Inventory Management

[MordethKai]

Now to address fanboy arguments:

"Stop hoarding!" this is a common response from fanboys any time someone complains about the inventory system. It's a sad attempt to shift the blame from the developers to the players and ignore the problem. It doesn't address whether or not the inventory management is bad, or simply needs improvement, in fact it kind of admits that it is a problem by giving the solution of 'toss everything you don't need right now'. Seeing how well that works for crafting (a great system I'll never use because I aint no hoarder lmao), yeah, hoarding isn't the problem.

"get more retainers scrub!" The fact that retainers are being sold, and as a subscription no less, makes this one a matter of principle. When looking at how raid gear is implemented along with a lot of other unnecessary things that seem designed to increase clutter arbitrarily, there is a perverse incentive to make inventory management a constant headache. Anyone who buys additional retainers is actually making the problem worse by giving squeenix a reason, a financial incentive, to at the very least, avoid improving the system. When the system being broke makes them more money, it's pretty obvious what's going on. So anyone making this argument, you are the problem. Anyone paying for retainers, please stop and think of the far reaching consequences of your actions, not just yourself.

"they recently added chocobo bags/slots etc." a bandaid to a problem they keep making worse, and not even in proportion to how much worse the situation gets with each expansion (5k new trash items to clutter your inventory at every turn, but hey, you got 5 more slots so don't complain, mkay (hyperbole, but you know what I mean)). It's a token gesture so they can claim they listened while avoiding (and even aggravating) the problem.

Ultimately, there is a major problem, pretending there isn't doesn't help anything.

[Rongway]

Now to address fanboy arguments:

The thing is, it can be a suboptimal system and the "fanboy arguments" can be relevant.

You don't need to hoard the materials for every single recipe in the game if you manage your leveling right. There are certain ingredients that will be useful from 1 to 80; however, the vast majority of ingredients are used for only a short level range. Level all your crafters to the point you can toss everything except the evergreen ingredients. At that point, if you need to craft something that you don't have materials for, you can go out and gather just what you need.

If you are compelled by some preference or personality trait to maintain a stock of every single ingredient, even the ones you would only use once a year if ever, buy more retainers. That's one of the reasons the optional retainer service exists.


Would improvements to the system improve quality of life? Undoubtedly.

Is the "discouraging but not prohibitive" system a critical flaw? Only if you're compelled to keep things you don't regularly need: in general terms, no.