Something needs to be done about inventory space

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Jin-

All the crap tokens and books should be in the same way as company seals and poetics are

---

This is really a good idea.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by MilkieTea

Notice how I specified that I've never "received something from a retainer that I've previously tossed out." Crafting resources are things that I either gather or purchase *as needed* and as such I do not toss them out and ask for retainers to retrieve more of it.

---

Which you have ample means to do.. especially with more then two retainers and I presume a large quantity of saved up gil.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by MilkieTea

I've also stated that my purchasing power is easily obtainable by free players and, yes, I meant players who do not have more than 2 retainers. Purchasing power =/= ability to acquire money. For example: a millionaire has significantly more purchasing power than someone with $100k, yet that person with $100k might make more in ten years than the millionaire in a lifetime. The millionaire has more *purchasing power* (The ability to purchase and acquire goods and services), yet the person with 100k makes more over time. Purchasing power is simply the value of a sum of money - not the potential value of multiple sums of money.

---

I am uncertain what you are suggesting here. If someone is earning more revenue they have more purchasing power. Purchasing power is not based upon stored up funds because those funds are limited. Purchasing power is your ability to accrue and allocate funds more then what is "in the bank".

A sprout with one million gil donated to them has no where near the purchasing or earning power of another player with every crafter maxed out, ten retainers, and multiple level 80 jobs. Perhaps there was confusion?

To bring this back to original discussion, you and others with more then two retainers and multiple level 80 jobs can obtain resources faster then someone who does not have these things. This is.. not really a discussion. Ten retainers can bring back more resources then two. Three level 80 gatherer's can bring back more diverse items then one level 30 gatherer.

A sprout may feel they must "horde" items because they lack the ability to "easily acquire" additional items. What is useless to you is useful to them.

Once higher level inventory issues kinda stabilize. I say this because there are still many items a player wishes to store that are not easily obtained. Someone previously mentioned seasonal items, this is good example. One of many!

Edit; Additional example time! Two friends were once told by their former FC leader (all level 80s) that they did not need the loot in Qarn because they could just unsync it.. Perspective is key.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by MilkieTea

I've also stated that my purchasing power is easily obtainable by free players and, yes, I meant players who do not have more than 2 retainers. Purchasing power =/= ability to acquire money. For example: a millionaire has significantly more purchasing power than someone with $100k, yet that person with $100k might make more in ten years than the millionaire in a lifetime. The millionaire has more *purchasing power* (The ability to purchase and acquire goods and services), yet the person with 100k makes more over time. Purchasing power is simply the value of a sum of money - not the potential value of multiple sums of money.

---

If you have all of those retainers you have more than enough space to hold probably every crafting item in the game and possibly gathering item. Though having the retainer you can just send them all out for anything you need. Just having two I have an advantage over someone who may have made their retainers a hunter and fisher job. Wait a moment you have literally extra chances to get and sell the fat cat minion, how is that not better for purchasing power. If someone has more than 2 chances to get something that sells on the market for 300k a pop. More chances means the rng would be more in your favor especially if you streak positive is a huge positive.

https://i.imgur.com/99qoD6f.png

https://i.imgur.com/77IGOVD.png

You can literally just flood the market with literally 20 extra per retainer. You will get the money, have a house, have access to subaquatic missions, garden, and other things exclusive to those features and make even more money >.< I am a free player who spent money on the game, money on the sub, every expansion, but just didn't buy an extra retainer. I am confused on the term. Is it because I have not bought extra retainers that I am considered a free play? How many extra retainers do I need to not be considered someone who paid for the game?

Oooooooh I get what you mean *winky face* How often do you swipe

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Ultimatecalibur

They do give you 2 for free from the start and even if all available retainers were given out for free people would still be complaining about not having enough inventory.

---

I know I would not complain especially if they allowed for limited time seasonal items to be stored. I know those without apartment or housing right this moment will not want to get rid of them because they know they will get an apartment or house in game soon and do not wish to shell out money in the store for those housing items when they make it within the store later. Once I got an apartment most of the momento items from the story for housing can be stored within, I am unsure if you can reclaim this items if you were to discard them. Things like fireworks and other things people may wish to have on hand take up inventory spaces, so does materia and other things you need when leveling and gearing up. It gets easier when you level at least to 50 because you can kind of depend on tombstone gear, but if you do not wish to cap you are going to want to get the level 60 and 70 sets right?

I honestly do not think this has anything to do with inventory at all but what the retainers do besides hold items as the reason they charge per month for extra. I just want one more retainer, so my solution, making an alt to store my stuff. Problem solved. I guess everyone should just make an alt to hold all of their things because that makes sense. An heck I get a whole extra retainer that sits their empty because all I needed was some extra storage for a short amount of time until I reach level 80 on everything. Problem solved. Why I had to do this, I am unsure, but I guess it is because of poor inventory management that I didnt have an apartment from the start of character creation to store things from seasonal events I know are going on the mogstation on sale next time the event comes around. Or even the stuff given by the stormblood portion of the story I did not wish to lose because I honestly do not know if you can recraft those things. Now I will tell you when I found out about the calamity salvager I tossed any gear I knew I could buy back because their were a few sets I wished to get the dyed versions of but did not have alchemist to 80 or the level it takes to craft those boxes to make the gear dyable.

No one starting the game knows all of the recipes until they get to 80 and know what resources you actually should hold on to. Now that my weaver is 80 I know the things dropping from maps are super rare and to get them back would take a very long time to grind like the Polarized Glass or moonfire fabrics. Unless you can get those easier than I have been able to. At the start I didn't even know what resources where important, and highly doubt a sprout just getting into anything would either. Maybe just a temp inventory for armor sets until you are 80 and than you lose them would be perfect honestly. Or a tab for only the highest grade materia.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Ultimatecalibur

They do give you 2 for free from the start and even if all available retainers were given out for free people would still be complaining about not having enough inventory.

---

This is silly as heck and I read this type of comment many times in this thread. I am unsure what the English word for this type of fallacy is.

If I had ten retainers I would be in a far far better place then I am now? Is that not true?

If we really need extra storage with still have ways to create a mule but that would be nice if at least we could have a fishing baits box.

The problem is less the lack of storage, than the mess it is with all the materials, tokens, totems, items, currencies (and totems that work as a currency) etc.

More than storage, we need a simplification (and/or a better storage management system. Considering /isearch command, they probably have ways to make things more user-friendly).

Now, considering glamours and weapons collection, currently people keep many gears because of RNG.

There's.. again .. a pretty big disconnect between the perceived points of view here.
People think that those presenting solutions are "defending" the lack of increase and the other "side" thinks that those asking for more are just keeping everything they pickup and whining that they can't hold every item in the game ever.

What I think is actually here is:

One side believes that with what we have been given so far and good inventory management the game is perfectly fine (manageable) for any activity available.


The other side feels constrained by what we have been given and does not feel like they're being allowed to play as they wish or are feeling stressed rather than relaxed when playing because they always have to worry about inventory rather than just being able to checkmark away their squirreled mats and glamours.


I don't think either side wouldn't actually just want more inventory. It takes away an annoyance and gives breathing room not just to collecting but how long you can do certain activities.


The problem isn't as easy as throwing inventory at us though. There is a technical limitation that must be there. The Dev team has constantly been working around it rather than magically "finding" normal inventory whenever money gets thrown. Retainers have limitations on where they can be summoned as do the saddlebags and other "new" inventories. In order to fix this to most peoples satisfaction the system must be reworked at a base level. So rather than bickering about whether we need more inventory or not (I'd personally say we don't NEED it, but I can admit it'd be really nice to have) I'd say the discussion should be whether we're ready for what's necessary to "fix" this problem and whether we're willing to "endure" that while they fix things.


That is what people who need "more" inventory are asking for really. Database reform and restructuring.

There are some who will say this is something they should be "sidegrading" but it's so interwoven with the base structure of the game (your character, their equipment, their items) that you can't work on "future" things without establishing the basework for what those new things have to adhere to. Sure the graphics side can progress, but the important part of all the info and how it's organized as relates to the server has to wait till the standard is set and even if you finish everything else you double your work if you make it work with the current system and then have to port all the new stuff you made as well.


Do I want this? Hell yes. It would remove so many problems. Can I personally wait for it? Yes. .. do I think the playerbase can or the higher ups will approve of it? No.



So what do I expect? I expect they'll finagle some more Glamour plates out of the system, possibly accommodate some actual inventory increases as bandwidth and tech upgrades allow (it has been a while and tech progresses incredibly fast and they have stated they are looking at major upgrades)... but for now it's probably best to plan on about the same level of inventory restrictions with the new expansions slightly scaled up for the new items.


I hope for the best but am perfectly able to work with what we have and while I would LIKE more, I don't think we're particularly being asked to deal with all that much.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Krotoan

One side believes that with what we have been given so far and good inventory management the game is perfectly fine (manageable) for any activity available.

---

This would hold more merit if we only had one job per character, but we're at 17 now and those 17 jobs each have to go through the same content 17 times, inventory tends to pile up when that happens.

And that's NOT counting Gathering / crafting which takes up a TON more inventory space than battle jobs.

As I've said before, this is exacerbated by the litany of currencies this game puts in your inventory.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Krotoan

The problem isn't as easy as throwing inventory at us though. There is a technical limitation that must be there. The Dev team has constantly been working around it rather than magically "finding" normal inventory whenever money gets thrown. Retainers have limitations on where they can be summoned as do the saddlebags and other "new" inventories. In order to fix this to most peoples satisfaction the system must be reworked at a base level. So rather than bickering about whether we need more inventory or not (I'd personally say we don't NEED it, but I can admit it'd be really nice to have) I'd say the discussion should be whether we're ready for what's necessary to "fix" this problem and whether we're willing to "endure" that while they fix things.


That is what people who need "more" inventory are asking for really. Database reform and restructuring.

---

That last sentence is VERY true.

I made a thread specifically addressing this 2 years ago.

Another Raid, another 8 currencies to bloat our inventory.

Basically: SE complains about inventories affecting system / clogging up the game, but make it worse with their own decisions

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Deceptus

This would hold more merit if we only had one job per character, but we're at 17 now and those 17 jobs each have to go through the same content 17 times, inventory tends to pile up when that happens.

---

It really REALLY doesn't have to. 1-50 gear is relatively cheap and some of those classes don't even touch anything before 30 and some not even before 50. Also some double up with others and past 50 all can be geared to leveling standards with poetics. You do not have to keep something because "it'll be good for leveling my *job* someday" .. you really shouldn't unless you like how it looks. Tank gear is basically interchangeable all the way to 80. Casting gear usable between all magic DPS etc.

You do not have to go through the SAME thing either. There are quests for each job line but really all the drop is materia past a certain point which is useless and just Gil fodder. So with a little planning or just some perspective on what's worth keeping and what is not (poetics cap like.. ALL THE TIME).. you shouldn't have a gear problem even if you're leveling everything to 80.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Deceptus

And that's NOT counting Gathering / crafting which takes up a TON more inventory space than battle jobs.

---

It really doesn't. Leveling all those has been made crazy trivial and non inventory intensive by all the beast tribes, leves, and quest lines. I literally had to keep swapping between crafting/gathering disciplines and still "wasted" XP in the beast tribes and firmament. All "gathered" or "crafted" items being turned in nearly immediately and without complex recipes. Depending on the order you do them in the gear itself can be made by previously leveled skills or just straight bought with easily attained scripts.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Deceptus

As I've said before, this is exacerbated by the litany of currencies this game puts in your inventory.

---

This I can agree with but I can also say that people hold onto them unnecessarily long quite often just because "maybe I might.." . The current raid tier is really the only thing you should be "keeping" anything else can be easily farmed at a later date (I've done it, just queue and scoop the whole raid, nobody else wants the stuff), but it definitely could be changed to some other sort of token or script that ISN'T in your actual inventory. Maybe just ONE more tome tier. The only problem being how you keep people from either saving them up till the next tier arrives or keep from constantly stacking "new" currencies in the wallet. Probably best to do something parallel to the current tome progression of "retiring" the old , capping the new, and then repeating the process.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Krotoan

People think that those presenting solutions are "defending" the lack of increase and the other "side" thinks that those asking for more are just keeping everything they pickup and whining that they can't hold every item in the game ever. Snipped:

One side believes that with what we have been given so far and good inventory management the game is perfectly fine (manageable) for any activity available.

The other side feels constrained by what we have been given and does not feel like they're being allowed to play as they wish or are feeling stressed (snipped)
I don't think either side wouldn't actually just want more inventory. It takes away an annoyance and gives breathing room not just to collecting but how long you can do certain activities.

The problem isn't as easy as throwing inventory at us though. There is a technical limitation that must be there. The Dev team has constantly been working around it rather than magically "finding" normal inventory whenever money gets thrown. Retainers have limitations on where they can be summoned as do the saddlebags and other "new" inventories. In order to fix this to most peoples satisfaction the system must be reworked at a base level. So rather than bickering about whether we need more inventory or not (I'd personally say we don't NEED it, but I can admit it'd be really nice to have) I'd say the discussion should be whether we're ready for what's necessary to "fix" this problem and whether we're willing to "endure" that while they fix things.
(Snipped). Sure the graphics side can progress, but the important part of all the info and how it's organized as relates to the server has to wait till the standard is set and even if you finish everything else you double your work if you make it work with the current system and then have to port all the new stuff you made as well.
It would remove so many problems. Can I personally wait for it?(snipped)
So what do I expect? I expect they'll finagle some more Glamour plates out of the system, possibly accommodate some actual inventory increases as bandwidth and tech upgrades allow

(Snipped a lot please read the original)

I hope for the best but am perfectly able to work with what we have and while I would LIKE more, I don't think we're particularly being asked to deal with all that much.

---

I think this post bears reading again. It's not a matter of yes or no inventory. It's when and how that is important. Human nature is there are minimalists and people who are thrifty and save everything. There is nothing wrong with either way of looking at things. I would love more inventory space, but do I think it's feasible given the current server limitations, I don't know. So instead of arguing and calling names I would rather more inventory as a suggestion then to keep the current status quo. This is really not a topic to argue over as more inventory space or better optimization would benefit all players.

Its just frustrating if they go "serverlimitations sry" and continue to add token and relic stuff and one time use crafting mats every patch...

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Kuroka

Its just frustrating if they go "serverlimitations sry" and continue to add token and relic stuff and one time use crafting mats every patch...

---

It is what it is. The servers are older the game is older it's not new. Things can't be done yesterday. This last year there were chip shortages, look at the price of computers they have nearly doubled. Saying you are frustrated is all fine and we'll, bit subjectimg frustrations onto others is well I hate to say it but it's what children do when they have tantrums. It fine to express a suggested wish but some replies here are cringe. I apologize for my bluntness. As the other poster said I don't think anyone would say no to more inventory.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Krotoan

It really REALLY doesn't have to. 1-50 gear is relatively cheap and some of those classes don't even touch anything before 30 and some not even before 50. Also some double up with others and past 50 all can be geared to leveling standards with poetics. You do not have to keep something because "it'll be good for leveling my *job* someday" .. you really shouldn't unless you like how it looks. Tank gear is basically interchangeable all the way to 80. Casting gear usable between all magic DPS etc.

---

If gear is so trivial why can't they provide players with a set that matches https://na.finalfantasyxiv.com/lodes...m/33a01ccc169/ If gear is so easy and trivial they could tie it to an achievement and make it available at a vendor. They can already do this.



They don't need to rebuild the game either. They can save space many ways. We already get cracked clusters that can turn into any materia. Reverse the process and literally materia becomes a couple slots. You trade materia to NPC and get cracked clusters. Make cash shop items re-purchasable in game or mog station. Make seasonal furniture be on recompense officer like gear.



Also why do a certain percentage of player base. they can never fix anything they will have to turn the game off. Does no one work at any job where they hire or contract out more work? At least you said the company doesn't want to spend money. At least that is reasonable. SE doesn't care about our current experience as long as they have enough subs/whales.




Finally this wouldn't come up as heated as often if they didn't have a cash solution. I can't buy more rooms for rings and when levelling I work around it. Game limitations and all. I generally only see one or two people mention a mess rings can be with levelling sets. Now if they added an extra 2 dollars for more armoury space people would be about as impressed.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Moonlite

If gear is so trivial why can't they provide players with a set that matches https://na.finalfantasyxiv.com/lodes...m/33a01ccc169/

---

You literally get currencies and straight up Gil to re-gear yourself for other levels. The amount of gil you make leveling one job to 80 easily pays for NPC bought gear to level another before you swap to tomes. Not only that but with the MB you can get it for far below NPC prices.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Moonlite

If gear is so easy and trivial they could tie it to an achievement and make it available at a vendor. They can already do this.

---

I don't see a particular reason whyy they should remove yet another gil removal avenue or currency use. Gear is exceedingly trivial to acquire already, making it MORE trivial will devalue the meager prices on the MB already.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Moonlite

They don't need to rebuild the game either. They can save space many ways. We already get cracked clusters that can turn into any materia. Reverse the process and literally materia becomes a couple slots. You trade materia to NPC and get cracked clusters.
Make endgame materia exchangeable for early game materia?

---

not a great idea. being able to farm higher tier materia with lower level gear would create an even larger gil devalue. Not to mention the fact you can save the space yourself by just not hoarding low level materia. Considering materia is pretty much pointless untill endgame anyway... maybe they should just do away with it. Unfortunately there's a few older upgrade or questlines that require it and people who like to min-ilevel stuff.. so that's probably not happening either.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Moonlite

Make cash shop items re-purchasable in game or mog station. Make seasonal furniture be on recompense officer like gear.

---

Aside from the fact that this is likely something the game devs are not allowed to touch or "modify" , what motivation do they have to allow you to buy multiple copies of something they used to profit off of individual sales? I agree mog station items should be storable somewhere that isn't player inventory affecting.. but I don't think that particular solution you're proposing is going to fly.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Moonlite

Also why do a certain percentage of player base. they can never fix anything they will have to turn the game off. Does no one work at any job where they hire or contract out more work? At least you said the company doesn't want to spend money. At least that is reasonable. SE doesn't care about our current experience as long as they have enough subs/whales.

---

... why do a certain percentage of the player base ... what?

The game will turn off eventually or have a successor. This is just going to happen. Likely before we see approval of the complete overhaul of the database system we have in place. I'm willing to put money down that the people in charge of allotting the budget for yoshi and his team will see the profitability of making a successor before the long term benefit of rebirthing FFXIV AGAIN.
The COMPANY gives the FFXIV devs their budget. That likely has been mostly static for quite some time, regardless of what the game itself brings in through subs. Understanding that part will go a long way towards understanding why no matter how popular the game gets, it will likely never get sweeping changes that it needs to do all these things that are being requested. The FFXIV team being increased seems to be a very meticulous process and they seem very hesitant to bring on "temps" to take up more work. It's been said before that the problem isn't solveable just by throwing money at it, the talent and overall drive have to be there as well and that isn't easy to fill.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Moonlite

Finally this wouldn't come up as heated as often if they didn't have a cash solution. I can't buy more rooms for rings and when levelling I work around it. Game limitations and all. I generally only see one or two people mention a mess rings can be with levelling sets. Now if they added an extra 2 dollars for more armoury space people would be about as impressed.

---

You will soon have more room for rings thanks to them shuffling the slots from belts around. Very likely this has to do with how our equipment is tied to data going back and forth constantly between the play server and the character server. There's really only so much that the system can handle for each character.

I'm reasonably sure that if you COULD just drop 2 more bucks a month and get more inventory that would have happened years ago, but it seems that they cannot stretch character portable inventory beyond what it's currently at since every addition since then has been unlinked from those systems.

I go through a regular purge every month, checking items to see what are only worth minimum amounts of gil and either throwing them or telling my retainer to sell it. I go through a big purge every 4 months where items I've not yet used I trash - if I aint gonna get 4/4 tokens after 4 months there's no point in me holding onto them on a "maybe" whim. That said I still have fairly full retainers of junk I'm trying to sell and I'm capped on retainers.

Fish is the worst, there's little market for buying fish and so much fish and fish bait, they really need a space of their own especially the bait.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Garnix

+ the removal of belts
+ the "removal" of many materia types
+ the addition of a universal lure for ARR fishing

That said, there is still more they can do. (moving all relic-related items, EX trials totem, weekly raid tokens to the the currency tab for example would already save quite a bit of space for some people. Or even to key items, and make the key items tab a separated tab, similar to the saddlebag, so that they don't have to load the data all the time, which they said is an issue)

For me the big issue is Big Fishing. Might be hoarding, but there is no way I just desynth or sell the big fish that I spent hours trying to get. Maybe one day I will be able to put them on my aquarium or maybe I will want to hang the prints on the wall of my house... I would like to have a way to buy a "replica" of my big fish for example...that would basically save me 2 retainers.

---

You hoard ALL your big fishes? Jeez just keep the ones you had a hard time with, If I did that I'd have several hundred Kuers in my inventory

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by MiaShino

This is silly as heck and I read this type of comment many times in this thread. I am unsure what the English word for this type of fallacy is.

If I had ten retainers I would be in a far far better place then I am now? Is that not true?

---

Nope. The paradox is that more storage doesn't necessarily mean less storage problems. It has been a noted effect that humans tend to fill storage rather than dispose of things until they reach the limit on how much they can store at which point they choose between either expanding storage or disposal of excess items.

Even if you had 1400 retainer slots and 1000 glamour cabinet slots you would still be running into storage problems after a while.

They already gave you more inventory space with the choco saddlebag last time, this was kind of easier to do and a clever workaround because it doesn't follow you to the instance servers so those don't take any hit in performance there. but the overworld takes a hit. From a simplest explanation, the instance servers do much more, like the overworld doesn't need to track your movement in the housing districts as much as the instance servers needs to in Eden Savage to see whether you are in the constant AoEs or not kind of thing.

Considering YoshiP's last comment on glamour plate limitations a month ago and it being server capacity issue, it's the same thing here

MMO inventory is in all actuality a difficult process to manage, it's not so much spaghetti code people like to think of it as. Look at it more closely. All of it is server-side and is "following" you everywhere you go. You want to use that potion you put on your hotbar anywhere you go. That hotbar has to check the item exists and quantity everywhere you go. That's the simplest explanation, every toon takes up server capacity, and if i made your block on the server a little larger with 50 more slots, and I also want to get more people logged in the game at the same time. Something has to give. Capacity doesn't come from White Mage's thin air.

You can imagine where the priority is going to go next. Yes, freeing up the belts gives them back some capacity but they already accounted for most of it, along with stat squish to lighten server math and loads. It'll be a combination of things over time if they were to give more slots.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by technole

They already gave you more inventory space with the choco saddlebag last time, this was kind of easier to do and a clever workaround because it doesn't follow you to the instance servers so those don't take any hit in performance there. but the overworld takes a hit. From a simplest explanation, the instance servers do much more, like the overworld doesn't need to track your movement in the housing districts as much as the instance servers needs to in Eden Savage to see whether you are in the constant AoEs or not kind of thing.

Considering YoshiP's last comment on glamour plate limitations a month ago and it being server capacity issue, it's the same thing here

MMO inventory is in all actuality a difficult process to manage, it's not so much spaghetti code people like to think of it as. Look at it more closely. All of it is server-side and is "following" you everywhere you go. You want to use that potion you put on your hotbar anywhere you go. That hotbar has to check the item exists and quantity everywhere you go. That's the simplest explanation, every toon takes up server capacity, and if i made your block on the server a little larger with 50 more slots, and I also want to get more people logged in the game at the same time. Something has to give. Capacity doesn't come from White Mage's thin air.

You can imagine where the priority is going to go next. Yes, freeing up the belts gives them back some capacity but they already accounted for most of it, along with stat squish to lighten server math and loads. It'll be a combination of things over time if they were to give more slots.

---

Things like the glamour wardrobe don't "follow your character around" all the time, I'd imagine. There's a reason you can only access them in specific areas or outside of dungeons.

More slots for something like the wardrobe would only be a band-aid fix anyway. As long as there is a limit to something that has effectively unlimited options due to them perpetually developing more armor pieces, yes you'll hit capacity eventually. That's why you design a system that doesn't have a hard item slot limitation.

Also if your argument is about server capacity, isn't it kinda funny they can always find more capacity for retainers that people are willing to pay for, but something to help alleviate inventory issues just isn't in the cards? It's just an issue of priorities on the dev's part and I think they severely undervalue how big getting a proper glamour system is for the playerbase. Plus they have financial incentives not to fix the issue, which also makes it a lower priority after you factor in the business folks who control the purse strings.

Like, seriously, imagine convincing someone on the business end "Hey, can we get some more money to spend on servers so we can probably make less money from retainer subscriptions?" The only way they cave is if they feel like it's affecting the game negatively or it starts to affect mogstation purchases (which I think it's close to that point; can't buy armors and items if you don't have room for them.)

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Arzalis

Things like the glamour wardrobe don't "follow your character around" all the time, I'd imagine. There's a reason you can only access them in specific areas or outside of dungeons.

More slots for something like the wardrobe would only be a band-aid fix anyway. As long as there is a limit to something that has effectively unlimited options due to them perpetually developing more armor pieces, yes you'll hit capacity eventually. That's why you design a system that doesn't have a hard item slot limitation.

Also if your argument is about server capacity, isn't it kinda funny they can always find more capacity for retainers that people are willing to pay for, but something to help alleviate inventory issues just isn't in the cards? It's just an issue of priorities on the dev's part and I think they severely undervalue how big getting a proper glamour system is for the playerbase. Plus they have financial incentives not to fix the issue, which also makes it a lower priority after you factor in the business folks who control the purse strings.

Like, seriously, imagine convincing someone on the business end "Hey, can we get some more money to spend on servers so we can probably make less money from retainer subscriptions?" The only way they cave is if they feel like it's affecting the game negatively or it starts to affect mogstation purchases (which I think it's close to that point; can't buy armors and items if you don't have room for them.)

---

I suspect additional retainer subscriptions are not as common across the player base as many people think. I posit that designing a bottomless crafting bag and a glamour system based on unlocking styles as opposed to actual gear could in the end increase revenue if appropriately priced. In buy to play games such as ESO and Fallout 76 they are enough incentive to get players to pay the monthly subscription. In FFXIV they could make them available in addition to retainers. Speaking for myself I would certainly pay a couple of bucks extra for a bottomless crafting bag and glamour system that does not require me to keep the gear around than the retainers that don't fix my problem with the current inventory restraints.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Claviusnex

I suspect additional retainer subscriptions are not as common across the player base as many people think. I posit that designing a bottomless crafting bag and a glamour system based on unlocking styles as opposed to actual gear could in the end increase revenue if appropriately priced. In buy to play games such as ESO and Fallout 76 they are enough incentive to get players to pay the monthly subscription. In FFXIV they could make them available in addition to retainers. Speaking for myself I would certainly pay a couple of bucks extra for a bottomless crafting bag and glamour system that does not require me to keep the gear around than the retainers that don't fix my problem with the current inventory restraints.

---

Making people pay for a properly function glamour dresser is a no-go. I wouldn't even entertain the idea and frankly it's a terrible one.

Again, you just have to look at the competition. Even WoW doesn't charge for what is their equivalent of a glamour dresser with endless storage. Making people pay money to fix problems they created in the first place is a surefire way to burn up whatever goodwill a company has gotten over the years. Jump Potions already catch a lot of flak for this, but they've still made efforts to fix the early game MSQ (they've done a good job imo) and it's a little more difficult to just cut out things that end up being story relevant, as well as the fact what is and isn't important there is very much up to interpretation.

Charging for a fix to a purely system based issue would be insane. They gave us a flawed glamour system with a lot of frustrating limitations in the first place. If they turn around and charge money for something like that, people will see right through it.

While I would agree we could desperately use a proper glamour log instead of the glamour dresser, and that there should be away to make all of the currencies we get go into the currency tab some of these ideas just aren't always feasible. We have to remember that there is a technical limitation and as someone else pointed out the recent chip shortage is going to make getting around that far harder and far far more expensive. As for a crafting mats storage, that's not as feasible as you would think. One game mentioned that has it is ESO. So let us look at how it works there and how Zenimax gets away with it. One, your bank is account wide. You don't get a separate bank per character. All of your characters share the same bank. That saves them space to add things like the collections tab and the crafting mats storage. In addition crafting can only ever be done at crafting stations, which limits the amount of information transfer. Just like our retainers only being accessible at certain spots. I can almost guarantee that most of the crafting community would riot if we took away the ability to craft anywhere away just to make a crafting mats tab. Especially with the fact that we have crafting Beast Tribe quests and the custom deliveries.

Am I the crazy one? I go out and farm materials as needed. The only ingredients I actually keep in stock are like tomestone items or certain items constantly used in end-game crafting (Sublime solution and slithersand, for current examples.). Also supplies that only come from airships/subs. Things I can't just pop on over and pick up, or send my retainers to pick up.

Oh no! I have an HQ item that's causing things to take up two spaces! Let me just lower quality that, because you don't really need the HQ mats if your gear is good enough~

I have all of my Grade VII and VIII materia, as well as all crafting/gathering materia in my saddlebag. I've slowly been phasing out the VII though because I never use them.

Also in my saddlebag are tokens from Eureka, Bozja, ShB Alliance and Savage raids, as well as assorted relics because those are things I am working on.

I have to admit that I don't see a reason to carry around every damn dye in the game. Just get them as you need them, maybe keep the jet black and pure white ones because they're expensive.

I will give you bait. Bait has always needed SOMETHING done for it. I think the older expansions should get condensed into maybe a couple lures when new expansions are released, that would help immensely, since they're said a "tackle box" thing is not able to be done. Maybe only have unique bait for big fish in the old zones.

I will also give you items that are used for glamour. While they've said it's not possible to make a catalog type thing, I think a couple things should be changed. For example, the supposed reason for not being able to store Mog Station purchases in the armoire is supposedly because only achievement items can go in there. While I don't think that's 100% true (Because I know I didn't get an achievement when I got my preorder earring and that can go in there, or maybe I'm just thinking of the Calamity Salvager), they could have a section of 0 point achievements. Instead of buying the item, you're buying the achievement unlock. That achievement then rewards a coffer of the gear. Because it's an achievement, it can go in the armoire under a new "Store Purchases" section. Maybe also allow people to "convert" their level 1 glamour gear into this 0 point achievement. This leaves the current dresser for items that aren't level 1.

We're already getting a few additional slots for weapons and rings with Endwalker, and the removal of belts will solve a lot of issues as well. Unless you're one of those people that hoard obsolete items. More power to you.

Hopefully I've been able to present some ideas to get you started on a way to a cleaner inventory, and maybe some ideas of ways to improve.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Violyre

snip

---

This is also good information!

I provided a nifty graphical guide to how, after or while levelling classes, ones armory chest should look. It's hard to see how, even levelling all classes at once, one could run out of armory space. If you've got more than 27 items in one section of the armory then... go through your armory and toss stuff out that you don't need.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Ultimatecalibur

Nope. The paradox is that more storage doesn't necessarily mean less storage problems. It has been a noted effect that humans tend to fill storage rather than dispose of things until they reach the limit on how much they can store at which point they choose between either expanding storage or disposal of excess items.

Even if you had 1400 retainer slots and 1000 glamour cabinet slots you would still be running into storage problems after a while.

---

Well, when the game adds 800+ gear items each expansion and only 100 glamour slots inventory bloat tends to happen.

Same when they add 80+ "Currencies" that go into your inventory each expansion.

Again, that's not even touching crafting where multiple recipes can require anywhere from 6-10 separate items each.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Violyre

I will give you bait. Bait has always needed SOMETHING done for it. I think the older expansions should get condensed into maybe a couple lures when new expansions are released, that would help immensely, since they're said a "tackle box" thing is not able to be done. Maybe only have unique bait for big fish in the old zones.

---

You can tell the FFXIV Devs attempted to rectify this by adding Freshwater and Saltwater Boilies but then they didn't go far enough and they're pretty useless as they can't hook most fish.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Alexandre_Noireau

I cannot belive these people defending SE on this one.
There are already games out there that do item managment way better than SE does: GW2 and ESO as the better examples of proper itemization.

The reality is: The devs didn't create a proper inventory system and then when people started facing issues they monetized on it through bank space (retainers).

YET ANOTHER example of SE profiting from clear design issues they have no intention to fix excused on poor server structure-capabilities-networking-coding-PS6 limitations. Whatever, covid even, as of late all fanboys love to use that one - Even if most problems prominent in this game date from... 2013. Inventory space has ALWAYS been an issue.

---

Yeah, pretty much. Can't add more space but you sure can buy it and suddenly server limitations aren't an issue anymore. /shrug
Gamers are a special kind of... um.. naive? And that's putting it mildly.

Re:Bait

Of course a bait box would be nice, but it’s not really necessary.

There’s no real reason to keep bait. Just buy what you think you’ll need for the day’s fishing run. It’s not expensive, and almost all bait can be bought in the zone it’s used.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Payadopa

Yeah, pretty much. Can't add more space but you sure can buy it and suddenly server limitations aren't an issue anymore. /shrug
Gamers are a special kind of... um.. naive? And that's putting it mildly.

---

A dollar a month for up to 8 full retainers is not a big cost. Because not everyone gets extra retainers, it’s not a big deal server-wise and those dollars go a fair ways towards costs. Suddenly giving the entire population is an entirely different thing.

People who complain about space need to seriously investigate their options because there are lots of options.

(As in, you can get 8 characters for the same price most people are paying for 1, each with 1-2 retainers. That is a huge amount of space available to you, right here, right now)

Would probably be less complaining about storage if the game made it easier to trade or send things between characters you have on the same account on the same world. Then we'd just have alot more ppl making alts like we did back in FFXI.

I would love the armoury chest at least or bare minimum the ring slot to be bigger.

they could create a bag just like the epic bag of holding of D&D, with infinite inventory space, a bag, thats inside ur inventory.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Fellgon

they could create a bag just like the epic bag of holding of D&D.

---

Why did I originally read that as "epic bra of holding"? XD

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by RitsukoSonoda

Why did I originally read that as "epic bra of holding"? XD

---

That's typically what I do with mine... >->

Do we really need all those Baits?
Bards have no Arrows or Bolts for their Weapons.
Why does a Fisher needs then Baits?

Do we need so much Gear?
There is new Gear for every second Level each Class reaches.
Why not change it to every 5 Level? Even then it would be still a lot.
For all Gear and Weapons we could have a Book to collect them all.
Once you get new Gear, click it and choose in that long List of things that can be don't with Gear ... collect. Tadaaaaa Job Done.
Collected Gear could keep it's orginal Stats and if it is needet just take it out of the Book. WoW has done that for all heirlooms. Collected Gear can't be sold anymore on the Market or to NPC's and it can't be used for Desynthesis. So no exploit can happen, like get that Item 1 Million times out of the Book and make a fortune with Desynthesis.

Do we need all those non HQ & HQ crafting Materials?
Would it be not be better if we could convert non HQ Material to HQ Materials. Take 5-10-15 or even 20 non HQ Materials and make 1 HQ out of it.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Aneshda

Do we really need all those Baits?
Do we need all those non HQ & HQ crafting Materials?

---

Yes to make big fishing harder and to isolate what kind of fish you get, and im selling those from scripts for profit.
If you carry too many kinds of bait, its that you are not organized in your fishing and you need to work on your fishing log... or get rid of your bait until you need those, most are ridiculously cheap.

Do we need so much Gear?
Yes, for Glamour

Sell your unused crap, get profit, no point holding on items that are super cheap to buy from market board, have a fortune in gil is much more flexible.
Same thing as fishing, you are not organized in your crafting if you carry to much crafting stuff.

All these people willing to jump through any amount of hoops to make this not Square's problem. Like Square is their best buddy and cares so much.

"They've already made so many improvements for free!" - Great, except they need to do more. We're paying them to.

"There's a technical limitation and it would cost a lot of time and money to fix!" - Alright, good thing this isnt one of the most popular MMO's on the planet at the moment. /s. Spend the money on fixing it.

"If you had more space you'd just fill it up again!" - Not looking for a fix to human flaws, just an alleviation. Other games handle inventory with greater competence. Just looking to match what already exists.

"Players are just lazy" - Between the UI and the options we have, the system we have is clunky and feels like a game from a decade and a half ago. It's annoying to use. Excuse me if I don't feel like struggling with it all the time. Stop blaming the customers.

Anyone who believes that this is somehow out of Square's hands to fix is delusional.

Let me ask you this - If they started losing a large amount of subscriptions and were able to pin it down to people hating the inventory system - Do you think they would say "aww oh well. Guess we cant do anything about it!" ?

Think about it.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Nightingaile

All these people willing to jump through any amount of hoops to make this not Square's problem. Like Square is their best buddy and cares so much.

"They've already made so many improvements for free!" - Great, except they need to do more. We're paying them to.

"There's a technical limitation and it would cost a lot of time and money to fix!" - Alright, good thing this isnt one of the most popular MMO's on the planet at the moment. /s. Spend the money on fixing it.

"If you had more space you'd just fill it up again!" - Not looking for a fix to human flaws, just an alleviation. Other games handle inventory with greater competence. Just looking to match what already exists.

"Players are just lazy" - Between the UI and the options we have, the system we have is clunky and feels like a game from a decade and a half ago. It's annoying to use. Excuse me if I don't feel like struggling with it all the time. Stop blaming the customers.

Anyone who believes that this is somehow out of Square's hands to fix is delusional.

Let me ask you this - If they started losing a large amount of subscriptions and were able to pin it down to people hating the inventory system - Do you think they would say "aww oh well. Guess we cant do anything about it!" ?

Think about it.

---

In a perfect world sure, more inventory would be great, but I have all crafters and gatherers at 80 and only 3 combat jobs, all the rest are at various stages of leveling. I frequently have 3/4 inventory bags empty and have plenty of space left on retainers and saddlebag. The only place I frequently have issues is main weapons and rings. The difference? I manage my inventory and don't hoard crap I don't need or is easy to replace.

It would be nice if we had more inventory, but the solution to running out is at your finger tips.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Artemiz

In a perfect world sure, more inventory would be great, but I have all crafters and gatherers at 80 and only 3 combat jobs, all the rest are at various stages of leveling. I frequently have 3/4 inventory bags empty and have plenty of space left on retainers and saddlebag. The only place I frequently have issues is main weapons and rings. The difference? I manage my inventory and don't hoard crap I don't need or is easy to replace.

It would be nice if we had more inventory, but the solution to running out is at your finger tips.

---

I get where you're coming from. I myself have two characters with all 80 combat jobs and all 80 crafting/gathering jobs. I've done the management plenty.

I *can* manage my inventory. I *can* get my inventory down to 1/4 bag or a bit less. I just *HATE* the process of doing it. It's a chore. And while that chore would have to be done with or without more inventory space, giving us more options to store things like crafting materials, glamours, and miscellaneous items can only help.

And I often think to myself "if I had another 400 glamour chest slots and another retainer, would this still be this annoying for me?" And my answer to that is "no".

I think it *can* be done and I think it *should* be done.

That said, I really appreciate your response, which was respectfully given and thoughtful. Thank you.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Arzalis

Things like the glamour wardrobe don't "follow your character around" all the time, I'd imagine. There's a reason you can only access them in specific areas or outside of dungeons.

More slots for something like the wardrobe would only be a band-aid fix anyway. As long as there is a limit to something that has effectively unlimited options due to them perpetually developing more armor pieces, yes you'll hit capacity eventually. That's why you design a system that doesn't have a hard item slot limitation.

Also if your argument is about server capacity, isn't it kinda funny they can always find more capacity for retainers that people are willing to pay for, but something to help alleviate inventory issues just isn't in the cards? It's just an issue of priorities on the dev's part and I think they severely undervalue how big getting a proper glamour system is for the playerbase. Plus they have financial incentives not to fix the issue, which also makes it a lower priority after you factor in the business folks who control the purse strings.

Like, seriously, imagine convincing someone on the business end "Hey, can we get some more money to spend on servers so we can probably make less money from retainer subscriptions?" The only way they cave is if they feel like it's affecting the game negatively or it starts to affect mogstation purchases (which I think it's close to that point; can't buy armors and items if you don't have room for them.)

---

Glam wardrobe is another workaround to always-follow situation. That's why only being available at the inn where it's instanced lessens the server load entirely. YoshiP's Q&A said if they expanded it they would take a hit if too many people in the field would swap more plates, it was kind of a response trying to say we know it's not perfect, but this works. It's kind of like a glamour retainer in a sense, has to pull elsewhere. He did say they would look into more plates but he couldn't guarantee anything.

Retainers has always been accounted for since they started the game, and they likely have done the math saying if they gave away say a free retainer this is how much money they will lose from premium payments. For over 6 years I've always paid for 4 up to the max of retainers depending on crafting/gathering mood and sales.