For each large inventory (player/retainer/chocobo bags/etc.) it would be helpful to add a text entry field to the inventory pane itself. As text is entered in the field, dim the icons of any items in the current display that don't match the entry (probably as a wildcard). This would help enormously with sifting through large amounts of visually similar icons.


This probably shouldn't require any additional server communication or invocation of 'heavy' searches like /isearch (which should A) keep it fast and B) keep it low-impact). Assuming the client has a list of items for what it's displaying in the open, visible pane, it should be a quick scan through that item list to determine what to dim (or not). It doesn't need to be aware of other inventories or sub-inventory tabs, since you could simply reapply the filtering when the user changes the active window or changes to bag #2. To remove the dimming, the user can clear the text field.


If the entire list is server-side and there's no way to keep it client-side-only, it could change from search-as-you-type to search on enter/accept to minimize the amount of extra communication.