Famitsu Translation - Heavensward Interview - (EU Media Event 5/18-5/20)

[Sho]

No point in wardrobe system when glamours double as an active and on-going gilsink for the economy.

[Rocl]

No point in wardrobe system when glamours double as an active and on-going gilsink for the economy.

No reason why you couldn't still need prisms to cast a glamour.

[Voyage1970]

They could still implement a wardrobe system while also requiring you to purchase/craft prisms to actually use said system. The main issue is freeing up inventory slots instead of being forced to hoard everything you might want to use for glamour.

Edit: God damnit

[Kaisha]

No reason why you couldn't still need prisms to cast a glamour.

This would be my impression of YoshiP's version of a wardrobe. Either prism to change the glamor set, or require prism to commit a piece of armor to the wardrobe for free use.

[Rocl]

Hell, double the gilsink, to put an armorskin in your wadrobe requires an expensive prism (one-time use) and then to replace an armor's appearance with one in your wardrobe you use the glamour prisms as they exist now.

[Kaisha]

Add saveable glamor wardrobe profiles for only $1.99 monthly each from the Mogstation.

[Sho]

You all make a good point. Betting it will be something explained away as "increased server load," which it actually could be, lol.

[Cutriss]

You all make a good point. Betting it will be something explained away as "increased server load," which it actually could be, lol.

Not really. They have to grow the inventory somehow, this is acknowledged, and now they're going to be doing it. Were they to instead implement a wardrobe along the lines of the armoire, the rate of data growth with equipment additions would be slower than it would be with inventory. Furthermore, the wardrobe doesn't need the same frequency of backup as the actual player-data, so they could've avoided this bandwidth problem they claim to have.

Depending on how they implement it, inventory slots likely require around 1K of information to store what exists in a particular slot. The wardrobe (much like the armoire) would be strictly binary. I don't know offhand how many green/blue/purple items are in the game (along with holiday/event/special things like the Star-Spangled Subligar), but there are probably fewer than 1000 in the game now. The rate of data access to the armoire is already fairly low (because people aren't in their houses/inn rooms very frequently) so it's not like it's going to grossly impact server traffic.

Truth is the wardrobe could *reduce* server load, but they seem to have the most backwards software engineering practices sometimes, so it wouldn't surprise me if they claimed it can't work.

[Niiro]

Yea the armoire seems really, really underutilized and it seems like an excellent solution.

Can only be accessed in the inn, doesn't even need to bring up the information unless you click on the armoire anyway, no information is stored with the gear (no SB, durability, dyes, glamours, materia, signatures), it's just "have piece? y/n".

What I find very odd is they started adding some stuff to the calamity salvager NPC, is that supposed to be a preferable option? Or are they just using the NPC so they don't have to deal with expanding the armoire?

Also don't forget we're getting another retainer with 3.0 (they never actually said how many but it's probably just gonna be 1), they better not screw us out of that, cause I'm fucked otherwise <_<;;

[Lucavi]

Truth is the wardrobe could *reduce* server load, but they seem to have the most backwards software engineering practices sometimes, so it wouldn't surprise me if they claimed it can't work.

Well, when you hamstring your MMO storage capacity by integrating it with consoles to appease the .03% of Japanese players that haven't given up on consoles to play nothing but the latest version of Mobile Train Rape Simulator 2015, it becomes a bit easier to understand "backwards software engineering practices".

[Spider-Dan]

Yea the armoire seems really, really underutilized and it seems like an excellent solution.

The armoire is incredibly far behind in updates. I still can't store:

- DQX slime head
- goblin mask
- Hildebrand set
- Strife set
- fat chocobo mask? or some other stuff I can't remember

Well, when you hamstring your MMO storage capacity by integrating it with consoles to appease the .03% of Japanese players that haven't given up on consoles to play nothing but the latest version of Mobile Train Rape Simulator 2015, it becomes a bit easier to understand "backwards software engineering practices".

Without Japanese console integration, this game probably would have already went F2P.

[Seravi Edalborez]

The armoire is incredibly far behind in updates. I still can't store:

- DQX slime head
- goblin mask
- Hildebrand set
- Strife set
- fat chocobo mask? or some other stuff I can't remember


Without Japanese console integration, this game probably would have already went F2P.

Few other things stinking up my retainer:

Imperial disguise from MSQ
Sable Death Mask from beast tribes
Postmoogle cap I think (but buyable from calamity salvager)
I think the stuff from past easter/valentine's event?

[Odin'sLaw]

You all make a good point. Betting it will be something explained away as "increased server load," which it actually could be, lol.

When the EU servers get moved to the EU wouldn't that free up more space for server mass? (for the NA servers and presuming the EU servers are the same size as the NA ones)

[Raldo]

What I find very odd is they started adding some stuff to the calamity salvager NPC, is that supposed to be a preferable option? Or are they just using the NPC so they don't have to deal with expanding the armoire?

I assume they used the Calamity Salvager because all that NPC has to do is [Check Achievements] > [Generate Shopfront], whereas the Armoire actually stores/alters character info (even if it basically is just a single bit of data).

That said, they sure as shit don't have any trouble adding more achievements (which often have to track a progress number, making it more data-intensive), so how can it possibly be that difficult to add more data to the armoire?

[Lucavi]

Without Japanese console integration, this game probably would have already went F2P.

I disagree. 1.0 was built off of that XI template, which was built for console. There was never a time where FFXIV wasn't built on a console base, be it through architecture or philosophy. That it actually "released" on consoles at a later time is irrelevant. The guts of the game were all but cloned from XI, which was built for console-first, PC-afterthought.

But you're right on the back-end: console sales have been very good (not sure about Japan's, but their sales of everything that isn't pachinko and mobile titles is turrible) for the company.

[Kaisha]

Well, when you hamstring your MMO storage capacity by integrating it with consoles

How many other MMOs exactly let you run around with the equivelant of 300+ inventory before bank/mule storage anyhow? All I know off the top of my head of what I played is XI (aforementioned 320 on hand), and ARR (100 onhand + 300 armoury slots)

Both on consoles no less.

[Niiro]

I assume they used the Calamity Salvager because all that NPC has to do is [Check Achievements] > [Generate Shopfront], whereas the Armoire actually stores/alters character info (even if it basically is just a single bit of data).

That said, they sure as shit don't have any trouble adding more achievements (which often have to track a progress number, making it more data-intensive), so how can it possibly be that difficult to add more data to the armoire?

Some of the stuff added to the NPC (but not the armoire) isn't tied to achievements.

But you're right about the achievements memory usage, never really occurred to me before, and all that information also has to be accessible anytime, anywhere (compared to the armoire, which is only at the inn).

[Spider-Dan]

But you're right on the back-end: console sales have been very good (not sure about Japan's, but their sales of everything that isn't pachinko and mobile titles is turrible) for the company.

I was talking entirely about the "back-end" (although I would call retail sales the "front-end").

As a PC MMO, ARR is a rather unremarkable WoW clone that would have bled subscribers just like every other WoW clone has shortly after launch.
As a console MMO, ARR is far-and-away the best in class and there isn't anything remotely comparable.

But you're right about the achievements memory usage, never really occurred to me before, and all that information also has to be accessible anytime, anywhere (compared to the armoire, which is only at the inn).

Achievements only progress one way (forward) and the data could potentially be stored differently, especially since once you complete an achievement, the game never has to update that data again. In contrast, the armoire has to keep track of when you store and remove items.

[Destinye]

How many other MMOs exactly let you run around with the equivelant of 300+ inventory before bank/mule storage anyhow? All I know off the top of my head of what I played is XI (aforementioned 320 on hand), and ARR (100 onhand + 300 armoury slots)

Both on consoles no less.

I figured he was being sarcastic because even PSO2 on the vita i've had more fun with and seen more done with it than PC only MMOs, even as a F2P/Freemium type game. Not to mention server architecture has very little to do with platform because even a basic smartphone can utilize them (hence game streaming.)

[Raldo]

Some of the stuff added to the NPC (but not the armoire) isn't tied to achievements.

Ah, you're right. It probably checks your completed quests then. (another thing they obviously have no trouble adding more of)