Inventory Interface, Management, and Additional View Options

[Tommara]

Just an observation since many players are saying they haven't played an MMO that used text for inventory items, Eve Online, which has probably the most items and places the most emphasis on inventory of any popular MMO, does in fact provide a text based inventory list. It also provides an icon based inventory and a detailed text view.

As do Anarchy Online and Everquest2. These are all old games. It's hardly rocket science to provide an option to display inventory items in icon or list view. I'm guessing newer devs and players like it simpler? Or aren't aware of all the alternatives out there?

I'm really getting perturbed over the inventory issues (mostly lack of space, but also lack of abilities to organize other than moving things by hand. Yay! I'm playing a game that requires me to do things that are as much fun as cleaning my room!), especially since I'm leveling all crafters. I had to abandon fishing because of it. The problem is exacerbated because of many crafting recipes requiring lower level mats and lower level items. Cooking is a horror because it requires both numerous mats and frequent use of lower level recipes. It makes perfect sense that it should, but the inventory limitations make it really painful. Maintaining my kitchen in real life is more fun.

A search feature for recipes is really needed. I usually happily make crafted items for my friends, but now I make them give me a list with the exact names, levels, and sometimes which crafter makes them (which you can see via the market interface, which is very good). For example, shoes are made by 4 different crafters, and except for the metal wearers, there doesn't seem to be any logic with respect to what crafter makes an item for a class (and there are times when even metal wearers may find an upgrade in leather or cloth, which is nice). In most other games, I can usually figure out what the best items are for, say, a level 20 tank. Not so in FF, with things like a mage upgrade for a weaver made belt being made by a leatherworker. I'm fine with that (and actually like it), but really need a search feature for recipes because of it.

The market interface is a saving grace, and I wish I had something similar for my recipes. In fact, the market interface is amazingly good compared to other MMOs I've played, despite its apparent simplicity. It's simpleness is actually quite brilliant. Having something similar to the market interface, scaled down in scope, would be wonderful for my entire inventory, with an option to display everything in a list. I use the market search feature as a substitute for looking through my recipes (absolutely love the fact that an item that is being sold by no one still appears in the list - perfect for finding things I should make and put up for sale. It's a great feature I haven't seen before in another game. And I've been playing MMOs since the Everquest beta - 1999?).

I hated the Christmas quest and now the Heavensturn quest because of all the "junk" (head and chest pieces won't go in the armoire, "junk" in quotes because receiving them is no fun because of lack of space, but if inventory space wasn't such an issue, maybe they would have been more fun), so I'll be deleting my "rewards" for doing them. Solely because I have no room for them. I might have enjoyed the quests otherwise. It's silly to be receiving so much appearance gear with no appearance tab (which very old games like both AO and EQ2 have had for a long time) AND lack enough inventory space to store them. I just turned in a leve quest and received 3 Damaged Cudgels that won't stack, and apparently are the only way to obtain ingredients to craft a better item. Ugh, no delight in the rewards, quite the contrary, the rewards annoy me. I don't have any space for them.

The tabs appear to be a compromise to having a bagless inventory system without having one big humongous rectangle on screen, but they've managed to create the worst of both worlds, since you can't open two or more tabs at the same time nor are the tabs useful for segregating items of similar types, like you can with bags, which also allow you to grab a specific set of items when needed. I would prefer either bags or a seamless inventory screen that had scroll bars (considering that scroll bars are common, and are even used frequently in FF14's interface, I don't get these arguments about screen space at all). In other words, I would prefer anything but these tabs that are useless for anything other than satisfying a craving for boxes that use the same space on the screen. A craving I don't have.

I would also prefer having only one retainer with the same (or better yet, more than the) capacity we have now with the two (i.e, just one bank). It's a hassle to have to go through the dialogue with both retainers to retrieve items for crafting. Or better yet, I would prefer being able to craft using items held by the retainers, without having to retrieve them at all (having to talk to them, then locate what I need). Having a Harvest Box like in EQ2, that allows you to use items stored in them when crafting, whether in a guild hall or personal housing, is about the only thing that would motivate me to participate in FF14 housing, given the pretty much out-of-touch pricing. And I'm a hardcore builder type that is chomping at the bit to play Landmark. And will be paying SOE real money to allow me to do so in their alpha. But I have zero interest in using play money in FF14 to build houses as it is implemented now. It lacks any purpose, other than status, which doesn't interest me, and is extremely limited. Why should I be interested, given building alternatives such as EQ2, OSGrid, Minecraft, and now Landmark/EQNext?