Suggestions for the retainer interface (With mockup pictures)

As a crafter and someone who sells a lot of items in the market, I've always found the retainer interface very clunky to use. It feels like a system that would work fine if you only had 1 retainer, but becomes unwieldy when managing multiple ones.

I made some mockups to illustrate some suggestions that I personally think would benefit the retainer system. It's not so much a remake as it is an iteration of the current interface. I've mostly looked at the core management of multiple retainers, as I find the jumping between all the menus very cumbersome.

If this got some dev love, that would be great. I hope to at least spur some discussion.

https://68.media.tumblr.com/bbcd7e33...jumo1_1280.png

https://68.media.tumblr.com/8b0c6ac6...jumo1_1280.png

https://68.media.tumblr.com/12a98b6e...jumo1_1280.png

Holy cripes on a cracker, PUT THIS IN! :O

I'd like to add one more suggestion to your mockup. Next to the retainer's name should have the icon of the city-state that retainer is selling in.

This is amazing. Go put it in general discussion so people actually see it. =D

This looks like everything I want and need with all the hassle dealing with my 8 retainers is currently.
https://youtu.be/8QfSzgV1q5g

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Originally Posted by Etiken

This is amazing. Go put it in general discussion so people actually see it. =D

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Maybe that would be better, yeah. Is it possible to get a thread moved to a different forum?

Inb4 "PS3 limitations"

add this now square enix

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Originally Posted by Shadowsun

Inb4 "PS3 limitations"

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If that's a holdup, then don't do it for PS3 ... make it an incentive to upgrade hardware!

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Originally Posted by Shadowsun

Inb4 "PS3 limitations"

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Their new one is "Server limitations"

I like the idea, it looks great for a mouse but horrible for a controller.
Also, all menu have size scaling options, lets assume your proposal is 100% view, what would it look like on a 14" laptop monitor? What would it look like at 180% size increase?

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Originally Posted by ChameleonMS

I like the idea, it looks great for a mouse but horrible for a controller.
Also, all menu have size scaling options, lets assume your proposal is 100% view, what would it look like on a 14" laptop monitor? What would it look like at 180% size increase?

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You don't think it would work with a controller? I don't see why it would be much worse than navigating the current character window. It's structurally divided into columns (You could have the "Confirm" button below the "Reassign" button to get rid of horizontal navigation within the second column) and it has one set of tabs, which is within the the inventory grid column, and those have separate navigation shortcuts.

The size of the window is the same as the character window with the gear set list window open next to it.

With that said, I think alot of the UI would greatly benefit from being more responsive and resizeable, like the height of the market listings window or the quest log

Nice! I dream with that day !!!
SE needs improvement our QoL

You would have thought this would be common sense when designing a game...it ceratinly would have been to me.
Agree with op!!
gj

Many ppl have suggested streamlined and effecitent ui changes, mb changes etc...playing for 1 hr , the changes needed are evident, I cant fathom why designers cant do this right from the get go lol

I love it. If there are limitations preventing this at least SE could fix some of the low hanging fruits like re-assign all retainers ventures and collect all gil.

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Originally Posted by Mindylou

You would have thought this would be common sense when designing a game...it ceratinly would have been to me. (...)

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Originally we only had 2 retainers though, and I think it works fine with few retainers. It just doesn't scale well when we can buy more.

I really wish SE would take these suggestions and implement them. Such a QoL upgrade

I like the suggestions overall, but I think I'd rather separate retainer inventory into its own window so that we can eliminate the need for inventory tabs entirely and instead display the entire inventory of a single retainer at once. Then add tabs to that window that display the inventory of your other retainers so that you can easily move items around. Additionally, under such a design the sort button should work to consolidate all stacks between your retainers, unless the retainer is designated as to be ignored. There should also be a way to designate retainers as being for materials, furnishings, whatever, that will make sort prefer to either move certain items into their inventories or out of their inventories.

would love that gjgj!!

Would add a typeable "search all retainers" area. Current right click on an item only to search retainers is far too limiting.
I would like an area to type in complete/partial searches like the mb has

I was discussing an idea like this recently, and a friend sent me over the link to this post and it's good to see that I wasn't alone in my thinking! I feel like an interface such as this really gives us a way to see multiple retainer specs at a glance, and now that SE doesn't have to worry about PS3 limitations, I feel like this could get implemented if given enough time. I also made sure to share your post concerning this on tumblr as well to boost awareness! I would LOVE to see something like this in game, so fingers crossed that this gets recognized! :D

I am one such person who saw this due to iLyrica-sama's tumblr post and I give it all my love and support! I personally only have two retainers and I'm very disorganized (didn't know what I was doing when I started putting the most random things in their inventories two years ago) and I hate constantly swapping back and forth.. I can't even fathom what it's like having several to manage. This would help everyone immensely! I hope the devs see this and consider implementing it into the game, we seriously need more retainer interface and this is a fantastic way to go about it~

I love this idea! Support 100%!

Just one question... why ? Why this perfect idea is not already in the game ?

retainers menu is a pain ! Dev has to answer on this thread to explain why they dont upgrade that.

Can we please just get this already?

Holy cow hire this guy already. This is all I've ever wanted.

I love everything about this.

This is fantastic. Seriously incredible. I would LOVE to actually use this, and my carpal tunnel would appreciate the crap out of it.

I'd suspect the reason they limit retainer access one at a time is to reduce the load on the servers having to call so much information all at once. The difficulty here would surely be implementing the UI without changing that load significantly. As we've seen with the complications with expanding our own inventory, there's always going to be some core code roadblock preventing expanding on various elements.

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Originally Posted by Hasrat

I'd suspect the reason they limit retainer access one at a time is to reduce the load on the servers having to call so much information all at once. The difficulty here would surely be implementing the UI without changing that load significantly. As we've seen with the complications with expanding our own inventory, there's always going to be some core code roadblock preventing expanding on various elements.

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I doubt there'd be a significant difference between that and, say, FC chests. FC chests load tab by tab the first time you click them. Clearly they're retrieving their data from the server when they do that. So you just do that here and store the inventory data temporarily on the user's client just like the FC chests. Then when the interface is closed, that data is all sent back to the server for saving.

The retainer UI is long overdue for a redesign/overhaul.

One would think for a part of the game that could potentially cost more than the monthly subscription itself, it would be getting more attention.

One would also think that part of the game that could potentially double the revenue from the monthly subscription, they would want the UI as user friendly as possible, so the extra cost would be more worthwhile and appealing to players considering purchasing extra retainers.

Amazing work. Square Enix could probably make this happen pretty easy, i mean it basically does the same things just in a different, much more streamlined UI.

Sadly, since they likely make a small fortune from retainers alone unless everyone banded together and went on a type of retainer strike, which would never happen, i don't think Square even thinks about retainers much less revamping the UI. It's sad because retainers are a very important part of many players who craft alot, sell alot and so on. I easily waste 2-3 hours a day adjusting market prices, adding new items, ventures, fishing out items i need for a craft etc. All the while im paying Square for this - ok its not exactly expensive but still.

Nearly everything in the game has been revamped to some degree except retainers. Since they cost real money it seems prety clear to me Square are happy to not bother with it and just keep taking our money for them.

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Originally Posted by Krelm

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You would still need to buy more retainer so the amount of money SE would get from retainer purchase wouldn't change.

This is just a streamlined and order of magnitude more efficient system.

If anything it would increase the sells as people might start storing more stuff (since it'd be more convenient to do so)

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Originally Posted by Sylvain

You would still need to buy more retainer so the amount of money SE would get from retainer purchase wouldn't change.

This is just a streamlined and order of magnitude more efficient system.

If anything it would increase the sells as people might start storing more stuff (since it'd be more convenient to do so)

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Yeah, gonna admit, half the reason I haven't picked up more retainers since they upped the limit is because it's so annoying dealing with what I have already.

The only flaw I feel this system has is that you'd never actually see your retainers again, unless you put them on your estate. I feel like the interaction you have with your retainers is a minor aspect but it's still a nice feature and I'd prefer if it was preserved somehow.

Easy. When you select another retainer, have the first one walk away and the new one walk up. Their dialogue to you could be in one of those uninteractive bubbles. I'm tired of my black mage miqo'te hitting on me anyways.

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Originally Posted by Sylvain

You would still need to buy more retainer so the amount of money SE would get from retainer purchase wouldn't change.

This is just a streamlined and order of magnitude more efficient system.

If anything it would increase the sells as people might start storing more stuff (since it'd be more convenient to do so)

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I pay for all 9 retainers as i craft alot and hoard all crafting mats just in case i need something really uncommon at somepoint. I have no problem paying for this, and would be happy to pay more even with an efficent UI. But with the current ui im basically using like a quarter of my game time just keepinmg them updated. And keeping on top of ventures for 9 retainers is also a pain, though i do alot of A/S rank hunting so its not really that bad. But anyway love the UI, hope Square does something, anthing, to make it less time consuming.

Arise! Ariiise! Because I like this idea.