Enhance the retainer storage as a great solution

The current issue, and pet-peeve to all players involved with crafting is:

1. Stack limit
2. HQ/NQ


To be honest, the stack limit is acceptable. The mix of HQ/NQ is NOT.

Crafters always have a mix of HQ/NQ items, and when L50 and beyond, creating HQ from NQ is simple. In addition NQ mats with crafting skills can make HQ items and gear without a fuss, but you need 2 slots for that.

Option 1:
Create a "shared stack" (up to 99) with an icon with a diagonal line, indicating a shared stack of items (HQ/NQ), allowing the player to take and remove the stack. Should it be removed entirely, from the retainer, the stack breaks up into the 2 separate stacks HQ and NQ

Option 2:
Allow a stack of 99 each in a shared icon. Players then choose to remove either HQ or NQ animal hide, for example, from their stack, saving space and keeping the storage limit.

Suggested 3:
Crafted items, GEAR specifically and by the player only, is allowed to stack to 9 ONLY on the retainer.

I think from a systems side, having NQ/HQ items coexist in an inventory space is probably asking a lot as it mean modifying a great many systems to handle the new feature. I'm feeling the pain of keeping track of separated NQ/HQ stacks across just 2 retainers and my inventory already, and I'm only dealing with 2 crafter and 1 gathering job. It must be a nightmare for all you 60 Omni-crafters. I don't think we're likely to get any systems that require fundamental changes to how the inventory works on it's deepest levels though.

To help, I think it would be simpler for them just add some sort of 'sort' feature that can sort a retainer's inventory in some logical fashions... say all alphabetically, or alphabetically and grouped (leathers, metals, cloth, monster parts, ect). Just the sorting alone would be a huge step. We have a fair shot at getting sorting in as a simple QoL improvement, since it doesn't actually increase inventory space. No doubt SE wants to continue making bank on extra retainer slot payments. Any feature that increases inventory has to pass the 'But we'll make less money...' hump when the decision is made.

Try this for a pie-in-the-sky idea: Armoire for craft materials. Like cold storage for materials you don't use often. We'll never get it, but wouldn't that be useful!

I agree with your comments, i like the "cold storage" idea. But the technological change from a coding point to have a shared stack cannot be that hard to implement. Each retainer slot has a "hidden stack", the end. Nothing more. still only 175 slots, just a condensed slot for HQ/NQ items of the same kind.

Your comments about Omni-crafters is quite true, we have to refine the use of our retainers to such an extent that we have to keep out NQ and/or raw materials.

I spent an entire weekend shrinking my CRP/WVR/GSM/LTW storage by crafting all raw materials + required mats into HQ items only. Big space saver! but now I am using HQ mats when crafting L1-30 items... which is a big waste

I don't see where the "great many systems" comes into play. The multi-stack function would ONLY be for storage. Should you want to sell anything you would have to extract the stack to your inventory, and then it would automatically split into HQ/NQ, then only could you "sell items in your inventory" As the resident crafter for my FC, i try to keep as much as possible on-hand for on-the-spot-crafting. there's no better feeling than seeing a noob with sparkle-eyes as you craft them an item to bump them up to the ilvl to enter a trial.

The problem is that you are essentially trying to combine two inventory items into one. They are, from the point of view of the game, completely different items. Yes, you can convert hq to nq. Plus, spaghetti code from 1.0. Could it work? Maybe. Would I expect them to screw around with spaghetti code unless they absolutely had to? Not really.

Also, stacking 9 pieces of gear in a single slot would not work. I would assume gear takes up the most data compared to eveyr other type of item. You can't just simply multiply the maximum data for a slot by 9. The data is already alloted. And it wouldn't be done for a single slot with the stack. It would have to be done for EVERY SINGLE SLOT. The gear would all have separate meld data, glamour data, dye data, spiritbond data, condition data, and so on. You would need room for this for every single slot.

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Originally Posted by nomad440

I don't see where the "great many systems" comes into play.

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Code-wise, you'd have to adjust a lot of systems. There is no doubt a generic item class. They'd have to add a second field for HQ quantity. They'd have to add more logic for item acquisition code (ie, monster drops a skin, where does it go). They'd have to add more logic for stack splitting. They'd have to add more logic for item search. They'd have to add more UI-code to support that (ie, when you right click, a whole new 'split NQ' vs 'split HQ' option). They'd have to adjust the market board posting logic and UI so when you drag the NQ/HQ stack, it allows you to post one or the other. They'd have to add logic for the 'entrust to retainer' quick item dump feature. Synthesis would need more logic to find the NQ/HQ items.

That's just off the top of my head. There are probably a dozen or two other systems that would need to be adjusted that I didn't think of. You're asking for a major feature. It would need a lot of testing and verification to make sure there is no new item dupe or destruction loophole. It would be a great feature! It would be a lot of work.

... hmm and here I would be happy with a sort function within each retainer window, see if I have duplicate stacks that can be combined or better yet... if I have the same mat and quality on multiple retainers will pop that over for me.

Better yet just let me consolidate every HQ material into cold storage... good way to see what I got and what I need to make at a glance instead of trying to track down so much which alt on which retainer on which tab.

They already gave us a solution to this, to a point. Nowadays you can lower the quality of an item and then combine the stacks. If you have leveled out the need to have some lower level ingredient in HQ, just turn it into NQ one and pop those stacks together.

Yes, this is not exactly what you were asking but what you requested was I essence just more inventory slots, even if earmarked in a way. That is a sentiment we all share, but meanwhile you have been given solution to downgrade the outdated hq materials.

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It must be a nightmare for all you 60 Omni-crafters

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I have all but one crafter and one gatherer at 60 - my only gripe (from a crafting perspective) is lack of space across the board. I am a walking storage (only 1-4 of my personal inventory tabs are free [by choice] so I can loot during gameplay) - every other slot on me and my 2xretainers are chock-full of crafting & gathered materials. Why do I carry so much with me? Because I craft often, and I absolutely detest having to play the 'call 2x retainers multiple times while trying to collect your needed materials [to make more materials] game. It would seem someone like me would do well to rent a third retainer, but that remedies a gripe by extending a different one (more space but even more farting about when looking for materials spread across multiple storages). I'd rather make do with what I have. Item stacks are of very little concern to people who can consistently craft HQ versions of practically every non-master recipe in their sleep. You'd only really stock up on them for levelling purposes (and even then, you wouldn't need to stockpile tonnes of them), or if going for particularly difficult recipes and want to squeeze in every single HQ% possible (regardless of level).

I'd be perfectly happy if, say, when within a certain radius of a summoning bell, you can craft as if both your retainers and your own inventories are as one (eg. like TESO - if you're in town, anything in storage can be used as if you're carrying it personally - the flavour text being that said materials get carried to you on demand). The way it currently is is perfectly do-able, just extremely frustrating if your storage is being gobbled up.

Might just be me.

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Originally Posted by RopeDrink

I'd be perfectly happy if, say, when within a certain radius of a summoning bell, you can craft as if both your retainers and your own inventories are as one.

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Plz no. I mean, I don't mind the idea of using retainer inventory, but personally I find it mildly irritating when players just plop down in front of the bell and start crafting. Some of them try to troll and stack on top of the bell, making it harder to click, and I really wouldn't want to have to sit there sorting through my own inventory while hearing everybody else's sound effects going off.

In town, sure, but I wouldn't want to wade through a sea of crafters to get to my retainers for any non-crafting purpose.