Better storage ideas

[Fay Vert]

For me, the way they are fiddling with material storage slots is pretty ill concieved, it does little or nothing to solve the problem for most people, and not too much for those that do hoard storage. The way they are "marketing" it is poor and has also created a (little) bit of bad feeling with their customers. I don't understand where they are coming from and why they can't just give us more storage. One theory is that disk/server storage costs money, I'd like to see some figures, because disk space gets cheaper and cheaper.

Anyhow, enough whinging and whining. Let's be constructive. What storage options could ANet have implemented instead? We don't know how storage is currently handled, technically, in the game so it's hard to put suggestions forward that meet the business constraints, regarding cost and timescales, that ANet much be very wary of; but try to think of simple solutions rather than awesome mega solutions.

Here are a few things that spring to my mind, hopefully you will all have more.

1) Allow belt pouches to have a rune of holding, that extra 5 would be heaven, charge 5K for the rune. Grants more storage for a gold sink.

2) Add Major and Superior runes of holding. Grants more storage for a gold sink.

3) Each chapter gives you 20 storage space, but in keeping with the "6*100% > 8*50%" math, then a merged chapter gives you +10 storage. More storage linked to more sales for ANet.

4) (my favorite) The storage agent lets you access the backpack storage of your other characters. Most people with storage issues use other characters as mules. This would make the process of changing things around much easier, and no need for any extra game storage. Better use of existing storage.

5) Increase the stacking limit of 250. I'm guessing they store this as a single byte so the real data limit is 255, if they could up it to 2 bytes then they could store over 60,000 materials in a slot, this would be a better solution to the material collectors. Better use of existing storage.

6) Add extra storage, but rent it for a price per period of time. Say 1k per week per n slots, deducted automatically from stored funds. If you run out of cash then it will automatically dump what it can into standard storage and you lose the rest. Grants more storage for a gold sink.

Please, don't be critical, be constructive. What else could they do?

Edit: I can't count

[Lensor]

A "limitless" customised stuff only storage (could be an icon on the character inventory or in the vault) would go a very long way. The biggest issue players seem to have with storage (or lack thereof) is that they want somewhere to put their multiple armor/weapon sets.

Dye tab in vault (similar to up-and-coming material tab).

More of a storage interface improvement than an actual storage improvement, but I would also really like to see a stack splitting feature.


I pretty much agree with you, exept the storage-for-hire option, and also the gold-costs of option 1 and 2. I do not think extra storage should cost gold, but rather time (ok, "time is money", but anyway). Quest rewards or exchange holding runes for collectables would be a better way I think. That way everyone have the same chance to get more storage, not just the ones with money.

Somehow I think that gold sinks should be stuff that do not actually affect gameplay (armor, fancy skins, *hairdresser* etc). As having more storage is a definitive advantage, it should be aquired/given based on other criteria than gold.

I also wish to point out that to me (packrat that I am) there is such a thing as too much storage, from a game economy point-of-view."Limitless" storage leads to hoarding, for instance leading to not enough players selling stuff (runes, dyes, mats) to merchants, leading to price inflation.

[Ayarie]

I quite like any of those ideas Fay - Especially the increased runes of holding!

I have no buzz about paying in game gold for extras - thats fine with me!

I will continue to be at a loss why factions only players will have more need for extra storage than the other chapters they ever bring out =/

Naru Soulfire

[GlendaLock]

Lots of good ideas above, especially the major/superior runes :D

I've heard a keyring suggested a few times before, current thread:
http://forums.gwonline.net/showthread.php?t=408459

Making more items stackable would be cool - first time I filled up my storage with pre-searing grawl gear I figured there was no reason for them to not stack. Sure the armour value of drops may be different (I know not why) and some have salvageable runes but if they could be made stackable somehow it would help.

[Elite Raistlin]

I got a better solution, make the storage have 10,000 slots. easy :soapbox:

[Garreth MacLeod]

I don't really have any new ideas but I see there are some good one already. I do wonder if the material tab to come is just the beginning though. My personal opinion is that the material tab might have been the best "overall" prototype for ArenaNet. A lot of people have materials and ArenaNet needed to try the tab idea out to see if it works. If it does work, then who's to say that additional tabs can't be added. And with what they learn from this one, maybe easier to add.

[Findariel]

I got a better solution, make the storage have 10,000 slots. easy :soapbox:
Around 100 general storage would be nice.

And yes, increase the personal inventory or add a tab for customized (armour, weapons) stuff, a wardrobe for every single character with about 20 slots each. Even 5k a slot would be ok to me.

Keep in mind that within 4 months .. chapter 3 ... even more armour and weapon skins!
Look at the future and we'll need double of everything (at least those among us that don't think that 1 weapon and 1 armour set is sufficient and wonders where all the fuzz is about).

I mean: it's not that we have enough now, we even hadn't have enough in prophecies. Let alone with all that factions stuff added to that; the 20 slots for materials (most of us will only use about 20 of those 34) is just a very minor update, that's 3 extra slots for each character where we had 6 new armour sets (9 for Canthan classes), new event stuff and countless weapon skins and greens.

So yes, all inventories should be doubled and make the stash 100 slots.

[Draenor]

I want to see a Xunlai Faction added. You do quests for them, give the collector items, whatever, and earn faction. This faction can be used to buy general storage slots (which ought to increase in price. Unlimited storage potential, but eventually it'd take too long to buy the next slot...), customized slots which get their own tab for that one character (fixed cost for this), and material slots (which have to be purchased individually much like runes are purchased with Balth faction).

[DKS]

One suggestion mentioned in other threads but not mentioned here yet-make armor STACKABLE in 1 slot. Make it so one inventory space can hold vest, leggings, boots, gloves, and helm. Doing this would suddenly free up 4 storage slots, making better use of existing storage.

And then there was Bob's suggestion of a keyring, which would help the people who routinely use keys. It could be added freely, or cost a reasonable price, 500-1000 gold for example.

[Aerolor]

I don't have storage problems, really, but I would sure like more space. Maybe if I had room, I WOULD get more armor sets and such. Still, for now, all I want is a place to keep my holiday stash.

[DKS]

I'd like a holiday stash too. Just saving 1 mask for a single character takes up 4(soon to be 5) slots, then if you also save candy weapons/shields, it gets even worse, then if you also save things like snowman summoners, ghosts in a box, etc, it becomes nearly unbearable.

[freya carmenta]

I like your ideas and think that your post was very well thought out, we need constructive ideas such as yours rather than moaning away like half the other threads seem to be at the moment.

I like the idea of sup./major runes of holding, and also allowing more than 250 materials to be stacked, and personally I think either 500 or 1000 would satisfy most of us. Accessing other characters backpacks would also save A LOT of time for us all, and the keyring idea also seems great :cool:

However, I have to say that this material storage that is going to be added will do a lot for me, as 66% of my storage is taken with materials, the other 33% with dyes.

But soon I'm sure I'll need more room for Armor and special event stuff!

Hope my feedback is appreciated

[KillBotFactory]

Rather than have armour stackable, make it unlockable, allowing you to select the combination you want in an outpost, once you pay gold and materials for them. This would potentially give you access to any armour combination you want, without using any inventory space or much disk space. Of course this would be restrictive to people that like to change their armour in battle.

[Goathands]

I've always thought the idea of just letting bags be able to be filled and opened no matter where they are: your backpack, your storage, etc...
It'd allow for a lot of extra room.
Probably a rediculous amount, but it would be very possible.

[Shadowspawn X]

I like your ideas and think that your post was very well thought out, we need constructive ideas such as yours rather than moaning away like half the other threads seem to be at the moment.


I Agree the OP is being very tactiful and has good ideas, however people have been posting great ideas about storage since I started this game 14 months ago. This issue is old and has been ignored forever. Its very simple, we just need some more inventory slots, doesnt take a lot of brainstorming to figure out, nothing complicated here at all. Only thing confusing is why the number one gripe for over a year was never addressed. Then they come up with the materials tab, which totally misses the mark.

[davepesc]

I read a good explanation somewhere around here about how the materials storage let them create the greatest number of slots with the smallest data requirement, since the system only needs to remember the quantity associated with a particular slot.

I think the best idea so far is the 10 slots given with each chapter purchased, since charging players all the in-game gold in the world won't pay for more server space.

I get by with storage as it is, but I also have not purchased one set of Factions armor (except for my new Ritualist) because I have nowhere to put it. I also have a mule holding various mods, sellable weapons and , yes, crafting materials.

Heck, add a dye and key tab and I'd be very happy.

[Dark Wolf]

Yeah, personal storage should at least double and 250 as a limit should go up to 1000. My personal suggestion is that the general storage should add x slots for each character that you have to the storage there is already, could be ten-twenty slots. Anet will sell charrs lots soon (I'll buy two) and there are two new classes with each chapter, so obviously more charrs coming for everyone. So the general storage is 20, so if you add the 4 characters of Prophecies, should be around 60 to 100 slots in the general storage. Plus the two charaters of Factions: 80 to 140 slots in the general storage. Etc. Etc. for each chapter and extra charrs slots.

[Lord Juan]

Rather than have armour stackable, make it unlockable, allowing you to select the combination you want in an outpost, once you pay gold and materials for them. This would potentially give you access to any armour combination you want, without using any inventory space or much disk space. Of course this would be restrictive to people that like to change their armour in battle.
I like that idea. However i have no idea how the dye/runes would be handled.

[Mawgleah]

This is a suggestion thread about storage.

If you are going to insist on turning it into another, why or why not more storage, it will be merged with one of the many existing topics on that subject.

EDIT: Let me clarify....your post will be merged (or quite possibly, deleted) with one of those topics, not the thread itself.

[fotwenny]

I'm not a huge poster here, but love to read the threads.. with that said:

I think the new materials tab seems to me like a step in the right direction for Anet. And possibly one that could be expanded. If so, I would like to see in the future more tabs in the vault for say: Dyes, Armors, and an unlockable Holiday Storage tab (for a small fee and so people who don't have any holiday items, won't need). I love collecting armors and weapons (to use and customize, so maybe even a Customized storage tab).

We don't really need too much storage, but for those things which can take up a lot of space when not in use, a little extra wouldn't hurt.

The more options available without limiting storage space too much could help with creating more diverse builds.

Just my 2 cents.

[StormAngel]

i reckon ANet have got it right with the tab selection and as someone has already said, they may just be using the materials tab as a prototype and if that works, bring out more.

i have never had the urge to own more then 1 set of armor for any of my characters. for a start i never have enough gold and second, i just dont want to. weapons on the other hand.....

what i would like to see in the future is a tab based storage.

1. Materials
2. Dyes
3. Armor
4. Weapons
5. Weapon Mods
6. Runes
7. Misc. (these can be the odd things like keys and stuff).

say have 20-30 slots in each tab. with 5 parts to each armor, thats 4-6 suits in the storage. thats a second for each char in 1 account. it would free up character storage allowing them to carry their own spare armor.

just my suggestion.

[suikoden]

I have a few suggestions.

1.Make 1 more tab for each character for their own personal storage and keep the tab for the storage that works across all characters. That way we'll have 3 tabs 1 for materials , 1 for everyone and 1 for self/personal.

2.Our backpacks , once you stick them in their respected slots that's all there is to them. Why not let them be storaged and let them be able to hold stuff inside, because right they you can unequip the backpack and stick it in storage but only if its empty.

[dracofr]

there was a topic similar to this one on storage before they made the announcement that there will be more storage for materials. I tried to fins a post I really like cause he had pictures and everything but his idea was you would load armor sets in just like weapon set so a total of 4 or 5 and then once loaded they would no longer show up in your inventory and to switch head peices you click of your head gear and a drop down menu with the 4 or 5 other headpeices you had loaded shows up and you just pick the one you want from the menu. I thought this was a really neat idea. I'll keep trying to find his post. I the tab thing but I feel it is important for all chars to have it know matter what game you own. I really like the key ring idea in a different post. Personnally, in storage I would like to see the regular storage, a material tab, a dye tab and maybe a tab for up to ten different collector items so if you are going throught the desert you have a place to save all the collector items like griffen wing, jade manibles, etc. It would only allow you to have ten different ones at one time and would only allow these type of items. Then on each one of the chars i would like to see a tab in the back pack for customized armor (for up to 5 set, and spots for all special event helm that char has) and one for customized weapons.

[Alexia of Durham]

why not make armor-pieces stackable in your inventory ? This doesn't mean you'd have to create an extra tab in storage for it ( although you can do both) ,because it saves 4 spots in your inventory-bags .Let's say you have 2 armor sets .If you can make it so each set occupies 1 slot in your bag you'd have an extra 8 spaces in your bags .


If you do the same for weapon-sets i'd think all problems would pretty much be resolved .

[ixgluck]

imo stacking armor or adding a slot just for armor (i'd say stacking is better) would pretty much solve the storage problems

[PhQ]

100 rows of storage. Would get rid of all the whining and problems instantly.

[Saelfaer]

For me, the way they are fiddling with material storage slots is pretty ill concieved, it does little or nothing to solve the problem for most people, and not too much for those that do hoard storage. The way they are "marketing" it is poor and has also created a (little) bit of bad feeling with their customers. I don't understand where they are coming from and why they can't just give us more storage. One theory is that disk/server storage costs money, I'd like to see some figures, because disk space gets cheaper and cheaper.


seriously fay, i think you are wrong here
i could never believe that arenanet would do something that NOT targets the biggest group. i am 100% sure that they did research in their database. and that most of the storrage goest to crafting materials.
so thats why they chose to create a storrage for crating mats.

true, you Hear more about storrage problems from those who hoard armors. but then thats because they do complain more about the storrage then the people who collect crafting materials do.

ps, a storrage for crafting materials helps everyone. everyone keeps some crafting materials, even if its only the real rare ones.
but Defenatly not everyone has multiple armors.



Anyhow, enough whinging and whining. Let's be constructive. What storage options could ANet have implemented instead? We don't know how storage is currently handled, technically, in the game so it's hard to put suggestions forward that meet the business constraints, regarding cost and timescales, that ANet much be very wary of; but try to think of simple solutions rather than awesome mega solutions.

this is why i made my previous statement. arenanet knows alot more information than we do. they do research their databases and collect information on most used storrage items... and such. so im confident they chose the right thing.


Here are a few things that spring to my mind, hopefully you will all have more.

1) Allow belt pouches to have a rune of holding, that extra 5 would be heaven, charge 5K for the rune. Grants more storage for a gold sink.

2) Add Major and Superior runes of holding. Grants more storage for a gold sink.

3) Each chapter gives you 20 storage space, but in keeping with the "6*100% > 8*50%" math, then a merged chapter gives you +10 storage. More storage linked to more sales for ANet.


previous 3 storrage ideas are basic and good If and only if they are limited.
i know most people would like unlimited space but seriously that just cant happen. it has not only beecause of the server capacity or such thats just totally nothing to do with it. its more like this: the more items you can store, the more people will start hoarding. hoarding drives the prices up. and influcenes the economy. now this is a thing arenanet is careful with.


4) (my favorite) The storage agent lets you access the backpack storage of your other characters. Most people with storage issues use other characters as mules. This would make the process of changing things around much easier, and no need for any extra game storage. Better use of existing storage.

nice idea but im not sure they will allow this. altough i do think its an improvement without givving Any more character slots.


5) Increase the stacking limit of 250. I'm guessing they store this as a single byte so the real data limit is 255, if they could up it to 2 bytes then they could store over 60,000 materials in a slot, this would be a better solution to the material collectors. Better use of existing storage.


as i said in reply to idea 1 2 and 3, an unlimited (or with a Very high limit like this 60000) storrage would cause hoarding and would infuence the economy for sure. hoarding will drive the prices up. untill people realise high prices and start selling huge batches = in no time the prices will drop to the absolute minimum...


6) Add extra storage, but rent it for a price per period of time. Say 1k per week per n slots, deducted automatically from stored funds. If you run out of cash then it will automatically dump what it can into standard storage and you lose the rest. Grants more storage for a gold sink.


you mean like the character slots. renting storrage in exchange for real life money? or from ingame money...
this would be another gold sink. and the best idea of the 6 you gave here.
i like the fact that it would be completely optional for you to choose if you rent it or not.


Please, don't be critical, be constructive. What else could they do?


whoops sorry :p

[Draenor]

I already have a means of storing materials in this game. It's called sell it to the material trader and buy it back when I actually need it. Sure, it costs money, but at least it's an existing storage option. I want to be able to store customized gear or more general storage.

[Brustow]

imo, what a player can hold on him/herself is good enough...

Anet is on the right track with that Tabbed Storage that you can access in towns, they just need to make more of it. Have a tab for armor, dye, weapons, keys, and more general storage and then you have a good enough storage system.

Keep it simple, I don't think anyone is looking for "better" storage they just want way way MORE of it :happy:

[Findariel]

I don't think anyone is looking for "better" storage they just want way way MORE of it :happy:
Haha indeed, in this case more = better!!! :rolleyes:
So a little more is a little better, a lot more is a lot better

Anyway, as another poll showed, most people agree that increased general storage would be the best.
Whether by:
* storable bags
* extra storage tabs
* keyrings
* customized stuff only tabs
* dye tabs
* collectables tabs
* holiday items tabs
* crafting materials tabs
* stackable runes
* toggable armour sets
* increasing the size of a pile from 250 to 1,000
or just
* quadruple to 10-fold storage

- Increased inventory doesn't solve the transferring between characters.
- Guild storage is very complicated with access and security.

[AerasaBloodarrow]

All this extra storage is just.. not good; at the end, everyone will have everything they need in storage and the Economy would slightly die. It's not profitable for ANet, as you can't forget about the technical side of the story (extra hard drives, more cpu usage, more internet traffic). Something that I would see coming is an expansion of storage when you buy it with real money. They will even maybe give you more storage if you buy a new character slot (this was planned for the summer right? the whole extra-storage tab probably also has something to do with this).
Please understand, that it is impossible for them to keep expanding storage; it's bad for the economic side of the game and of ANet themself.

[Fay Vert]

Please understand, that it is impossible for them to keep expanding storage

Please understand that this is not what this thread is about, post that in the other threads.

[galad]

For me, the way they are fiddling with material storage slots is pretty ill concieved, it does little or nothing to solve the problem for most people, and not too much for those that do hoard storage.

Your ideas are good but as you can see from that poll about usefulness of storage uprage this part of your post is not really true.

[COLDshiver]

for the armor thing, i was thinking that you should get 5 armor only storage slots for every chapter you have on your account. Because when you go to a new continent, you'll probably be wanting the armor that goes with the continent. So atm, there would be 5 slots, a set for one armor because you'll be wearing the other set.

[Galactic Bat]

Tho I think the point about horders and the effect they have on the economy are very valid points, i still dont think its the only issue here. The one point this thread hasnt stated (at least i didnt see it) is the lag issue.
Id be the first to state my desire for more storage, i want that too, A LOT. but simply increasing storage by rune or tabs or armor slots or whatever will always produce more lag. The more stuff the system has to search through to find your stuff (and how much of it you have) the slower the game will get.
Its my personal beleif that if we had to wait 5-10 seconds before our items showed up in our inventories/vaults, it would end up being the number 1 complaint accross most GW boards.

OK, i know... constructive :wink:

Personally, Im in support of anything that improves the functionality of the storage system. i.e. the point the OP made about being able to access other character inventories through your vault is an EXCELLENT idea. In fact any improvement without adding lag or screwing the economy would likely be apreciated by all.

As for the tabs improvement... If Anet can do this without slowing down the rate of database access then Im all for it. And by all means please add more tabs for more items. But if the system starts to lag because there is now bazillions more data to sift through in search of your stuff, then meh! Off with it!

Good Luck Anet. This will likely always be a tough issue to deal with. Many an MMOG has struggled with this before GW.

[MasterD]

I think the best idea, if they can't upgrade things on their end without causing lag which I would be surprised if it did cause lag, would be to have all of the storage done on our side. Give us a little bit of control over how much we store and all that. Base it off of our hard drives. This way ANET frees up a bunch of memory and storage giving room for other improvements and less in game lag. It would be faster to have our personal computers accessing the data than to have it sent over the net anyway. It might cause a little bit of a programming problem but it shouldn't be too bad. Let me know what you all think?

[Ashberry]

Havent read all the posts.

How about. for 5k you get another storage sized panel of boxes, arrows at the top to cycle through each erm.. page of storage spaces. Up to a max of say I dunno, 20?