Is there a particular reason why we can't have ingredients inventory?

[Seraphor]

That's due to loading in your inventory along with your character and its customizations. All they need to do is add a crafting bag that isn't accessible everywhere like other games have and server load is a non-issue. They are basically using server loads and technical limitations as excuses because they would rather charge for extra storage via retainers.

Even Fallout 76 has a crafting bag. Not nearly as nice and sorted as GW2's or even ESO's bags, but I mean FO76 can do it but XIV has "technical limitations" lol give me a break

Yes that's what a retainer is, an inventory that's not accessible in high server load contexts.
We can't have more retainers, or similar styled ancillary inventories, without uprooting the subscription model and costing SE a load of income.
It's not something that's going to change, and you can call it "greedy" all you like, youre not wrong, but there's nothing they can do about it, they're not about to reduce their income are they? Would you take a pay cut to benefit your customers/service users in your job? Maybe if your customers would leave otherwise... but that's not going to happen here.

[Skivvy]

Guild Wars II did this up right. In that game you have bank space separated into 2 sections, one for items and one for materials. You also have your own personal inventory space. All three storage areas are upgradable...by a LOT.

Not that GW2 is a perfect game, but they do so many things right when it comes to QoL concerns. I love their material storage, and looove the fact that you can craft directly from that storage.

Amusingly enough, they just added fishing in their recent expansion, and the bait has to sit in your inventory as it does in XIV. I'm optimistic that they'll fix it in time, but I feel like I can't catch a break with fishing in any of my games. Give us anglers some love!

[MicahZerrshia]

Yes that's what a retainer is, an inventory that's not accessible in high server load contexts.

It's actually different in many cases since crafting materials are automatically sorted into the crafting bag and not your inventory. Which is something that cannot be done with retainers and also helps take away some of that server stress they are so concerned about since ppl are generally carrying around less junk. They also have dedicated slots for various items instead of just a flat 80 items each. So, it's similar, but its really not the same. It's storage yes, but very different from a technical sense.

SE is getting a little too into the gatcha and mobile games and are seeing $$$ which is now bleeding into their other games in ways like this. I am starting to see them become more and more like EA and that does not bode well for the future of the franchise. And frankly the only ppl needing to take a pay cut for things like this are the CEOs, and I wouldn't lose any sleep over them not being able to buy a new yacht this year if it saves me a few bucks.

Would you take a pay cut to benefit your customers/service users in your job?

Something I would also gladly do if situations were reversed and I was already making millions a year before any bonuses.

[Kelev]

Well, in all fairness, it is a technical limitation, as they're saying, but the real problem is economic, and I don't mean "economic" as in "money," but rather "The Study of Scarcity."

Please do not kill me, I come in peace.

Characters are a ball of data - that's one of the reasons that we're having the problems with Hrothgar hair that we are - but we're not just appearances and such. Remember that we have to move from server to server, and eventually data center to data center, as well as instances, maps, roulettes, poorly-designed closets, the Emerald Dream*, etc.

So, one of the reasons we got Chocobo Saddlebags instead of an extra bag is that reason.

And it would be nice to have a tacklebox, or a crafting ingredient bag, and I'm not saying it couldn't be done - but it would require a great deal of work. Also, economically, they're incented against doing it for three reasons I can identify:

1) They would have to carry around a larger amount of data when you transfer between servers, which requires additional network bandwidth amongst other things, and if you've never gotten caught in Limsa waiting to transfer to Gilgamesh while a bard is playing Coldplay on a lute with barbecue mitts on, that's why I have to take pills so the anger doesn't become real, although my psychiatrist and probation officer have both said I'm making remarkable progress.
2) I pay $2/month for an extra retainer to do this, which is something that's a revenue stream for them.
3) They'd have to QA the crap out of this, not just for item dupe cheats where someone's handing out Stones of Jordan* like Tic-Tacs, and typing /idkfa*, but making sure you didn't have access to trade where they don't want you to, there are economic implications, etc. And if we're talking about QA/QC right now, I dare you to holler "I just won my house in Empyrium" in a major city, and see if you don't get chased out by a mob of shrieking people passing out steak knives like hot stock tips. (Fun fact: Zero is a number.) Historically, when there are problems with this the investigation happens after-the-fact (Google "Ungarmax cheat" for further detail) and then you've got a bunch of people running around as Odd Job* and you don't know why.

So if you're looking for support, +1, totally behind you, and not because I have a steak knife. If you're looking for answers as to why they're not doing it, those would be why.

-Kelly

*I know.

[Maxilor]

*gasp* But that would kill supplemental retainer rentals! We all know that FF:XIV is struggling for revenue right?!

This is unironically the true answer. Why give when you can sell?

[Seraphor]

It's actually different in many cases since crafting materials are automatically sorted into the crafting bag and not your inventory. Which is something that cannot be done with retainers and also helps take away some of that server stress they are so concerned about since ppl are generally carrying around less junk. They also have dedicated slots for various items instead of just a flat 80 items each. So, it's similar, but its really not the same. It's storage yes, but very different from a technical sense.

SE is getting a little too into the gatcha and mobile games and are seeing $$$ which is now bleeding into their other games in ways like this. I am starting to see them become more and more like EA and that does not bode well for the future of the franchise. And frankly the only ppl needing to take a pay cut for things like this are the CEOs, and I wouldn't lose any sleep over them not being able to buy a new yacht this year if it saves me a few bucks.



Something I would also gladly do if situations were reversed and I was already making millions a year before any bonuses.

Tell me you don't understand business without telling me you don't understand business.

You do realise it also costs money to develop games and host an MMO right? It's not all just free money.
By SE's 2021 figures their profit margin is around 12-16%. That's their additional money, everything before that is costs. Lets just assume FFXIV subscriptions are their sole revenue generator for argument's sake. That means they cannot reduce subs by any more than about 12-16% before they start to haemorrhage money and go bankrupt, but that doesn't mean they can afford to lose 11%, as that will cost them shareholders, which will cost them further revenue, etc.
Now, let's say 50% of subbed players are paying for at least 1 additional retainer. I'm gonna use GBP because that's what I'm familiar with. a Sub is £7, an additional retainer is £1.15. If they give everyone 1 additional retainer, the 50% of players who are paying for additional retainers, suddenly are paying for 1 less retainer. That's £1.15 less from 50% of all players, which is 16% less income per player, or 8% less revenue in total.
Assuming their profit margin is the generous 16%, it has just halved.

As an analogy, that profit margin is your disposable income. So after bills, mortgage, insurance, food, you're left with 16% left over. Now imagine your disposal income just halved. You're not going to do that willingly.

We can call businesses 'greedy' as much as we like, but they all exist for the same reason, and if they weren't making money they simply wouldn't exist, they're not charities.
There are definitely some predatory and anti-consumer models out there, but SE's is far from the worst of those. It's nowhere near EA levels yet, and this retainer issue is simply one particularly restrictive example, that they can't really budge too much on.

This isn't shilling or white knighting or whatever you want to call it, I'm not in favour of this system, it's simply a matter of fact thing. Additional retainers are built into their business model, and they can't afford to go back on that.

[TaleraRistain]

Trying to add more inventory is a technical issue. And since it is, they've said they prefer to add general inventory instead of specialized inventory.

As much as I would love a tackle box being a fisher or a crafting bag being an omnicrafter, I wouldn't think it fair if I got special inventory and those who don't do those things get shafted. So I'm okay when they add general inventory like the saddlebag and I choose to turn that into my tackle box. I can imagine how I would feel if I wasn't a player who partook of those optional parts of the game and lost out on inventory I could also use.

[Ranhansha]

Because they don't want to. It means they would lose money. GW2 did it ages ago, but "spaghetti code" in FFXIV for 10 years... sure.
Same reason they don't fix plates or the glamour dresser. How hard would it be to remove that silly, bothersome feature and just do it the way WoW does it. You get the gear, you can glamour it. We say glamour is the endgame, yet we are stuck with a piece of furniture which can only store 400 pieces of gear and every patch we get over 25 new items. GG S-E.

[Krotoan]

How hard would it be to remove that silly, bothersome feature and just do it the way WoW does it.

.. harder than you think.

[Jin-]

Quest item inventory is way too large and just waste of "server space" or whatever they use as an excuse. Why can't that be repurposed to store tokens etc...

I've played since 2014 and never even filled the first row there