Why So Many Key Item Slots?

We keep talking about it in many threads about space on servers and how there is a lack of inventory space. How we have so little for our retainers and ourselves. But, the one thing I have noticed which I am surprised no one else has mentioned is that there are 3 full grids of space in our inventories dedicated to just Key Items. It also rarely if ever gets used and when it does you are probably just talking about a fraction of the first grid only being used. So, why is there so much space dedicated to something that rarely gets used? Is it just to be consistent with the number of inventory slots? Why is there even dedicate space to just Key Items anyways?

It to me just seems to be wasted space and can be freed up for else where that could give us players more space for our own inventories. I kind of consider this a pink elephant in the room that no one has really mentioned and sorry if someone has as I haven't seen it.

Because it's probably theoretically possible to hold that many KIs at once if you have the max capacity of active quests. It's the same sort of reason there is enough armoury chest space for every job's soul crystal + 3 specialist DoH soul crystals, even if a player has no intention of actually obtaining them all.

I doubt it's considered something they could potentially "cut back" on in favor of regular inventory space.

Why not just open up those extra grids and have key items and regular items share the same storage? It's not a perfect solution but at least that extra storage space won't go to waste.

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Originally Posted by Fynlar

Because it's probably theoretically possible to hold that many KIs at once if you have the max capacity of active quests. It's the same sort of reason there is enough armoury chest space for every job's soul crystal + 3 specialist DoH soul crystals, even if a player has no intention of actually obtaining them all.

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The devs still plan to introduce new classes in the future. Why would they do this if they weren't capable of expanding soul crystal storage? They're clearly able to add more storage space since we got some to accommodate for the new jobs and DoH, they're just stingy about it unless it's in the form of a cash shop feature.

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Originally Posted by Xieveral

Why not just open up those extra grids and have key items and regular items share the same storage?

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No thanks, I'm bad enough at inventory management without having to throw away something for an item used in a quest, the space is there because the item serves no purpose and would clog up inventory more than it currently is. I'd rather more items were considered key items tbh (zodiac items come to mind)

For key items.

/thread.

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Originally Posted by Lambdafish

No thanks, I'm bad enough at inventory management without having to throw away something for an item used in a quest, the space is there because the item serves no purpose and would clog up inventory more than it currently is. I'd rather more items were considered key items tbh (zodiac items come to mind)

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Okay? The community continue to suffer insufficient inventory space because other people are unorganized/have hoarding issues? It's on the individual to keep track of inventory. Additional space benefits everyone, hoarders can hoard more.

Key items disappear when the objective requiring them is complete, and ideally there would be a confirmation window and abandonment of the quest if you attempt to toss it. If you still manage to screw up with those kind of preventative measures, I don't know what to say.

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Originally Posted by Xieveral

The devs still plan to introduce new classes in the future. Why would they do this if they weren't capable of expanding soul crystal storage? They're clearly able to add more storage space since we got some to accommodate for the new jobs and DoH, they're just stingy about it unless it's in the form of a cash shop feature.

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Okay, I think you're being rather paranoid - SE have stated in the past that the inventory limitations are because of technical reasons and have nothing to do with the Mogstation, and everything to how the game has been coded (the Mogstation actually came much later, long after the game's launch). The database for your inventory and armoury chest is actually being constantly rewritten every ten seconds or so on the server, and thus because of this, if they made it too big, the database rewriting would end up taking excessive amounts of time and potentially cause server stability problems (this is actually proven by the annoying 'move' errors that occur if you try moving items around your inventory or between your armoury chest and inventory too quickly.).

This isn't the first time this sort of thing has happened with an online FF game either - in FFXI they had to restrict sales on the Auction House to just seven items at a time because anything more destabilized the servers. The fact is, all that calculating behind the scenes on the server is causing the inventory limitations - there is no magic wand solution, and it isn't a money-making thing either. SE are aware it's a problem for players though, and despite how it may seem, they will try and find some solution if and when they are able.

Key items haven't been utilized in XIV to nearly the extent they were in XI. By the time I quit, I had well over a hundred key items. They were just items in a list that had been broken down into categories and not really objectives, but they controlled everything from access to secret doors to the bonus buffs you could choose from in Abyssea.

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Originally Posted by Draxxion

But, the one thing I have noticed which I am surprised no one else has mentioned is that there are 3 full grids of space in our inventories dedicated to just Key Items.

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Are there really that much space for KI? What I mean is that if your inventory is set to display one grid at a time (like on PS3 or at the beginning of ARR release) instead of four, then only one grid of KI is displayed. So, can we really fill those second or third grid or are they dummy grids?
It's a legit question, I never owed more than 25 KI...

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Originally Posted by Enkidoh

Okay, I think you're being rather paranoid - SE have stated in the past that the inventory limitations are because of technical reasons and have nothing to do with the Mogstation, and everything to how the game has been coded. The database for your inventory and armoury chest is actually being constantly rewritten every ten seconds or so on the server, and thus because of this, if they made it too big, the database rewriting would end up taking excessive amounts of time and potentially cause server stability problems (this is actually proven by the annoying 'move' errors that occur if you try moving items around your inventory or between your armoury chest and inventory too quickly.).

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Perfect reason why some of this should be client side. If they were, then there wouldn't be this inventory space issue. Everything doesn't have to be server side.

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Originally Posted by Theonekitten

Perfect reason why some of this should be client side. If they were, then there wouldn't be this inventory space issue. Everything doesn't have to be server side.

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Oh yeah, let me just add a full Alex Savage set into my inventory client side ^^ /sarcasm

What is in the inventory have to be saved server side, not client side. The only thing that can be saved client side is how it is sorted in the inventory.

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Perfect reason why some of this should be client side. If they were, then there wouldn't be this inventory space issue. Everything doesn't have to be server side.

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Inventory absolutely has to be handled server side, unless you want people easily cheating their way to ungodly amounts of gear and riches.

This thread is making me think a number of you really do not know how data management works :/

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Originally Posted by Fynlar

Inventory absolutely has to be handled server side, unless you want people easily cheating their way to ungodly amounts of gear and riches.

This thread is making me think a number of you really do not know how data management works :/

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I've come to that conclusion every time I've argued with anyone regarding item storage, glamours, or housing.

Personally I'd like to see more items IN the Key Items section that for some reason, are not. Example? Our wedding rings. Why does it take up space in our main inventory/armoury chest? You have to keep it with you to use it so it's always there in either your inventory or your chest. Move it to Key Items please.
And as far as people having so many items in their Key items. Do the quests. I still have Items I need to turn in for relic but I STILL haven't taken up the first row which is 5 items. If you have 25 items like another player mentioned, you need to do those quests and clear them out. lolol

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Originally Posted by Geesus

Our wedding rings. Why does it take up space in our main inventory/armoury chest?

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Because we can't glamour it/show it off if it's a key item :)

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Originally Posted by Fynlar

Inventory absolutely has to be handled server side, unless you want people easily cheating their way to ungodly amounts of gear and riches.

This thread is making me think a number of you really do not know how data management works :/

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The inventory has to be server side, but I can't see why the full inventory data should need to be synced between client and server constantly. Server should push updates to item status to the client as needed (durability, new item acquired). Client side actions that affect inventory state (equipping an item, applying a dye, discarding an item, desynth) should be handled on a per-transaction basis (item with GUID <x> equipped in mainhand, item with GUID <y> placed in inventory slot 7).

I actually have filled my key items inventory before....I was pretty disappointed in my hoarding.

I think its funny were told inventory has restrictions to how the game was made/ps3 ect and yet inventory is np if were paying for it each month via rent-able retainers for up to 1,050 extra spaces. So "restrictions" is really just a excuse to say "Pay for it"

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Originally Posted by Kyri

I think its funny were told inventory has restrictions to how the game was made/ps3 ect and yet inventory is np if were paying for it each month via rent-able retainers for up to 1,050 extra spaces. So "restrictions" is really just a excuse to say "Pay for it"

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retainer inventory are not part of character data, i guess. I think the only thing from retainer that is part of the character data is the info which retainer is own by the character. While the retainer data is a data for itself that is accessed by clicking on the retainer bell.

Also, just create alts as mules and use the FC safe to transfer the items.

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Originally Posted by Felis

retainer inventory are not part of character data, i guess. I think the only thing from retainer that is part of the character data is the info which retainer is own by the character. While the retainer data is a data for itself that is accessed by clicking on the retainer bell.

Also, just create alts as mules and use the FC safe to transfer the items.

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Id be fine with a free retainer or to inventory with HW and all the new extra items, it doesn't need to be my actual person. fc safe space to swap off is usually only a option in very small fc's. Bigger fc have very little safe space and leaders can grow upset at members erasing all inventory history to mule things off.

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Originally Posted by Xieveral

Okay? The community continue to suffer insufficient inventory space because other people are unorganized/have hoarding issues? It's on the individual to keep track of inventory. Additional space benefits everyone, hoarders can hoard more.

Key items disappear when the objective requiring them is complete, and ideally there would be a confirmation window and abandonment of the quest if you attempt to toss it. If you still manage to screw up with those kind of preventative measures, I don't know what to say.

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It's a separate system for a reason, and for the record, I don't ever really have more than 10 key items at a time (CT gems, Ex primal items, that kind of thing), but I do craft, and Id rather keep hold of the key items than need to toss something for crafting and gathering. Surely your argument of hoarding is made moot by the fact that you are asking for more space, space which has been designed to separate items that serve 2 completely different purposes in game, and shouldn't be mixed.

You also seem to miss that key items don't hold much data, and could be stored a different way. its just a tick in the box that you have fulfilled the objective, which uses up a lot less data than gear stats, repair levels, material, and any other data associated with "real" items.

I sometimes get the key items tab at least mostly full when I pick up a dozen Ixal quests at a time. They use between 1 and 3 key items each, and I'll usually do the gathering portion for 6 quests at a time, and then do the crafting portion (which uses up the key items and gives inventory items in their place). Adding up two or three key items for each of half a dozen of those quests, along with a miscellaneous item or two for whatever else I have going on at the time, can take a big chunk out of our 25 key item slots. Someone could certainly run out of key item slots if they had a wider variety of things underway at a time than I generally do.