Blog Azeroth: Shared Topic 08/08/11

Bags and Bank Space
This week's topic, paraphrased from Amerence: 

Over the expansions a lot of soulbound items have piled up, in banks and bags alike. Tier gear, trinkets, random grey items, you name it.Some people collect this stuff, some don't.  Some do it consciously, others not so much. Amerence asks, "Would it be worth a try to suggest to Blizzard to extend the capacity of our Bag and Bank item slots? Or do you think the cost of just tailored Bags (22-30slots) will do the work?" Should storage space even be an issue at all?

To answer this question  I first had to take inventory and see just what it is I do have in my bags and bank.

Bags: I do try to keep my bags current and useful only. Only two (backpack and a frostweave) are full all the time. The frostweave holds my offspec gear, as well as alchemist stone, permanent flask, and hearth stone. My backpack is full of fun little things to use when bored in raid, such as my Orb of the Sin'dorei or my Spring Flowers. Everything else in my bag is alchemy mats and enchanting mats, so  I essentially always have two and half free bags for quest/dungeon/raid drops.Overall I don't really consider bag space an issue, once I've hit level cap. It seems kind of backwards that we get the big bags once we stop questing so much, as every time I've ever run out of bag space, it's when I'm leveling a new character. Maybe that's supposed to be part of the challenge or, more likely, a reminder to go into town when you have to sell stuff. (Side Note: I love the option in Torchlight where you can send your pet into town to sell things for you. We do have mounts that bring the vendors to us in WoW, but they're all at level cap and thus not helpful to leveling chars either).

Bank: Oh bank...you are not nearly as free as my bags. I have T11 and T10 both saved, down to the trinkets. Why, I'm not sure. I didn't even really earn T10, as I came to raid ICC so late that badges basically showered down upon me and bosses tripped over themselves and spit up gear. T11 I feel like I actually earned, so maybe I can understand wanting to hold onto that. Really, though, I'm afraid that if I delete them I'll suddenly need them again. Like, Blizzard will push the rewind button and bam! we can only wear T10. It's a completely insane fear, but there it is.

Maybe  I should just keep my favorite piece of each tier (usually judged by looks) until I have my own unique shaman gear. I don't roleplay, but it might offer me a nice compromise of keeping some of it and still having bank space.

Next is tabards. By all accounts, I have very few tabards - they only take up one bag - and even I can see the need for something like a tabbard holder, separate from the bag and bank system, more like the title system.

I have two bags full of holiday stuff. I always wear the holiday's clothing during the holiday and switch my title to the most festively appropriate one.

I have a trinket and totem bag, where I keep the fun/cool ones I've collected over the levels. This includes the Totem of the Earthern Ring, my first combined totem, and trinkets like Commander's Badge, that took me forever to earn.

Then I have the bag of things that no longer exist in this game. Primal Hakkari Tabard anyone? I have four pieces of the shaman tier 4 set, collected not because I really wanted them, but because I joined the boyfriend in facerolling Molten Core a couple times. These items have no use to me, and really no sentimental value...but it comes back to, if I delete them ...I might need them suddenly.

Based on what I see in my bags and bank, I'd say the amount of storage space Blizzard has provided is fine, for me. There is no reason for me to hang onto half the stuff I have, if I needed more room I could easily get it - as soon as I convince myself that no NPC will ever accept that Zulian Coin for anything, ever.

However, I am not a roleplayer and I have only played WoW for a little over a year with any sense of dedication. If I did RP, I can easily see how I would use up all my bank space in a second storing different outfits for Kaezhol. If I had played since Vanilla, I would probably care a bit more about owning a tier 1/2/3/4/etc set or hard to get items. As it is, i just haven't played enough to become attached to a large number of things.

To sum it up: banks and bags are cluttered. Sometimes it's for good reasons (RP/nostalgia) and sometimes it's for not so good reasons (deranged belief that Gutbuster might become best-in-slot again). Ever growing bag sizes might be the easiest fix, in terms of coding or something (not that I claim to understand that); but, if Blizzard ever decided to devote the time and resources storage in WoW could really use a good makeover.A tabbard hanger, an equipment closet for sets of old gear, and trinket drawer - storage that is specific and organized. That would proabably require a huge overall of ...something? Everything? I don't know where/how things are stored in WoW dataspace now, but making it pretty probably wouldn't be...well, pretty..