The Armoire: an ongoing (and frustrating) mystery

[EmpyreanHelios]

Let this thread be successful and catch the attention of the devs.

We, as a community, can disagree on so many things like lore, combat system, and classes, but let this be the thing we can come together on.

[GrizzlyTank]

Let this thread be successful and catch the attention of the devs.

We, as a community, can disagree on so many things like lore, combat system, and classes, but let this be the thing we can come together on.

This thread pops up once a week/month.

And last Q&A the only answer they gave was that it needed too much data, which is... questionable. Especially when they have expanded our inventory which need's a significantly more data than a compressed log.

Really wish one of the streamer Q&A's had managed to push out a more thorough answer, but no.

[SchwarzwaelderTorte]

I don't know why I'm surprised, but the number of people who wrongly assume they know how the game works on a technical and production level and how easy this should be to rebuild or fix is truly astonishing.

Coincidentally, from the latest livestream (translation by the r/ffxiv Discord server):

Of course I'm thankful and grateful for players to tell us that "we should do this, or this should be that" and whatnot, but verbal abuses are...(something we wish could stop).
[...]
There are new players who join this game and there are many players who come from other games and of course, this also means they are players who experience Endwalker as their first expansion, so it's a given that there will be mistakes and errors here and there, but after 11 years of journey with players up to this point it does make me feel that the language used ended up a little overboard there.
[...]
So I have only one request to every player out there - please imagine that you're speaking face to face with a developer whom you don't know the name or face and imagine how they'd feel before sending your feedback over, and I'll be happy if people can do so politely.
[...]
Considering things have been getting really extreme lately, and with staff members putting their all to make it work...Of course I don't mean everything should be given praise. Mistakes are mistakes and they should be notified, but I’ll appreciate it if everyone can give careful thought in their thoughts and feedback before sending them over.

Please remember that we have no idea what the developers have to work with, and that due to the nature of the game they are constantly busy working on future content, and can only provide quality-of-life changes sparingly.

If you want to use WoW as a reference, please look at the patch changes for Transmogrification and how much time passed between the initial release of the game, the first implementation, and each subsequent update.

If you started playing after Stormblood, consider how glamour worked before the glamour dresser was implemented. Or how there used to be different types of glamour prisms. Things used to be way worse.

In the 65th Live Letter Yoshida said they had already looked into implementing a "glamour catalogue", they had the text ready for it and all, but the sheer amount of data made it not possible to concretize for now.

So we know they ARE looking into improving the glamour system. But technical limitations and higher priorities (like, I don't know, improving the server overload and maybe resuming sales?) mean this still has to wait a while.

Expanding the possibilities of the Armoire is not the perfect solution to this problem, but it's something that would already help a lot and, hopefully, should be easier to implement than a complete overhaul of the glamour system.

[Garnix]

Just going to remind everyone of what was said before launch.

Source Interview

The glamour dresser has become a vital asset to a lot of players, but there are limitations. These have been alleviated every expansion with additional storage, but even then it’s not hard to max it out, and with the ever growing number of outfits and gear from dungeons, raids and the Final Fantasy XIV store, from the outset we’re worried about storage. Can we expect any changes or adjustments made to the glamour chest or glamour system in Endwalker?

I’m afraid there won’t be any sort of updates as of the launch of Endwalker because we do need to concentrate on releasing the expansion itself, so I’m afraid there won’t be any updates as of 6.0. But, we have started planning and work on… hopefully this will alleviate some of the concerns the players have, but we’re targeting somewhere around 6.1 or 6.2 timing. And plans are being made, so once development has progressed some more and we’re able to reveal more information, we will take the time to discuss what is planned for patches moving forward.

And I think one of the quicker updates, or the update that might come sooner, is the number of items that can be stored in the box, although you will have to wait until the patch series. I think we should be able to meet the expectations or respond to the feedback we have been receiving.

I can't wait to see the threads popping up in 6.1 saying that the changes are not sufficient, even though he clearly said the bigger change will come later.

[Hysterior]

Agreed.
At this point, the armoire really is a relic.... that doesn't even accept all relics...

[GrizzlyTank]

I don't know why I'm surprised, but the number of people who wrongly assume they know how the game works on a technical and production level and how easy this should be to rebuild or fix is truly astonishing.

Coincidentally, from the latest livestream (translation by the r/ffxiv Discord server):


Please remember that we have no idea what the developers have to work with, and that due to the nature of the game they are constantly busy working on future content, and can only provide quality-of-life changes sparingly.

If you want to use WoW as a reference, please look at the patch changes for Transmogrification and how much time passed between the initial release of the game, the first implementation, and each subsequent update.

If you started playing after Stormblood, consider how glamour worked before the glamour dresser was implemented. Or how there used to be different types of glamour prisms. Things used to be way worse.

In the 65th Live Letter Yoshida said they had already looked into implementing a "glamour catalogue", they had the text ready for it and all, but the sheer amount of data made it not possible to concretize for now.

So we know they ARE looking into improving the glamour system. But technical limitations and higher priorities (like, I don't know, improving the server overload and maybe resuming sales?) mean this still has to wait a while.

Expanding the possibilities of the Armoire is not the perfect solution to this problem, but it's something that would already help a lot and, hopefully, should be easier to implement than a complete overhaul of the glamour system.

I would absolutely love to know the concrete reason to why they have a problem implementing a glamour catalogue. But if that reason really is that it costs "too much data" then it sounds like they are trying to make a table containing the unique id of every single piece of equipment which would be a complete waste of storage.

[ReynTime]

I don't know why I'm surprised, but the number of people who wrongly assume they know how the game works on a technical and production level and how easy this should be to rebuild or fix is truly astonishing.

Coincidentally, from the latest livestream (translation by the r/ffxiv Discord server):


Please remember that we have no idea what the developers have to work with, and that due to the nature of the game they are constantly busy working on future content, and can only provide quality-of-life changes sparingly.

If you want to use WoW as a reference, please look at the patch changes for Transmogrification and how much time passed between the initial release of the game, the first implementation, and each subsequent update.

If you started playing after Stormblood, consider how glamour worked before the glamour dresser was implemented. Or how there used to be different types of glamour prisms. Things used to be way worse.

In the 65th Live Letter Yoshida said they had already looked into implementing a "glamour catalogue", they had the text ready for it and all, but the sheer amount of data made it not possible to concretize for now.

So we know they ARE looking into improving the glamour system. But technical limitations and higher priorities (like, I don't know, improving the server overload and maybe resuming sales?) mean this still has to wait a while.

Expanding the possibilities of the Armoire is not the perfect solution to this problem, but it's something that would already help a lot and, hopefully, should be easier to implement than a complete overhaul of the glamour system.

I don't know if you were trying to shutdown opposing opinions/feedback by trying the emotional manipulation tactic people like to use against music feedback here, but that doesn't really add anything to the topic. No one is throwing insults at the devs, and even if they were they don't really pay attention to the English forum.
And besides Yoshida's comment was based specifically on the JP community... which is, despite what some users in this forum fantasize, extremely toxic in places like Twitter and other message boards. Japanese culture may seem more "polite" in the surface, but when it comes to the internet, their "geeks" are extremely hostile and toxic. Have been since the early 2000s.

[Eraden]

Please don't tear into me for the question I am about to ask as I know very little about the coding of this game. Is it not possible for SE to adopt a GW2 style of glamour storage? In GW2 if your character has ever obtained an item, even just once, that image template is stored as a code in your template database and you can recall it at any time as a glamour provided you have a token to activate the glamour. This goes for every single piece of gear in that game. GW2 appears not to have any great difficulty in setting up a database of this type for each character. They do this as well with dyes of which there are literally hundreds if not a thousand or more. On top of all that, each piece of gear will have anywhere from 2 to 4 different dye channels to it. There is no need for storage of either the original items or of any dyes. This frees up an enormous amount of storage space and does not seem to cause any difficulties for GW2. I ask again, is there a specific reason why SE couldn't adopt some of these practices into FFXIV?

[GrizzlyTank]

Please don't tear into me for the question I am about to ask as I know very little about the coding of this game. Is it not possible for SE to adopt a GW2 style of glamour storage? In GW2 if your character has ever obtained an item, even just once, that image template is stored as a code in your template database and you can recall it at any time as a glamour provided you have a token to activate the glamour. This goes for every single piece of gear in that game. GW2 appears not to have any great difficulty in setting up a database of this type for each character. They do this as well with dyes of which there are literally hundreds if not a thousand or more. On top of all that, each piece of gear will have anywhere from 2 to 4 different dye channels to it. There is no need for storage of either the original items or of any dyes. This frees up an enormous amount of storage space and does not seem to cause any difficulties for GW2. I ask again, is there a specific reason why SE couldn't adopt some of these practices into FFXIV?

I recall seeing someone show that equipment in this game does actually have multiple dye channels, but for some reason we are restricted to only one.

[SchwarzwaelderTorte]

Thanks for sharing that interview Garnix, I hadn't read that one.
I remember that in the last Live Letter they did hint that the glamour dresser would be upgraded, so I was expecting more slots and maybe glamour plates, but now I'm looking forward to hear more about those changes in the future Live Letters.
Hopefully the Armoire is part of those plans...?

I don't know if you were trying to shutdown opposing opinions/feedback by trying the emotional manipulation tactic people like to use against music feedback here, but that doesn't really add anything to the topic. No one is throwing insults at the devs

I just see a lot of sarcasm and cynicism and people suggesting "simple fixes" without trying to understand the situation.
There is no opposition here, I want the same thing everyone else wants, and I share the same frustration as everyone else. There are just nicer ways to say it.

and even if they were they don't really pay attention to the English forum.
And besides Yoshida's comment was based specifically on the JP community... which is, despite what some users in this forum fantasize, extremely toxic in places like Twitter and other message boards. Japanese culture may seem more "polite" in the surface, but when it comes to the internet, their "geeks" are extremely hostile and toxic. Have been since the early 2000s.

From the same translation I posted earlier:


I do also feel that the EN forums are not getting a lot of attention, but again consider it from the staff's perspective and try to filter out the useful comments from the complaints, the memes, and the unimportant stuff that gets posted here on a daily basis from literally every player in the world who doesn't use the Japanese, French or German forums.

I ask again, is there a specific reason why SE couldn't adopt some of these practices into FFXIV?

There is no real (official, cough) way to know, but if I had to guess it's probably once again due to the code structure that was built in 1.0 and 2.0, and them not foreseeing how huge of a deal glamour would become over time (else the glamour dresser would have been there much earlier).
Probably the same reason why housing is the way it is (both buying the plot and decorating), and why it's also a big source of frustration at the moment, and why (some) changes are coming.

But yeah hopefully when they share more news about the glamour system changes, as was mentioned in the interview, they'll also share more about what was possible and not possible to do.
Or maybe we'll get a Q&A with someone from the dev team like when they invited the Lead UI Designer, that stream shed a lot of light on the technical limitations of the HUD system.