A consern about space efficieny since stormblood is not getting enough space increase

[Berethos]

Agreed. They really need to take advantage of key item slots. I feel it's much like the Armoire: far too underutilized

I think the most "filled" I've seen my key item slots was...15 items?

It's seriously underutilized.

[Ama_Hamada]

I don't mind paying for all of my retainers that I have and since they are account wide, I also don't mind making alts to move stuff around. You would have to do that anyways if you're planning on serious crafting and not just as a hobby (specialist etc) If you're just doing it in between patches or for your FC from time to time, I have to agree, some people stacking to much stuff they don't need or didn't see that it's available from npc's because didn't read the patch notes lol.

6 retainers doubles your sub cost, that is an issue. I do not see how someone is fine with that. Also the retinal guidelines are poor, if I try save money and do the 6 month sub, when say I need retainer for a month, it is locked into whatever my sub remaining is.It feels like they have the space issues just to get more money because how it is set up. That my issue with the cost. It just seems shady. If I was to say do both accounts with 6 retainers each, that's 4 x the sub cost then just a stand alone account. If I just do 2 accounts @ the default 2, then too much time is wasted on trades, doing a single account, too much time is wasted with retainer menu bloat and transfer time to GC chest (to send to alts on same account). You really can't win. The system needs to be better, in more ways then one.

I want to craft but inventory issues and everything listed above is why I simply got tired and do not like putting up with it no more. Just too much wasted time for no reason. That and I have enough gil not to care anymore so I have no reason to stress over it anymore, but even with that, there is the issue of needing more room for glams. Keeping that sorted out, retainer A> personal , retainer B > personal, only put stuff on retainer C is really time consuming, in the end we need better steamline between retainers and less item bloat.

I think the most "filled" I've seen my key item slots was...15 items?

It's seriously underutilized.

Yep, I am trying get something done with these issues by making this thread

[Berethos]

If we had a glamour book, a box for our bait and add all the currency under the currency tap than I would be fine with the increase..but since nothing like that happens I find this increase way to low and yet SE talks about it like its really something big.

Probably because it is fairly significant.

Fun fact - on a per item slot in inventory basis, you can have more inventory slots on a single character in FFXIV than you can in WoW (about 100 more, and with significantly less effort to obtain said amount), they are simply broken up into categories, so there's about 300 slots that are broken down into sets of 25 or so). That's with just the two retainers obtainable via in-game means only.

It feels more user friendly in that game because of the more freeform use of what can go in an inventory slot, the ease of transferring between bank alts, and the new appearances journal that isn't actually inventory data but a separate set of data more akin to achievements.

Blizzard has, over the course of a decade, been careful about adding about 4 slots to the top end bags each time that they have...which means about a 44 slot increase per character each time, plus the occasional larger increase like the 160 slot void storage or the 98 slot reagent tab.

We're getting something equivalent to that 160 slot void storage in terms of inventory slots added, which is hardly insignificant.

[Naunet]

Probably because it is fairly significant.

WoW doesn't have a million different unnecessary items taking up inventory space.

[Valkyrie_Lenneth]

WoW doesn't have a million different unnecessary items taking up inventory space.

Neither does XIV, if you don't hoard EVERYTHING EVER THAT DROPS.
I clean my inventory out occasionally, and I barely fill 2 retainers when I do. I only have 4 atm, because one is loaded with housing stuff and I'm going to be attempting to snag one in 4.0. Otherwise, I hardly use the 2 I have, when I get rid of stuff I don't actually need. Its pretty easy to get mats in this game, no reason to hold them indefinitely. I don't even use 90% of the gear as glamour either, so I can go back and get it if i need to.

[Sokar]

Please read my post on this topic, because it goes into the economic and programming reasoning for why the system is the way it is, and how to fix it with MINIMAL investment via time/money.
http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/t...server-data%29
(pasting down below)

Realistic Solution to Inventory Space (Programming idea that would lower server data)

First and foremost, I want people to read the full idea before jumping to any conclusions. This is an idea meant to solve current glamour issues in game while at the same time reducing the amount of data that is stored on the server for every character out there. To explain this I want everyone to understand a few things about how Square Enix is looking at things and how they make their decisions:

1) Money spent on the game must be kept within current budget
2) The company is charged for their data usage
3) The higher the data usage is the higher the bill and the more money spent on maintenance versus money spent on design and game-play
4) To redesign a whole system of glamour would cost an incredible amount of time and resources taking away from new dungeons and content

That being said, there let's look at WHAT data is used in the inventory system currently and why simply adding more inventory slots creates problems (the metadata attached to every item):

1) Dye Color
2) Durability
3) Spiritbond
4) Materia
5) Who Crafted the item

Simply speaking there are at least 4 tags with literally hundreds of variables per tag, and one tag with THOUSANDS of variables (although not used on all items). Now multiply that by the hundreds and hundreds of bag slots and you start to see why adding more bag space takes up more data. You simply have more and more metadata that has to be collected for every item. It's not as simple as a stack of crafting mats which only have the tag of “quantity owned.”

Now that we know the problem with just making more bag spaces, and the fact that it costs a LOT of programming resources to make a whole new system to solve this, lets look to what IS programmed in the game already:

The Armoir.

So the Armoir is different from most items in the game in that it doesn't actually collect metadata. Basically anything put into the armoir is put on a list of “owned” or “not owned.” Any information such as dyes, durability, spiritbond, materia, or who crafted it is NOT collected. The item is actually DELETED from your inventory and put on the list of “owned” in the armoir. When you remove it, it simply duplicates the item for you from a non-modified state. In essence it's a cloning device, which uses the game's default settings for an item as it's reference. All data for all items is standardized and no person gets something different or unique. Adding things to the armoir is as easy on their end as adding the item to the list of things can and cannot be included. The programming exists already. So lets look at the Pros and Cons of the Armoir:

Pros:
1) The system is in place.
2) No new programming is needed, only a modification to something already existing.
3) The system saves an INCREDIBLE amount of server data as no Metadata is collected for items stored.
4) Amount of items that can be stored per person can be as large as the item pool currently in game, without adding more data per character.
5) Items can be stored and removed AS NEEDED when people want to use the item for glamour
6) The system already exists (yes I said it again, because this is REALLY important)
7) Huge savings on a programming perspective since minimal modifications are needed to make the system work.
8) Huge savings on Server Costs, as less information is needed per character.

Cons:
1) Items stored lose all customization such as dyes and materia.

So basically there are a lot of Pros to this system but with one MAJOR con. So lets discuss that con, and a solution to solve it. Dying items in this game is EXTREMELY important, and is as the core of customization in Final Fantasy. The above solution to inventory would basically remove any personalized touches you've put on your hard earned gear. So how do we solve it without creating a mess for programmers? The key to making this whole system work is making it EASIER for gamers to re-apply their dyes after having put them in storage. Right now as the system stands, gamers would be punished for storing items with rare dyes because they would simply be ERASED. So lets look at why we need to make it easier for gamers to apply dye:

1) The whole point of allowing glamour to go into the armoir is because it eliminates metadata tags, thereby saving data usage and programming time.
2) You want to encourage AS MANY PEOPLE AS POSSIBLE to use this system because the more that do, the lower the monthly server fees are, thereby saving money and allowing more time and resources to be spent on content creation.
3) The easier the new dye system is, the more motivated people will be to use it.
4) Recreating the dye system from scratch would cost time and resources, so using the current system in some way would be optimal.

Understanding that using current systems in a different way is key to fixing the Dye system. Now I have several proposed solutions, and all would be viable:

1) Use the current dye system, except move rare dyes to be purchased through a vendor via tokens, a resource, or gil. (in game sinks are always good for the economy as a whole)
2) Use the current dye system, except make ALL (including rare) dyes obtainable via crafting, and not just some. (would encourage more crafters)
3) Finally my favorite: Remove all dyes as a reagent to actually dye an item. Basically KEEP the dye palette as is, but when you go to actually dye an item, it uses Shards, Crystals, and Clusters as the reagent for your dye. This would solve several problems in game, as it would give a use for those lower level shards which people now have thousands of, and you could make “rarer” dyes cost Crystals or Clusters. It would also encourage more people to gather, which is also positive.

I encourage people to come up with other ideas as a solution to dying the gear which is removed from the armoir, as the easier it is to do, the more motivated people will be to use the armoir in the first place.


As a final note, please understand that I am not trying to tell the devs how to do their job. I am simply trying my best to come up with a CONSTRUCTIVE solution to a problem that exists, and do so with enough thought to their situation as well as ours. Sure we want LOTS of things, but we also need to be conscientious of what they can logistically do within a reasonable time and budget. Sometimes we don't need to reinvent the wheel when they've already created a great system that would function GREAT with just a little modification to it's purpose! I love this game dearly, as I know everyone else posting on this forum does, and I encourage people to consider this idea and let the devs know what your thoughts on it are!

Thank you all!

-Seraphim Sokar
-Exodus

[LunaFaye]

6 retainers doubles your sub cost, that is an issue. I do not see how someone is fine with that.

Not for me and maybe because I have a IRL job? I don't mind paying extra for services I frequently use, just another way to help out a bit.

I am not against inventory or retainer space upgrades, don't get that twisted, but I doubt that SE needs to give out 6 free retainers plus a upgrade of inventory every 2 years. A bit to much to ask for don'tcha think?

[Ama_Hamada]

Not for me and maybe because I have a IRL job? I don't mind paying extra for services I frequently use, just another way to help out a bit.

I am not against inventory or retainer space upgrades, don't get that twisted, but I doubt that SE needs to give out 6 free retainers plus a upgrade of inventory every 2 years. A bit to much to ask for don'tcha think?

Some people do not like feeling ripped off, that is you. Way I feel SE item bloats the game hoping more people buy retainers more so then offering a luxury. Who said anything about giving away 6 free retainers though? O_o

Also you are off, we needed an increase since HW, 3 new jobs is why, SB needs an increase because more items to gather and 2 more jobs. I do not know about every 2 years but when you add that much, yes you need an increase. What is a bit much is going from the release to HW to a new expand, without addressing inventory at all.

[Valkyrie_Lenneth]

Some people do not like feeling ripped off, that is you. Way I feel SE item bloats the game hoping more people buy retainers more so then offering a luxury. Who said anything about giving away 6 free retainers though? O_o

Also you are off, we needed an increase since HW, 3 new jobs is why, SB needs an increase because more items to gather and 2 more jobs. I do not know about every 2 years but when you add that much, yes you need an increase. What is a bit much is going from the release to HW to a new expand, without addressing inventory at all.

Ripped off huh? since dev costs have only gone up, but game and sub prices have not, I feel that this is not the case, but then, thats just me.

Also, they aren't adding item bloat to make you buy retainers, you are hoarding everything that you ever obtain. Stop doing this, and you need a lot less space.

[Moonlite]

Not for me and maybe because I have a IRL job? I don't mind paying extra for services I frequently use, just another way to help out a bit.

That is special IRL job. You should get a cookie, maybe your employer will give you a pat on the head. It is not about the individual cost. I doubt most people blink at spending that money some where else. It is about enabling poor design within the system they have. I see it the same as a dev that does a bad port of a game to an older system.

Ripped off huh? since dev costs have only gone up.

Dev costs are not the biggest cost of MMO's. So even if the dev costs have gone up the nickle and diming of server structure and bandwidth has saved them. Bloat like all the luminous crystals, beast tokens, materia, anima steps,daily and weekly scrips, and that doesn't even include glamours. Two retainers is stretching it. Either they reevaluate itemization/design or adjust retainer space.

But people like you guys are happy to give companies money for sub par product and defend them. So when microsoft uses sub par producers and get rrod or apple uses sub par mats in iphones and they have to be replaced every other year. That isn't going to change and no amount of explaining will help. They trust that you will keep lining up and absorb the losses from people who don't.