Anyone else *REALLY* want an Account-wide "Wardrobe"?

I've yet to really dive into the Glamour system in FFXIV, but I *LOVED* transmogging items in World of Warcraft, and FFXIV's items absolutely put WoW to shame!

However, like WoW, you're forced to actually keep an item on-hand in order to use it for Glamour, which can be problematic when it comes to holding onto tons of items "just in case" you might want to use its appearance, or even worse, when it comes to unique-looking items.

As well, with the Relic/Artifact gear, sometimes you might want one particular version, rather than the most powerful form of that item.

I don't know if anyone has ever played Guild Wars 2, but I *LOVED* their Wardrobe-system. Basically, once an item is soulbound to you, you "unlock" its appearance for your entire account. Even for items that share appearance, you only have to unlock one of them, and you'll be able to rock its appearance any time you want, no need to hold onto the specific item.

Maybe that's just me, though?

I would like account wide unlocks for achievement/events, this would be for things like Mounts/minions(the gold magitek armor/tank mounts) Hairstyles(lighting strikes) and allow you to pick up things like the achievement gathering/crafting tools GC/class items, they aren't anywhere near best in slot and would be great boost for an alternate character.

I think one should work to get their vanity for every character, and of course there are expensive and some hard to make crafted items which are just for vanity, the economy could suffer because of this, but that's the only inconvenient i see, SE would have to think carefully about the consequences before implementing this.

My fear is simply that, when it comes to one-of-a-kind items, I like having a little more room to breath. Take the Lightning Returns costumes, for example; a lot of players are probably like me, in that they're only really focused on a single character. Wouldn't it be nice, though, if you got the full Male clothing set, you could also get the full Female clothing set for an alternate-character, that you might not otherwise have played? I'm not even asking for the items themselves; just the ability to use their appearance for Glamour.

Or as another example, take rare/hard-to-get items like the Armor of Light or Moogle Weapons; they're items that might not "fit" your current main-character, but could be cool to use on a character who might never set foot in a Raid.

You make a good point about tradeskills, though, and I could definitely see some items -- like the Relic/Artifact gear -- remaining Character-specific. For rare-drops and retired-items, though, I'd just like a little more room to breathe, you know?

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Originally Posted by Renik

I think one should work to get their vanity for every character, and of course there are expensive and some hard to make crafted items which are just for vanity, the economy could suffer because of this

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High-end Vanity gear prices would either skyrocket or drop like stones as well as a serious decline in demand. It's for this reason that I wouldn't agree with anything vanity related to being "account-wide." The only reason why people even make items like Taffeta Shawl/Loincloth is because it sells at extremely high prices in short amounts of time. If they didn't, then it wouldn't be worth the gil or the effort to do so, and the entire market would begin to suffer as a result. Not to mention that Square Enix is extremely worried about the state of the in-game economy and probably wouldn't do something that could very easily break it.

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Originally Posted by Terin

Take the Lightning Returns costumes, for example; a lot of players are probably like me, in that they're only really focused on a single character. Wouldn't it be nice, though, if you got the full Male clothing set, you could also get the full Female clothing set for an alternate-character, that you might not otherwise have played?

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There's a vendor in-game that will trade out your female set with a male set and vice versa. The whole point though is that the character you either "make in the future" or "didn't do the event with" won't get that gear, which is why it is limited. This gives value and bragging rights to players who were active during the event. To be honest, the gear is literally just there for Glamour, even if it's probably the best set for that level, so they might as well give you the item if they're gonna let you glamour it. If you make an alt, there's value to be had by playing it and attaining those vanity items for that character, and I feel account-wide vaults could easily steal that away.

I guess that's just it, though; I view stuff like that more as a "player accomplishment", moreso than the character itself. Like I said, when it comes to Story-related stuff, like the Relic/Artifact gear, I'm all for that being restricted to that individual character. For stuff that's being permanently retired from the game, though, or made completely inaccessible after a certain point, I'd prefer they relax those restrictions by way of making them account-wide.

Plus, consider that they might one day add completely new Playable Races; unless Lightning plans on returning on a fairly regular basis, they're obviously not going to be obtaining that gear, yet it could very well wind up looking good on them.

I mean, the safest bet would obviously be to level up another character to lvl 45 and get the set on them, but I think that's kind of playing with fire.

Account-wide mounts and minions would be godly, event items even more so. I don't see a need to make vanity gear account-wide though since they are much easier to get. Like right now I'm spending all my time leveling an alternative character to 45 so I can participate in the Lightning Strikes event.

Doesn't SE do something each patch to break the markets anyway? Whats the difference if they release something that allows you to soul-bind a item and forever have the pattern. Personally I have a few of the high end vanity crafted items. Though I'm cheap and went out to grind the materials for them. Also I only have one of them. Far cheaper to buy dyes over and over.. also if you use glamouring anyway then you can dye the items various colors without effecting the real item. Not sure what use there would be to have multiples so in turn I'm not sure why it would effect the market at all.

I'd just love a better glamour system in general. They can keep the prisms and still have some sort of wardrobe system in place that you can scroll through instead of having a retainer with the sole purpose of holding onto gear (or brilliant idea.. make that chest in the inn rooms more useful and the ability to try on from it).

The wardrobe system was one of the few reasons I went back to GW2.
Only real issues with it I had were:
A) Transmutation charges. I still have a large number pocketed from stone conversions, but as a principle, it kind of interferes with the appeal of the system.
and
2) So many freaking weapons/armours were Cash-shop only.

If they could keep everything else as is (except maybe stop giving away things for out-of-game purchases/events/etc? Just sayin'.) it would be a great system. If it encouraged them to make things even more of a PitA (IE: Since you'll only need to attain this armour ONCE, let's reduce the drop rate even FURTHER!), then... Well I'd still probably prefer it just due to how clunky glamour is in this game.
If they could revamp dyes as well, that'd be great.

That's a great way to describe it: "clunky". And yeah, I share your grief with a few of GW2's issues, but since the game has no subscription, I can sort of overlook that most gear is cash-shop exclusive; I don't think FFXIV would ever go that route. I just hate having to keep track of individual items, especially since virtual *every* item in FFXIV looks great; making them Account-wide unlocks just means you'd have more room for creativity!

Makes sense to me. I spend a lot of time and gil sifting through the glamour system because I like changing the way my character looks. That being the case, my retainers are starting to fill up with gear that I've picked up here and there. Since I only buy the item I'm looking for once and then squirrel it away for eternity anyways, I can't see how it would drastically affect the market prices anyways. It's the same concept of having the item permanently unlocked for me, except I don't have to dig it out of my retainer once I want to try it on.

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Originally Posted by Terin

I've yet to really dive into the Glamour system in FFXIV, but I *LOVED* transmogging items in World of Warcraft, and FFXIV's items absolutely put WoW to shame!

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Glamour sucks. It's a terrible system. I'm not sure how transmogging worked in WoW (I stopped playing long before they released it), but it seems similar to the crappy system here in FFXIV.

A *good* example of a vanity system is Lord of the Rings Online, where your vanity outfit is neither tied nor linked to the gear you actually have equipped. Why SE and Blizzard felt the idiotic need to place that limitation on the system is beyond me.

Last game that I played which had inter-character inventories was PSU. It was an interesting feature that I didn't use much due to not really playing more than one character (I never did get involved with mules in XI). Understandably, I can see the appeal of such a system, but conversely I can see the abuse. People could get the best gear from the hardest content then just pass it along to their other character, effectively giving that character all the things at none of the effort. "But they did the effort on their other character." Yeah, but that was on that character, not the new one. On a game where one character can do everything, there's really little reason to have more than one character on the same server. And if such a system reached across servers then you run into the issue of laundering. It's a touchy matter best left... untouched.

@Gilraen:

I think you misunderstand. I wouldn't make the items themselves account-wide, but simply their visual appearance.

Say I'm playing a Paladin, and I pick up a Mithril Longsword, and hey, it looks really cool! But the stats are terrible compared to the Sword of a Thousand Truths I'm currently wearing. Instead of having to hold onto the Mithril Longsword, I can just equip it one time to "unlock" its graphic, and then vendor it. Then, I can always use its graphic, and even when I start a brand-spanking new Gladiator, he can also use the Mithril Longsword's visual -- he just wouldn't have the item itself.

Like I said, it would require *some* restrictions, for the Story-based stuff, but I think it would still work out for the best. Like Seryl said, it beats having to fill a retainer with a million different-looking items, and when every player has access to a massive Wardrobe collection of items, it would allow and encourage players to be even more unique with their outfits!

I want the damned ability to send my alt shit via mail. This includes dungeon gear that's already bound to me/myth stuff.

I would prefer an account wide storage system that can also hold unique items, so I can dump treasure maps gathered in it.
I don't get why unhidden map you can store but can't normal maps.

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Originally Posted by Terin

@Gilraen:

Say I'm playing a Paladin, and I pick up a Mithril Longsword, and hey, it looks really cool! But the stats are terrible compared to the Sword of a Thousand Truths I'm currently wearing. Instead of having to hold onto the Mithril Longsword, I can just equip it one time to "unlock" its graphic, and then vendor it. Then, I can always use its graphic, and even when I start a brand-spanking new Gladiator, he can also use the Mithril Longsword's visual -- he just wouldn't have the item itself.

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In short, something like DCUO's outfit system, just that it can be accessed account/character wide. Honestly like the sound of that seeing it's a pita for some styles, especially with the different market prices per server.

Guild Wars 2 has a lot going for their vanity and dyes. A shame XIV didn't pick up on something like that :/

Haven't bothered to glamour yet but I could see this as being extremely convenient and all around useful. Plus with what I thought I heard being mentioned as a item log being developed, these two ideas could go together quite well.
I have a lot of items collected in my retainers because I just like to have collections.. with an item log I would purposefully buy out items just to clear it off my list - it would at least temporarily boost the desire of items.

SE could add imprinting items to the book (ink currency) or some cid devised device (energy source) as a way to sink more gil out but I imagine that might not be the most loved part of a wardrobe.


Edit: I dont think this system should be account wide- that would have notable effects on expensive desired vanity items. (I suppose achievement items dont matter, U/U Rare/EX already anyway)

I definitely agree with the idea of letting all unlocks and achievements be account-wide, or at least on the same server if that makes things easier on the devs. I would actually have an excuse to make an alt at that point. The only reason I don't is because I'd have to unlock everything all over again if I did.

I mean heck. Most achievement gear and gear that can be stashed away in the Armoire isn't even endgame-worthy stats-wise, so it wouldn't be breaking anything.

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Originally Posted by Senliten

In short, something like DCUO's outfit system, just that it can be accessed account/character wide. Honestly like the sound of that seeing it's a pita for some styles, especially with the different market prices per server.

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If FFXIV redesigned its glamour system like DCUO's glamour system, Jesus Tapdancing Christ that'd make me happy.

I agree, it would be awesome to have this feature.

DCUO definitely had an amazing customization-system, as well! Like I said, I would probably make anything that wasn't Story-related account-wide, which would just give you an insane level of customization!

And, just like Hakuro said; it would give players more motivation to actually play new characters entirely. Even if they didn't replace you "main" character, it would be worth playing new characters just to have more options! For example, I don't see myself ever using the Armor of Light or Odin armor on a Miqo'te, but I would totally level up a Midlander or Highlander to do so. Or I might feel more inspired to play up a female character, if I knew she would have some of those previously-available sets waiting on her, even if it's purely cosmetic to her :)

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Originally Posted by Terin

Plus, consider that they might one day add completely new Playable Races; unless Lightning plans on returning on a fairly regular basis, they're obviously not going to be obtaining that gear, yet it could very well wind up looking good on them.

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That's why the Fantasia item exists as an optional service. Personally, I feel like you just can't have your cake and eat it too. If they made exclusive gear available on a regular basis, then it would no longer be exclusive, and if they made all vanity gear account-wide, then people wouldn't participate nearly as much to get it on all of their alts (The lightning event is maybe the one exception since if they didn't nerf it like the other Fates, then it's a great way to Fate grind for seals and experience). This isn't to say that they won't ever do account-wide items, but I'm pretty sure that wait will probably be about 4-5 years as a way to bring back older players.

Though I don't think SE likes alts for the simple reason that there's a very large number of benefits for playing on a single character and there's even a pay service that caters to that play style. To be honest, the only reason why a player would ever play an alt is to have a different race/build.

@ Dark-Savior: If you've ever played Scarlet Blade/Queen's Blade, then you'll know the face of true evil. The way they allow you to "buy" exclusive vanity items is through a service similar to a Pachinko machine. There are horror stories where people literally pumped hundreds of dollars into it without getting a thing.

I normally prefer having multiple characters, but right now, I feel like FFXIV kind of hates me for being that way. For example, I would *LOVE* to have a Highlander Warrior, a Midlander Paladin, and female Miqo'te Bard. That will likely never be a legitimate option, though, since this game is heavily built upon playing one character; and that's fine. But let me at least have fun with the Glamour system, and fix my characters up the way I want, without having to worry about "Oh man, I only have a couple of weeks until a new Event, time to stop 'having fun' and focused on rushing this character to lvl 50 in this specific job, otherwise I'll never be able to customize the character how I want".

To me, it's helps each Class/Job feel like a totally new experience, instead of being "the same character, but with different clothes". Plus, take this character for example; I chose his appearance *specifically* to compliment his Monk clothing, right down to his eyes matching the shade of yellow as the clothes and his hair matching the "metal" on his shoulders and gloves. I love how he looks, but would it translate to any of the other Classes? I'm not so sure. With an account-wide wardrobe, even if I'm still playing this character most of the time, I could at least enjoy *other* characters, too.

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Originally Posted by Terin

And, just like Hakuro said; it would give players more motivation to actually play new characters entirely.

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I play a Hellsguard Roegadyn Warrior named Burning Passion. That is my main and has been for a really, ridiculously long time. However, back during game launch, I actually played a Miqo'te Scholar that I was quite proud of for a while, but it's not something I would want to force my Warrior to put effort into. I also want to play a bunch of other jobs on other characters. But again, unless I can access gear I earned / bought in a timely manner / acquired through events, I see no reason to even try.

NOTE: I do NOT want to just buy a bunch of Myth/Soldiery gear on my Warrior to give to my other Jobs. That's not what I want. I want, instead, to be able to access achievement items without having to grind for them, and items that, if I did start a new character, I would not be able to acquire them ever, if not for at least a year.

Agreed 100%, man. I'm fine with dedicating yourself to a single character in terms of getting gear to raise your stats, but for Glamour, they should just let us have fun with them, provided we've earned such things on at least *one* character. I would say the exact same thing for Mounts and Minions, too (save for the GC-specific Bardings, since again, those are somewhat story-related). I can appreciate the Devs choosing to err on the side of caution, but I'd like to see some of these restrictions relaxed a bit.