jpgames.de Gamescom 2015 interview with Naoki Yoshida

[Moonleg]

Another good solution would be for the inventory to not send in its entirety, but only send the difference from the past 15 seconds. Either the game client can report to the server, "No change, forget about me and move on to the next guy", or it could send a hash of the inventory contents (perhaps per tab, how often do you change the crap in that first tab anyway?) to compare against the data stored on the server. Such a hash would be counted in bytes, not kilobytes, and only force an update if it's not a match for what the server has.

There are numerous ways of doing a quick check to save data; perhaps Square is a bit blinded by the insanely awesome net connections in Japan.

[Lyrinn]

Another good solution would be for the inventory to not send in its entirety, but only send the difference from the past 15 seconds. Either the game client can report to the server, "No change, forget about me and move on to the next guy", or it could send a hash of the inventory contents (perhaps per tab, how often do you change the crap in that first tab anyway?) to compare against the data stored on the server. Such a hash would be counted in bytes, not kilobytes, and only force an update if it's not a match for what the server has.

I'm no programming expert, but wouldn't that end up sending the same amount of data anyways? 100 comparison checks (+ updates) vs. 100 updates.

[Airget]

Step back that people don't realize is this though, why does XIV have more inventory space? Because unlock other mmos where let's say they use the same amount of slots, which mind you we have an armory chest for we have the following going on.

21 different potential gears to work on in XI

Most MMOs only have to worry about maybe 2-3 gear sets based on the type of MMO but for the most part let's put that into perspective.

Say an MMO, one class, one person, 11-12 based on offhand, so let's just say 11.

FFXIV 11x21= 231.
Other MMOs 2= 22
3= 33

That adds up a lot, because we only need 1 player to play everything, that adds up to issues with inventory overload, if this was any other MMO let's say in an MMO where you have 100 slots. then you have this. at most 33 is for gear, and then the rest for storage. In XI you already are using 231 for gear, 300 armory chest and 100 inventory, 400 inventory slots.

If this is still true, WoW inventory spaces are :
120 total bank spots
147 Inventory spots

267 total. That alone doesn't even equate to how many slots we use in the armory chest for all our job gear.

[Cheraa]

In XI you already are using 231 for gear, 300 armory chest and 100 inventory, 400 inventory slots.

If this is still true, WoW inventory spaces are :
120 total bank spots
147 Inventory spots

267 total. That alone doesn't even equate to how many slots we use in the armory chest for all our job gear.

WoW has way more Slots aviable in WoD:

128 Inventory Slots
223 bank slots
98 Gathering Bank slots (Only for Materials)
80 Transmog Bank slots (only for Weapons and Armor)

Thats a total of 529 spaces. And that for every Character you play to 100.

[Daralii]

WoW has way more Slots aviable in WoD:

128 Inventory Slots
223 bank slots
98 Gathering Bank slots (Only for Materials)
80 Transmog Bank slots (only for Weapons and Armor)

Thats a total of 529 spaces. And that for every Character you play to 100.

To be fair, the code they use for the backpack in WoW is a tangled mess that's at least as old as WC3. They have to have a ton of slots to compensate for a technical limitation; from what Yoshida's said in the past, 14's is a server limitation. That can, presumably, be overcome with sufficiently improved infrastructure.

[Moonleg]

WoW has way more Slots aviable in WoD:

128 Inventory Slots
223 bank slots
98 Gathering Bank slots (Only for Materials)
80 Transmog Bank slots (only for Weapons and Armor)

Thats a total of 529 spaces. And that for every Character you play to 100.

Yes, true - but you only have two professions to deal with on a given character; in FF14 we have eleven. Wait, Fishing is a free profession in WoW, isn't it? Okay, three against eleven.

That, and you only deal with two specs on a given character; in this game we deal with up to 24 specs on one character. It's not a straight comparison to make.

[Moonleg]

I'm no programming expert, but wouldn't that end up sending the same amount of data anyways? 100 comparison checks (+ updates) vs. 100 updates.

Not really. Imagine you generate a number based on the 25 items in inventory tab 1, then match that number against the one on the server. This number doesn't have to be very big in order to be unique for that combination of items; the entire internet's list of addresses can be contained in eight characters.