Storage and Market Optimization ideas

[HabarNam]

Hello everyone!
I’d like to propose an idea for an optimized storage system and player market trading.

The drive behind this idea comes from having to deal with a slow, inefficient and frustrating market interface. This being a video game, it supposed to behave x times faster than real life (as suggested even by the in-game time) since you’re not able, in most cases, to spend 24/7 on it. In order for this to happen, game features should be streamlined to accommodate fast and efficient retrieval of information, without having to search other 3rd party sources or spend an equal amount of time to real life, if not more to accomplish a task.

As an example, I had to change at least 3 market wards before I managed to find an open slot for my retainer to spawn and sell; this happened on an average populated server. Because of this, there isn’t any room for silly “proper” ward usage since they are almost always full and market supply competition is hindered. A live, vibrant economy needs to have strong supply and demand driven by player competition.
This being said, here is my idea to optimize things a bit:

a. Global Storage System. Instead of having multiple storage area as it is now with retainers, I would like to propose the creation of a global user storage feature that allows for all the player items to be kept in one place and under one window – limited only by the max amount the game devs and game mechanics allow it. Think of it as “magical chest” that can be opened at special places (like bells or other magical devices). If it needs any kind of lore or background story for it to be “comprehensible”, we need only look at the title of this game and see that the entire world is covered by magic and magical items. This would make handling your total storage a lot easier than having to run around between 2 retainers or possibly even more storage places in the future.
As a 2nd stage of storage optimization, it would be sensible to attach weight to items and have them take up storage space according to their mass not just fill up a slot regardless if it a tiny ring or a huge tower shield. This way, stacking should be available for all inventory items.

b. Player Market Trading. The market needs some life brought back to it and a serious overhaul. This should include market window with category stacking without having to close it every time you decide to look for a new item and scroll through a forest of drop down menus. The Market is vital for any MMO and FFXIV is lacking a strong player economy because of limited economy features. The search function, included with the wards at the moment, should be taken up to regional level and given the power to search for words.

Having a strong market UI interface would make it possible to develop a healthy economy based on supply and demand. At the moment, only the supply part is offered, although hindered by the sluggish ward interface. No demand is visible because search calls do not show them and because it is impossible to put up a buy order without having the item in your inventory beforehand in the correct amount. Now, that just doesn’t make much sense. You buy things because you don’t have them – it’s a very simple rational; why would I be required then to own one of those items then? So, I suggest creating really buy orders via an optimized market interface that allows for demand to be created, without the one creating it have the said item in storage. In this regard, the retainer would keep its function only as market buy/sell interface with limited storage capacity to bazar only. Once a buy order is fulfilled, the item will remain in the dedicated retainer bazar slots until player interaction moves it to global player storage or player inventory.
Retainer interaction should be streamlined to allow for buy/sell orders to be made from other places besides the market wards (bells or other magical devices) and closely linked with market interface to allow for fast market orders to be setup, without having to search in one place, move to another to set it up, move back for a new search, etc.

Thank you for your patience reading through my post and I look forward to your replies .