[Revolutionary idea] Inventory congestion is over !

Yep, this is essentially the same exact system Diablo 3 uses for transmogrification. Blizzard is currently working on something similar for WoW and it's decade+ worth of armor sets as well.

It's a proven system at this point. Hopefully something similar can be implemented into XIV without too many technical hurdles.

I had a similar idea for the glamour system as well. Kind of a template saving.

I would pay extra money to play on a server where glamor items didn't exist; where everybody appeared to wear exactly what's equipped. I can't fathom the need to be a special snowflake at all times.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by lun4tic

I would pay extra money to play on a server where glamor items didn't exist; where everybody appeared to wear exactly what's equipped. I can't fathom the need to be a special snowflake at all times.

---

The glamour saved me when the 100 soldiery gear have been added. The BLM one was so awful with this plastic tail I was happy to be able to wear something else.
And without glamour everyone would look like everyone. The time there were no glamour on MMO was pretty boring. You're a job but everyone with the same job looks like exactly like you, especially the tanks. Only the NPC were able to have their own identity with the same job.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by lun4tic

I would pay extra money to play on a server where glamor items didn't exist; where everybody appeared to wear exactly what's equipped. I can't fathom the need to be a special snowflake at all times.

---

this kind of attitude stinks. what is wrong with being able to have your armour with the stats you want looking how you want it to look? good grief

the best idea would be to completely eliminate the HQ version of "every" single fck* mat. those using DOUBLE the inventory needed. or create and NPC that will exchange 5-15 NQ mats (depending on rarity, ie., 1,3, 3* need more NQ for exchange).
will still have the NQ/HQ crafted gear but at least no more HQ mats.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by lun4tic

I would pay extra money to play on a server where glamor items didn't exist; where everybody appeared to wear exactly what's equipped. I can't fathom the need to be a special snowflake at all times.

---

I can't fathom the need to force every person to look pretty much the same, when one of the greatest parts of an MMO is the personalization of your character.

I normally oppose necro-ing 3 month old threads, but since the OP is the one who did it, and actually edited his post (to include the ideas people originally posted in this thread) for the sake of getting some attention for the live letter, instead of making a new thread about the same thing, I give it my whole-hearted approval :)

I approve, and for people saying that it would be a burden on the character data, the way to make that work is that say when you get the item you can "unlock" its image, from there you can discard the item and never hold it again (since glamour items are usually not the best gear around) The only thing that gets saved on the character side of things would be the same workings as lets say an achievement system, which is hardly burdening to the character. If anything it will lessen character burdening because people will no longer be obligated to hold onto those glamour items. And of course it would follow the rule of once the image it unlocked it becomes bound to prevent the collapse of the economy by just recycling the same exact piece of glamour gear.

While i like the idea after reading the way the op demanded SE do what he says on the recent live letter questions i can not support him. Fix the attitude if you want people to take you seriously.

Yes to wardrobe.

I think an idea like this could work with the following guidelines:
Applied after an expansion, 3.0, 4.0 etc

Basically going into 3.0 for the most part makes the items from 2.0 turn into glamour especially those from 2.0-2.4 series, while 2.5 gear may remain relevant for the 1st part of 3.0 come 3.1 it most likely won't be as useful.

I'd say the "wardrobe" should only apply to green/blue/purple gear, items which you can't craft shouldn't be applicable since they are crafted and also for the following reason.

Since the idea behind this is to save space, instead of it being something which "stamps" a spot for the item to be collected into, you would have to "use" the item and lose it to have it copied into the book. The reason for this is because odds are people who would use this most likely would only see those items as glamour so logically speaking why not have the process also dispose the item upon adding it to the collection.

Now the next part is a bit unknown since we don't know if items differ in memory, if 99x item > then equipment or if equipment info> 99x items. Because of this it's hard to say that with a "wardrobe" book would the aspect that these items would only have the "name" "item icon" "Visual" "Glamour item need" save enough data to make it worthwhile.

Basically if a piece of equipment with all the data is 100 KB and would this reduce it to 10 KB, if it does then the idea behind it would work because this wardrobe book would be a very easy on data storage since the "data" of those items wouldn't be as much as the data on the gear which also carries the attribute data.

OP, this is a great idea that I've also thought about for long time. Asking permission to refer your thread to current Ask question for producer's live letter here. ^^

XI has WAY more inventory space and even modes of storing your stuff. ps3 limitations? Please.

The way they are making this game is based on ever increasing amount of items. Seasonal, gear, weapons, classes, glamours, crafting, drops, furniture you name it and they're adding more for you to collect as we speak however the inventory space is making this game more work to play with each patch. I already dropped using 2 crafting classes because at high levels the space became unmanageable.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Seif

XI has WAY more inventory space and even modes of storing your stuff. ps3 limitations? Please.

The way they are making this game is based on ever increasing amount of items. Seasonal, gear, weapons, classes, glamours, crafting, drops, furniture you name it and they're adding more for you to collect as we speak however the inventory space is making this game more work to play with each patch. I already dropped using 2 crafting classes because at high levels the space became unmanageable.

---

While in a way I agree with what you said, I still find XI inventory management being a bit too hassle. And if you're talking about those mog ticket/voucher to store our relic/mythic/empy gears, I have to admit that I do find it quite tedious, though understandable for a game that's been more than decade long. And even if I said this, somehow I do understand the reason behind these ticket system, being one to trick old memory management to accomodate low-end system like PS2.

Lil up again :3 11th april is soon

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by axemtitanium

The other advantage that I hadn't thought of earlier to this glamour log is that it doesn't have to necessarily be "random access" like inventory items are. If the glamour log is only available in certain situations and can't be accessed at any time (e.g. talk to NPC to register stuff to glamour log, or only available in the inn room armoire, or some other restriction), then that data doesn't even have to be loaded as part of "character data" at all times. At the cost of some player convenience, the feature may become possible.

---

Couldn't agree more, we could get a wardrobe furniture at the inn which function just like the cutscene journal, just that it's for glamour system instead and work similarly to how the op described. After you register an item to the wardrobe, it's simply a matter of wherethe you have glamour access to X, Y, Z item; Y/N. I don't mind sacrificing some convenience of anywhere glamouring to glamouring only at the inn if that's what required to roll out this feature.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Niqote

+1

Even if we had to surrender that piece of gear (the gear is destroyed upon unlocking its glamour) to the system it would be so great.

I have 1 retainer just for gear... I think those 100 slots of data being freed up would be a good thing yes?

---

God no, I don't want to consume my relic or some item I got after a 300 rounds of dueling with RNJesus if I still need to equip it on another job. Just binding the item upon registration to the glamour log is sufficient. The player should have the option to choose between keeping the item or discard/hand in to the gc manually.

Great idea !

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by axemtitanium

The other advantage that I hadn't thought of earlier to this glamour log is that it doesn't have to necessarily be "random access" like inventory items are. If the glamour log is only available in certain situations and can't be accessed at any time (e.g. talk to NPC to register stuff to glamour log, or only available in the inn room armoire, or some other restriction), then that data doesn't even have to be loaded as part of "character data" at all times. At the cost of some player convenience, the feature may become possible.

---

This is the only circumstance under which I think this would be possible, because then the data could be stored in a separate table from the character table. Also, like the armoir it would lose any customization on the items, including spirit bond level, etc, but since the idea is to free items for glamour only and trade in the item for GC seals or whatever, I don't think most people would mind this.

this is basically the transmogrify system from Diablo 3, which got it from WoW, i guess.
you get an item once, then you can change the appearance of any item of the same type, to any other appearance, you've found before. dont need to keep any items in inv.
it's much better than having to have like 2 retainers with gear, and inv, and armory.

Well executed concept images, great explanation of how the system could function.

I love it, i've seen it suggested before, and suggested it myself, but not with the same amount of effort you've shown.

/signed.

Revolutions aside, anything that involves changing any other system already implemented is a bad idea becuase it involves so much more integration and unit testing/debugging. Rather than try for a fancy system, I think a proposal that puts no additional pressure on character data is far more likely to be implemented.

To that end, the primary issue we face is lack of inventory space. The gear system with dye, glamor, spirit bonding and the condition of each piece brings several complications when you start taking armor from inventory/armor chest and put them in deep storage, because you have to decide what to do with all those additional elements. Personally, if I could store all consumable items, including crafting materials somewhere other than my own inventory or my retainers it would help a lot.

Since FFXIV uses the concept of instances, and our house/personal/inn room chamber is already a private instance, I would propose something similar to the armoire but for materials/consumables. Call it your 'crafting trunk', and have it only accessible via these private instances. Rather than storing everything in the character data, when things are placed in the crafting trunk, they are removed from the player inventory, and therefore the player data. Ther player data only needs the unique ID for their crafting trunk in order to access the trunk via their house, chamber or inn room. Because the trunk is only accessible from these specific instances it does not require to be updated with the normal character data, putting no pressure onthe existing character data. The trunk data is stored server side separately from the character data.

In practice this would allow players to clear their inventory, and that of their retainers of any/all materials and consumables, except those that the player is currently using or wants available quickly. That would greatly free up inventory for players, without increasing the dynamically stored character data, and without having to add any special handling for the various indicators of the 'state' of a piece of gear.

OK it's not such a fancy solution as the one the OP suggests, but it has the virtue of minimal impact on existing storage and processes.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Kosmos992k

<snip>
OK it's not such a fancy solution as the one the OP suggests, but it has the virtue of minimal impact on existing storage and processes.

---

This actually doesn't resolve anything, it would need to be tied to each character, and all of the items stored within would need records. It would function exactly the same as current storage features do as far as server resources are concerned, which is a concern SE have brought up before when we've suggested the 'tackle box'. The system the OP suggested would increase data sizes, yes. but it would in the long run be much better than storing the actual gear per player, as the assets wouldn't need to be generated the same way, nor would it need to track storage levels of multiple items since it's just unlocking skins.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by TessaJalloh

This actually doesn't resolve anything, it would need to be tied to each character, and all of the items stored within would need records. It would function exactly the same as current storage features do as far as server resources are concerned, which is a concern SE have brought up before when we've suggested the 'tackle box'. The system the OP suggested would increase data sizes, yes. but it would in the long run be much better than storing the actual gear per player, as the assets wouldn't need to be generated the same way, nor would it need to track storage levels of multiple items since it's just unlocking skins.

---

No, it wouldn't. The current issue relating to character data is that they have to constantly write back the character data to the database every few seconds. There is therefore a finite amount of storage that can safely be allocated per character that is handled in this manner because you can only write back a certain amount of data per second, and within that budget you have to fit everything else going on in the game at the time as well. The problem relates both to the amount of active memory used on the server as well as the bandwidth needed to write back the character data every few seconds. The amount of database space consumed is not a major consideration - assuming any semblence of a modern database was used.

If you use what is in effect an offline storage mechanism with a single pointer in the character data, it has minimal impact on the character data, and because it is effectively offline, except in very specific instances, it can be handled with a traditional 2 stage commit for changes without having to completely rewrite the character data for every change. So if access to the trunk is gated behind a 'personal' instance, the data regarding the 'trunk' storage never needs to be read or written except when the player initiates the trunk. This does an end run around the entire problem of expanding character data to enhance storage, armory or glamor.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Kosmos992k

If you use what is in effect an offline storage mechanism with a single pointer in the character data, it has minimal impact on the character data, and because it is effectively offline, except in very specific instances, it can be handled with a traditional 2 stage commit for changes without having to completely rewrite the character data for every change. So if access to the trunk is gated behind a 'personal' instance, the data regarding the 'trunk' storage never needs to be read or written except when the player initiates the trunk. This does an end run around the entire problem of expanding character data to enhance storage, armory or glamor.

---

So to clear things up, you are asking them to store the data and do the processes on the client side instead of the server side with only occasional transfers of data to the server?

Because if so, would that then not lead to the possibility that equipment/gear could possibly be hacked and possibly cause even more problems than there are now? Just imagine if RMT/hackers managed to find a way to gain a piece of equipment without doing anything, even if its only 1 piece at a time, and then sold it repeatedly via a script.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Rhas

So to clear things up, you are asking them to store the data and do the processes on the client side instead of the server side with only occasional transfers of data to the server?

---

No, absolutely not. Re-read my post. the crafting trunk would be stored on the server side, but would not have to be held in active memory along with the main character data because it does not need to be available except when the player is in the appropriate private instance and initiates the trunk. It's a very simple client/server arrangement, none of the data would be held on the client at all. I referred to it as being in effect an offline storage solution, because in system terms, the character data maintained (and constantly updating in the background) is online, or live data, but things like the armoire are effectively offline because they are only accessed through a specific interface and do not get loaded with the main character data. It's all server based, I'm not sure how you concluded otherwise.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Kosmos992k

No, absolutely not. Re-read my post. the crafting trunk would be stored on the server side, but would not have to be held in active memory along with the main character data because it does not need to be available except when the player is in the appropriate private instance and initiates the trunk. It's a very simple client/server arrangement, none of the data would be held on the client at all. I referred to it as being in effect an offline storage solution, because in system terms, the character data maintained (and constantly updating in the background) is online, or live data, but things like the armoire are effectively offline because they are only accessed through a specific interface and do not get loaded with the main character data. It's all server based, I'm not sure how you concluded otherwise.

---

I just wanted to make sure we were on the same page ;) Others *have* asked for it to be on the client side before and that would end in horrible disaster lol That's why I asked for clarification heheh It's better to ask than assume.

As long as its serverside, it does seem to be an interesting proposal but not something they could probably manage in the very near future since it would require a lot of coding rework. But I could actually envision it. I don't personally plan to see any rework of core systems until at least 4.0 or even 5.0 though (as my own opinion) because it can be a very involved process.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Rhas

I just wanted to make sure we were on the same page ;) Others *have* asked for it to be on the client side before and that would end in horrible disaster lol That's why I asked for clarification heheh It's better to ask than assume.

As long as its serverside, it does seem to be an interesting proposal but not something they could probably manage in the very near future since it would require a lot of coding rework. But I could actually envision it. I don't personally plan to see any rework of core systems until at least 4.0 or even 5.0 though (as my own opinion) because it can be a very involved process.

---

Thats why i think something like the crafting trunk (or whatever we call it) has a better chance, it requires minimal changes to existing code because it doesn't modify the existing inventory system. In fact it's almost the armoire, except without the complications of storing gear.

Been mentioned plenty of times before, DC universe online did the same thing as well. I would love the feature but apparently the game can't do it atm.

I guess I can make a lil up. 'cause my retainers are starting to get a bit full with the 3.0.

Love the idea :D Signed

I would like this. My inventory is mostly bloated from fishing lures and crafting mats, but also two retainers worth of gear that i only possess for glamour purposes only. Would be nice to permanently unlock the appearance for it so i could trade the physical item away for seals.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by kyuven

this all kinda goes down the tubes when you realize the only reason they haven't added something like this is, by their own admission, because the character data is already bloated beyond belief. Maybe someday.

---

This is a bad excuse and they need to stop using it. Plenty of games have systems like this and the fact that 1 char can be multiple classes does not suddenly mean the char data is at capacity.

This, is my actual retainers' situation...

http://image.noelshack.com/fichiers/...015-212751.pnghttp://image.noelshack.com/fichiers/...015-214047.pnghttp://image.noelshack.com/fichiers/...015-212637.png
http://image.noelshack.com/fichiers/...015-215024.pnghttp://image.noelshack.com/fichiers/...015-214950.pnghttp://image.noelshack.com/fichiers/...015-215342.png
http://image.noelshack.com/fichiers/...015-210747.pnghttp://image.noelshack.com/fichiers/...015-215553.pnghttp://image.noelshack.com/fichiers/...015-215747.png
http://image.noelshack.com/fichiers/...015-160526.png

Dood, this very idea has been mentioned like ALOT by various players on the forum, myself included.

Take a wild guess what SE said....

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Orrias

Cash shop revenue ---> development of games not named Final Fantasy XIV ;)

---

FIFY

Seriously, there is a reason why SE hasn't done this and it isn't just the PS3, it's becuase their servers are too crappy for stuff like this and why is that the case. Well between reception of the XIII trilogy, the response to 1.0 and the development of games like Final Fantasy XV and Kingdom hearts III) they might not have enough funds to make development of games for this go smoothly. And they do not have only Final Fantasy, Kingdom Hearts and Dragon Quest under their belt (and with them 2 other MMOs), there is also stand Deus Ex, Tomb Raider and standalone games like The World Ends With You.

And before people jump on me, I'm not saying this to shot down the idea, I'm saying this because as a business they cannot devote all their resources or even 50% of them to one game like this, not without sacrificing FF XI and DQ X in the process or waiting until XV and KH3 are finished.

That said I think it can work but there is gonna have to be a cap for stuff like this (and/or its gonna have to be accessed via a separate relatively seldom loaded inventory like the Retainers)

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Morningstar1337

Well between reception of the XIII trilogy, the response to 1.0 and the development of games like Final Fantasy XV and Kingdom hearts III) they might not have enough funds to make development of games for this go smoothly.

---

But if you think about it, who's fault is that but SE's own? It's not their customers who forced them to rush out 1.0 like they did, leading to the financial disaster it became. There's no reason the current playerbase (a large playerbase, I might add, which made 2.x an unexpected success) should have to pay for mistakes that were entirely SE's fault. If crappy servers are what's holding the game back, they need to get better ones, no excuses. "Oh but it's not that easy, their financial situation, yada yada", is all well fine and good, but it's not our job, as consumers, to care about that or to look out for the company's wellbeing and benefit, not when the threat to its wellbeing was made entirely by its own hands. Nor should we accept it as an excuse for inferior service. The servers have been the go-to excuse and reason every time they say we can't get something since day one of ARR. It's getting old, fast.

My thoughts on the situation is that the system would simply be designed around referencing, in that when the glamour is unlocked, it is set to TRUE (in coding terms) that you have unlocked the glamour, think of it like an achievement unlocked. Then when you go to equip the item, it finds the item that it is referencing in the game data that it knows you have unlocked, and equips the glamour. As this system is akin to achievement unlocks that references items, I cant see it taking up much room as it is only holding one piece of data, that being the item ID of the item that it is referencing

I'm making a lot of assumptions, but the way that the gear on the floating islands works is that it takes on a random appearance of any weapon or armour in the game, its retrieving that data from somewhere, presumably from a large pool of possibilities, which is even more complex than this system (randomisation and assigning stats) and I doubt it is taking up massive amounts of server space, or else they would not have gone down that route.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by LaurelinKementari

But if you think about it, who's fault is that but SE's own?

---

Nobody is asking (or expecting) the playerbase to care.

But that doesn't actually stop it from being and issue that SE has to care about. Just saying.

Yes they need to get better servers. But if they literally can't then they literally can't and they won't cause their other divisions to suffer because of it. Not saying we shouldn't continue to give them hell for it though.

Let's up this again.