[Suggestion] Allow us to pay for more efficient storage space

[Nyalia]

Short form:

Please allow us to pay $2 a month (the same price as one additional retainer) for access to an expanded Armoire that can store 1,000-2,000 gear items. It would take the same server space as one additional retainer. This could consume 1 of our 6 "additional retainer" slots, so it would not consume any more server space than is already allocated by the addition of the 4 new "additional retainer" slots with 3.0.



Long form:

In 3.0, SE is allowing us to pay for up to 4 more retainers than before. For $2 a month, we can expand our inventory by 208 items stored in the inventory-style (uncompressed), up to a total of 832 more items than available before. The reason they can't give us this extra space for free, they've said, is that it takes up server space. Previously they said they couldn't add extra space at all, but with 3.0, they've indicated that they can afford to do so as long as they pass the costs for the expanded server storage on to us subscribers. This post is not here to criticize that decision, but instead to suggest a more efficient implementation.

Retainer storage is uncompressed, just like our inventories. Items can be dyed, stacked, and glamoured. They have a condition, a spiritbond amount, an HQ flag, a Collectible flag, and a maker's mark. They can have up to 5 materia melded to them. That's 11 extra pieces of information unique to that item (plus two 1-bit flags) that must be stored in addition to the item's ID. Maybe not all of it is equal, so let's say that the extra information takes as much space as 6 additional item IDs (the glamour pointer has to take as much space since it's also an item ID, the maker's mark has to link to any player (or store any length name) and takes as much space if not more, and each of the 9 other items should each take ~half as much space as an item ID, not counting the two 1-bit flags).

A form of compressed storage already exists - the Armoire. This storage method compresses the data by stripping out everything except the item ID. There is no stack size, no condition, no spiritbond, no dye, no glamour, no materia melding, no HQ/collectible status, and no maker's mark. If all the rest of that data takes as much space as 6 item IDs, then armoire-like space can store 7 times as many items for the same cost in server space. Instead of paying $2 per month to store 208 additional items (in addition to appearance data, experience/class data, current venture data, a retainer location, and the order of the items in the retainer's inventory, all of which should cost the same space as ~5 more items), allow us to pay $2 per month to expand our Armoire.

This expanded Armoire could, for the same amount of server space, store 1,000 to 2,000 items (my math approximates it at ~1,500). These would be equipment items only, but have few other restrictions (e.g.: I could imagine Zodiac Weapons not being storable because of Light/Mahatma/etc). These items would be stored and retrieved just like all other armoire-able items - they lose their dye, spiritbond, glamour, maker's mark, melded materia, and so on and must be stored with 100% condition. All items retrieved from this armoire would come out bound to the character (no need to store the bound status).

The Armoire already exists, so this new feature doesn't seem like it would take much in the way of coding. Add a new Armoire tab. Add a #/max counter if desired - it's almost unneeded. Add an error message for trying to store any items past the limit. Auto-sort the list alphabetically, which I think is already done. This is a very small cost for what I feel is a much-desired system for collectors/completionists like me.


Please. If space is at such a premium that we cannot be given extra inventory space in the expansion for free, please allow us to obtain extra space in an efficient manner. If we can't have a new glamour system that is more like that of other games, give us a way to pay for more glamour space just like we can pay for more glamour options. Right now, the only option is rather space-inefficient, which goes against what we've been given as the reason for the limitations that are being imposed.

I'm not trying to be critical here. I'm not asking for a handout. I'm trying to offer a solution to what I see as a major roadblock to my method of play. I'm sure I'm not the only collector (Diamond, in the card suits model of MMO gamers) who plays FFXIV. Not only that, the collectors tend to be the ones who buy optional services (they're called "Diamonds" for a reason :P). Please give me a way to give you more money per month so I can play the game the way I want to, the way ~25% of MMO gamers play.

[tymora]

Good idea but they need to update the interface...2000 items in a list will be painful...

[Anatole]

well i dont get why they made the choice to "only" let us pay for more retainers. the least they could have done is just give us a third "free" retainer. with all the new gear and items. making room is really tough.

also it would be nice if they made all coil gear able to be put into the amoair.

[Terrini]

I agree, if we can pay for more inventory with retainers, why can't we pay for more personal inventory too? I already pay for a 3rd retainer and I'm OK for inventory, my main issue comes with all my gearsets and glamour gear and not being able to swap things because of 25 item limits.

[Nyalia]

I solved my inventory space problem by destroying half the stuff I was keeping for glamours, throwing out half my mats (which I promptly needed again for new recipes and had to buy from the MB for ten times what it was worth when I ditched it >_<). Now, I pass on all loot in dungeons unless it's an upgrade. I no longer try to get one of everything. I no longer play around with glamours constantly.

My interest in the game is waning as a result even despite the expansion. I really, really like collecting.

[SpiritMuse]

It would help a lot if they just let us put more stuff in the armoire to begin with. As it is now I can only put my 50 AF gear and some event gear in it, which barely puts a dent in my inventory. Now if I could put all blue and green gear in it, possibly even my purple gear, then it would actually start to become useful.

[BLaCKnBLu3B3RRY]

i don't mind paying money for some extra storage space. HOWEVER, indefinitely paying a monthly fee for storage space alone is complete asinine. at the rate things are going, i may as well hand over my entire identity to Square Enix.


and this...

I solved my inventory space problem by destroying half the stuff I was keeping for glamours, throwing out half my mats (which I promptly needed again for new recipes and had to buy from the MB for ten times what it was worth when I ditched it >_<). Now, I pass on all loot in dungeons unless it's an upgrade. I no longer try to get one of everything. I no longer play around with glamours constantly.

My interest in the game is waning as a result even despite the expansion. I really, really like collecting.

i so know what you mean. they could solve a lot of storage issues with a some system that simply saves styles after we equip them. simply allow us to select the gear slot and choose from an already owned style, which will be associated with the gear set. they can keep the current restrictions easily. and all at the same time it will also cut back on the amount information that has to be stored, as we won't need to keep the actual item around.

[Nyalia]

i so know what you mean. they could solve a lot of storage issues with a some system that simply saves styles after we equip them. simply allow us to select the gear slot and choose from an already owned style, which will be associated with the gear set. they can keep the current restrictions easily. and all at the same time it will also cut back on the amount information that has to be stored, as we won't need to keep the actual item around.

Well, saving the list of owned "styles" is identical to saving the gear in a compressed format. They would have to save that you had access to a style/gear either way, and whether you can retrieve the item linked to that style or not does not require additional storage. In both cases, they'd just store a URN for the item. Unless they compressed the styles further so all items that look the same belong to the same style, but that gets awkward since items that look the same have different dye patterns and many have unique default colors that cannot be achieved through dyeing. So, while the implementation of our ideas is different, the storage is the same.


What I really want is a comprehensive Equipment Guide, which I've been praying for since glamours came out. I would so love an interface that was identical to the Mount Guide and the Minion Guide, but for equipment, and you can cast glamours from the Equipment Guide. There are many ways to implement such a thing. My favorite:


A new option is added to the Glamour Interface on the left side, "Record Image." This option can be selected just like a piece of equipment. Just like with normal glamouring, using this option binds the target item to you. This takes a glamour prism based on the target item, just like glamouring, and is in all ways identical to glamouring. When done, the item is added to your Equipment Guide. If the item is already there, an error appears and prevents you from performing the recording. Ideally, this error would appear at the bottom in place of the "this item will be bound to you" message, appearing just below the button you click to do the glamouring/recording.

An option is added to the right-click context menu, "Record Image." This brings up the Glamour interface with the targeted item pre-selected on the right and "Record Image" pre-selected on the left.

In the Glamour Interface, a new category is added to the drop-down list on the right along with "Inventory" "Equipped" and so on: "Equipment Guide." Selecting this brings up a list of everything in your equipment guide of the same type as the selected item, and you can use them to cast glamours just like you can glamour from your inventory/armory chest. (The items always come undyed, so if you want to use an expensive dye on an item and reuse it, you'd have to keep the item around.)

Variant: Using the Record Image feature destroys the item. This prevents the item from being desynthed after being recorded to recycle rare materials.

A new Equipment Guide interface is created using the Minion/Mount/Fish Guide template. On the right, possibly instead of lore, there is a "Cast Image" button. Selecting this brings up the Glamour Interface with the chosen item pre-selected on the right (and nothing pre-selected on the left).


All of this uses pre-existing screens (the Glamour interface and the Guide interface) to minimize the UI coding, and pre-existing items (Glamour Prisms) to minimize the additional associated resources needed. Instead of lore descriptions appearing on the right like in the Mount and Minion guides, the item's description can appear, if it has one. Honestly, the information on the right is superfluous and should not require them to come up with lore for every item just to implement this feature. I recall them talking before about introducing an "Equipment Guide" so they could convey lore about the various equipment pieces to us. That is not what this game needs so much as it needs a feasible Glamour storage system that appeals to collectors. Collectors are possibly their biggest market - they're the people who buy the Cash Shop items and Collectors' Editions, after all.