How do you think the devs can improve the Glamour Dresser System?

Everyone can agree that the Glamour Dresser system needs a lot of work. It's messy and clunky and a pain in the a** to use. Worst of all is the Armoire. I know that you can get job gear from the Calamity vendor, but, why do we need to? Why can't we store it in the Armoire so we can easily use it for glams? It doesn't make sense. All lvl 60/70/80 Antiquated(or otherwise) Job-specific gear should be storable in the Armoire.

Best case scenario? They rework the glam system to be like WoW's system -- Any piece of gear that has ever hit your inventory gets its appearance unlocked in the glamor system for you to use, even after you trash the original piece of gear.

I wish they could copy WoW's transmog system and make it work like that. When you get a new item, its appearance is saved to a collection. On tradable items you could have this occur after it beomces soul bonded or w/e. No need to hold onto items, not in the armorie or glammour dresser or anywhere.

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Originally Posted by gilmorej

Best case scenario? They rework the glam system to be like WoW's system -- Any piece of gear that has ever hit your inventory gets its appearance unlocked in the glamor system for you to use, even after you trash the original piece of gear.

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Basically this. Yet they never will because the game is on spaghetti code that for some reason can't such a system.

I figure its less spaghetti code and more that it would have to either be laggy or it would have to trust the client a lot more which can open itself up to other problems. I think I remember someone (maybe the WoW devs?) talking about that being a concern back before they added the collections tab but their game has some anti-tampering stuff running in the background so it's less of an issue for them.

Pie in the sky? As others have already said, a complete rework that puts in more in line with WoW. Also, some method to adjust or toggle various items and layers for different appearances of the same items (sort of like we already have with the visor command on some hats/helms). Even if this causes clipping, it can sometimes be well within the acceptable range of the individual players. Oh, and a more nuanced dye system so that we can dye different parts of different pieces of gear different colours, or even multiple colours to allow transperenices and layering.

Realistic? A few more glamour plates and a little more room in the dresser. Maybe some loosening on when/where you can change plates.

Didn't they say that it's "following" us everywhere but it's just hidden when closed and every other player has to load everyone's wardrobe when they are in the zone?

Or am I totally wrong? Either way it's this mysterious spaghetti code

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Originally Posted by Nothv13

Basically this. Yet they never will because the game is on spaghetti code that for some reason can't such a system.

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If I give them the benefit of the doubt, it's probably because their storage backend isn't well-suited to it. The game has a truly phenomenal amount of gear, and if you were to just maintain a list of every piece of gear that had ever passed through your hands (or even just every bit of gear you'd ever equipped), it could get pretty large if it was just a table of "Player X has Gear Piece Y unlocked".

IF the backend were designed for it from the start, they could've ensured the database in use had the capability for special fields of some form, like a sparse bitfield where bit X is 1 or 0, and X = a given gear piece's item ID. That would make it far easier to store 'player has seen this gear piece' without such a list having actual potential legitimate performance and storage implications. But if they're already entrenched with their data storage representation and have no good way to extend it with something like a sparse bitfield data type, maintaining a list like that really actually could be prohibitive.

Which, to be fair, boils down to "spaghetti code" (or at least, "deeply entrenched legacy code"), albeit "spaghetti code" where it could genuinely be a valid reason.

On a wild guess, the armoire probably works off a non-sparse bitfield, making it much easier to load, but also much more restrictive in what you can put into it (and still becoming problematic as you expand the number of items that can fit in there, particularly because since it's a subset of all gear in the game you probably require a lookup table to map item ID -> armoire slot ID).

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Originally Posted by Jin-

Didn't they say that it's "following" us everywhere but it's just hidden when closed and every other player has to load everyone's wardrobe when they are in the zone?

Or am I totally wrong? Either way it's this mysterious spaghetti code

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If I remember the explanation I've heard before correctly, it's that for glamour plates to work, your entire wardrobe has to be loaded (because the glamour plates are not separate data... arguably the first mistake, and presumably the one place it could feasibly be corrected). And for your wardrobe to be loaded, it needs to load up to 400 additional item records into memory; it's actual instances of items (or at least, some form of item instances) as opposed to just item IDs, because you can dye items before putting them into the wardrobe, it remembers if they're HQ or not, etc.

And because the game (admittedly rightly) doesn't just implicitly trust the client, the server presumably needs to load those objects to be able to handle glamouring things. Loading your personal wardrobe on the client side isn't an issue, but loading the personal wardrobe of everyone in a zone could probably have performance implications when the zone needs to be responsive for combat purposes. (One need only look at Second Life regions where something has gone Terribly Wrong in terms of loaded resources server-side to see what the implications could be.)

Which, one assumes, is why glamour plates only work in sanctuary zones.

From what I understand, this is also why the glamour dressers only work in personally-instanced areas like inn rooms or the barracks, where you know no other players will be present; evidently editing that data structure while other players are present has Bad Implications or something for overall zone state.

Honestly, justifications like that do seem technically possible, but also make me terrified to imagine what the actual implementation of the glamour system looks like on the server.

Though, to be fair, I've seen scenarios just as bad in actual code I've had the misfortune to work on. Scenarios where a product has been out for years, and was built atop the bones of a previous product which itself was forked off of yet another even earlier thing, and so you have a codebase where some parts are older than some of the programmers working on it, full of "well, I'll do this for now and fix it later" solutions to meet deadlines where "later" never arrived and the original author has moved on long ago and now everyone is afraid to touch that code for fear of breaking whatever house of cards is built atop it... and in those cases, "spaghetti code" almost seems like a generous description.

(It's actually a common enough scenario to have a term to describe it among engineers: "code rot".)

And given that from what I understand, now-FFXIV is built atop some of the bones (and certainly the data structures) of FFXIV 1.0, which itself had supposedly repurposed chunks of FFXI on the server side...

But regardless of how things got into this situation, it doesn't change the fact that it's frustrating as heck.

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Originally Posted by Zandread

Everyone can agree that the Glamour Dresser system needs a lot of work. It's messy and clunky and a pain in the a** to use. Worst of all is the Armoire. I know that you can get job gear from the Calamity vendor, but, why do we need to? Why can't we store it in the Armoire so we can easily use it for glams? It doesn't make sense. All lvl 60/70/80 Antiquated(or otherwise) Job-specific gear should be storable in the Armoire.

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Yeah, like you suggested: Let you store all the job sets in the armoire, that would save up SO much space.

Other than thank, realistically keeping the same system we have (although I'd vouch for a complete rework), it would be adding more glamour plates and incresing the cap to 600 items or something.

I'd also love if the glamour dresser could use dyes directly stored in your chocobo saddlebag or retainers.

I'd really like it to not require glamor crystals or dispellers.

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Originally Posted by Packetdancer

given that from what I understand, now-FFXIV is built atop some of the bones (and certainly the data structures) of FFXIV 1.0, which itself had supposedly repurposed chunks of FFXI on the server side...

But regardless of how things got into this situation, it doesn't change the fact that it's frustrating as heck.

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there's still a decent amount of left overs from 1.0 in ffxiv which I notice here and there. So if the glamour dresser issues is just an issue of code rot as you say then I guess it would mean they'd have to do another 1.0 to 2.0 scenario in order to fix it since it sounds like it's basically going to be a overhaul to the way storage is handled in game since the glamour dresser is basically just another storage container but for gear only.

there's probably a good amount of ways to fix the issue in cheaper ways but given that it's been stated before that the numbers were getting too high for the systems to handle and thus they're toning them down. I think now would be a good time to do such a major overhaul to this code since it would only benefit both users and developers

Preferably it's all when you get the item and bind it then you get the costume of that item, for any item in the game - that simple . . But given the many other system related memory issues FFXIV has, I'm not sure they are able to do that without extreme rebuilding of their foundations. Which means they might not do it, depending on what their plan is in general and if they think players care enough to do something about it (I mean we're still here playing, so it's not like we're sending them the message that it's a must fix lol).

I had suggested a compromise system that I thought was okay, inspired by the locker system in FFXI, where you collect pieces of a set and then you can then store the entire data as a single flag in the system. Now of course there were some differences, like here instead of obtaining the complete silver armor set and putting it away you'd do content and transform the item into a special material (materia maybe) that represents that zone. Store X amount of materia of that zone and then you unlock all the glamour from that zone, this means you could obtain only chest plates (if you were unlucky or whatever) and still get all the glamour in the end, say if the zone had 20 glamours to unlock you might have to turn in 25 - 30 pieces of materia (can use HQ system for more rare items if SE want's that to be a factor in the turn in, like weapons are HQ and you need 5 HQ and 25 NQ). Further to make this system not feel just simply a cheap glamour log once you've unlocked the content you can take future materia and convert it in a 2:1 ratio. So if you wanted a specific item but it didn't drop you just convert two pieces from that content and trade in the materia FOR that item. Now it acts as a token system as well. You can have this trade in system without unlock first but just have the ratio be less forgiving like a 4:1 or something. Can use these for some other systems as well if you wanted, certain quests, relics, etc. Also to note now if you were doing GC farming you can turn in the token rather than the item, which will stack neatly. You may also desynth the materia, although there will be a potential the results are different than the item it came from (say if it was armorsmith you might get some ingots but now that it's pressurized crystal you'll more likely get other items from breaking it apart).

This changes storing the data of items into simple flags (yes, no). Seasonal and relics and other achievement related items would just automatically go into the system based on their flag. You'll need to keep a some loose slots for weird items (like one off items that don't go in a set or are massively unique which may get them a 'legendary' status in the system- like certain Eureka drops probably shouldn't fit within the generic "obtain x" system else you'd unlock them quite easily). Legendary glamours would be those that you see SE has clearly designed to be selling for many mil on the market board (rare / super hard to craft).

It'd still take a bit of info but if you say most content has around 15 unique pieces and you do that 100 times then you've already given players 1,500 glamours in the space of 100 'slots'. This system also acts as a nice way to ensure a safety net is most content, it's built into the backbone of the game so it's not something SE would have to redesign each time then - it just exists there and doesn't really need tweaked. Even mounts could then be purchased through this method (for primals).

Wrote more on the thing here: https://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/...9-Token-System

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Originally Posted by Burningskull

I'd really like it to not require glamor crystals or dispellers.

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Solid point. It's already a system with so many pain points and annoyance points, there's no reason at all for this to still be a requirement. It adds nothing but an extra bit of annoyance/frustration.

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Originally Posted by Packetdancer

And given that from what I understand, now-FFXIV is built atop some of the bones (and certainly the data structures) of FFXIV 1.0, which itself had supposedly repurposed chunks of FFXI on the server side...

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You don't trust Yoshida-Sama when he said it was an all new game? How dare you!

(more seriously : "lol, no"... to that, and a lot of other automatic answers about spaghetti code etc.)

To answer the topic : it's mainly a question of cost and priority. How many players actually care about a new glamour system VS the time/resources needed to develop it VS other things they're working on.

If we truly cannot have a transmog system like the one that exists in WoW or in DCUO (in that game as well, you can equip the "style" of any gear you've gotten, regardless of whether you still have that gear, or what gear you are currently wearing), then I second the motion that the armoire should be significantly expanded. I absolutely think that AF gear/mog station gear/etc should be able to go in there, and it was frankly surprising to me when I was able to put my 50 AF gear in but then 60/70 I had to cram into my glamour dresser.

That alone might resolve a lot of the issues I have with glamour dresser capacity, but I would still like to see capacity expanded considerably, as well as the number of glamour plates that can be used.

A couple other things I would love to see:
- Get rid of the need for prisms.
- Make it possible to access/apply glamour plates anywhere, not just in major city states.
- Access to the glamour dresser outside of inn rooms, and being able to use it to apply glamours as-needed, not only if the glamour gear is on a plate. I would like to be able to apply my "emperor's new fist" when I get new weapons on the fly, rather than having to stop what I'm doing, go to a city state, apply my glamour plate, and reroute back to business. I guess I could just carry prisms and an extra pair of emperor's fists in my inventory, but I'd rather not HAVE to do that.

Just my 2 gil worth :)

As a perk if you will they should at least increase the glamour dresser to 999 items and 30 glamour plates.

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Originally Posted by Burningskull

I'd really like it to not require glamor crystals or dispellers.

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They sell decently, though...

They're a great way to make use of excess wolf marks, too.

oh that is easy

1. Download World of Warcraft
2. Open Asset folder
3. Copy and Paste that system into the FF14 folder

This is literally one area that Blizzard does FARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR better then FF14. This current limited system I would expect from Everquest in 1999 is a complete joke compared to what they could EASILY be doing.

I will never understand why they have this free to play mind set that they might be able to monetize artificially limited glamour dressers. They are making christ knows how much money as it stands so they can stand to give us a fix for this for free.

This current system is not designed for anything beyond Realm Reborn. They created it and then never bothered to think if it would ever work with the SHEER quantity of glams possible passed ARR.

There is a reason a lot of people look the same in FF14 and it is because of this limited system forcing people to trash gear they would otherwise glam but due to artificially lowered space it is just limited.

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Originally Posted by Puremallace

oh that is easy

1. Download World of Warcraft
2. Open Asset folder
3. Copy and Paste that system into the FF14 folder

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I'm absolutely certain that FFXIV will adopt this process the same year that Blizzard ports their game to the PS5. So, never.

Yes. The question is if they have the resources, and if they do what we don't get in the meantime if they decide to use those resources.

Any gear piece stored there should automatically lose any role/class/Job restriction (lvl restrictions are ok)

There are only three changes needed for glamour dresser:

1. Have enough plates for each class and job in the game.
2. Have the plates be accessible everywhere (except maybe in instanced content, but if possible, inside there too).
3. Allow it to store dye options that can be used on any and all slots on all plates.

However, there is another change that must go along with it, and it's not to the glamour dresser, but to the armoire:

1. Make the armoire be a character-based appearance collection that stores the appearances of all gears that the character has ever possessed, but remove the ability to restore item.

(The glamour dresser retains the ability to restore items, but is the same feature as it currently exists so people has to choose what gear they want to be able to restore and they can't just multiply gears.)

+1 to the Guildwars 2/WoW system.

Moreover if there is a straight dressing room situation where you just click and it shows on your character.

As is now, I have to do several clicks to see each piece and have to make sure I have things ticked to view more than 1 piece (or with current gear)...and dying is wonky in preview....Plus some items can’t be previewed unless someone links it in text.

Again, just do what GW2 does.

For glamour plates, I get that this is harder, but there should be at least 1 per job unlocked.

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Originally Posted by gilmorej

Best case scenario? They rework the glam system to be like WoW's system -- Any piece of gear that has ever hit your inventory gets its appearance unlocked in the glamor system for you to use, even after you trash the original piece of gear.

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In addition to this I wish we could store dye in the glamour dresser. It's very tiresome to have to fetch dye every time considering the dresser is in an area with no vendors or access to a fc chest. Sure you could store them on your retainers but there is an incredible amount of dyes so that would take up an unreasonable amount of slots.

Sure the above would be fixed if we could get a dresser furnishing but that isn't here yet due to technical limitations of the game. Adding a feature that allows for the storage of dye would actually be possible given that the dresser already stores other items.

The big thing, and the only thing I consider vital: Enough plates for every job. All else is irrelevant next to that.

Collection based glamour system like RIFT (did it before WoW and did it better)

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Originally Posted by Zandread

Everyone can agree that the Glamour Dresser system needs a lot of work. It's messy and clunky and a pain in the a** to use. Worst of all is the Armoire. I know that you can get job gear from the Calamity vendor, but, why do we need to? Why can't we store it in the Armoire so we can easily use it for glams? It doesn't make sense. All lvl 60/70/80 Antiquated(or otherwise) Job-specific gear should be storable in the Armoire.

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Scrap the dresser; Like RIFT and SWToR If you've collected something, it's available on a list that you can then mix and match. Store the plates locally as XML files on your disk, containing the slot and UUID of the unlocked item - no need for servers.

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Originally Posted by Shibi

Scrap the dresser; Like RIFT and SWToR If you've collected something, it's available on a list that you can then mix and match. Store the plates locally as XML files on your disk, containing the slot and UUID of the unlocked item - no need for servers.

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Sure. XML files on your disk, no need for servers. Play on a console? No glamour for you.

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Originally Posted by gilmorej

Best case scenario? They rework the glam system to be like WoW's system -- Any piece of gear that has ever hit your inventory gets its appearance unlocked in the glamor system for you to use, even after you trash the original piece of gear.

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This is the best solution and it's baffling why it hasn't been done.

So many people say the 1.0 spaghetti code isn't holding us back but Yoshi has specifically said the old code is the reason a WoW-style glamour system can't be done. The old code requires that any glamour gear be physically somewhere and that physicality requirement puts strain on the system.

One thing that would be a great help is if they could expand the system used for the Armoire integration. Right now you can pull items from the Armoire onto glamour plates. The new system I would like would check the unlocked items you have access to and work similar to the integrated Armoire. These items would be something like unlocked AF sets(SB and SHB), the Garo armors/weapons you've unlocked via achievements, relic weapon replicas and so on. It's something that I think is realistic with the system they have right now and that data is already stored, so they just need to integrate it into the glamour dresser system.

Since we're unlikely to get WoW's system. I'll suggest improvements to what we do have.

• Either an expansion on the Armoire or a new one altogether for "Collectable" items. This includes relics, Ultimate weapons and hell, throw in Mogstation stuff too.
• Make the Dresser a housing item. If the coding is too difficult, give us a handful of fixed locations we can put it. Going to the inn room every time is obnoxious.
• Double both the storage space and glamor plate allotment. 400 slots is already getting squeezed and it's, frankly, ridiculous we'll soon have twenty battle jobs and only fifteen plates. Nevermind gathers and crafters.