Information on inventory relief, via staff consolidation, efforts

[Dirtyfinger]

Or they could skip the unnecessary lore and give us.. damage staves, macc. staves, and perpetuation staves. Its an extreme amount of busywork for a very reasonable reward, and we'd still be carrying around, at least, Terra's and Surya's.

Took 4 pages until someone hit the nail on the head.

[Meyi]

There is a trade-off though: The universal tools and cards cost more. They feel there must always be a tradeoff for convenience like this, it seems.

This is true, however, a little bit more gil or a little bit more time crafting is worth the inventory space.

Magian staves being condensed would still require that the player builds all of the staves required for the fusion to be magian'd to the max level. The work load would still be the same (if not more to encourage people to make staves they otherwise wouldn't have made), and there would probably be another magian quest to fuse them.

I can see it now...we get to level 99 on all the magian staves, then we are required to do another 300 monster set for each staff to change it from +4 to -4, to which we then take all of the -4s to the moogle, trade all 8 at once (or 4 depending on whichever stats are meshed), and have to kill another 1000 of some type of monster to finally get the Prism Staff of our dreams.

[Seriha]

No it's not, because those staves all have attributes that go beyond the element-specific enhancement. Having all of those stats and skill bonuses and such at the same time would most certainly be stronger all together than having to switch between them. How much is something you can argue, but it would be more advantageous than just having the general magic bonus. The dev team clearly feels that there must be some kind of trade-off for not having to switch between the staves. To them, it's not just a matter of inventory space.

Again, I'm not necessarily endorsing this, but in my view, that's how they are seeing it.

The magian staves don't have the bonus unique stats like PDT, HMP, and so on. Look at all the damage paths. They all currently end in Damage +5, Accuracy +1, and 12% faster cast for their respective elements. Lumping them all together would not improve those statistics unless SE chose to improve them, hence why the only change is how many inventory spots you get.

As others noted, some would probably still being carrying an Earth/Terra's and a cure staff, maybe an HMP one. They'd still gain more space, and more space means less inventory juggling to make sure you get drops, can change jobs more quickly, and so on.

[Meyi]

If we were to lump via name, I would definitely do every Magic Accuracy+5 staff to meld with my Magic Damage+5 ones. That'd definitely be another month or two of guaranteed money from me!

I'd still be content if we lumped via stats. Could even name them after the jobs that are most likely to use them (Goetia's Staff, Caller's Staff, etc).

[Alhanelem]

I'd be fine with trials that merge those staves then, I guess. I think the level 2 skillchain staves idea is the most reasonable from a give-and-take standpoint.

[Meyi]

Light and Darkness would be most reasonable to me if not all-in-one. Two is still better than eight.

We'd still have to put forth the work to receive inventory space. I don't understand the "trade-off" argument, since we'd clearly have to do something to fuse the staves together. Nobody's asking for it to be done for free.

[Yugl]

THe whole reason SE created situational gear in the first place is because they consider having many effects on one item - even if you can carry multiple items that have those effects in total - too strong, or at least stronger. They want people to decide what to bring with them, rather than bringing everything.

That's why I said the logic is inapplicable to staffs. People aren't going to sporadically choose to not bring a staff if they need to use it because the effect on them is so grand. The trade-off for most people is premature, in that they don't pursue the staff to begin with. This leaves SE with the choice between people not doing content they offer and allowing convenience for the player. I strongly suggest SE will choose the latter.

There is a trade-off though: The universal tools and cards cost more. They feel there must always be a tradeoff for convenience like this, it seems.

Wrong. SE stated on the Japanese forums that they are looking into making universal tools more available. One way in which they achieve this is through synthesis recipes.

[Alhanelem]

People aren't going to sporadically choose to not bring a staff if they need to use it because the effect on them is so grand.

Yes they are. I don't bring all 8 elemental staves with me on any job. I only bring the ones I need for what I'm doing. If you don't need to cast every element of spell, or you don't need the other stat benefits of all 8 stataves, then you don't need to carry them all with you.

Wrong. SE stated on the Japanese forums that they are looking into making universal tools more available.

Actually, I'm not wrong, because they're "looking into it"; it hasn't happened yet. The price is not likely to drop below that of the cheapest used ninja tools; however much it does drop. However, if/when it does happen it will set a precedent for reducing/eliminating tradeoffs for convenience.

[Yugl]

Elemental staffs =/= Magian staffs. If people don't anticipate using an element often enough, they generally don't do the staff at all. In cases where people anticipate using an element, they'll give up any other piece of gear for the staff. Since they're the best item at what they do, no situational piece is going to triumph. The decisions you speak of are when two marginally good pieces come into conflict. These staffs are not marginal pieces of gear.

Universal tools not becoming cheaper than standard tools doesn't denote that SE wants you to make a trade-off; it's a function of the market. If they become popular, more people want to buy, and the price rises. It could also mean that SE doesn't want to screw all the crafts dependent on making non-universal tools. Your interpretation doesn't fit the evidence.

[Alhanelem]

Elemental staffs =/= Magian staffs. If people don't anticipate using an element often enough, they generally don't do the staff at all. In cases where people anticipate using an element, they'll give up any other piece of gear for the staff. Since they're the best item at what they do, no situational piece is going to triumph. The decisions you speak of are when two marginally good pieces come into conflict. These staffs are not marginal pieces of gear.

Umm... Magian staves ARE situational in the same manner as the elemental staves were. Each one benefits one element. They are the best item for one purpose, but not for another. Thus, they are situational. I really don't know what you're trying to say here. The decision I speak of is when you need one item for one situation and another item for another situation. "s**t's situational."