Question: why theres a blacklist cap..?

[Risvertasashi]

Why do people always assume data storage is infinite? I will never understand this...

It's not infinite, but 200 names (~5kb ish?) takes a fraction of what a single character model stored on your hard drive would take. Of course there's also performance considerations (client load times, etc).

More to the point: Why don't we have a "remove all" button for our blacklists?

[Devils_Lawyer]

This is like asking why we can only store so many items or make so many characters.

200 blacklisted names isnt much but you need to see the big picture so if say 50.000 players fill their blacklist then suddenly its 10 million blacklisted names.

That and even if they did increase the limit you would eventually complain why you only have 300, 500 or a thousand slots.

[Risvertasashi]

This is like asking why we can only store so many items or make so many characters.

200 blacklisted names isnt much but you need to see the big picture so if say 50.000 players fill their blacklist then suddenly its 10 million blacklisted names.

That and even if they did increase the limit you would eventually complain why you only have 300, 500 or a thousand slots.

50000 players * 200 names * 25 characters = 250 megabytes. Not that much. Storage likely isn't the issue (if this is even stored serverside). Performance might be.

[Kosmos992k]

50000 players * 200 names * 25 characters = 250 megabytes. Not that much. Storage likely isn't the issue (if this is even stored serverside). Performance might be.

Disk space is unlikely to be an issue, although cumulatively there is a hell of a lot of data involved with characters in general. Just looking at the example you gave, if that data is stored as part of the character data, it has to be rewritten to the database every 3-5 seconds, and that's just the blacklists...

I'd like to see a multi-select option in black list management, perhaps a remove all as you suggest. but I would also like to see an option to remove all accounts that have been permanently banned. They don't delete the characters from the game - but they could at least flag them for removal from blacklists.

[Risvertasashi]

Just looking at the example you gave, if that data is stored as part of the character data, it has to be rewritten to the database every 3-5 seconds, and that's just the blacklists...

Yup, that could be one of many points where performance comes into play. Doing those kind of ops frequently makes every kb count. Of course the only people who really know exactly how different aspects are handled is Square.

Also, I'm not sure if blacklists are stored serverside. I've never tried logging in from a different computer to see if my blacklist carries over. Has anyone tried this?

[Haibel]

Also, I'm not sure if blacklists are stored serverside. I've never tried logging in from a different computer to see if my blacklist carries over. Has anyone tried this?

They aren't, BL is Completely Local. The reason it's limited at 200 is because that list need to be loaded in to your memory every time you log in to filter messages. The PS3 doesn't have much ram so they need to limit memory where ever they can.

[Kosmos992k]

Yup, that could be one of many points where performance comes into play. Doing those kind of ops frequently makes every kb count. Of course the only people who really know exactly how different aspects are handled is Square.

Also, I'm not sure if blacklists are stored serverside. I've never tried logging in from a different computer to see if my blacklist carries over. Has anyone tried this?

I'm hoping that they come up with a better strategy for character data that only writes changes every 3-5 seconds and perhaps does a full refresh every minute or so. I know they do it so frequently to prevent rollback issues, but I still find it hard to believe that the entire character data is rewritten when the amount of data changed every 3-5 seconds can't be terribly large. It would make more sense to only send the changes. But that would complicate recovery after a DC of any kind. Oh well, I guess that's just one more thing we have to leave to the devs.

They aren't, BL is Completely Local. The reason it's limited at 200 is because that list need to be loaded in to your memory every time you log in to filter messages. The PS3 doesn't have much ram so they need to limit memory where ever they can.

Are you certain that the BL is client side, not server? I can't find any information on it either way. Also, I point blank refuse to believe that the trivial amount of RAM needed to hold the 200 member black list in any way impacts the game client on PS3.

The information in this linked post from Reddit would suggest that the BL and FL are both server side data;
http://www.reddit.com/r/ffxiv/commen...tafriendslist/

[Risvertasashi]

They aren't, BL is Completely Local. The reason it's limited at 200 is because that list need to be loaded in to your memory every time you log in to filter messages. The PS3 doesn't have much ram so they need to limit memory where ever they can.

Sensible. And that explains why they're still counting each kilobyte even though it's local...

[Moonleg]

If the blacklist is completely local, what is the problem in capping it at 200 on PS3, 1000 on PS4, and 5000 on PC? If the list of 5000 RMTs doesn't carry over to your PS3 anyway, what's the issue?

[Kosmos992k]

If the blacklist is completely local, what is the problem in capping it at 200 on PS3, 1000 on PS4, and 5000 on PC? If the list of 5000 RMTs doesn't carry over to your PS3 anyway, what's the issue?

If it's local, then I see no issue with that. Not sure it's local though;
http://www.reddit.com/r/ffxiv/commen...tafriendslist/

On the other hand, command hotbar/crossbar configurations do appear to be held locally as when I launch my PC version, none of the configuration I have for gear or commands appears.