Proper Inventory Management

Medic_Droid · April 2014

Hello friends!

I'm reaching out for help with my little...problem. For some inexplicable reason, I like to grab anything that is not bolted down into the ground. This includes, random food, material of all sorts (regardless of whether I need it or not), water, plants, worms, plates and bowls, dismembered body parts, and generally....junk.

Now that my bank is suffering from my hoarding, I would like to ask for help. Please discuss how you manage your inventory and bank, how you decide upon what to sell or deconstruct and research.

I shall be taking careful notes. Many thanks!

Also, if we can buy or build houses...will we have a stash inside? No reason, just wondering...

Inversus · April 2014

We have no idea if/when player housing will become available.

Personally, on inventory management, whenever I get full I craft everything I can with the stuff I have, sell the stuff I don't need.
Then I really only have a quest item or two, some potions I like and the weapons/armour I'm using.

Also, I don't auto loot so I don't gather quite as much rubbish as other people.

Medic_Droid · April 2014

This is good. I really should do more crafting, thanks!

Know · April 2014

Personally I have eight characters. Six of them are crafters in a specific discipline. Resources go into the bank, and get pulled out to their personal inventory (with the exception of alchemy and enchanting this is typically only a handful of items). Only shared resources and items stay in the bank.

I research anything and everything I don't already know that is in the field I want to specialize in. Everything else is sold. I know deconstructing gives upgrade materials, but I simply am not in the market for that yet at this low level.

The money from the sales goes to... you guessed it: upgrading bag and bank space.

Hoping someone else has more useful tips than my own that I can pick up!

Inversus · April 2014

I had real problems when I was picking up everything, but you get used to it after a little while.

Melian · April 2014

I have three characters I'm playing at the moment, and each of them does two types of crafting. They carry around the mats for their own crafts and put the rest in the bank for the others. It's still cramped, but I get by.

Medic_Droid · April 2014

@Know Eight characters?! I can barely handle one in these early days. That is very smart and efficient though. The very thought of more bag and bank space...

phermitgb · April 2014

I tend to store mass food components in my band - shornhelm grains, shanks, bits of meat and such...one I hit a stack of 100, I either ditch whatever I find, or more likely, use up those ingredients making food items that I can sell.

I keep *finished* crafting materials (like iron ingots) in the bank as well, because crafting automatically draws from those, while I keep ores and other unfinished crafting mats in my personal bags, because those will usually stack with whatever I'm gathering while I'm out and about.

basically, I keep crafting stuff of nearly all kinds in the bank (except for unfinished mats that I'm likely to find in the wild) - finished mats, style material (molybdenum, moonstones, etc), food-mats, really rare runestones (the ones I'm not likely to find duplicates of in the wild) - I also store weapons/armor that I have no intention of using, but am planning to break down and research in the bank

and of course, storing items there that you expect your other characters to be using

anything consumable I usually keep on me, either to sell (if it's worth anything), ditch, or consume while I'm adventuring, as well as all fishing baits (they don't do you any good in the bank)

that's my *current* system - I may find a better one later...

Audigy · April 2014

I only store crafting materials at the bank, I don't sell anything to vendors or other players, but I am also just level 8 ^^

I agree what someone said, keep on crafting there is not much point keeping the mats I think. I cook food and make potions that I use in battle, I also craft my equipment that I use, so I always get an upgraded set after two levels.

I never buy from vendors as I find the stuff by deconstructing items or in barrels etc. Currently I got 1.5k of gold and will most likely invest into a bank upgrade soon or a bag upgrade - not sure yet.

Medic_Droid · April 2014

It's quite the curse. So many potentially useful things to pick up....and almost nowhere left to put it!

XXII · April 2014

I feel you. I hoarded equipment so I could research their traits, but my inventory and storage soon became full. I was sad. Inventory management however; since I'm a crafter, I put all materials into storage since you can craft with them regardless of where they are. For equipment, unless I have something researching, I usually just sell them.

Greydog · April 2014

Like @Know I have many alts also. one is a dedicated Alchemist, one is a dedicated Enchanter one is a bank mule/provisioner. The others are adventurers who cover the other crafts. I loot everything, put in the bank and have the characters who need the stuff grab it. Ore/ingots, wood/planks, jute/cloth and all the refining gems and the like stay in the bank for all to use.

I sell anything that is "ornate" because of the increased value and deconstruct any item I can't reseaech.

hth

Pheefs · April 2014

Inversus wrote: »

whenever I get full I craft everything I can with the stuff I have, sell the stuff I don't need.

same here, the stack of left over grapes can just get sold!
I need the inventory spots AND I need the few coins to buy the trait metals I always run out of.

also, I keep the next thing to research & deconstruct all the rest

Pheefs · April 2014

Inversus wrote: »

whenever I get full I craft everything I can with the stuff I have, sell the stuff I don't need.

same here, the stack of left over grapes can just get sold!
I need the inventory spots AND I need the few coins to buy the trait metals I always run out of.

also, I keep the next thing to research & deconstruct all the rest

Vhalkyrie · April 2014

Deconstruct, craft, or sell everything whenever you are back in town. Sell excess materials to other players, or destroy it, especially the food pieces. It's honestly not worth hoarding it for later, especially provisioning. There are so many recipes and ingredients, I have never failed to be able to make something on a trip by trip basis.

Desmadona · April 2014

I feel you.
I'm an obsessive looter as well and this causes me to fall into an endless loop of toon swapping.

Here's how it works:
1. Log on Alchemy alt: loot room. Stick non-alchemy stuff in bank, withdraw all alchemy stuff from bank.
2. Log on Provisioning toon: loot room. Deposit all non-provisioning stuff in bank, withdraw provisioning stuff from bank.
3. Repeat indefinitely.

I have to just throw the water away after a few iterations because otherwise, I can toon swap for crap loot forever. I just can't ignore unlooted items! I need to find a support group for excessive looters.

dolmen · April 2014

Finally a question on Bag Glut!

With this and all MMO's I play, Bag Glut is a "mini game" for me, because I too can't stop picking things up. So here is how I'm playing the game.

1. Each character has (or will have) a crafting specialty. The items related to that will be kept in the characters inventory, not the Bank.
2. Only one stack of 100 items will be in inventory. All else is sold off.
3. All characters will collect everything and deconstruct almost everything. Then move via the Bank items not related to their specialty.
4. Trait jewels will only be collected and stacked if the trait has been researched. These will be stacked in the Bank.
5. Improvement mats will be kept and stacked in the Bank.
6. There will be Mules, hopefully ZOS will be selling extra character slots.
7. And finally to make things a challenge, no character will expand their bag, the Bank will not be expanded (I bet I blow this one though).

#1 is going to be tough to keep to because it means the characters all have to be able to craft up something useful to each other... I may have to rethink that one.

I only intend to do research on items I plan to use. So for instance, 2H Axe, not going to research on it. At least not for some (many) months to come.

I have no idea about houses, ZOS has not really ever said for sure there will be such or what a player could do with one.

Know · April 2014

@Medic_Droid Even if you don't play them all right now, you can always figure out what characters you wish to have, make them, and store their relevant stuff on them. The "mulebycraft" thing won't work if you plan to do all or many crafting trades on one character, however, which is a perfectly valid approach as long as you have friends to help you with combat when you begin to feel the effects of having put all your skill points into your crafts!

@Greydog I never remember to check for the ornate trait! I should do that! Incidentally, do you know if it is on the researchable list? If you can add a cheap trait gem to an item that you are crafting for experience and make more coin off of selling it... it could pay off, perhaps.

Greydog · April 2014

I honestly don't know if it's researchable or not. I only look at what is available then choose it.

Lal · April 2014

Since you can skip Coldharbour now and the game puts you in the first city as well, I simply make banking alts. It takes less than 5 minutes to create a 60 slot alt bank and 400G to upgrade each one to 70 slots. I don't care what they look like and name them for what type of stuff they store, i.e BankSlotWoodcrafting, BankSlotFood, etc. They live IN the bank. The only issue is that you need to keep enough slots open in your real bank so you can transfer a bunch of stuff. The other option since mail is also account wide, is to have a friend agree to return any mail with RETURN in the subject line. It does not cost them anything to do that. There's even a mail mod that will do it automatically if your friend would agree to install it. I make sure I put RETURN Woodworking in the subject line if I what I've sent is for my woodworking banker.

Hope this gives you some ideas and one final piece of advice ... you CANNOT keep everything. I get on a rampage and sell, research, or deconstruct everything I won't need as I level my main 3 toons up.

Beryl · April 2014

My system:

The Main character is crafting everything and eventually she is planning to be a dedicated crafter maxed in all professions. For now she is only focusing on the 3 similar professions: blacksmithing, clothing and woodworking. I am trying to keep them at a similar level, plan the research according to the items I am going to use on this very toon in the future and so on. All the trait gems and racial stones are stored in the shared storage. As I am just going into the second tier of crafting materials, I am going to hand out all the tier 1 materials to one of the backup alts. Everything what the Main character A does not need goes to the bank and later collected by Alt A and Alt B.

Alt A is collecting all runes and this is a character I am planning to level at a slower rate than the Main character. For now Alt A is not using the runes, just hoarding them... I am going to wait if I have enough skillpoints to level enchanting directly on the main character. If not - that will be Alt A. All other items are dropped in the bank, this includes all the armour&weapons which the main character either deconstructs or researches.

Alt B is collecting all cooking stuff and learning recipes which the Main character already knows. Alt B is still level 1 in cooking, while I do make some food&drinks with my main character when I pass by a campfire. No dedicated cooking, but I do have level 12 or so in provisioning there already.

Alt C is empty for now. Most likely she will start hoarding extra alchemy plants in the future... Until now all plants fit in the bank and the Main character makes some drinks on the way. Same with enchanting - I am still waiting to see if I get enough skill points on my Main before lvl50.

Alt D is also empty and waiting for extra items which the Main character will want to research but will not have time immediately. I am aware of how slow research becomes for the later traits and the Alt D will be keeping those less valuable but still wanted traits in her inventory.

Alt E is ready to receive the low tier materials for blacksmithing, clothing and woodworking which the Main character does not want anymore. I am planning to keep just one stack of each type in case if I want to make armour&weapons for Alt A and Alt B when I level them. The rest will be given away to friends or maybe sold.

That's it. The last two character slots are still not used by any permanent Alt. They are my reserve for extra items which I maybe will want to store. I feel like I keep everything what I come across and it does not even involve too much relogging. I used the same system during Beta and it felt very natural to me, but the highest I got in Beta was lvl20 with the Main and lvl10-12 with the first two alts. I have to see how it works for the later levels.

Metella · April 2014

I think I need to do more rifling through people's houses and so on, I've only found three food recipes and two brewing so far! Are the recipes and food ingredients randomly generated in the various crates/barrels/furniture, or are there particular places which are good to find recipes? I've got loads of ingredients but not much I can make that isn't capon-based...

Medic_Droid · April 2014

http://youtu.be/Vcx6UbMCtfI

Korah_Eaglecry · April 2014

A lot of random items you can steal from houses are typically worthless outside of being an ingredient. If you dont plan to provision/enchant/woodwork/blacksmith/clothing then you might want to not grab things that you have no interest in using. As very few of the resources for crafting are valuable individually to a vendor.

Regularly visit Vendors/Bank. The best thing you can do is offload things you wont keep or have no intention of using as often as possible. Especially anything that wont stack.

The world is full of resources. Hoarding is unnecessary. If you want to play merchant and sell mats. Choose a handful to focus on rather then grabbing everything within reach.