Use crafting mats from retainer.

[Xephier]

I love the crafting system in this game and frankly I would craft all the time if not for the tedium of moving items between character and retainer every time I want to craft. I tend to put my crafting mats on my retainer/s but the issue with that is I gotta go fishing for them anytime I want to craft something.

Solution would be to make it so that we can use mats from the retainer without taking them off of the retainer and placing them back on the retainer everytime we want to go adventure. So like, the crafting window would recognize that you have the items if it sees them on your retainer.

[scarebearz]

Good suggestion.

[Terrini]

I also like this suggestion. Even if it's done as an accessory or equippable item of some sort that acts as a retainer call... but really, just recognizing that your retainer has it would help. I would not even mind if it has a requirement of being in the same zone as or within a certain distance of a retainer bell. It would still be effectively the same thing, but with less hassle for needing to juggle all the storage... I mean if you can grab mats from retainer, you can make lots of items to fill your own inventory while you don't have to worry about raw materials so much.

[Jamesy]

Soul Gem: Retainer's Crafting Horn: Retainer Inventory access while crafting.
additional stats :craftsmanship +5 Control +5

[Gokuhan]

Allowing this while within a certain distance from a summoning bell would be a good way to keep it from being somehow abused, although the market bells might become very crowded.

One thing that I did to help was to separate the mats into different retainers for easier finding later. One retainer has stone, metal, lumber, materia, and fishing tackle, another has the rest of the crafting mats and the last has gear kept for glamors. You still have to grab mats when you want to craft, but at least you know which retainer would have it.

[TimGoodacre]

... although the market bells might become very crowded.

Maybe, but then most crafters are glued to the retainer bells anyway for the reasons stated by the OP. But then there are lots of retainer bells not in the cities - around the res districts, and in FC and personal houses...

[Gokuhan]

Maybe, but then most crafters are glued to the retainer bells anyway for the reasons stated by the OP. But then there are lots of retainer bells not in the cities - around the res districts, and in FC and personal houses...

Very true. I wish I could have a market board in my house too....

[TimGoodacre]

Very true. I wish I could have a market board in my house too....

Yeah I've thought that too (and [surely they must be close to adding this] one in Rev's Toll).

[kog985]

I agree with this.

Diablo III has done this before when they have the same system like us: go to the chest, take out the materials, go to the blacksmith, select items want to craft, then craft.

But before the expansion release, they allow players to craft items without taking the materials out of the chest. So I would love to see the devs make this happen in game.

[Nutz]

If nothing else, because of however the system is coded, allowing us to craft while engaged with a retainer (at least 1) might be a nice work around since the retainer's inventory is called up at that time. I'd imagine the biggest hurdle is loading all of your retainer(s)'s inventory into memory while crafting. Maybe this would be problematic on PS3, but I really don't know.

It seems like no matter how organized I try to be with my retainers I'm always unsure if I have various items, and often I don't because of the lack of space and the relative ease of gathering them even though their inventories are always more or less full.

I know, however, that if I could just craft from my retainer (and I bought another 2 retainers or some other inventory expansion became available), I'd just load up on a bunch of things so I'm more or less free to craft whatever, whenever [I'm near a summoning bell].