Theoretically, would making Glam Dressers & etc account based lighten the load?

Now, I don't know how data works for FFXIV but from what I gather, increasing the glam dresser storage, plates, and other things would cause more strain/data per character. Would the same happen if such systems were converted to be account based instead? For example, as it is now, each character has 15 glam plates. What if instead it was 30 glam plates per account? Granted that means each character doesn't have their own plates now, but maybe it would be worth it? What if all the items in the dresser were stored in the account, instead of the character?

Spaghetti code is how data works in FFXIV. The calamity had real world implications. I'm not sure they'd want to give up per character outfit sales from the mogstation this change would enable. And no clue if a change like this would help anything as the database would be getting larger regardless, just potentially having multiple characters accessing the same one instead of each having their own. Might be too tied to individual inventory as well that could cause issues deploying.

People with multiple characters would be completely screwed over, not gonna happen.

Having several characters isn't that common anyway, in all honesty, so it isn't very clear if making plate acount-wide would help at all. Plus I honestly suspect that the real problem is, much how it's with queues, in how much servers are able to handle when people are online, not when they are logged out, and if that's the case - then alts don't play into it at all, since you can't play on two characters on same account at the same time.

I personally won't be against of glamour plates and glamour in general being account-wide if it can help with loads and if it's possible at all, though.

What if it's based on what can be loaded at any one time?
You can only log in to one character at a time, so that's 15 slots per character at any one time.
If everyone suddenly doubled to 30, even if it was shared with alts, then it could still have the same effect as simply doubling it for every character.

I think an account wide dresser would be nice.. cause then any event items i put in there can be used on any future characters if and when I decide to make more. I can see why square might not be supportive of the idea though.. mostly they could potentially lose money this way.. however I don’t think it would honestly be that much of a loss if most ppl don’t play alts much anyway..

All six of my frequently used characters have a full fifteen plates, none of them sharing their outfits with the others.

The contents of their dressers are also at least half unique gear.

Merging them specifically to downgrade the total number of slots assigned to all characters across an account would be a massive downgrade for me, besides the side effect of getting to share things between characters.

If they could make the dresser (not plates) account-wide without losing slots per character, that would be great because I'd need to store less things overall. But it seems unlikely.

there's a separate database for account wide items which is almost full, so probably not. yoshi referenced it a few years ago on a live letter Q/A about why so few mogstation items are account bound.

As someone with some experience in coding, the truth is there's just know way for us to know. What may seem a simple solution, might involve other nuances that make it impossible. Still, it should've prevent us from making suggestions!

I've personally wondered if perhaps Job Crystals could be reworked (in terms of coding), and essentially tie "glamour plate" functionality to them? It would simultaneously make the crystals require more data, while removing the data needed for glamour plates, at least IN THEORY, which is all I can really offer.

Now that tradeskills finally have their own Job Crystals, it seems like a fairly organic solution. I know some people enjoy having multiple glamours for the same job, and in a perfect world we'd have both, but I think most players would rather have a glamour for EACH job, than only 15 "do whatever you want" plates.

Just my two cents.

I still don't understand why the slots are so limited. I keep hearing that the code is an issue but surely they can work around it.

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Originally Posted by Terin

I've personally wondered if perhaps Job Crystals could be reworked (in terms of coding), and essentially tie "glamour plate" functionality to them? It would simultaneously make the crystals require more data, while removing the data needed for glamour plates, at least IN THEORY, which is all I can really offer.

Now that tradeskills finally have their own Job Crystals, it seems like a fairly organic solution. I know some people enjoy having multiple glamours for the same job, and in a perfect world we'd have both, but I think most players would rather have a glamour for EACH job, than only 15 "do whatever you want" plates.

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That just sounds like a roundabout way of saying "give us more plates". The crystals don't hold any customisable data now, they're just a piece of equipment. They're not going to somehow be able to store more plate data just because they've invent a system to link it to job crystals – the same amount of data is still needed per plate.

And I don't see any value in linking it to jobs rather than giving the same number of freely usable plates, especially when they can already be linked to gearsets if you want to. Personally I have several plates for my favourite jobs and the others get switched in and out as I'm levelling them.

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Originally Posted by Karthunk

I still don't understand why the slots are so limited. I keep hearing that the code is an issue but surely they can work around it.

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I assume it's about data storage space and not just being able to call it up. I suspect the plates may actually be duplicating the item and storing it elsewhere, which is why the items on a plate are disconnected from the version in the dresser and even remain in place if you take the original item out again.

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Originally Posted by Alien_Gamer

there's a separate database for account wide items which is almost full, so probably not. yoshi referenced it a few years ago on a live letter Q/A about why so few mogstation items are account bound.

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That is something different and has more to do with the 20 digit item codes rather than account data.

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Originally Posted by Karthunk

I still don't understand why the slots are so limited. I keep hearing that the code is an issue but surely they can work around it.

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You are thinking like a PC games designer, not like a PC and console games designer.

FFXIV is one of the few MMOs that actually runs servers that work with both console and PC players. ESO doesn't (at least I was told a few years ago that "PS4 players will play with PS4 players, XBOX players will play with XBOX players, PC players will play with PC players"). WoW was never written for console.

Why all this background? Because the coding has to be vetted against two environments. There are some things that, while easy to do on a PC, will break things on console. And vice versa.

Easiest way to resolve the issue? Rewrite the game entirely. How many patch cycles/expansions would you be willing to forgo in order to get that done?

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Originally Posted by Alien_Gamer

there's a separate database for account wide items which is almost full, so probably not. yoshi referenced it a few years ago on a live letter Q/A about why so few mogstation items are account bound.

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I've heard this too and if it's true dear lord we need a database rehaul.

I mean we definitely need one anyway, the way character data in this game works is Lovecraftian.

I'd like everything from mogstation to be account bound except for fantasia, dyes, boosts, eternal bonding.

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Originally Posted by DPZ2

Easiest way to resolve the issue? Rewrite the game entirely. How many patch cycles/expansions would you be willing to forgo in order to get that done?

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Speaking for myself I'd drop a few patch cycles for an engine overhaul. It wouldn't be fun but I worry that the game cannot be sustained indefinitely on the engine and database we currently have.

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Originally Posted by Ayuhra

I mean we definitely need one anyway, the way character data in this game works is Lovecraftian.

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I love it when someone uses this term as its soooo accurate yet sooo funny xD

I just dont get why the plates cant be stored locally so they dont eat sever data with just an check upon using em... i mean sure its complicated but i think yoshi said part the problems are the huge amounts of data between server and client every few sec or smt...

Imagine having to log out to change your glamour.

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Originally Posted by Kuroka

I love it when someone uses this term as its soooo accurate yet sooo funny xD

I just dont get why the plates cant be stored locally so they dont eat sever data with just an check upon using em... i mean sure its complicated but i think yoshi said part the problems are the huge amounts of data between server and client every few sec or smt...

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Stored locally. On a console. Yeah, sure. SMH.

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Originally Posted by DPZ2

Stored locally. On a console. Yeah, sure. SMH.

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Consoles do store game data locally, or you wouldn't be able to save a game without connecting to the internet.

An account wide glamour dresser might be asking for a bit much.

However they could atleast make some things in the game shared account wide like the mount/minion entries collected. Or at least have a personal home be automatically shared by all characters on the same world on the account.

Sorry. My way of thinking was if things are account tied instead of character tied that it would take up less data and stress overall as one person could have 8 characters but 1 service account. I know that’s not always the case, but I assume the amount of service accounts is way less than the amount of actual characters, no?

I think at some point they will have to rewrite their code to make a new glamour system. The system they have right now is unsustainable. I have all my 400 glamour dresser slots full. I have no weapons there and I picked and choosed only items I'd use to be there. I also have an entire retainer full with only glam. I also store glam on my armory chest and chocobo saddlebag, which are almost always full. Can you imagine all the new cool glams we'll get in endwalker? where in the world am I supposed to store that? If they doubled the current glamour dresser space it would only buy them time, but it's inevitable they'll have to make a "glamour log" kinda system eventually.

Yeah, eventually they need to make a glamour log, to some they hit that point years ago. But with each expansion it’s only going to get worse. Maybe they’ll have it as a feature with the rework the game is getting after Endwalker? They did mention a revamp, and not just a visual one.

They don't "need" to make a glamour log, as much as people would like it, and they've admitted it's unfeasible in the current system despite having tried to make it work. And the current system won't ever actually break, just become somewhat more inconvenient but continue to do its core function.

My preferred workaround would be to improve the ability to view and reacquire dungeon gear so people don't have to hold on to as many things in the first place. Guaranteed drops from ex-endgame dungeons and alliance raids would be a godsend and I could stop holding onto so many pieces.

Even better, add some kind of currency exchange so you can earn tokens by running dungeons and use them to purchase dungeon gear. Just being able to stand at that vendor and browse every possible set would be amazing. No need to find the space for things if I can just try everything on at all times and buy what I need when I need it. The glamour dresser would become storage for your more unique pieces that you are actively using and things that are difficult to earn back.

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Originally Posted by Vipes

Now, I don't know how data works for FFXIV but from what I gather, increasing the glam dresser storage, plates, and other things would cause more strain/data per character. Would the same happen if such systems were converted to be account based instead? For example, as it is now, each character has 15 glam plates. What if instead it was 30 glam plates per account? Granted that means each character doesn't have their own plates now, but maybe it would be worth it? What if all the items in the dresser were stored in the account, instead of the character?

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30 glam plates? I support this!

I do have to point out that, depending on how the game is coded, this might not actually hurt players with multiple characters.

It seems like a single account can have up to forty characters, but let's just take a conservative estimate by looking at just the "8 characters per world" setup.

As it stands right now, each of 8 characters only has access to 400 glamour slots and 15 plates. But if those are all saved individually, what we actually have are 3200 glamour slots and 120 plates across the account (and a whopping 16000/600 if we count 40 characters).

If these individual catalogues could be recoded so that *every* character has access to *all* dresser slots and plates, then technically no one would lose and everyone would gain substantially more. Those of you with eight characters, now every single character would have access to 60 shared glamour plates (the same as you had before), but a shared dresser pool with 3200 slots.

Honestly, if this is at all feasible, I think SE should just do it. In fact in my head it feels like they absolutely could do a workaround for it, since even if the data were character-locked, you could just have a toggleable feature where every character can swap to viewing another character's (or character slot's) dresser and plates. Think a "superpage" button that let's you view 400(1), 400(2), 400(3), etc. etc.

We are already running short on both glamour slots and plates to accommodate Endwalker content, and so much of the game already revolves substantially around personal aesthetics. And if you look at the data this way, if the devs tried expanding the dresser or plates, it's not just one per account. It's actually a 40:1 ratio. For every glamour plate they have to technically add 40 (or 8, by our lower estimates). For every 100 glamour slots, they have to add 4000 (or 800). And while I am sure that most players don't exercise it to its fullest, they can't keep expanding glams in that direction forever due to space concerns. So if there is a way they can reallocate the space they already have, then they should.

Think about what this could imply for other things, too. I wouldn't go so far as to advocate for shared inventories, but maybe shared retainers for additional storage space. Just a thought.