I am sure I am not the only one that thinks retainers are an obstacle to inventory management, crafting and to the auction house. Yes, although I am sure we all love the idea of retainers, I think they could be so much more.

- Retainers make us go out of the way and micro-manage 14 individual bags across 2 retainers with no way to quickly sort or find what you need.
- Retainers are the only ones that can sell things on the AH, even if you are at a market board.
- The process of using them to store/retrieve/sell/sort items is extremely cumbersome.

I honestly think that FFXIV should either re consider the purpose of Retainers in the game, or simply scratch them for a more straight-forward inventory management system.

These are a few things that I believe would make Retainers a viable inventory management option:

- Being able to call them anywhere, anytime
- Being able to craft from their bags
- Having just one retainer with a lot of space, or being able to easily categorize, search and find items across different retainers
- Assist you with purchases at the AH (buy orders)

Honestly, the idea of Retainers goes extremely well with a system that is already in the game: Companions. Have Retainers be companions that can level up, like mentioned here: http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/t...tem-Discussion. However, instead of being a battle-based companion, is a storage and crafting companion.

I really hope I am not alone in wishing Retainers would add to the game's experience, and not to detract from it.