Inventory management is one of the most frustrating parts of every game. I’m what many gamers call a loot goblin and will pick up and hoard any loot, imagining that one day I will use it for something. If you’ve been reading the blog for a bit, you know that I took a break from FFXIV when the pandemic hit and the first thing that overwhelmed me was just how much of my inventory was filled.
The thing is, I’ve been well aware of the various places a player can stash resources… and unfortunately, all of these were filled to the brim with resources I no longer recognized. I think the funniest part of this reality is that my husband, who is also a guide writer, always asks me “Well did you read my guide on inventory management?” And my response is always “I live with you, why do I need to read the guide when you can just do it!?” But alas, it is something I’ve had to learn how to do for myself.
The nice thing about FFXIV is that there are multiple storage compartments a player has access to without any need for further payment than their base subscription. While yes, players can pay for extra add-ons that will inherently provide more inventory space, the reality is that no matter what players will still need to regularly sort their inventory due to the sheer number of unique items that exist in the game.
At the end of the day, every player will need to figure out which resources are most important to them to hoard and will begin to make a mental note of which are not sacred to them.
Note: If you have any questions about FFXIV that you want me to cover feel free to leave them in a comment below, you can also ask me while I am streaming on Twitch, YouTube or in our community discord.
YOUR MAIN INVENTORY
Your main inventory has 140 slots and cannot be upgraded by any means. Most resources can be stacked in groups of 999, though some resources cannot be stacked such as the Phoenix Down. That being said there are no stack sizes that are in between and are either unstackable or stackable up to 999.
Players can visually see if they have the maximum stack of an item by glancing at the bottom right of their screen. Here players can see a small visual representation of their inventory, including whether all the slots are filled and whether they have full stacks or not. Orange means a capped stack while blue means the stack is not full.
The Main Inventory also has a compartment that is specifically for Crafting Crystals. Unlike all other resources, Crystals can stack up to 9,999 and once they are capped a player will no longer collect Crystals of that type. Players will be able to move their Crystals into Retainers if they are planning on hoarding them for periods of intensive Crafting. I would strongly recommend this to all Crafters.
YOUR ARMOURY CHEST
Every player has an Armoury Chest, which is essentially the storage compartment that allows players to switch between Gearsets. Any time players equip a piece of Gear it will automatically be placed into the Armoury Chest which can be accessed by hitting Control + I. Players can store any Gear in here whether or not the player has the associated Job unlocked.
I will warn, you that the Armoury Chest tends to get cluttered relatively quickly when you play multiple Jobs especially when they are of different roles and between different levels. This is why I stuck to power levelling my side Jobs by Role since I wanted to limit the use of alternate storage for Gear outside of my Armoury Chest.
Though players can place Glamour Gear in here, often being Level 1 All Job clothing, this is not recommended as there is no utility for items like this.
The Armoury Chest has different amounts of storage depending on the type of Gear. Typically the Rings are the most problematic pieces of Gear, though not for the reason you’d think. Say two Jobs wear the same rings and you are trying to switch between Jobs, if your Ring Inventory is full and the rings are placed in different slots on your Gearsets you will often be told that you do not have enough space. If you are getting this message, make sure that you take a look at all your Gearsets to ensure that the same Rings are put in the same slots for each Job. This will not be an issue when you max out all of your Jobs, but is pretty typical during the levelling process.
YOUR GLAMOUR DRESSER
Players might not often think of their Glamour Dresser as extra inventory space, but it comes in extremely handy for those who want to pre-buy Gear.
Though players can only put Gear in their Glamour Dresser, this will help save storage space from other forms of inventory and is the most useful for players who are pre-buying Gearsets using Tomestones of Poetics. Though Tomestones of Poetics are not hard to farm, the rate at which you farm them may not be fast enough for the rate at which you use them.
Any item that goes into your Glamour Dresser will require players to utilize a Glamour Prism which can be purchased from the Market Board or your Grand Company for relatively inexpensive. Players must note that only Gear that is at full Durability can be placed into the Glamour Dresser, meaning if you’ve used this Gear before you’re going to have to repair it. That being said, you will also want to make sure you extract any Materia you had in the Gear if you Spiritbonded with it.
Players can freely remove their Gear from the Glamour Dresser, though any time they want to put it back inside they will need to spend another Glamour Prism. Your Glamour Dresser has a limited 800 slots, so folks who have an obsession with glamouring and cosmetics may not want to use their Glamour Dresser for this purpose.
I would honestly recommend that players keep their extra gearsets in their Glamour Dresser rather than in their Armoury Chest, especially if you’re prone to accidentally turning in the wrong piece of Gear to your Grand Company.
YOUR ARMOIRE
The Armoire is essentially an alternate Glamour Dresser with unlimited inventory space, however, only certain pieces of Gear can go inside of it. It took me a long time to figure out that Gear is marked with whether or not it can go in the Armoire and my husband loves to point out whenever he sees a piece of Gear that’s chilling in my Glamour Dresser that could have been put into the Armoire.
To tell if a piece of Gear can be placed in the Armoire players can hover over any piece of Gear to see whether or not the furthest icon in the top right corner is lit. Now, there is no real downside to placing a piece of Gear into your Glamour Dresser instead of your Armoire unless you hoard Glamours and want to use your Glamour Dresser for your extra Gear.
YOUR CHOCOBO SADDLE BAG
The Chocobo Saddlebag is one of my favourite types of storage as it is essentially an extension of your main inventory and can be accessed in most places other than when a player is in a special instance or Duty.
Players will need a Companion Chocobo to gain access to a Chocobo Saddlebag. I have outlined everything you need to know about Companion Chocobos here, including the fastest ways to level them up.
The level of your Chocobo does not matter and everyone will have 70 extra slots of inventory which can be accessed by pressing Control + Shift + I.
Players who subscribe to the Companion App Service will get an extra 70 slots, meaning they will have 140 extra Inventory. Note, this is a monthly subscription and while you do get an additional Retainer and more Chocobo Saddlebag space, the Companion App is honestly trash and paying for an additional Retainer on it’s own tends to be more worth it as it is less expensive.
The coolest thing about the Chocobo Saddle Bag is that it is treated as a whole different inventory, meaning if a player wants to hold two of the same Unique Gear, they can simply put it in their Saddlebag. This also works for Treasure Maps, making it possible to hoard an extra one for farm parties.
This storage tends to be useful for items you’re using regularly, but don’t need them all the time. Things like seeds, soils or resources for side content tend to be my go-to. Essentially I would put resources you need every so often when you’re not near a Summoning Bell.
YOUR RETAINER’S INVENTORIES
After completing a short quest line every player will be able to employ 2 Retainers who have 175 inventory slots. Essentially Retainers have the same amount of inventory space as you since it treat what would be your “Key Items” inventory as a generic inventory bag instead.
Players can only access a Retainer’s inventory when visiting them at a Summoning Bell. Players can place any type of item in here, including extra Unique/Untradable items meaning that Retainers can be used to hoard duplicate Treasure Maps or duplicate Unique Gear.
It should be noted, that a retainer cannot hold two of the same unique items meaning that if you are selling a Treasure Map with that Retainer you will not be able to also store one in their inventory.
Players can also store 9,999 of each type of Crystal in each of their Retainer’s inventory, honestly being the most common utility for me. I legitimately burn through Crystals so fast and frequently that without my Retainer’s storage, I’d be completely broke.
Retainer inventories are the best for resources you’re going to sell or extra resources that you may want to use later. I tend to hoard resources like leathers and Materia since these tend to be harder to come by and I won’t want to farm for them later.
FREE COMPANY CHEST
Free Company Chests are a pretty niche type of storage as while most players will be part of a Free Company, not all members will have permission to withdraw resources from the Company Chest. You see, in most cases, Company Chests are used as a means to donate to your FC, but there are some FCs with a “take what you need, leave what you don’t” policy. As having a policy like this can be risky in many cases, it’s not the most common
Now, if you’re questioning whether or not you should start an FC to get some extra storage, I would advise against it. Free Companies take quite a bit of work to manage and to get a decent amount of storage in your Free Company Chest you will need to rank up the Company.
Realistically, this is one of the main reasons I can’t see myself running a Free Company anytime soon. While I absolutely love the game and am frequently logged on, I cannot imagine having to do all the work required to keep everything afloat.
That all being said, even if you have your own Free Company chances are you won’t want to use the Free Company Chest as personal storage since there are several FC-exclusive resources and materials you will need to store here if you plan on properly running the FC.
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