves in, but won't remove their trusty Noble's Tunic to wear? Even today, with the wide array of gear to choose from, how many identically dressed clones can you find running around town or out and about in Abyssea?

Meanwhile a lone SE modeler/texture-maker looks upon Port Jeuno, a single tear streaming down his cheek, thinking about what could have been.

[Coldbrand]

So how long you think until Camate comes along after this thread is a billion pages long and goes "We spoke to the devs about this and..." and gives us the typical "More than 5 minutes to implement? wwwwwww"

[Puck]

Well if Camate only relays Urteil's original idea, actual equipment slots, we'd surely get shot down with a "too long to do" excuse.

But if the OP were edited to include what Kaisha pointed out, a "/gearlock" command that simply locks the character's visible gear at that moment, thus allowing them to swap in other gear as they please without blinking and changing it, then I think this idea actually has a chance.

[Skyver]

Anybody who really wants this should really focus their wishes on SE fixing post-Abyssea FFXI. I don't care what I look like; I want people to need me to do stuff like in the old days.

[Duelle]

I support this. I wouldn't hate gear swaps as much if I could have an outer layer that is my full RDM AF while playing a RDM. Would also realize my dream of the pimp hat being part of a melee set rather than...well...

[Romanova]

Anybody who really wants this should really focus their wishes on SE fixing post-Abyssea FFXI. I don't care what I look like; I want people to need me to do stuff like in the old days.

This posts doesn't make sense sorry.

"hey guys if you REALLY want pizza you should order hamburgers, 'cause I like hamburgers"


If you want SE fixing post-abyssea stuff, make a new thread.



But if the OP were edited to include what Kaisha pointed out, a "/gearlock" command that simply locks the character's visible gear at that moment, thus allowing them to swap in other gear as they please without blinking and changing it, then I think this idea actually has a chance.

Ya this is actually a great solution and would make things easier on the devs I'd imagine. I hope they read about it!

[Lushipur]

a pratic solution could be to implement the NPC equip menu.
you can lock single piece of equip on the npc and it will wear always that.
and you can buy set of equip too (like opaline set)

[Coldbrand]

In the event that they didn't just ignore this thread or say derp "certain" (ps2) limitations or lolmorethan5minutestoimplement then I call dibs on locking in looking like Zazarg.

[Dallas]

+1 vote for /gearlock. No need for a bunch of new slots.

[Puck]

We really need a PM feature so I could ask Urteil to come back to his thread and update the OP with the /gearlock idea. Mainly because I don't expect an SE rep would have time to actually read all of the thread, and would just submit the original suggestion to the devs which they'd swiftly shoot down.

[Ophannus]

If we got Vanity slots would it be limited to only gear your job can use? Otherwise you'd see WAR's wearing BLU AF or something. I would wear Level 1 RSE in vanity slots with a Butterfly Axe but actually be in AF3+2 with Ukon.

[Lushipur]

id love if they created more vanity equip like something the npc use
they could do a quest to get some epic stuff like lion vest or prishe etc.

[Puck]

OP appears to have abandoned his thread. Bumping in the hope that a rep will read it.

[Meyi]

If not Vanity slots, I don't see why we can't switch stats from one piece of armor to another via synergy.

For example, if you enjoy looking at your Doublet, but really want your Goetia Coat+2 stats, you can transfer the Goetia +2 stats from the coat to the doublet, and the doublet's stats to the coat. Would also need to change jobs that can wear it to match what the initial piece of armor wears and vice versa.

[Deadvinta]

Normally I would be all for this sort of thing in a game, and in many others I have spent alot of time collecting 'fashion' items..but I really dont see the point in 11. Some people like to know what others they have to work/deal with in game are actually wearing, and yes they can just /check them but, they're going to have to then check them again throughout fights if they want to know are they changing gear for ws, for spells, etc.

Most games I've seen with vanity slots, use completely different appearance, things made to look good, not just the appearance of an existing piece of armor. When it comes down to it, nobody is going to care what another person's character is going to look like beyond are they using decent gear or not (though they may want their own char to look nice). In that case, why dont you just swap your dats so you are wearing what you want.

Those kind of people should:
A) Get over themselves
B) Realize they should be caring more about themselves.
C) Stop being min/maxing whores.

[Skyver]

This posts doesn't make sense sorry.

"hey guys if you REALLY want pizza you should order hamburgers, 'cause I like hamburgers"


If you want SE fixing post-abyssea stuff, make a new thread.



Ya this is actually a great solution and would make things easier on the devs I'd imagine. I hope they read about it!

It makes plenty of sense; I'm saying people who are worried about this feature don't have their priorities straight. This has nothing to do with food.

[Puck]

Romanova hit it right on the nose. Your "fix post-Abyssea" QQ has nothing to do with this suggestion; this idea does not somehow "take the place" of another adjustment to the game. It makes no sense to jump into a thread about something completely unrelated and start telling everyone they need to be complaining about something that bothers YOU.

Yes, your post made no sense and continues not to have any relevance to this discussion or any other discussion on this forum, unless the discussion is about "fixing post-Abyssea."

[Urteil]

I didn't really think it would be this popular.

So I updated it.

Bam.

[AyinDygra]

Part of my idea for an update to Ballista (http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxi/threads/14365-My-Ideal-Expansion?p=190164&viewfull=1#post190164) included "Uniforms" and "Signature Appearance" which was a concept very similar to "vanity slots"... I'll copypastehide it here. I support the idea for the /gearlock command, or something similar, rather than a secondary "equip menu", since the command requires no new interface menu design.

[Modoru]

I find this really unnecessary.

...It's a cute idea and such, but still. No. :l
Not only is this a drain on inventory spaces, fashion isn't really the focus of this game [except for Brygid], and trying to make it such is a bad idea, I would say. I mean, sure, whenever I'm not fighting, I switch out to my Wonder Maillot/Trousers, and use Treat Staff II outside of fighting, but that doesn't mean I need "Vanity slots".

I think we should focus on more important things overall.

PS: This is just my opinion, that is all.

[Twille]

I support this idea. No, it's not "necessary", but it'd be fun. That's what games are about aren't they?

[Zoner]

One of my favorite features of Aion was the ability to chose how your armor looked thro reskinning one armor set onto another, so I'm definitely for Vanity Slots. If SE played it cards right, they'd implement this and sell a few custom vanity armor sets on their website for extra income.

[Amalah]

Glad to see this back on the front page, I was worried it was dying off. I'd love to see one of the moderators comment on the gear lock idea, that sounds wonderful.

[RabidSquirrel]

A new interface for something like this is probably out of the question, but I know someone mentioned an NPC. I don't see why we can't trade a piece of equipment to an NPC for them to "inspect," and make for us a copy that can be "worn over our current equipment." You could choose from a list for each visible slot of stuff we've shown to the NPC (armor and weapons). No extra inventory space needs to be taken up. I'd also say yeah, if your job couldn't equip the gear in the first place, you can't wear it as vanity gear. And do you know one awesome thing about something like this? Gear swaps wouldn't cause blinking.

Ultimately it would depend on how intertwined items are with their specific dat file paths. I can't imagine it would be too hard. But I've been wrong before.

[Puck]

Awesome, thread is now 20% cooler with /gearlock in OP. DEVS READ PLZ.

[Urteil]

Awesome, thread is now 20% cooler with /gearlock in OP. DEVS READ PLZ.

It can't possibly get any cooler because I was the OP.

[Puck]

C'mon reps, pass this little gem on to the devs please.

[NeoLionheart]

Love this idea. Very much. If it gets implemented I can "wear" my Naglering again!

[Mirage]

gearlock is a good idea.

[Amalah]

That it is.

[Puck]

Still no reps have passed along the awesome gearlock idea to the devs? Throw us a bone, guys.

[Juri_Licious]

I personally don't like this.
I love how FFXI has it setup, all other MMOs have this "Avatar" system and i'm a little tired of it personally.

I like how your equipment is what you wear, it makes what you're doing a an actual game instead of a fashion show.