Inventory Interface, Management, and Additional View Options

I'm so confused.. I don't know if i'm missing something because I'm insanely tired or what, but I kinda wanna know what you guys are talking about with the inventory icons.

You can easily see what the item is by hoving your mouse over it. I don't think I've ever played an MMO where the inventory was just text. They're always similar to the current system. Hover over the icon and the text pops up telling you what it is.

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Originally Posted by ZhangoSqu

*snip*...it is misleading to imply that the difference is significant enough to make a difference.

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It's more about how the information is accessed, than what the size of the information obtained is. If you have a list of say 1000 icons to work with, its less taxing to process 100 pulls from that system than 100 strings from a 300000 list of item names (also consider the item information being pulled at the same time for each slot). On a single player this seems almost trivial, but on larger scale of thousands of players being able to access this information simultaneously the data usage grows considerably (even more so with players that are focused on their inventory almost non stop for things like crafting). Less data usage equates to lower spec'ed systems needing less adjustments. Better for everyone all around.

I'm fine with a icon based inventory system. Perhaps that just because the games I've played the most in the past have always used one.

Maybe if they added a more discernible color scheme to the icons it be a lot less time consuming to look at, with time everything will come quicker anyway.

What could really solve this problem without adding text is to add various inventory sorting options, like alphabetical, item type (with sub-types like stuff for a certain class, etc), newest, oldest, etc.

This would make finding what is needed extremely easy.

On top of this, any time you need to hand something over for a levequest or similar thing have it work the same way as side quests and story quests where the only items shown in your inventory when you go to complete quest are the ones needed to turn in for quests. For some odd reason levequests don't do this so you have to search entire inventory for the item they want. I think it's levequests I'm thinking of, or whatever type of quest where it makes you search your whole inventory to turn in.

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Originally Posted by Camate

Greetings, everyone!

Hiroshi Minagawa has another very informative post about the reasoning behind using icons for inventory items as opposed to text, as there has been some feedback stating that it's difficult to tell what's what by only looking at icons and would like to see it styled more like shops with text.

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So, why not just keep the icon based inventory for PS3 and give the other additional options to PS4 and PC which have no memory issues?

The inventory is a major flaw in the game in my opinion. It's very poorly designed, especially when you compare it to an inventory similar to the one in gw2, like the bank with slots for every crafting materials or the ability to see all you items at the same time in a big list of slots unlike the 25 per page which is absurd and would even make an auto sort function (that actually works) a complete mess. Fix this and I'll be a happy kitten with 1/3 of my main issues with this game fixed.

The Performance of Text Vs Image isnt SQE fault this time Blame DirectX and GPU methodology. Icon or Text does not matter what does is a smooth server , less load and a friendly compact interface .
Take people that like Overhead Playername+Mobsnames . The amount of data needed to display these is higher than people expect have these on in a large fate and watch your GPU,CPU cook.

Text Rendering had always been costly in any 3d environment.

As for Text in a image based enviroment its a case of Number of Render Calls + Render States if you want to pack an image of every line of text and mouse over state and in a good quality font you will hit bottlenecks of Processes or Memory usage. Plain Line Text will Bog the Client down its a 3D realtime app not a word processesor that can cope with 10 fps.

Or another simple solution: add a search box to the inventory where you can search for item names, and then have matches highlighted.

Icon is like one thing to load in memory queue if you thing of it that way and text means it has many individual characters to load and display. I can see why they did it, they just need to some how make the icons more unique or some sort of border color system or number/letter/dot system kind of like they do with the dye dots.
Like for gear sets, a dot coloured with the class colour to let you know it is used. I would find this handy.

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Originally Posted by ErBear

I just want one big list.... ; ; with auto sort.

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Why doesn't this post have a gazillion likes already? This is so much more important than text vs. icons!

If we end up with a text inventory that's still divided into four bags, it will be just as useless to me as it is now.

anybody else curious as to what item in the game has over 60 characters?

I am happy with icons for inventory personally, I would say though that they could make each one more unique or even put an item level on materials and have it displayed in the corner of the icon.

An optional, list based inventory with categories akin to the singleplayer FF titles would be great.

This is PS3 limitation, does not mean PC cannot handle it. Just give the feature to PC and don't add that to PS3. Problem solved.

PS3 limitations.

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Originally Posted by Coldbrand

PS3 limitations.

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Are people STILL whining about this?? Jesus Christ. Get over it.

Only complaint I have about the inventory screen is that there isn't an auto-sort feature. While I'm sure there's a dozen more important things to do, I would love to have it all the same

Just an observation since many players are saying they haven't played an MMO that used text for inventory items, Eve Online, which has probably the most items and places the most emphasis on inventory of any popular MMO, does in fact provide a text based inventory list. It also provides an icon based inventory and a detailed text view.

I know, it's only to be expected from a game commonly described as "spreadsheets in space" (it has an embedded web browser, even!) but there you are.

Also, while people are wishing for inventory features, I'll just toss in a wish for FFXIV to blatantly rip off the ArkInventory mod from World of Warcraft; I've never seen a better inventory system in an MMO than that.

I know it'd be a ton of work though, so I won't be too disappointed if that doesn't happen.

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Originally Posted by Returnee

Also, while people are wishing for inventory features, I'll just toss in a wish for FFXIV to blatantly rip off the ArkInventory mod from World of Warcraft; I've never seen a better inventory system in an MMO than that.

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I'm sure many people in here and the devs themselves don't even know what ArkInventory add on is, so you should probably give more detail if you want it to be considered.

I am hopeful that the addition of text commands for the up coming sort feature and addons will allow these kinds of things on PC anyway.

Although I understand the whole PS3 limitation, it's very inconvenient for some if not most of us on PC with this whole 4-1 tab inventory system. It would make it a lot easier if we can see all the bags at once instead of having to tab through each of them individually trying to find something I wasn't sure where it was placed.

I would love to see changes in the inventory system myself. I may have to disagree with the infinite inventory system because I believe we should have some kind of limitation.

Autosort is a nice feature but isn't necessary for me.

My only wish have all my items viewable in one screen without having to tab through the slots. Same for the retainers. At least be able to view half the retainers inventory would be great.

List view should just be an option imo. I don't mind this icon slot system.

I was raging again today after my Armory Set for arcanist got scrapped due to me spiritbonding one of the pieces of equip in the set.

When I went to re-equip her, I was faced with page after page of equipment to choose from and had to mouse-over each piece to see if it was the correct one.

All the icons look so similar, unless its AF or endgame equip, its impossible to tell them apart.

LIST VIEW PLEASE!!! /argh

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Originally Posted by Jinko

I'm sure many people in here and the devs themselves don't even know what ArkInventory add on is, so you should probably give more detail if you want it to be considered.

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Good point; I'll give a brief description.

ArkInventory allows a creating lists to contain items and rules to decide which list items go to.

One could create, for example, the following lists:

Conjurer
Caster
Tank
Food
Default

And these rules:

Rule 1: if (gear is in my Conjurer gear set) put it in Conjurer list
Rule 2: If (gear is Disciple of Magic specific) put it in Caster list
Rule 3: If (gear is Gld/Pld/Mrd/War specific) put it in Tank list
Rule 4: If (item category is Food) put it in Food list
Rule 5: If (item doesn't match any rule) put it in Default list

So it's possible to group items by attributes you care about.
It's possible to get far more specific than this, e.g. looking at item stats or using regular expression matching on item text even.

One can also decide sort methods for items in the lists. For instance, one may want to use alphabetical sorting, or sort by the equip slot, or perhaps sort by the time the item was added to inventory.

I found this mod to be incredibly useful and convenient; I always knew where to look for an item and didn't have to manually move things around in bags trying to keep some semblance of order.
It made a part of the game that had always been a pain into a non-issue.

What I'd like to see is a "Next to Window" option for Item/Action Help.

We currently have:
"Fixed" which places the Help window where it's located in the HUD Layout.
"Fixed (Reversed)" which places it on the opposite side of the screen, based on where it's located in the HUD Layout.
"Next to Cursor" which does exactly what you'd think.

The problem I have is that Next to Cursor frequently covers up a majority of the interface. I enjoy having the help close at hand but not at the expense of being unable to see what the rest of my inventory or action bar is.

I would have Next to Window option make the help pane appear at the same height as the selected item/ability, but off to the right or left (whichever is closer). The help window can overlap other windows, just not the one it is displaying information for.

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Originally Posted by Returnee

Just an observation since many players are saying they haven't played an MMO that used text for inventory items, Eve Online, which has probably the most items and places the most emphasis on inventory of any popular MMO, does in fact provide a text based inventory list. It also provides an icon based inventory and a detailed text view.

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Just QFT.

Also, my first computer, a C64, would happily display 40x25 characters and use only 64k RAM for that, and could do other stuff besides displaying a list. 40x25 would be more than enough (that's 4x scrolling/page down for the whole inventory).

I have no idea why a simple text display should tax a CPU harder than displaying a grid of icons.

Even FFXIV 1.0 and FFXI had an item list. Where you could actually find stuff you're carrying. I almost went nuts yesterday evening looking through 2 retainers and my inventory searching for Alumen (which got sorted to page 7 of my inventory I never use, but my inventory filled up).

Both of these explanations are retarded. You can assign items to the hot keys for a reason. There is no reason to use multiple items out of an open inventory in combat. In the off chance that you need to pick up a new item and use it in the same battle, imp levequests etc., there is already a mechanic to use the story item from the quest descriptor on the right. I would much prefer a menu that blocked out my screen that I would only be able to access during periods of safety.

Further, the idea that you cannot display text because of limitations on the CPU pull is beyond insane. That is like saying that all shadow rendering should be disabled because low end PCs cannot handle it. No. You simply give options. If people over task their systems because they use a setting that their computer is incapable of, I see no difference if it is a list menu or a high end graphics setting. Let players decide what works and where they are willing to sacrifice.

I won't even do crafting and gathering half the time because I cannot stand the inventory. I avoid using it as much as possible because the whole system is a mess. At the very least, we need a list view, multiple sort options, and a single inventory page (if the system remains relatively unchanged). Ideally, there should be segregated tabs for predefined item types just like every offline RPG of all time. they have proven that they can do that for the armory chest. If they could do that with an increase to 100 items per page, and sort options for the other item types, then you wouldn't even need a list view.

More infos about the sort function coming with 2.1

http://static.finalfantasyxiv.com/to...7a/11103_0.gif
From the german forum: http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/t...=1#post1231204

Consider I've never played MMO up until now, I suspect I'm missing something about inventory limit. As a primary crafter, I found inventory limit particularly restrictive. Is it a space or task issue?

Would love to craft from retainers' bags too.

Im not gonna read this forum. so im just gonna say GoodJob. and hope it dosnt turn out worse then this simple interface.

7. Make the retainer's inventory accessible during crafting


Yes yes yes yes yes YES YES YES
Or just make it when you are crafting, the craft menu takes into account items in your Retainer.

I hate it when looking at a craft receipe that says I have none of XXX material, rushing off somewhere to buy, then realising I have one on my retainer...running to the bell, summon retainer, running back to tradecraft supplier etc etc. Well, something like that.

Sorry if this has already been suggested, but can we please simplify NQ/HQ items? I like the existence of HQ ingredients, but every time I have to decide... do I keep the NQ ingredients, the HQ ingredients, both, neither? It's much more frustrating than fun or challenging.

My suggestion is that NQ and HQ items occupy one slot. The bottom left-hand number indicates how many NQ items you have, and the bottom right-hand number how many HQ items. One slot can hold up to 99 of both. Or combined with the idea of a list-view for inventory, this idea becomes even simpler to implement.

This would simplify much of the inventory system: don't have NQ on one page and HQ on another anymore. Can hold much more item types without having to expand inventory. Can transfer NQ and HQ both at same time between retainer and self, etc.

http://i.imgur.com/CyxFUJK.jpg

How about something like this For PC. Aside from this whole PS3 limitation thing cause we're on PC. (my mediocre photoshop skills)

The PS3 version is capable of displaying inventory lists. Take a look at all the times lists are used...
http://img2.finalfantasyxiv.com/acci...e2eec2e2af.jpg
http://img2.finalfantasyxiv.com/acci...d4e38eaa4d.jpg
http://img2.finalfantasyxiv.com/acci...772a6fa5fd.jpg
http://img2.finalfantasyxiv.com/acci...56e2d09686.jpg

The issue is the amount of available screen real estate that is available. The resolution of the game is 1280x720. Try running the PC version at 1280x720 and you'll find the UI cramped.

The problem is the "Window Style" UI. It's become archaic. Today you see more flat oriented UIs, with maybe at most two layers. Look at a sophisticated application like Final Cut Pro or the gaming service Steam. Do they use multi-layered Windowed interface? No.

I've brought up this in the past, and in the past I was always rebutted with "MMOs are DIFFERENT" and these "windowed" style interfaces are absolutely necessary. The only thing that's necessary is that the interface be easy to use and access. Finding what you need should be quick and easy. A good UI is one the user doesn't need to tamper with. And that's true regardless.

Hello, I am aware that an inventory sort feature is being implemented. A list or text view of items was being considered does anyone know if a text display has been confirmed ? I know they are unable to do this for ps3 users, however I feel this is a necessary addition for the UI and that the ps4 should be able to handle this feature as well.

Has there been confirmation of a text/ list display for inventory ?

I cannot overstate how much I agree with #1 on your list.

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Originally Posted by Camate

9. Fill in empty spaces or divide major categories by tab

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Ok the update is out and I've been trying to achieve a sort with categories divided by tab and I it doesn't seem to even exist. Anyone have any luck?

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Originally Posted by Gunbladez

Ok the update is out and I've been trying to achieve a sort with categories divided by tab and I it doesn't seem to even exist. Anyone have any luck?

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I've been trying to sort specific types of items to tabs and no luck. I don't know how to write the condition for a specific inventory tab, it just sorts the entire contents of your inventory from tab 1 to 4. Is there some kind of condition we can write with the /isort command to set up our inventory tabs to only have specific types of items like tab 1 will just have medicines / foods?

Sorry if they posted how to do it, but I can't find a way to declare the tab I want things sorted to.

A list of all the possibilities for the /isort would be nice too, on the examples it looks like you would be able to get really specific but what they gave on the patch notes is kinda just general sorting.

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Originally Posted by Avalonx

A list of all the possibilities for the /isort would be nice too, on the examples it looks like you would be able to get really specific but what they gave on the patch notes is kinda just general sorting.

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They're in the online manual. You're likely looking for "tab" sort order (instead of asc or des).

There's a checkbox in the character config somewhere to turn on inventory sorting by tab. Can't remember the exact wording. I haven't messed with the isort command yet, but I have that checkbox checked. Every time I sort my inventory via right-click, food/meds go in the first tab (and often overflow into the second because I have too many), and basically everything else goes into two, then three (or three, then four). I haven't seen any other division, but I don't have weapons/armor in my inventory, and it might be a bit too full for other division to happen (crafting mats take up more than a single tab).

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Originally Posted by Returnee

Just an observation since many players are saying they haven't played an MMO that used text for inventory items, Eve Online, which has probably the most items and places the most emphasis on inventory of any popular MMO, does in fact provide a text based inventory list. It also provides an icon based inventory and a detailed text view.

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As do Anarchy Online and Everquest2. These are all old games. It's hardly rocket science to provide an option to display inventory items in icon or list view. I'm guessing newer devs and players like it simpler? Or aren't aware of all the alternatives out there?

I'm really getting perturbed over the inventory issues (mostly lack of space, but also lack of abilities to organize other than moving things by hand. Yay! I'm playing a game that requires me to do things that are as much fun as cleaning my room!), especially since I'm leveling all crafters. I had to abandon fishing because of it. The problem is exacerbated because of many crafting recipes requiring lower level mats and lower level items. Cooking is a horror because it requires both numerous mats and frequent use of lower level recipes. It makes perfect sense that it should, but the inventory limitations make it really painful. Maintaining my kitchen in real life is more fun.

A search feature for recipes is really needed. I usually happily make crafted items for my friends, but now I make them give me a list with the exact names, levels, and sometimes which crafter makes them (which you can see via the market interface, which is very good). For example, shoes are made by 4 different crafters, and except for the metal wearers, there doesn't seem to be any logic with respect to what crafter makes an item for a class (and there are times when even metal wearers may find an upgrade in leather or cloth, which is nice). In most other games, I can usually figure out what the best items are for, say, a level 20 tank. Not so in FF, with things like a mage upgrade for a weaver made belt being made by a leatherworker. I'm fine with that (and actually like it), but really need a search feature for recipes because of it.

The market interface is a saving grace, and I wish I had something similar for my recipes. In fact, the market interface is amazingly good compared to other MMOs I've played, despite its apparent simplicity. It's simpleness is actually quite brilliant. Having something similar to the market interface, scaled down in scope, would be wonderful for my entire inventory, with an option to display everything in a list. I use the market search feature as a substitute for looking through my recipes (absolutely love the fact that an item that is being sold by no one still appears in the list - perfect for finding things I should make and put up for sale. It's a great feature I haven't seen before in another game. And I've been playing MMOs since the Everquest beta - 1999?).

I hated the Christmas quest and now the Heavensturn quest because of all the "junk" (head and chest pieces won't go in the armoire, "junk" in quotes because receiving them is no fun because of lack of space, but if inventory space wasn't such an issue, maybe they would have been more fun), so I'll be deleting my "rewards" for doing them. Solely because I have no room for them. I might have enjoyed the quests otherwise. It's silly to be receiving so much appearance gear with no appearance tab (which very old games like both AO and EQ2 have had for a long time) AND lack enough inventory space to store them. I just turned in a leve quest and received 3 Damaged Cudgels that won't stack, and apparently are the only way to obtain ingredients to craft a better item. Ugh, no delight in the rewards, quite the contrary, the rewards annoy me. I don't have any space for them.

The tabs appear to be a compromise to having a bagless inventory system without having one big humongous rectangle on screen, but they've managed to create the worst of both worlds, since you can't open two or more tabs at the same time nor are the tabs useful for segregating items of similar types, like you can with bags, which also allow you to grab a specific set of items when needed. I would prefer either bags or a seamless inventory screen that had scroll bars (considering that scroll bars are common, and are even used frequently in FF14's interface, I don't get these arguments about screen space at all). In other words, I would prefer anything but these tabs that are useless for anything other than satisfying a craving for boxes that use the same space on the screen. A craving I don't have.

I would also prefer having only one retainer with the same (or better yet, more than the) capacity we have now with the two (i.e, just one bank). It's a hassle to have to go through the dialogue with both retainers to retrieve items for crafting. Or better yet, I would prefer being able to craft using items held by the retainers, without having to retrieve them at all (having to talk to them, then locate what I need). Having a Harvest Box like in EQ2, that allows you to use items stored in them when crafting, whether in a guild hall or personal housing, is about the only thing that would motivate me to participate in FF14 housing, given the pretty much out-of-touch pricing. And I'm a hardcore builder type that is chomping at the bit to play Landmark. And will be paying SOE real money to allow me to do so in their alpha. But I have zero interest in using play money in FF14 to build houses as it is implemented now. It lacks any purpose, other than status, which doesn't interest me, and is extremely limited. Why should I be interested, given building alternatives such as EQ2, OSGrid, Minecraft, and now Landmark/EQNext?

Things I think would vastly enhance inventory management:

1. Ctrl+Click to "pick-up" 1 item out of a stack
2. Shift+Click to "send-to" either retainer or to vendor (for selling) depending on which one is open
3. Shift+Ctrl+Click to "send-one-to" either retainer or to vendor
4. Above "send-(one-)to" also work for putting things up on the market board
5. Middle click on an item = default sort function
6. Option to auto-sell all allagan coins
7. Option to auto-repair every single piece of equipment in inventory, armoury, and currently equipped, when we interact with the repair NPC

Things that I think should definitely have been in the /isort command in the first place:

1. Sort by role tag: tank, attacker, healer, gatherer (DoL), crafter (DoH)
2. Sort by individual class tag: GLA, PLD, MRD, WAR, BTN, MIN, etc
3. Sort by discipline: DoM, DoW, DoH, DoL
4. Sort by name: or some other kind of sort that could put all items of the same set together, for example all Acolyte pieces next to each other, all Cavalry pieces, etc. This would have been possible if we could have sorted by role tag, i.e. first by iLv then by each role.

Feature I want:
Clickable chat log so I may click on characters' names for whispers, click on items and locations for descriptions, clickable monster names in quest log that marks their location on map, and <pointofinterest> markers. (See TERA for example)