Feature Request: Job Specific "Wardrobe" Container

[Webjester]

Hello Final Fantasy XI Community and Dev Team!

Firstly, thanks for continuing to keep Final Fantasy XI alive and vibrant! Secondly, hopefully this is being posted in the correct area for consideration.

Problem Statement

A common issue for End Game players, particularly with content like Odyssey which requires a wide variety of Jobs, is the increasing lack of functional Inventory Space. Modern FFXI has quite a bit of Job Specific Gear now, which compounds this issue. Even with 8 Wardrobes, players with multiple jobs geared up are running out of space to store gear, limiting their ability to quickly change jobs to the required role when party building.

Proposed Solution

A new, per-job "Wardrobe", container. This Wardrobe would be a new select-able entry in the Storage Menu, would be accessible/visible only while on the selected job, and would otherwise function just like the existing Wardrobes 1-8.

This would, ideally, be used for Job specific gear such as Artifact, Relic, Empyrean Armor sets, Dynamis D Necks, Empyrean Earrings, Ambuscade Capes, etc. Creating a per-job container for the storage of Job Specific Gears would allow players to maximize the potential of each job while by enabling them access to additional gear space.

(Credit to Leviathan.Warsongs for the idea.)

Example and Detail

Player changes main job to Black Mage, selects the Storage Menu. A menu option labeled "BLM Wardrobe" (or similar) becomes available. This Container is only select-able and accessible while on the Black Mage Job and would allow the player to move Job Specific Gear in and out of the container, and directly equip it.

Player changes main job to Rune Fencer, then selects the Storage Menu again. The menu option now displays "RUN Wardrobe" and is a completely separate storage space. The player may now move Job Specific Gear in and out of this container, and directly equip it.

Note: The proposed method would prohibit the player from accessing these items unless they are on the selected job, but also significantly reduce potential User Interface clutter by only displaying the active job "Container".

This container would otherwise function just like the existing Wardrobe 1-8, allowing the player to directly equip the item from the Job Specific Wardrobe.

Proposed Container Names

<Job> Attire
<Job> Garb
<Job> Wardrobe
<Job> Closet

Thank you for your consideration and for continuing to keep Final Fantasy XI alive and vibrant!

[Alhanelem]

while this would be a billion times more elegant than what we have now, the problem is the dev team is limited in what they're able to do in terms of modifying the game in various ways. The wardrobe system as we have it now is based on the existing bag systems. Any new bags that can be interacted with in the same manner as the wardrobes need to be compatible with existing systems. Job specific storage spaces would introduce a new layer of complexity, particularly if you only see the job

Another problem is a huge amount of gear isn't just for one job, so you'd still need general wardrobes on top of this, and it would begin to become cumbersome to navigate so many seperate storage spaces. What if an item's in my SMN wardrobe? Can another job still access it? these are questions the devs would have to answer in designing such a system. Additionally, 22 additional storage spaces would mean:


-up to 22x more bags worth of space needed with the character data for item storage, potentially putting strain on the servers and increasing login/load times
-up to 22x more bags worth data to transmit every time you zone- this could be mitigated by only a given job's storage space being accessible, visible and searchable at a time, but that again, adds complexity and inconvenience due to the item loading delay. Now, if they could do something about the game's netcode, then this would change...



Now, it seems like from your post, your intention is only your specific job's space being accessible at a time. That would mitigate the above issues at the cost of technical complexity, but I do still wonder about gear that isn't job exclusive. You'd have to constantly change jobs in order to move it around to use it on other jobs.


I wholeheartedly support any improvements to item storage in the game, but this sort of approach is very unlikely for the reasons listed above and probably others. The most likely thing we can hope for is more wardrobes or regular bags like the sack/satchel. I write this post not to dunk on your idea, please do not think that, because it would potentially be amazing; but rather to encourage you to come up with an idea that works within established and probable limitations for new features/content.

[Webjester]

Hi Alhanelem,

Thanks for taking the time to reply to my suggestion.

Now, it seems like from your post, your intention is only your specific job's space being accessible at a time. That would mitigate the above issues at the cost of technical complexity, but I do still wonder about gear that isn't job exclusive. You'd have to constantly change jobs in order to move it around to use it on other jobs.

The core of my suggestion is to open up NEW Job-Specific Storage space to expand the existing Wardrobe system, not replace it. To that end, the intent would be to store gear that is also Job Specific, not multi-job. To your point, allowing mutli-job gear to be stored in this Job-Specific Container could potentially be cumbersome and confusing to the player, which is not the intention. The existing Wardrobe 1-8 system already handily covers the functionality of storing multi-job gear.

To help further elaborate on the proposal in the original post, I'll share a more expanded example.

Example and Detail (expanded)

The player switches jobs to Rune Fencer. The Storage Menu option for "RUN Wardrobe" is now visible. The player may now move Job Specific gear in and out of the "RUN Wardrobe" such as:

Aettir
Ogma's cape
Futhark Bandeau +4
etc

The player may also now equip the gear directly from the "RUN Wardrobe" just like any other Wardrobe. As suggested, the gear in this "RUN Wardrobe" would only be accessible while on Rune Fencer, which would be ideal as it is usable only by this job and not by others.

To prevent confusion, the item list / "RUN Wardobe" would/should grey out gear which is not job-specific to the active job, much like the current Wardrobe system prohibits moving items which cannot be equipped (e.g. Food, Ninja Tools, etc). This would prevent players from moving gear that is multi-job/all-jobs into the Job-Specific container.

To help further illustrate the proposed system:

The player, after playing on Rune Fencer, then switches jobs to Warrior. The "RUN Wardrobe" container itself, along with the items which were stored in this container, are now no longer visible or accessible since the player has changed jobs. Instead, the Storage Menu option which previously read "RUN Wardrobe" now switches to and displays as "WAR Wardrobe".

The player now has access to move Job Specific gear in and out of the separate "WAR Wardrobe" such as:

Ukonvasara
Agoge Mask +3
Warrior's Bead Necklace +1
etc

The player, after completing the content they were attempting on Warrior, now switches back to Rune Fencer. The Storage Menu option which previously read "WAR Wardrobe" now displays as "RUN Wardrobe".

The container and the gear which the player stored while on Warrior is now inaccessible, but the gear which they previously stored while on Rune Fencer has become accessible. This allows the player to quickly change jobs and attempt the content as a Rune Fencer while having access to a more robust and targeted set of gear.

Hopefully this expanded example helps to elaborate on and alleviate any confusion on the intention of the suggestion.

[Zenion]

While this is a nice idea, it's just not going to work. You can't have an inventory that doesn't load when you zone, because that would allow you to smuggle Rare items. Even your mog house storage, which you need to be in a mog house or garden to access, is still loading when you change areas (and it loads before your sack, satchel, and case, which is silly - it would be nice to see loading order changed to put the mog house use only bags last.)

So, if the wardrobe is always going to be loaded anyway, what's the use in restricting it to one job? Maybe it could be made to load before the other wardrobes, but ten new wardrobes and a system to manually set the loading order would do that better.

[Webjester]

Hi Zenion,

Thanks for your feedback.

You can't have an inventory that doesn't load when you zone, because that would allow you to smuggle Rare items.

Technically, I'm not sure this is entirely accurate. Take for example a scenario with a player whose delivery box has a Savory Shank in it when they first zone into their Mog House. If the player already has a Savory Shank in their satchel, the game will prevent the player from adding it to their inventory, even if the client side inventory load is still in progress and you can't "see" it in your inventory bags. The server still knows it's there and will prohibit the transaction of moving it into your inventory. I would imagine this proposed system would require a similar check for inactive/inaccessible inventory spaces, much like checking if you have a RARE item your Mog Safe while you are in the field.

With all that said, I'm not a developer for Final Fantasy XI at Square-Enix, so the fine details of the technical requirements/limitations which may come into play to implement a new system such as this are not mine to puzzle and sort out. I'd think the folks who have eyes on code, who better understand the client / server interactions and potential, as well as the infrastructure requirements would be better suited to address the feasibility of those types of things.

As an aside, I imagine there was quite a bit of similar consideration before the Wardrobe and the Recycle Bin Systems were also implemented.

So, if the wardrobe is always going to be loaded anyway, what's the use in restricting it to one job? Maybe it could be made to load before the other wardrobes, but ten new wardrobes and a system to manually set the loading order would do that better.

My goal was, in part, to suggest a system with a minimum of additional user-interface changes, while maximizing the potential for player benefit and ease-of use. This is not to say I don't see merit in the idea of sorting the order of which containers load first, but a player may already prioritize which gear becomes available first to some degree. Granted this is limited to your equip-able Inventory then Wardrobes before all others (e.g. put the things you have to use immediately in your active Inventory, or if not, Wardrobe 1, then 2, and so on).

IMO, adding additional levers and switches to the client (and receivers on the server) would potentially complicate and extend the development cycle, to say nothing of making it more complex and/or potentially less attractive for the player. That might be better addressed as a separate feature request, instead. So I opted for a more simple approach in my suggestion.

Additionally, while the idea of just giving players X more Wardrobes is an option, there are a multitude of jobs which have lots of gear unique to that job that is only needed while on that job (i.e. My MNK doesn't need access to my Great Axe, despite what the Brady Guide might have once suggested). Having a relatively universal per-job container for these items would benefit not only the player who is already carrying these single job items around in their wardrobe/inventory, but players who are looking to gear up new jobs but simply don't have the room to do so currently.

Take jobs like Bard, Beastmaster, and Summoner as examples. There are lots of Job Specific Gear that are preferred to make their job really shine (or in the case of BST pet Jugs, even function to some degree). Having dedicated accessible storage space for these Job-Only items goes a long way. This makes these items accessible while freeing up slots in the all-jobs Wardrobes that these would otherwise occupy.

Again, thanks for the feedback, and I hope the explanations above help explain the rational behind the scope of my suggestion.

[Alhanelem]

Hi Alhanelem,

Thanks for taking the time to reply to my suggestion.



The core of my suggestion is to open up NEW Job-Specific Storage space to expand the existing Wardrobe system, not replace it. To that end, the intent would be to store gear that is also Job Specific, not multi-job. To your point, allowing mutli-job gear to be stored in this Job-Specific Container could potentially be cumbersome and confusing to the player, which is not the intention. The existing Wardrobe 1-8 system already handily covers the functionality of storing multi-job gear.

[ ... ]

The player, after completing the content they were attempting on Warrior, now switches back to Rune Fencer. The Storage Menu option which previously read "WAR Wardrobe" now displays as "RUN Wardrobe".

The container and the gear which the player stored while on Warrior is now inaccessible, but the gear which they previously stored while on Rune Fencer has become accessible. This allows the player to quickly change jobs and attempt the content as a Rune Fencer while having access to a more robust and targeted set of gear.

Hopefully this expanded example helps to elaborate on and alleviate any confusion on the intention of the suggestion.

Your explanation makes sense. In theory this would help things a lot. But it's still probably too complex to be implemented by the current team. Most of the work they've done up to this point has been tweaking/revising/duplicating existing systems to serve another purpose. Limbus, for example- it's the same area with the same monsters in the same floors, the only real difference is it's item level, you don't reserve a wing anymore and come and go as you please, and it's no longer for a specific number of players. And the rewards of course. If anything, it's actually probably simpler than the original server-side. The Wardrobes were all based on existing bag systems and purpose-altered for equipment only, though the bag switcher thing was new. The race change feature leaverages existing systems, and perhaps oddly is actually carried out in-game rather than at character select- probably so they can use the standard menus/systems to access and control it as opposed to needing something new if it was accessed from character select.

So, if the wardrobe is always going to be loaded anyway, what's the use in restricting it to one job?

I think the idea here is you can filter out all of your JSE into these job spaces, freeing up more space in your regular wardrobes, since the JSE would only ever need to be in that one job's space and you wouldn't be moving it around constantly like I theorized.

Another factor to consider is if an inventory space is not always loaded in, aside from the rare item issue, you won't be able to /itemsearch in bags that aren't loaded in. This command works (and works instantly) because it's looking at stuff that's in memory. If it's not in memory, the command won't be able to search it.