Idea: Merge PLD Sword and Shield into a Single Item

[Sjol]

I would love to see the PLD sword and shield sets moved into a single item AND THEN:

Allow left and right weapons/shields to be individually glamoured. This could easily apply to NIN and maybe RDM, AST, and any other job that has two pieces to their kit that can be non-symmetrical. I could see this apply to paint brush and palette even.

It would simplify a lot of item management and remove the PLD tax, while leaving the option for more glamour options for other jobs.

[Duskane]

this is already a thing but players have no way to collapse them back into 1 item,
so would be a nice QoL to be able too.

[AzhreiVahlok]

uhhhhh no? what? this is pointless

[Hasrat]

So... you want to be able to glam an item that doesn't exist? How does this help with item management if you still need the fake-shield item to glam with?

[Amvin]

I don't understand the point of it either.

[GTK0HLK]

If it isn't "Broken" Don't "Fix" It.

We get what you mean, though there are likely reasons why it cannot be from SE that we aren't told asides other things.

You'd think they'd considered/did/talked to us all about it before.(By now)

[Reimmi]

I dont see how it matters much since the off-hand tab in the armory chest has tons of space for shields

[ty_taurus]

It's probably more trouble than it's worth from a dev standpoint. While there are positive outcomes you'd get from this, like trimming down the total item count and making the process of obtaining your sword and shield a little smoother for players, it would be a big headache to deal with. Also, one negative outcome would be that players can no longer mix and match their sword and shield glamour. Many players might prefer keeping both in the same set, but it's always nice to have the option to switch them up, and I'm sure some players inevitably do.

[Rongway]

So... you want to be able to glam an item that doesn't exist? How does this help with item management if you still need the fake-shield item to glam with?

I dont see how it matters much since the off-hand tab in the armory chest has tons of space for shields

It would reduce the number of PLD hands by between 50% and 66% (because many PLD weapon pairs are currently THREE(!) items) This would also free up some offhand armoury chest slots which could be reallocated to another equipment slot.

one negative outcome would be that players can no longer mix and match their sword and shield glamour.

It would not, if implemented as OP suggests (and as I have outlined when I suggested this exact thing a couple years ago).

• Sword+shield equipped to main hand, no glamour => appears as matching sword and shield
• Sword+shield equipped to main hand, glamoured => appears as matching glamoured sword and shield
• Sword+shield equipped to main hand, offhand glamoured to a different sword+shield => Base (unglamoured) sword + glamoured shield
• Sword+shield equipped to main hand, both slots glamoured => sword and shield glamoured to mismatched equipment

As OP suggests, this also opens up possibilities for other jobs. RDM with a mismatched Medium. MNK with mismatched fists. NIN with mismatched daggers. VPR with mismatched swords. DNC with mismatched chakrams. Some of us like this kind of asymmetry.

it just doesn't work because the most basic building block of glamour is "use the item in the slot to carry the information about the glamour". If there is nothing in your headgear slot because you're wearing a hooded cowl, the game has nowhere to record your hat glamour.

Not the problem you think it is. Glamour info should be stored with gearsets, and the player's active gearset (that is, the system gearset that is what you are currently, now, wearing, not the gearset from the list of gearsets that you use to change the items in the system gearset quickly) should display whatever the last loaded gearset's glamour data was even when you equip new gear, as long as it doesn't trigger a job change (no more losing glams mid dungeon because you wanted to equip the new thing that dropped for you).



"But that's not how it works."
It can work however they decide to program it, and they really should program it so that gearsets store both actual gear and glamours.

"But you can't glamour an empty slot"
It can work however they decide to program it, and it won't matter that the gearset slot is empty if what gets displayed is the gearset's glamour data.

"But spaghetti code"
Honestly this stopped being an excuse a long time ago; let's not keep pretending they couldn't make this work if they wanted to.

[Iscah]

Allow left and right weapons/shields to be individually glamoured. This could easily apply ...

Quite likely it wouldn't "easily" apply to anything.

We have situations where this would be needed – mostly older gear pieces that occupy multiple slots – and it just doesn't work because the most basic building block of glamour is "use the item in the slot to carry the information about the glamour". If there is nothing in your headgear slot because you're wearing a hooded cowl, the game has nowhere to record your hat glamour.

By the same approach, if you've got nothing in the offhand weapon slot then there would be nowhere to store the information about your offhand glamour.

This is why shield users can glamour their offhand but other jobs cannot.

Maybe they can work something out – maybe the plans for the glasses slot could achieve it even – but we don't know how that will work until we see it.