The Daily Grind: Do you have enough bag space?

by Jef Reahard on Dec 10th 2010 8:00AM

Fantasy, Sci-Fi, Age of Conan, Darkfall, Culture, Opinion, Star Wars Galaxies, The Daily Grind

I used to laugh at the fact that I could carry 50 or 60 items in the hip pocket of my Star Wars Galaxies avatar. These weren't comlinks or stolen Death Star plans either, but rather big, bulky armor sets and crates of crafted consumables. It seemed rather immersion-breaking at the time, and despite the enormous convenience afforded by SOE's inventory system, well, it simply bugged me.

Fast forward a few years to the juggling act that I go through every time I want to quest or craft in Age of Conan, and I'm left to wonder what has changed more, the games or my tastes. Bag space is at a premium in Funcom's Hyboria; I'm forever throwing away stuff, making trips to my bank (which is also stupidly small), or otherwise finding work-arounds for the fact that I'm equal parts pack rat and collector.

Most other MMORPGs are similarly stingy with their item space and in fact, it's only been in my recent excursions into Darkfall that I've found an inventory system that I absolutely adore. What about you, Massively readers? Is bag space at a premium in your game(s) of choice? How would you do MMO inventory mechanics differently if you could?

Every morning, the Massively bloggers probe the minds of their readers with deep, thought-provoking questions about that most serious of topics: massively online gaming. We crave your opinions, so grab your caffeinated beverage of choice and chime in on today's Daily Grind!

Reader Comments (17)

I realize carrying around massive amounts of stuff is immersion-breaking, but necessary in the context of what we think of MMOs as today (imho).

Obviously for a good chunk of MMOs out there, the loot is a massive part of the game, at least any games that I've played.

I really wish they would limit bag space less than they do, because obviously with all that stuff dropping, we want to pick it up and either store it or sell it. In most games, I find that the on-character inventory space is sufficient (I've played wow, lotro and aion extensively, other games just a little) But what I really wish that games would calm down on is the amount of bank/warehouse/vault space that you get....I really wish that this was ALOT larger, so that I could collect things, and hoard it if I want to, especially crafting-heavy games like Aion...I would pay almost any amount of in-game currency for a much bigger bank...heck it's one of the few things I would pay real money for.

Bag space in Guild Wars is ridiculous in that I've had to buy three other accounts (One with all the campaigns and expansions again) just to have enough space for everything, and the sad part is, I'm still running out of room, slowly. But I won't pay $10 for another 20 slots, because it's cheaper to go through the hassle of a new account and trading between them than what it is for a single storage pane in that game. Which is why I have 4 accounts and my dad has 11. I mean 12. And it might be 13 or 14 the next time the Trilogy pack goes on sale. Never enough room...never enough room.

@TheLazyGeek I play guild wars too, I only have my one account. I really havent ran out of room yet(i still have 2 panes to open again) I cant even imagine warrenting more then 1 account at this moment. Are you saving every single collectable just on the off chance that nick pops up? I can't fathom NEEDING 10 accounts just for the sake of inventory problems X_X

in games.... no.
in real life.... no.

...
/cry

I like ample bag space... really, when you reach the limit of what you can carry its both immersing and immersion breaking. It presents a reality that your character has limits which is good, but those limits prevent you from doing anything constructive in the game until its remedied which is bad.

I'm a fan of STO's method, actually. Your inventory will fill up and become full when your out doing mission after mission after mission, but instead of having to return to base to sell off everything to a vendor, you can "recycle" it for energy credits at a reduced rate. You're not getting the premium you could at the starbase, but you can clear space, still make a profit, and keep on going.

MMO = EIM (Endless Inventory Management)

What's the absolute worst problem is when you've taken a break from a game where you have lots of alts. Last week I spent literally an entire Saturday cleaning up inventory between all 9 of my chars in LOTRO.

You might think that it would be better to organize before you take the break - I've discovered over the years that it makes no difference, still have to spend hours figuring out why they have the inventory they do.

@Delvie

This is why I believe the next big MMO that isn't a steaming pile and that has an offline management application will be a huge cash cow. WoW got part of it right with their iPhone app. But it shouldn't be extra. People pay a monthly fee for this already.

If GW2 or ToR or Rift have a really good companion iPhone/Andriod app I will be a long-term subscriber. (provided the game is actually good)

Games need to stop having mobs drop junk. That will fix some of the bag space problems.

There is absolutely no reason that junk items should drop, period. Just have them drop gold instead as all people do is destroy them or drop them. Some MMO's have this right, but far too many still drop junk items.

I am a packrat in RL and in games (not just MMOs) and for the same reason: you never know when you'll need something. In games that are free to play, this is solved by extra account mules. In games like WoW, they luckily give you lots of character slots :) But I still run out of space.

However I believe that no matter how much space they give me, I will fill it up!

I could do without the inventory Metagame, especially for bank space. I get argument for immersion, but do the immersion folks decide not to make what amounts to alts that serve as additional bank space or use other methods to circumvent storage limitations?

I also get why some games limit it in terms of a profit motive especially if they are F2P. Vindictus comes to mind first and foremost and I gladly give them cash for an extra inventory bag, not only for the extra space, but to also reward them for the game.

What I don't get is why you dont get a very large storage space for your monthly fee. Is it a hardware/tech issue? Too many packets going back and forth to manage each players inventory every time it changes? /shrug

I guess I am the exception.

I love playing the inventory management game, especially at lower levels, when extending my bags is JUST out of reach. I think WoW was probably the best implementation for me.

Later on in higher levels I agree that it is borderline drudgery to have to bother with it.

I'm a collector/hoarder. I like getting cool shiny stuff, and I tend to keep gear I've just replaced. Both because of being conditioned to keep a "backup set" of gear, and because when I replace stuff I'm not always sure if the benefits I'm getting are going to suit my playstyle better then what I'm already using. (bigger numbers do not always mean better)

I think that the limited bag space concept is one of the last hold-overs from older generation games like EQ and AC, where it was an artificial limiter to increase the game's difficulty (like a stamina bar, or wight limit). Sure it adds to immersion, but mainly what it does is make you STOP PLAYING while you bank/sort your stuff.

Some of those things I wish they'd of kept (like the lack of radar or arrows pointing you to where your quest is), but to the things that make you stop playing the game (like highly-limited storage and waiting for transport) I say: "don't let the door hit you on the way out."

Cash Shop supported games are purposely super inventory stingy in order to get you to buy bags to carry stuff. Some horribly small, others slightly reasonable.

But you can pretty much pay that away. I usually do too. I can't deal with a tiny bit of inventory space. It's just too annoying. I'd rather have some stupid reason why I could carry 1,000 items on me than have a realistic system where I can't carry squat. Or have a "Squire" or something that follows you around and brings whatever junk you want to a giant bank or your house somewhere and then comes back after.

No, never enough.

Also need more bank space!

Feed our hoarding RL needs, MMOs!

I love to have a balance in the inventory system. If there are a lot of fun collectible items to show off to others, then I must have enough storage room to keep them all. If you loot a lot of valued junk items, I must have enough bag space to keep questing without losing anything.

Lego Universe had horrible inventory space issues. World of Warcraft is pretty fair, when you have your own personal guild bank space. New crafted items keep coming out that require old resource items and I just can't take the chance of losing out on those.

Do I have enough bag space?

Noooooo!!!!!

I always hated the fact that my char is able to carry around 29.3X times his weight in some "bags".

If MMOs were less item-centric and more char-centered (like Darkfall - not a fanboy of that game btw, I don't even play it) then there wouldn't be the need for all this UBERLEET gear and stupid amounts of equipment.

Full loot FTW! (You wouldn't even be able to loot all my things and run away, fool! They're too heavy!)

The Daily Grind: Do you have enough bag space?

Reader Comments (17)

Posted: Dec 10th 2010 8:08AM Marklar19 said

Posted: Dec 10th 2010 8:18AM TheLazyGeek said

Posted: Dec 10th 2010 10:19AM mttgamer said

Posted: Dec 10th 2010 8:21AM Arkanaloth said

Posted: Dec 10th 2010 9:40AM Ocho said

Posted: Dec 10th 2010 10:03AM Delvie said

Posted: Dec 10th 2010 11:04AM drakon said

Posted: Dec 10th 2010 11:00AM drakon said

Posted: Dec 10th 2010 11:05AM Djinn said

Posted: Dec 10th 2010 11:07AM Sarzan said

Posted: Dec 10th 2010 11:38AM Pingles said

Posted: Dec 10th 2010 12:33PM pixledriven said

Posted: Dec 10th 2010 2:00PM MewmewGirl said

Posted: Dec 10th 2010 3:22PM Space Cobra said

Posted: Dec 10th 2010 4:24PM WeirdJedi said

Posted: Dec 10th 2010 10:49PM (Unverified) said

Posted: Dec 11th 2010 4:32PM HackJack said

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