Rewards are Punishment. Yes.

[Ysera_Brynat]

Hello everyone. I've been thinking about how to best bring this up. I decided that without a forum post, nothing will change. So, here it goes.

Gear rewards in FFXIV are a punishment.

The Glamour Dresser system turns what should be a joyful reward into a tedious chore. As many of you know, if you’ve ever played World of Warcraft, you’ll know its Transmog system automatically logs any item’s appearance the moment you loot it. You can vendor, trash, or turn the item into crafting mats—and still use its look forever. Meanwhile, in FFXIV, every new piece of gear feels like a burden—something to "deal with" later.

The Problem: Rewards That Punish

When you get a new item in —from a dungeon, raid, or quest—you’re faced with a dilemma:

1. Store it in your already-bursting glamour dresser (if you have space).
2. Hoard it in your inventory/retainers (contributing to anxiety).
3. Discard it (risk losing the appearance forever).

Meanwhile, WoW’s system: “Got the item? Cool, now do whatever you want with it. The look is yours.” Once an item is "bound" to you, you can now use the look forever.

The Glamour Dresser: Stuck in 2013

Let’s be real—the glamour dresser is functional, but it’s a relic. Storing appearances requires:

1. Manually placing items into a limited, shared inventory (800 slots split across all jobs, with some items being clones of other items but job-limited).
2. Using prisms to apply glams (a minor but unnecessary friction).
3. Constant management: deleting old items to make room, knowing you might have to re-farm them later.

Compare this to WoW: Loot a piece of gear → appearance unlocked → done. No hoarding. No stress. The game respects your time. I'm not getting any younger. I really don't want to micromanage a massive chest full of stuff that has no way to preview said items.


Why This Hurts FFXIV’s Core Experience

• Players say that ”Fashion Fantasy” is the true endgame! But the system actively works against that.
• Every “reward” becomes a checkbox on a to-do list. It’s not exciting—it’s anxiety-inducing.
• Every cool item is a punishment of time after you pick it up.
• What will I have to delete?
• What does that item even look like? I can't preview it.

I'm not thinking about my cool new glam item, I'm thinking about how I'm going to have to rob myself of something else to keep it.

[Ysera_Brynat]

What FFXIV Can Learn from WoW

I’m not saying we need to copy-paste Transmog, but the philosophy is key: make rewards feel rewarding.

1. Unlocking appearances on binding (no manually storing it in the dresser required).
2. A catalog system (like the Mounts/Minions menu) for gear.
3. Let us discard physical items without needing to manage every single one.

Anything, even a hybrid system would be a massive QoL win. Why do you add new item sets that don't use the new Outfit Set feature? I don't understand.

The dev team has made strides (see: more plates, increased dresser slots), but it’s not enough. The current system is a band-aid on a bullet wound. For a game that’s otherwise so player-friendly, this feels like an archaic oversight.

I don't want to do anything in the game with this massive burden against joy looming over me.

If this isn't acknowledged in a serious way soon, I can't play anymore. I want to collect all the cute items & not be punished for it.

P.S. – Square Enix, if you’re reading this: We’d gladly take fewer new hairstyles in a patch if it meant a glamour system overhaul. Just saying.

[Astronema]

The dev team worships the software monster so nothing will change.
https://www.spaghettimonster.org/

[Ysera_Brynat]

The dev team worships the software monster so nothing will change.
https://www.spaghettimonster.org/

Not funny enough, and not a valid excuse.

The system in WoW was added in 2011. Square has had since 2013 to do work on the engine.

They chose graphics over improving other more dire elements of the game.

[Astronema]

Not funny enough, and not a valid excuse.

The system in WoW was added in 2011. Square has had since 2013 to do work on the engine.

They chose graphics over improving other more dire elements of the game.

Nothing will change.... The game will be in maintenance mode because the devs don't get a clue and the suits in corp decide the game needs it's budget fixed and not since they leech funds to make puke like forspoken.

[Aniya_Estlihn]

Nothing will change.... The game will be in maintenance mode because the devs don't get a clue and the suits in corp decide the game needs it's budget fixed and not since they leech funds to make puke like forspoken.

You have no idea what maintenance mode is and it absolutely isn't a top to down graphical overhaul that is going to take another three years.

[Astronema]

You have no idea what maintenance mode is and it absolutely isn't a top to down graphical overhaul that is going to take another three years.

you have no idea how business works... This game is their net positive venture but because of their poor decisions is turning negative. They use this game to fund everything else. Only 20% or so of your sub fees and mogstation purchases are money that is reinvested into this game. If the situation doesn't improve they don't the options to run a deficit on this game long term like other bigger companies do and it will deemed not viable anymore.

[Brightamethyst]

The system in WoW was added in 2011. Square has had since 2013 to do work on the engine.

It was not.

Transmogs/Glamours were added to the game in 2011, but at the time they worked almost exactly like FFXIV glamours. They didn't move to the current appearance log system until 2016.

[Davixxa]

Not funny enough, and not a valid excuse.

The system in WoW was added in 2011. Square has had since 2013 to do work on the engine.

They chose graphics over improving other more dire elements of the game.

Okay, I'm going to need to be a bit fair to Square Enix here; When Transmogrification was added to WoW, it quite literally was the Glamour Dresser system of today, albeit slightly more clunky because you had to take an item outside the dresser (Void Storage) to use it for glamour (Transmogrification) - and back in. Which cost gold, and it wasn't exactly cheap by the time's standards either. 100 gold per transaction (or per item, not sure), and 1000 gold to even unlock the system.

For reference, the fastest flying speed in the game at that point in time was 5000 gold.

That being said, I completely agree that the system needs an overhaul.