Costume system

[Anjou]

No not the items that grant you costume effect. Have any of you ever wanted to wear a certain armor piece but now it's considered outdated OR there's already something with better stats? I know other MMO's do it now, but truth be told it'd be -awesome- if players could actually take pride in dressing their online avatar up in things that they want. All you have to do is have the armor piece equipped at some point, then it gets added to your costume catalogue. This means that if you equip the entire iron musketeer set, yet you're now condemned to a look you don't want. Well, with the commands that I can provide below, you'll be able to reobtain that look while keeping the stats of the new armor.

/costume "Iron Musketeer's Armet"
/costume "Iron Musketeer's Cuirass"
/costume "Iron Musketeer's Gauntlets"
/costume "Iron Musketeer's Cuisses"
/costume "Iron Musketeer's Sabatons"

Each command will change your character to look as if they were wearing that piece.

Please consider this SE, you've been slacking lately and this would actually be a fun little thing people could play with while you do your thing.

[Hawklaser]

Fully support this, as there have been plenty of great stat items with horrible looks over the years of this game, or good looking items with mediocre stats, most AF gear for example.

[Anjou]

Not only is this idea easy to implement (Due to the game picking up on dat codes and whatnot) it won't hamper the PS2 system since we're using existing files.

[Puck]

We've asked for vanity slots in the past, I really don't see why we can't have it. There's no "limitations" card they can pull on this one.
Oh, and FFXIV is getting it. :/

[Anjou]

Exactly, they did it (sorta) with the /displayhead on and off addition, why not go the whole way with it and do that for us? People have only been playing this game for 11 years, give them something to play with, let em parade in their old artifact armor. It'd give people a huge sense of nostalgia.

[Vivivivi]

I'd rock perle set 24/7 if we had this.

[Umichi]

the art team takes time to make these pieces of gear.. whats the point of them having an art team if you just overwrite it with your favorite gear look.

[Mostfowl]

the art team takes time to make these pieces of gear.. whats the point of them having an art team if you just overwrite it with your favorite gear look.

The art team designed those looks too...

[Anjou]

the art team takes time to make these pieces of gear.. whats the point of them having an art team if you just overwrite it with your favorite gear look.

Because I want to look like I'm wearing my old Gallant armor for PLD, or maybe wear my RSE armor in later levels but still have great stats.

[Demon6324236]

the art team takes time to make these pieces of gear.. whats the point of them having an art team if you just overwrite it with your favorite gear look.Art team made the look of my AF1 gear as well, sadly, they did not make the stats, which are mostly terrible to the point I would never use them, so sadly I do not look like I want to. Were this option taken, I would be able to use the look of many gear I would not normally of which they designed, and thus, put more of their work into use, rather than only the art which is used for the best gear around.

[Anjou]

Art team made the look of my AF1 gear as well, sadly, they did not make the stats, which are mostly terrible to the point I would never use them, so sadly I do not look like I want to. Were this option taken, I would be able to use the look of many gear I would not normally of which they designed, and thus, put more of their work into use, rather than only the art which is used for the best gear around.

Not only does this let people express their own personal taste Umichi, but this eliminates the "Clown suit syndrome" most MMO's are plagued by.

[Anjou]

Bump because now that I've looked at things, EVERYONE LOOKS THE SAME!!!!

[Deifact]

If we get this, can make some armour invisible too? I want to be a sexy topless Subligar wearing red mage without being gimp

[Puck]

the art team takes time to make these pieces of gear.. whats the point of them having an art team if you just overwrite it with your favorite gear look.

That's extra retarded. How many people are wearing pretty much the exact same thing? When new awesome gear comes out, the gear you used to use, no matter how cool it looks, goes bye-bye. "What's the point of having an art team" if all their previous efforts mean nothing to us now?

The art team took the time to make TONS of gear that NEVER gets worn anymore. There's so much gear from old content that STILL looks awesome, but you'll never see it, because everyone's using up-to-date gear to enhance performance.

Add vanity slots and there'll be a revival of interest in some old content, since people will hunt down old crappy gear that looks great just to wear it.

Really, there's literally NO downside to this idea.

Nostalgia-addicts would love this, too. Not just for AF. You could go do Adoulin content dressed in your Optical Hat and Scorpion Harness for lulz. XD Remember that? Remember those highly fashionable days, when the art team's efforts were rewarded with everyone looking like S&M wizards?

Good times. Good, ludicrously silly-looking times.

[Hawklaser]

That's extra retarded. How many people are wearing pretty much the exact same thing? When new awesome gear comes out, the gear you used to use, no matter how cool it looks, goes bye-bye. "What's the point of having an art team" if all their previous efforts mean nothing to us now?

The art team took the time to make TONS of gear that NEVER gets worn anymore. There's so much gear from old content that STILL looks awesome, but you'll never see it, because everyone's using up-to-date gear to enhance performance.

Add vanity slots and there'll be a revival of interest in some old content, since people will hunt down old crappy gear that looks great just to wear it.

Really, there's literally NO downside to this idea.

Nostalgia-addicts would love this, too. Not just for AF. You could go do Adoulin content dressed in your Optical Hat and Scorpion Harness for lulz. XD Remember that? Remember those highly fashionable days, when the art team's efforts were rewarded with everyone looking like S&M wizards?

Good times. Good, ludicrously silly-looking times.

If this had been in place back in the day, I might of went out and actually got the oh so ugly Optical hat. Yes, the hat was good, but due to its looks I was going to avoid using it unless absolutely necessary.

[Duelle]

I'll support thi thread, though there was another one (http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxi/threads/33634-Pipe-Dreams-Appearance-Control) about something similar a while back.

[OmnysValefor]

I support this, except that I wish they'd focus on other things that are more important.

I've long wished for a set of high end armor that looked like the I.M. set the OP mentions (It's the Jeuno Ducal Guard armor).

[Kriegsgott]

No not the items that grant you costume effect. Have any of you ever wanted to wear a certain armor piece but now it's considered outdated OR there's already something with better stats? I know other MMO's do it now, but truth be told it'd be -awesome- if players could actually take pride in dressing their online avatar up in things that they want. All you have to do is have the armor piece equipped at some point, then it gets added to your costume catalogue. This means that if you equip the entire iron musketeer set, yet you're now condemned to a look you don't want. Well, with the commands that I can provide below, you'll be able to reobtain that look while keeping the stats of the new armor.

/costume "Iron Musketeer's Armet"
/costume "Iron Musketeer's Cuirass"
/costume "Iron Musketeer's Gauntlets"
/costume "Iron Musketeer's Cuisses"
/costume "Iron Musketeer's Sabatons"

Each command will change your character to look as if they were wearing that piece.

Please consider this SE, you've been slacking lately and this would actually be a fun little thing people could play with while you do your thing.

for a awesome idea you get a awesome like from me !

[FaeQueenCory]

LoL the only negative I see to this... and I really should say "negative"... is that what use will we have .dat swapping for anymore... 0u0

In all seriousness... I like this idea... if only to cut down on the horrible clashing that some pieces make with others...
*shutupIloveProjectRunway*

[Anjou]

I only dat swap because I grew tired of looking like everyone else. Give us vanity slots SE, otherwise it's gonna get very bland.

[Hawklaser]

Over in the "possible oversight with the new ilvl system?" thread, Camate did a post that showed they might be considering this but have reservations about front line jobs looking like backline ones or Artifact armor and the like showing up on jobs it was not intended for. Along with for weapons it would have to be limited to within the same category.

I don't know about the rest of you, but I would be happy if what they do implement keeps it still limited by what could normally be worn by a job. As want to look like a DRG when on DRG, and a BLU on BLU, not a BLU when on DRG.

[Anjou]

Well tbh they aren't the ones paying to play, we should have the right to -look- as we please, but still have the stats of the pieces intended for our jobs.

[Duelle]

Over in the "possible oversight with the new ilvl system?" thread, Camate did a post that showed they might be considering this but have reservations about front line jobs looking like backline ones or Artifact armor and the like showing up on jobs it was not intended for. Along with for weapons it would have to be limited to within the same category.

I don't know about the rest of you, but I would be happy if what they do implement keeps it still limited by what could normally be worn by a job. As want to look like a DRG when on DRG, and a BLU on BLU, not a BLU when on DRG.Agreed. If you limit the costume slots to pretty much whatever can be equipped by the main job, you should be good. In some cases AF looks infinitely better. Not to mention it might give value to all those art assets that go unused.

[Umichi]

Well tbh they aren't the ones paying to play, we should have the right to -look- as we please, but still have the stats of the pieces intended for our jobs.

TBH it's their game they can do whatever they want with it... says so in the terms of agreements you signed you have no rights except to stop paying.

[Umichi]

And honestly everyone does not look the same.. when I inspect gear I see a great variety of choices. especially now, in the past it might of been true when everyone was clamouring for AF3 gear and other endgame gear.. but the sad fact also is the peiople you see wearing all the same stuff are also the ones who probably number crunch i.e min/max or listen to what they are told to wear, or are so far ahead of the curve gear wise they have no other choices or all of the above.

[Anjou]

And honestly everyone does not look the same.. when I inspect gear I see a great variety of choices. especially now, in the past it might of been true when everyone was clamouring for AF3 gear and other endgame gear.. but the sad fact also is the peiople you see wearing all the same stuff are also the ones who probably number crunch i.e min/max or listen to what they are told to wear, or are so far ahead of the curve gear wise they have no other choices or all of the above.

So you're going to tell me with a straight face: that most paladins aren't sporting the ogier/laeraedr gear, most DRK's aren't sporting things like mekira, and mages aren't wearing that new robe? Also thieves wearing the new Thurandaut (check spelling), Ocelome/Toci, oh and let's not forget the whole fact that most of the gear is so....strange looking, I can't ever picture a White Mage wearing some of it, because tbh it looks far too gloomy. Thief/Dancer/Blue Mage wearing that Toci harness, looks more barbaric than what I typically picture them in.

The idea of a costume system is to let the individual express their taste, are you going to downplay it because you don't like it but the majority of the community does? I don't see likes hardly on your posts Umichi, at least my ideas (for the most part) are typically harmless to ingame mechanics, and only offer vanity to a game that the players deserve to express themselves, this is an online avatar, FFXI is about number crunching, but I remember when jobs actually looked like what their name suggested, and not some guy/girl wearing a feathered hat/harness on 4 different classes.

[Twille]

I fully support a costume system in FFXI.

[Demon6324236]

peiople you see wearing all the same stuff are also the ones who probably number crunch i.e min/max or listen to what they are told to wear, or are so far ahead of the curve gear wise they have no other choices or all of the above.So these people are not allowed to look unique?

[Puck]

TBH it's their game they can do whatever they want with it... says so in the terms of agreements you signed you have no rights except to stop paying.

Shit, is there ANYTHING you won't white knight over, Umichi? What a total tool. This is possibly the worst example of white knighting I've seen around here. "I don't support an idea that would make the game more fun because SE can do whatever they want, so shut up and take whatever they give us."

Yeah everyone, let's blindly support SE in every bad decision they make. And when someone who doesn't work for SE comes up with an idea that would make the game more FUN, let's shit all over it. Because our holy lords and masters at SE have not blessed said idea.

When this game finally does die, it'll be because there's too many senseless fanboys like you giving SE a free pass to make the game suck, while ignoring all the malcontents whose ideas would actually make the game BETTER and help it survive a few more years.

So keep it up, white knights. Your ardent support is strong and sturdy. It's the perfect material to build FFXI's coffin.

[Anjou]

Shit, is there ANYTHING you won't white knight over, Umichi? What a total tool. This is possibly the worst example of white knighting I've seen around here. "I don't support an idea that would make the game more fun because SE can do whatever they want, so shut up and take whatever they give us."

Yeah everyone, let's blindly support SE in every bad decision they make. And when someone who doesn't work for SE comes up with an idea that would make the game more FUN, let's shit all over it. Because our holy lords and masters at SE have not blessed said idea.

When this game finally does die, it'll be because there's too many senseless fanboys like you giving SE a free pass to make the game suck, while ignoring all the malcontents whose ideas would actually make the game BETTER and help it survive a few more years.

So keep it up, white knights. Your ardent support is strong and sturdy. It's the perfect material to build FFXI's coffin.

http://img198.imageshack.us/img198/9758/shrs.jpg

[Leonardus]

Love this idea. Solves the issue of not seeing skillchain graphics (Since you won't blink), and lets players express themselves.

I would suggest locking all AF/Relic/Emp armor to their respective jobs, of course, but at least some mixing of mage/melee gear should be fair game.

[Hawklaser]

Shit, is there ANYTHING you won't white knight over, Umichi? What a total tool. This is possibly the worst example of white knighting I've seen around here. "I don't support an idea that would make the game more fun because SE can do whatever they want, so shut up and take whatever they give us."

Yeah everyone, let's blindly support SE in every bad decision they make. And when someone who doesn't work for SE comes up with an idea that would make the game more FUN, let's shit all over it. Because our holy lords and masters at SE have not blessed said idea.

When this game finally does die, it'll be because there's too many senseless fanboys like you giving SE a free pass to make the game suck, while ignoring all the malcontents whose ideas would actually make the game BETTER and help it survive a few more years.

So keep it up, white knights. Your ardent support is strong and sturdy. It's the perfect material to build FFXI's coffin.

There is no reason to go after another poster here. Ultimately all Umichi was pointing out was the fact if SE wanted to just tell us all to deal with no vanity slot/costume system or whatever you want to call it they could in fact just do so.

There is also this thing known as compromise, which would be a system that does keep with how SE would prefer different jobs to look and also allow us to customize our characters appearances, which could likely be limited to what one has set for a main job.

As to the game finally dying, its not going to be because of people blindly supporting the game, but due to SE not doing very much to attract new players to the game. As no new blood, only means less and less blood over time. On top of that, the game is not friendly to new players anymore. Yes, leveling is faster than the old days, but it is also no longer engaging. To me it feels like more of a chore now than it did before CoP came out. So tell me how you hook a person into continuing to play, when a large portion of their early play experience is not that engaging?

Personally, while I do support some kind of costume/vanity system, I would much rather SE not devote time to it yet as there are other things they should finish up first. Like Cait Sith and Atomos for summoners, and the RME updates that were mentioned. Especially since the RME being outclassed by weapons significantly easier to obtain is a deal breaker for many people, and it is not just RME holders that is a deal breaker for.

[Anjou]

There is no reason to go after another poster here. Ultimately all Umichi was pointing out was the fact if SE wanted to just tell us all to deal with no vanity slot/costume system or whatever you want to call it they could in fact just do so.

Personally, while I do acknowledge SE has the right reserved to do so, they're catering to a global playerbase, and the game is 11 years old with most people never getting to know of the original jobs and their looks. Most of the time I see my LS encouraging newer players to skip artifact and just do af3, is that fun/right for the people wanting to look as they please?


There is also this thing known as compromise, which would be a system that does keep with how SE would prefer different jobs to look and also allow us to customize our characters appearances, which could likely be limited to what one has set for a main job.

SE has been literally butt-f**king us for the last several years, I'm pretty sure they don't like the word compromise, because they like to run the show for their precious JP player base and leave everyone else out. I do get however a job should pertain to their looks, it'd be rather odd seeing a Red Mage in Abyss armor now wouldn't it?


As to the game finally dying, its not going to be because of people blindly supporting the game, but due to SE not doing very much to attract new players to the game. As no new blood, only means less and less blood over time. On top of that, the game is not friendly to new players anymore. Yes, leveling is faster than the old days, but it is also no longer engaging. To me it feels like more of a chore now than it did before CoP came out. So tell me how you hook a person into continuing to play, when a large portion of their early play experience is not that engaging?

If you wish to talk about the game dying but you want to prevent it, then people need to start encouraging new players to do content alongside their leveling, that way as they grow, they learn the story, which was the original game plan to begin with.


Personally, while I do support some kind of costume/vanity system, I would much rather SE not devote time to it yet as there are other things they should finish up first. Like Cait Sith and Atomos for summoners, and the RME updates that were mentioned. Especially since the RME being outclassed by weapons significantly easier to obtain is a deal breaker for many people, and it is not just RME holders that is a deal breaker for.

If they 'devote time' to Cait Sith/Atomos, we'll never see anything get done. They don't care, they just want to crank out this bullhockey to keep people pacified until XIV comes out. I definitely understand the RME thing though, that kind of work deserves the superior weapon instead of these little cracker jack toys people call delve weapons.

[Hawklaser]

Personally, while I do acknowledge SE has the right reserved to do so, they're catering to a global playerbase, and the game is 11 years old with most people never getting to know of the original jobs and their looks. Most of the time I see my LS encouraging newer players to skip artifact and just do af3, is that fun/right for the people wanting to look as they please?

It's about as right or fun as getting told to skip everything except bayld armor and delve weapons. Oh wait, people doing that tend to forget actually need fairly decent gear to do that in the first place in any engaging way. The whole skip everything from 30-98 mentality that seems to prevail now needs to go in my opinion.



SE has been literally butt-f**king us for the last several years, I'm pretty sure they don't like the word compromise, because they like to run the show for their precious JP player base and leave everyone else out. I do get however a job should pertain to their looks, it'd be rather odd seeing a Red Mage in Abyss armor now wouldn't it?

Yeah it would, but with how you replied earlier to the possibility of a limited costume system is what sparked Umichi replying how he did, and then the post I last quoted. I'm also well aware that not much often changes in our favor, but I do know they do at least listen on occasion. How I know this is due to changes that were made to the weaponskills Penta Thrust and Skewer, as they used to have TP modifiers of damage and accuracy respectively. A good while back I sent in some feedback on how horrible Lance weaponskills were because would get stuck doing Double Thrust until got Skewer just because of consistency of damage and skill chain properties, and mentioned that their TP modifiers might be better off switched due to the nature of the weaponskills, alongside suggesting lance WS in general might benefit from some changes in SC properties. Now it may not have been my feedback alone that got them to change Penta to accuracy and Skewer to Crit, but this experiance at least showed me they do listen to feedback from the players.



If you wish to talk about the game dying but you want to prevent it, then people need to start encouraging new players to do content alongside their leveling, that way as they grow, they learn the story, which was the original game plan to begin with.

Agreed, however that is hard to do when rarely see truly new players as it is. Now couple that with either needing high level help or out leveling the content to do missions, and the general lack of good low level gear being sold, makes it hard for people to do the missions when they would be challenging and engaging for them.


If they 'devote time' to Cait Sith/Atomos, we'll never see anything get done. They don't care, they just want to crank out this bullhockey to keep people pacified until XIV comes out. I definitely understand the RME thing though, that kind of work deserves the superior weapon instead of these little cracker jack toys people call delve weapons.

Reason I mentioned Cait Sith/Atomos, is because of how long they have been in the works with no results, and until I see RME updates in an official patch notes, can only assume they are being given the same priority as those avatars. Currently outside of balance tweaks and new Adoulin content, nothing else seems to be getting done already. So while I would love to see a costume/vanity system, would rather other things that have been in the works get priority before it if at all possible.

[Anjou]

I agree with the above post, that's how you argue and win someone over.

[Camate]

Huge bump detected! (Apologies!)

I have some really nice information from Akihiko Matsui in regards to a vanity system, much like what is being requested in this thread.



Matsui here.
Thanks for the suggestions.

We are actually in the midst of discussing a system that would separate the appearance of your equipment and the actual gear you have equipped. However, as this is a very large change it will take us some time. We’ll first be looking into a feature that will allow you to keep a certain appearance temporarily.

For example, we are imagining a system where you could equip cosmetic equipment and lock your appearance, and then switch to your practical equipment. As an added effect, we are also planning to make it so you no longer blink when switching equipment.

We’re currently working on this to be implemented sometime after March with the following rules:

Locked appearances will automatically be removed when changing areas.
Locked appearance wills be removed when changing your main weapon, sub weapon, and ranged weapon, as this change alters animations.
Locked appearances will be removed when you suffer the effects of equipment removing abilities to prevent confusion.
Restrictions will be imposed for PvP content as it could potentially be used to fake-out opponents.

[Mnejing]

Awesome news, thanks Camate. ☺

[Puck]

Someone suggested a system EXACTLY like this back when these forums first started.

[Tohihroyu]

Plus... those features are in many free to play MMORPGS... like swtor ._. a bit different but still.

[Edyth]

Is anyone else a bit sad that no more blinking will mean that gear swap macros will no longer allow us to sheathe/draw weapons while moving, and to use JAs while moving? It's been years since I've been forced to stand still for a blood pact command. I'm always running while issuing those now because the mandated gear changes for blood pacts have eliminated the animations for issuing a pet command.

[Eaglestrike]

Is anyone else a bit sad that no more blinking will mean that gear swap macros will no longer allow us to sheathe/draw weapons while moving, and to use JAs while moving? It's been years since I've been forced to stand still for a blood pact command. I'm always running while issuing those now because the mandated gear changes for blood pacts have eliminated the animations for issuing a pet command.

Technically it sounds like an option you can not use if you'd like. So there's that.

[Sapphires]

I have wanted a costume system forever, this makes me so happy to finally get it.
I've mainly wanted this for my character when its fighting in the tp building phase because that tends to be the most visually ugly and mismatched set that you spend a majority of your time in.

[Afania]

Technically it sounds like an option you can not use if you'd like. So there's that.

It would be the best if we can choose whether we blink or not. Utilize blinking to get rid of animation lock is 1 way of playing the game.

On the other hand, playing healing without using 3rd pt tool is quite annoying because of blinking.

[Vivik]

I can finally wear full blu relic!

[Blace]

Ok. That's...nice and all. Now that:


We've lost 3/4 our player base to XIV or other alternatives
You are recycling content we've had since 2003 (RoZ)
Important events REQUIRED for weapon upgrades are dying/dead (Voidwatch)
REM players are forced to spend weeks/millions to make their weapons viable again after being shafted to begin with for almost a year.


The fact that a project level of this capacity is even being CONSIDERED by the staff bothers me. The new armor sets, including these new sparkly new AF upgrades, look like Vana'diel just puked out a 99 [insert job here] from Valkurm Dunes. While I always appreciate new things to do and new content to be challenged with, am I supposed to expect to be fighting Hard/Extreme mode Promathia in a year from now in my Leather Jerkin? A simple adjustment to a monsters level and SE labels it as new content. That's pretty embarrassing, even for me.

Vanity system is great. I'm sure a lot of players will be happy about it. But SE, you have far bigger problems to worry about. You're not going to win back players and retain current ones without picking up your slack everywhere else. You've deemed it necessary to give us vanity slots, before we ever get race changes, character customizations, a plethora of other additions or fixes for bugs that have existed for years, and updates for currently viable (but now dying/dead) content.

I've been fairly quiet and understanding over the past 12 years, but this bothers me.

[Zhronne]

I'm all for the "blink me not" integrated functions, but while what I'm about to say may seem anachronistic, I'm against features that allow you to look like you're equipping an item different from the one you're equipping.
I know such a feature became quite liked in other games (WoW, soon FFXIV too) but personally I don't like it.
I recognize its value and its pros, but they do not counterbalance their cons, imho.

Especially in an "old" game like FFXI, child of another era, how your character looks is part of your "social status", of who you represent, of the hardship to obtain that specific item you're showing off.
Destroying this "social mechanism" would mean that yet another thing of what FFXI used to be and represent would be lost forever because of fanservice.
I know I'll probably be a lonely voice, but I'm against such a feature if it's not LOCAL on your machine, but for everybody.
If it's something just local (like some Windower addons) then it's no problem. It would change how YOU see your character, not how OTHER PEOPLE see you, I have no problem at all with this.

[Cabalabob]

Ok. That's...nice and all. Now that:


We've lost 3/4 our player base to XIV or other alternatives
You are recycling content we've had since 2003 (RoZ)
Important events REQUIRED for weapon upgrades are dying/dead (Voidwatch)
REM players are forced to spend weeks/millions to make their weapons viable again after being shafted to begin with for almost a year.


The fact that a project level of this capacity is even being CONSIDERED by the staff bothers me. The new armor sets, including these new sparkly new AF upgrades, look like Vana'diel just puked out a 99 [insert job here] from Valkurm Dunes. While I always appreciate new things to do and new content to be challenged with, am I supposed to expect to be fighting Hard/Extreme mode Promathia in a year from now in my Leather Jerkin? A simple adjustment to a monsters level and SE labels it as new content. That's pretty embarrassing, even for me.

Vanity system is great. I'm sure a lot of players will be happy about it. But SE, you have far bigger problems to worry about. You're not going to win back players and retain current ones without picking up your slack everywhere else. You've deemed it necessary to give us vanity slots, before we ever get race changes, character customizations, a plethora of other additions or fixes for bugs that have existed for years, and updates for currently viable (but now dying/dead) content.

I've been fairly quiet and understanding over the past 12 years, but this bothers me.

You sound like a homeless person who when given an apple says "what's the matter mr. Money bags? Too cheap for a hamburger?"

When the previous director answered people's cries to fix blinking he basically said it was impossible, now we have a new director who is looking for a way around it AND giving us a system where we can wear what gear we want and all you can say is "why you no do good things?"

[Blah]

Yaaaaay they do listen *dances happily*

[Afania]

I'm all for the "blink me not" integrated functions, but while what I'm about to say may seem anachronistic, I'm against features that allow you to look like you're equipping an item different from the one you're equipping.
I know such a feature became quite liked in other games (WoW, soon FFXIV too) but personally I don't like it.
I recognize its value and its pros, but they do not counterbalance their cons, imho.

Especially in an "old" game like FFXI, child of another era, how your character looks is part of your "social status", of who you represent, of the hardship to obtain that specific item you're showing off.
Destroying this "social mechanism" would mean that yet another thing of what FFXI used to be and represent would be lost forever because of fanservice.
I know I'll probably be a lonely voice, but I'm against such a feature if it's not LOCAL on your machine, but for everybody.
If it's something just local (like some Windower addons) then it's no problem. It would change how YOU see your character, not how OTHER PEOPLE see you, I have no problem at all with this.

I like how you look reflect your social status too, but I think they're planning an option to turn it off or something. So you can still show off gears if you just choose to turn it off.

[Zhronne]

Imho it all depends if it's a local client-side feature or a server-side feature.
1) Client-Side => You change how your character appears on YOUR screen. Everybody else will see the gear "normally"
2) Server-Side=> You change how your character appears on EVERYBODY'S screen.

Number 2) is how things workin WoW, soon in FFXIV and other games as well.
I don't like it but in WoW works for some simple reasons, mainly because there is a lot of low quality gear, and because in WoW tipically you have ONE item per slot, and you don't change it until you get an upgrade. Progression is very linear and side-grades are almost non existant.
In FFXI the model is very different. Even after the addition of ilevel, we still have a plethora of gear that we change and swap for several purposes (JAs, precast, midcast, spells, WS, idle, PDT, blahblah) and sometimes an higher ilevel doesn't even mean that the item is going to be completely better than a lower ilevel one.

In a game that uses such a model allowing people to set how OTHER PEOPLE see the gear you're equipping is, imho, very wrong.

[Blace]

You sound like a homeless person who when given an apple says "what's the matter mr. Money bags? Too cheap for a hamburger?"

When the previous director answered people's cries to fix blinking he basically said it was impossible, now we have a new director who is looking for a way around it AND giving us a system where we can wear what gear we want and all you can say is "why you no do good things?"

Terrible, terrible analogy. It shows you either skimmed my post or missed the point entirely.

What I sound like is a homeless person who's been given new shoelaces when my shoes are falling apart. New shoelaces are nice, but do absolutely nothing for me in the long run when things as a whole are breaking down. [EDIT: And if we're considering this analogy, I'm not a 'homeless person', I'm a consumer that has paid upwards $3,000 in subscription fees in support of SquareEnix's continued operations.] "We're aware the game is falling apart, dying because we aren't making proper adjustments for the player base and the game's current condition. To compensate, here's a cookie."

So no, Cabalabob. What I am saying is "why you no do relevant things that affect the game's drastically failing health". People have dealt with the gear blinks for all these years and it's never been game breaking, and this is coming from a WHM. To try and pose it as some sort of godsend of an adjustment in comparison to real game problems is laughably ridiculous, at best.

[Trumpy]

I dunno but it sounds kinda optional to me, AKA you have to lock it so you can still blink if you prefer. Personally i think it might be annoying having to lock every time you zone or having to remember to but we will see how it is implemented. Too bad avoiding the movement lock using gear swaps doesnt work with dancer JAs.

I dunno bout tthis "social status" thing you are speaking of, I never saw someone in particular gears and though "oh wow that guy is soo cool and better than me." I honestly could care less what you look like or what you are wearing. But im pretty sure this is just an appearance thing, when you check someone you would probably still see what gear they are wearing, and I dont think you will be able to lock the appearance of an item you havent obtained. But it sure would be nice if you could lock in say full Charis gear which looks great instead of a mixed set, where you might be wearing 2 or 3 aurore gear which ruins your whole look with blaring pink against the dark color or charis armor (just an example though it would prolly be outdated now)

[Catmato]

So no, Cabalabob. What I am saying is "why you no do relevant things that affect the game's drastically failing health". People have dealt with the gear blinks for all these years and it's never been game breaking, and this is coming from a WHM. To try and pose it as some sort of godsend of an adjustment in comparison to real game problems is laughably ridiculous, at best.

Yeah, how could adding an industry-standard feature do anything to keep people from leaving?

[Blace]

Yeah, how could adding an industry-standard feature do anything to keep people from leaving?

You must be new to gaming, but that's ok. Industry 'standards' for games do not involve fluff content. Standards are structures that affect day to day operations within the game's environment, economy, and player progression. I'm sure it must be very difficult for you to comprehend so I'll put it another way.

At this point in a game's age, it doesn't matter how much extra fluff content there is or how many vanity options there are. A vanity system is not, and will never be a "standard" of games; it's an option. Regardless, the player base needs more than Barbie Dress-up for the last remaining 500-1000 per server if they expect the lifeline to lengthen. If that's your highest expectation from the dev team's resources towards this game's future then there's a problem. Logic dictates otherwise, but it's becoming very clear that's not a strong area for some here.

[Catmato]

Most major MMOs released in recent years have a vanity option. No MMO released in recent years has the targeting problem*. To me, that means they're standards, even if it doesn't fit your customized-for-this-discussion definition.

I'm not really sure where you got the idea that anyone holds this feature as their highest expectation. I didn't say that, and I certainly don't feel that way. However, features like this, and their other recent quality-of-life updates show that the game is definitely going in a different direction than it has in the past. No, it's not making me log in every day, but it's definitely keeping my account active.

When the game has been updated so people don't feel like they're going back to the stone-age of gaming and there's some real, lasting, worthwhile content to do, they'll be able to bring the servers back to life.

*I'm aware there are workarounds, but the problem is still there. You can walk around the dogshit in the yard, but you should still probably still clean it up.

[Afania]

I dunno bout tthis "social status" thing you are speaking of, I never saw someone in particular gears and though "oh wow that guy is soo cool and better than me." I honestly could care less what you look like or what you are wearing.

Social study 101:
Social status is part of human nature. That's why doctors/lawyers dress differently from workers. Once I dress up more formal than usual irl and another guy asked if I'm a manager or something, with a "omg you must be rich and successful" attitude, even though I'm not. In FFXI I sometimes got /tell from others if I'm wearing something rare.

Just because you don't have the thought, doesn't mean everyone else won't have. So yes, social status exist everywhere, irl and FFXI.

[Blace]

I agree with you that the targeting problem is non existent in other games. Saying that "most major MMO's" have a vanity option however, is very generous. In fact, there are very few top titles that come to mind; those that do only offer it as re-skins and/or appearance tabs in which the stats aren't even carried over. My definition isn't customized for this discussion. If you're using the term 'standard' you're stating something that is considered a general accepted guideline that top title MMO accept as.. well.. a standard:

Currency, trading system (auction houses, personal stores, etc.)
Personalized character development options (stat distribution, skill allocation, gearsets)
Functioning and balanced class/skill system
Challenging fights intertwined with character progression (raids, instances)
Sources for player income (equipment/item/material sales, crafting, quests)
Alternative leveling methods (repeatable quests, randomized instances, experience boost systems)
Expanded content/updates to retain playerbase's interest (expansions, events, promotion of character growth, etc)
Continued maintenance to address bugs


You will not find a successful MMORPG that does not have what is listed above. That is because these are the standards, and only a few are listed. That being said, PVP is not a standard. Vanity items are not a standard. A game being either open world or instance based is not a standard. Payment options are not standard. Heck, even character customization options don't have a standard. These are all things that would be considered to affect quality of life or are things at the developer's discretion. There is nothing "custom fit" about my statement, it's pretty straightforward.


Matsui here.
[...]
However, as this is a very large change it will take us some time. We’ll first be looking into a feature that will allow you to keep a certain appearance temporarily.
What I see when I read this is that a lot of time is being divulged into a system so people can look pretty. That's great, and honestly I'd be all for that... if this was about 5 years ago and I didn't feel it was a cop-out for them to counter their lazy recycling of crap gear models and forcing people back into AF1.


For example, we are imagining a system where you could equip cosmetic equipment and lock your appearance, and then switch to your practical equipment. As an added effect, we are also planning to make it so you no longer blink when switching equipment.
[...]
Locked appearances will automatically be removed when changing areas.

So.. what I get from this is that this "lock" will only be activated manually every time we enter a zone, and has to be manually repeated every time. And this is only a convenient side-effect of the vanity system, and not an attempt to actually resolve the blinking issue.

Is a vanity system nice? Sure, and I wouldn't mind it. But will putting in a vanity system keep the 3/4 of the playerbase which have been playing for 5-10+ years on end? The same people that leave for something new because of severe mismanagement of endgame processes and lack of pre-planning/maintenance for content? No, it will not.

XI is dying, and its not because of XIV, or WildStar, or EQN, or any other top titles set for release this year. It's because players are done putting all their work into a game only to see it turn worthless after a single update. Players realize that they can't progress on something because SE once required large numbers for it, and since the interest and numbers no longer exist, said player is unable to progress because no update was made to adjust. Players look for new environments, new challenges with interesting mechanics, awesome looking loot, etc.. and we get.. well I've said it enough already. Point has been made.

Convince me that a vanity system is the best allocation of the developers time over the above, and I will concede. Otherwise, I feel my stance on this is entirely valid. A vanity system is the last thing we need. We've dealt with the distractions for far too many years, and it's time SE's stepped it up before everyone else steps down.

[Zhronne]

FFXI is one of the few MMO games where Server-side community still has some sort of relevance.
Much less than in the past, but it still exists as a macro-social mechanism, and personally I love it.

The amount of things you can (or can't) tell by looking at what someone is wearing and when is a beautiful additional level of depth which disappeared from modern games. It's a channel of communication we're mostly unaware of, unwilling users.
I understand how this won't matter for the majority of people, but I'll be very sad on the day when looks on gear won't matter anymore in FFXI :'(

[Anjou]

I agree with you that the targeting problem is non existent in other games. Saying that "most major MMO's" have a vanity option however, is very generous. In fact, there are very few top titles that come to mind; those that do only offer it as re-skins and/or appearance tabs in which the stats aren't even carried over. My definition isn't customized for this discussion. If you're using the term 'standard' you're stating something that is considered a general accepted guideline that top title MMO accept as.. well.. a standard:

Currency, trading system (auction houses, personal stores, etc.)
Personalized character development options (stat distribution, skill allocation, gearsets)
Functioning and balanced class/skill system
Challenging fights intertwined with character progression (raids, instances)
Sources for player income (equipment/item/material sales, crafting, quests)



Currency, trading system (auction houses, personal stores, etc.)

Would love to see this happen, a personal store is something that we have already, it's a bazaar. The currency trading could allow people to get the last needed points for maybe that set of vanity armor for their mannequin.

Personalized character development options (stat distribution, skill allocation, gearsets)

That's the merit system, where we allocate our merits into additional stats and job specific abilities.

Functioning and balanced class/skill system

Yeah this one is a biggy, a lot of classes still to this day get screwed out the hoo haa. SMN being one with no different gear, and RDM? Nope, they don't even get the Atinian staff...

Challenging fights intertwined with character progression (raids, instances)

This already happens with the old endgame, which is being revamped.

Sources for player income (equipment/item/material sales, crafting, quests)

^!!!!! THIS AND THIS SO MANY TIMES. You will not believe how miserable it is making money in the beginning on just FoV and GoV for newer players. I used to make my money off of NPC'ing bird blood from Buburimu, but there needs to be something that players can do to get some good money into their pockets.

Alternative leveling methods (repeatable quests, randomized instances, experience boost systems)

Quests never really yielded much experience, I don't see them doing this any time soon. I would however like to have a quest that afte turning in listed items, you get a special dedication effect, since the cooldown on the emperor and empress bands only cover a few levels if you're low, and then you gotta wait like 16 hours, and can't hold another exp band, whereas the anniversary rings allow you to use them every hour.

Expanded content/updates to retain playerbase's interest (expansions, events, promotion of character growth, etc)

From what I've heard, FFXI has 1 more expansion coming out for sure.

Continued maintenance to address bugs

They are already doing this and are still doing this.

[Twille]

how your character looks is part of.....who you represent

This is exactly why FFXI needs such a feature. So people can look like what they want, rather than what gear currently gives them the best stats/bonuses.


....of the hardship to obtain that specific item you're showing off.

The system mentioned by Camate states you can lock an appearance of gear, meaning you have to actually have the gear first. Your shinies will still be shiney.

[Catmato]

Convince me that a vanity system is the best allocation of the developers time over the above, and I will concede.
No.

I'm not really sure where you got the idea that anyone holds this feature as their highest expectation. I didn't say that, and I certainly don't feel that way.





Your shinies will still be shiney.

Until they give them away on a mog pell.

[Numquam]

I WANT TO CROSS DRESS

[Catmato]

I WANT TO CROSS DRESS

I think you'll have to wait a little bit longer for that one.

[Blace]

No.
Glad we're in agreement.


I WANT TO CROSS DRESS
Have you tried DNC?

[Numquam]

Glad we're in agreement.


Have you tried DNC?

I have, but its not the same. I want a folklorico dress.

[Flyinghippress]

This is exactly why FFXI needs such a feature. So people can look like what they want, rather than what gear currently gives them the best stats/bonuses.



The system mentioned by Camate states you can lock an appearance of gear, meaning you have to actually have the gear first. Your shinies will still be shiney.

It should be noted though that one of the rules states changing zones will remove the lock. This means you can't be on BLM lock appearance in AF and then switch to WAR and look like a BLM. So your shinies will still be shiny but only if you can equip them on your current job in a given location. Kind of a bummer because it'd be neat to have a SMN horn on WHM to roleplay Dagger/Eiko.

[Anjou]

It should be noted though that one of the rules states changing zones will remove the lock. This means you can't be on BLM lock appearance in AF and then switch to WAR and look like a BLM. So your shinies will still be shiny but only if you can equip them on your current job in a given location. Kind of a bummer because it'd be neat to have a SMN horn on WHM to roleplay Dagger/Eiko.

A FELLOW RP'ER, that's why this entire system was pitched in the first place. The players can look the part of their character while having the stats of the current fugly stuff (Sorry Yayaotl Helm, I don't mean you...you're cool)

[Raydeus]

Looking forward to giving this new system a try.

[Urteil]

I like all of this these are incredible.

I also like the explanation in regards to PvP. The task of picking a single gear set to maximize your strengths/weaknesses then trying to leverage a particular point over an enemy in regards to their job /gear combination.

[KorPoni]

Solution System:
Open the Equip menu, and these options pop up:
Equipment (Go to your actual equipment like normal.)
Automaton (Puppetmaster or sub PUP only, still functions normally.)
Vanity (Equip armor to change appearance, rather than stats.)

In the Vanity menu, you can equip an extra head, body, hands, legs, and feet, limited to equipment you can equip normally. This gear has no effect on your stats, but overwrites your currently equipped armor in appearance. Leaving the slot empty allows you to look like your regular armor allows.

[Kafrein]

Yes yes yes I wholeheartedly approve of this!!! My character looks so dumb from the waist down cause his outfit doesn't match at all. I don't know how hard it would be to implement, but I think a lot of other MMOs have it and I've heard FFXIV will have it in the future...

[Camate]

Greetings,

Sorry to bump this thread, but I have some additional information regarding the new feature that will allow you to lock you appearance temporarily based off of some questions we have been receiving.



Will using /displayhead after using /lockstyle remove the lock on my appearance?


After locking your appearance, if you use the /displayhead command to hide your head equipment your appearance for everything else will remain locked, but your head equipment will be hidden as usual. Likewise, if you use /lockstyle while your head equipment display is turned off and then choose to display your head equipment afterwards, the gear you were wearing when you activated /lockstyle will be displayed.




Will appearance locks be reset if we change instruments?

Yes. More specifically, if you change your main, sub, or range equipment, the temporary lock on your appearance will be turned off. This is because these are closely related to animation and we wanted to prevent cases where you might be blowing into a boomerang when it should be a wind instrument. :p



When this command is used, will it show the skill chain damage in the chat log that is usually hidden when changing equipment?

Yes, both the damage and the animation of the skill chain will be displayed.

[Vivivivi]

Greetings,

Sorry to bump this thread, but I have some additional information regarding the new feature that will allow you to lock you appearance temporarily based off of some questions we have been receiving.



After locking your appearance, if you use the /displayhead command to hide your head equipment your appearance for everything else will remain locked, but your head equipment will be hidden as usual. Likewise, if you use /lockstyle while your head equipment display is turned off and then choose to display your head equipment afterwards, the gear you were wearing when you activated /lockstyle will be displayed.



Yes. More specifically, if you change your main, sub, or range equipment, the temporary lock on your appearance will be turned off. This is because these are closely related to animation and we wanted to prevent cases where you might be blowing into a boomerang when it should be a wind instrument. :p



Yes, both the damage and the animation of the skill chain will be displayed.

Camate, just tell the dev team to add a keyboard instrument for bards! Problem solved!

[Fritobandito]

Camate, just tell the dev team to add a keyboard instrument for bards! Problem solved!

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_yIakcziNM4w/TQKDf7VnWTI/AAAAAAAAACE/IFGvmdQ_ae4/s1600/Vadim_Pruzhanov_Ozzfest_2006.jpg

[Olor]

I was kind of hoping this costuming could include less ugly weapons as well. Would be nice to use nicer weapon models....

[Mirage]

As i understand it, not blinking comes as a side-effect of using the feature that locks appearances. Perhaps you can just not use the appearance lock and not have to deal with animation lock?

[Jerbob]

Mr. Camate - As much as I love the idea of this costume system, it looks like I'm not going to be able to use it, as I play back line jobs. This means that I have to swap my weapon pretty much constantly, which will keep unlocking my appearance. I was really, really looking forward to this part of the March update, so it's really disappointing for me to learn this.

Could you please feed back to the developers that a solution to this problem would be really appreciated? I do understand the issues behind animations going wonky, but there must be a way to prevent this happening. I know that most of the issues with weapons will only be a factor when engaged - so perhaps the costume can disappear when we perform a problematic animation, instead of in anticipation of one? Dropping the costume when a melee attack is made with a different type of weapon would still work but let back line jobs maintain their costumes much more easily!

As for instruments, shield blocks and ranged attacks, maybe you can introduce a "generic equipment" type item to be displayed if the costume item doesn't match the action being used. In your example, if a bard is playing a song but has an incompatible boomerang equipped, the song would instead be played using the model of a generic Maple Harp or Cornette. The same would go for a player who has swapped from a bow to a crossbow or gun - a generic weapon would be used.

I really hope this can be improved soon so all players can enjoy it!

[Kari]

They should just make you blink when you change weapons, but always appear in the armor set you locked.
That sounds like the easiest solution.

[Blah]

Well alright...it's been out for awhile with not too many bugs...how about expanding it to include weapons and finding a way to let us zone to different areas without it coming off and perhaps even having a save feature so we can toss the stuff if we need to? :)