Time you spend on inventory management

Morthur

.

Sharee

Morthur wrote: »

I agree, the inventory system is one of the worst I've ever seen in the history of MMOs.

And before some fanboy comes and *** at me: if the devs had wanted to implement a soft-cap (or any cap for that matter) on the number of crafting skills then they should have implemented one directly and not used the soft cap as an excuse to justify this *** disaster of an inventory system.

I very much prefer a soft cap that allows me to learn all crafts on one character (eventually).

tallenn

I am spending about 1/4 of my time on inventory management. About 30 minutes out of every 2hours.

Loxy37

I spend so much time on it that its a mini game in itself. I Deposit every excursion and distribute to 3 other characters which each have 90 slots and I've expanded my bank to 100 but I only use 60 just in-case I get the stupid bank job done on me.

Its getting depressing how difficult that its become as I've progressed in areas and of course the mats change which creates an even bigger problem.

EDIT: Could be easily solved if we had a separate bank for each character and then a shared bank like all other mmos.

Orizuru

wrlifeboil wrote: »

I'm finding that I'm spending a lot of time on inventory management. When your character's bags are full, do you find the nearest vendor to sell the items OR delete items OR port to the bank to deposit the items?

I don't use bank alts at all. I either carry it in my inventory, store it in my bank, or deconstruct/sell it.

I tend to wear a mixture of medium and heavy armor on my templar, so most items in those categories get deconstructed or researched. I keep only one stack of 100 for each of the highest level mats I'm able to craft with and then I sell the rest in guild stores for whatever I can get. I never store iron when I'm crafting with with steel. All light armor and other types of items I don't use on my templar, I sell to a vendor.

The only keep runes for enchantments I will use. I vendor or guild store the rest. My bank space is for maps and novelty items and provisioning materials.

I usually end up only needing to do inventory maintenance about once every 3 hours this way, and when I do it takes me only a few minutes to quickly vendor, research, and deconstruct all the stuff I don't need.

I never save armor. I never save surplus anything. If I can't sell it in a guild store quickly, I vendor it.

Items are abundant in this game and I just don't see the need to hoard and stash away and save like other MMOs.

Loxy37

NaciremaDiputs wrote: »

wrlifeboil wrote: »

I'm finding that I'm spending a lot of time on inventory management. When your character's bags are full, do you find the nearest vendor to sell the items OR delete items OR port to the bank to deposit the items?

I don't use bank alts at all. I either carry it in my inventory, store it in my bank, or deconstruct/sell it.

I tend to wear a mixture of medium and heavy armor on my templar, so most items in those categories get deconstructed or researched. I keep only one stack of 100 for each of the highest level mats I'm able to craft with and then I sell the rest in guild stores for whatever I can get. I never store iron when I'm crafting with with steel. All light armor and other types of items I don't use on my templar, I sell to a vendor.

The only keep runes for enchantments I will use. I vendor or guild store the rest. My bank space is for maps and novelty items and provisioning materials.

I usually end up only needing to do inventory maintenance about once every 3 hours this way, and when I do it takes me only a few minutes to quickly vendor, research, and deconstruct all the stuff I don't need.

I never save armor. I never save surplus anything. If I can't sell it in a guild store quickly, I vendor it.

Items are abundant in this game and I just don't see the need to hoard and stash away and save like other MMOs.

Well that's just great but you cannot specialise all crafts on one character and if like me, you play to craft then it becomes a real issue. Mat maybe abundant but not so at the moment with all the bots about. Different strokes for different folks, I suppose. I'm sure we all can agree though that having a larger inventory or atleast a separate bank bag for mats, even character only bank with smaller account bank, would be a good thing.

Hawtsauce

How much time do I spend on inventory management ?

WAY too much , I am spending almost as much time managing inventory and trying to buy/sell things as I am exploring/crafting/leveling and PvPing ( you know - actually doing the things I WANT to do, the fun stuff)

Hakoke

Maybe 5 to 10 minutes every hour. But I don't normally pick up provisioning mats. I always try to be near a wayshrine so I can port back to a city and sell/deconstruct stuff and then bank my crafting stuff I've found.

Distrobomb

Materials have taken up 95% of space. It sucks

Thete

Sharee wrote: »

I very much prefer a soft cap that allows me to learn all crafts on one character (eventually).

I'm levelling all professions up as I go. I'm not saying it's a breeze, but I've yet to feel underpowered whilst spending so many skill points on trades, as well as both dps and healing. Has to be said though, that I only risk my healing in large scale pvp

Seraseth

Morthur wrote: »

I agree, the inventory system is one of the worst I've ever seen in the history of MMOs.

And before some fanboy comes and *** at me: if the devs had wanted to implement a soft-cap (or any cap for that matter) on the number of crafting skills then they should have implemented one directly and not used the soft cap as an excuse to justify this *** disaster of an inventory system.

I mean they already have a softcap on the crafting by it requiring the same skill points that you use in combat, they didn't need to restrict the inventory as well.

This game needs a separate crafting storage!

Hawtsauce

Yes seperate crafting storage like GW2 has would be great or just double the current storage you start with in the bank

Zakua

My Main is aiming at BS as his craft, I do have one mule to hold all those darn trait and style stones.

All in all, hell yes I'd love something done to the inv system or just an account wide + 40 BP slots. That being said I am not having much of an issue with space, I fill up and head to town to decon all the armor and wood bits then sell the med light armor oh and of course destroy those pesky bits of gut n bait I always seem to have a pocket full of.

That is just me, I am only aiming at BS (with a little wood and enchant I suppose) so Inv space or Inv sorting is not a big deal.

Now...as for my friends...omg..these guys have spent thousands on all the BP upgrades and still I see them sorting Inv non stop. So much Inv sorting that after every mob fight it is a "sit around for a few minutes" and let'em sort! I got sick of it and keep my distance now lol. It's not their fault, they are aiming at being good in a few crafts, so they are picking flowers opening barrels, you name it. Me I know I get my mats from ore and Deconstructing, Inv is narrow, simple, quick and easy to stay on top of.

I see these guys in their bags non-friggin-stop, heck I see everyone in their bags everywhere lol. May not be an issue for me but I can tell something is lacking when I'm constantly sitting around waiting for my friends to "get sorted".

siuolly

I found that the time I spend going back to town and empty my bag so I can continue on take a bit of fun out of the exploring questing in the game.

RustyBlades

What is killing me is more of a personal choice - I want to research all shields, staves, bows, etc, but I have only certain characters doing each. Since the time to research an item grows by a factor of 2x each item one researches, I end up with a few items sitting around I can't do anything with since they have research able abilities I need them for. So I expend space holding onto research able stuff, but also time sorting out duplicate ability items (staves are especially a pain).

I'd spend less time managing inventory if I could add an ability column to sort on in the inventory management screen. I want to sort all my fire staves based on ability so I can break down any dupes for resources/space. This would hold equally true for armor, weapons, etc.

With 8 alts, I spend time switching to them, managing their inventory, sprinting to a bank, getting their crafting focus items out, etc. Logout, repeat, so I dump the gear from my 2 mains into the bank or my packrat resource hog I just use to run around and collect nodes and chests.

Of course, all of this is by choice, If I just ran a packrat who sold everything she/he /it didn't need then I wouldn't have much of an inventory issue.

Orizuru

Loxy37 wrote: »

NaciremaDiputs wrote: »

wrlifeboil wrote: »

I'm finding that I'm spending a lot of time on inventory management. When your character's bags are full, do you find the nearest vendor to sell the items OR delete items OR port to the bank to deposit the items?

I don't use bank alts at all. I either carry it in my inventory, store it in my bank, or deconstruct/sell it.

I tend to wear a mixture of medium and heavy armor on my templar, so most items in those categories get deconstructed or researched. I keep only one stack of 100 for each of the highest level mats I'm able to craft with and then I sell the rest in guild stores for whatever I can get. I never store iron when I'm crafting with with steel. All light armor and other types of items I don't use on my templar, I sell to a vendor.

The only keep runes for enchantments I will use. I vendor or guild store the rest. My bank space is for maps and novelty items and provisioning materials.

I usually end up only needing to do inventory maintenance about once every 3 hours this way, and when I do it takes me only a few minutes to quickly vendor, research, and deconstruct all the stuff I don't need.

I never save armor. I never save surplus anything. If I can't sell it in a guild store quickly, I vendor it.

Items are abundant in this game and I just don't see the need to hoard and stash away and save like other MMOs.

Well that's just great but you cannot specialise all crafts on one character and if like me, you play to craft then it becomes a real issue. Mat maybe abundant but not so at the moment with all the bots about. Different strokes for different folks, I suppose. I'm sure we all can agree though that having a larger inventory or atleast a separate bank bag for mats, even character only bank with smaller account bank, would be a good thing.

I've been working on pretty much all of the crafting skills except provisioning and light armor. I think the real difference between my needs and yours are that I'm willing to see inventory management as part of the game, whereas you are choosing to look at it as an impediment to playing the game. I won't argue against better inventory management options because I'm sure I would benefit from them as well, but in the grand scheme of things I see it as a feature that makes the game better because it makes me decide what items are worth carrying around.

Out of curiosity though, at what point do you draw the line? Do you want to be able to carry an infinite amount of materials without any penalty? If not, how much is enough? At what point do you begin to realize that maybe you should have to make a choice between carrying a second set of armor/weapons and that stack of ore? We are already able to carry an amount of goods that would be completely unrealistic outside of a video game. How much more do you need to be able to carry without making some form of compromise somewhere?

Distrobomb

NaciremaDiputs wrote: »

Loxy37 wrote: »

NaciremaDiputs wrote: »

wrlifeboil wrote: »

I'm finding that I'm spending a lot of time on inventory management. When your character's bags are full, do you find the nearest vendor to sell the items OR delete items OR port to the bank to deposit the items?

I don't use bank alts at all. I either carry it in my inventory, store it in my bank, or deconstruct/sell it.

I tend to wear a mixture of medium and heavy armor on my templar, so most items in those categories get deconstructed or researched. I keep only one stack of 100 for each of the highest level mats I'm able to craft with and then I sell the rest in guild stores for whatever I can get. I never store iron when I'm crafting with with steel. All light armor and other types of items I don't use on my templar, I sell to a vendor.

The only keep runes for enchantments I will use. I vendor or guild store the rest. My bank space is for maps and novelty items and provisioning materials.

I usually end up only needing to do inventory maintenance about once every 3 hours this way, and when I do it takes me only a few minutes to quickly vendor, research, and deconstruct all the stuff I don't need.

I never save armor. I never save surplus anything. If I can't sell it in a guild store quickly, I vendor it.

Items are abundant in this game and I just don't see the need to hoard and stash away and save like other MMOs.

Well that's just great but you cannot specialise all crafts on one character and if like me, you play to craft then it becomes a real issue. Mat maybe abundant but not so at the moment with all the bots about. Different strokes for different folks, I suppose. I'm sure we all can agree though that having a larger inventory or atleast a separate bank bag for mats, even character only bank with smaller account bank, would be a good thing.

I've been working on pretty much all of the crafting skills except provisioning and light armor. I think the real difference between my needs and yours are that I'm willing to see inventory management as part of the game, whereas you are choosing to look at it as an impediment to playing the game. I won't argue against better inventory management options because I'm sure I would benefit from them as well, but in the grand scheme of things I see it as a feature that makes the game better because it makes me decide what items are worth carrying around.

Out of curiosity though, at what point do you draw the line? Do you want to be able to carry an infinite amount of materials without any penalty? If not, how much is enough? At what point do you begin to realize that maybe you should have to make a choice between carrying a second set of armor/weapons and that stack of ore? We are already able to carry an amount of goods that would be completely unrealistic outside of a video game. How much more do you need to be able to carry without making some form of compromise somewhere?

This was very well said and opened my eyes a bit. Perhaps I will cut some of the fat.

cromica81_ESO

Far to much time is wasted moving things between the bank and mules.

Noth

I spend about 5 minutes every hour. Love having priorities to simplify things.

jesterstear

It wasn't too bad till I moved to started questing Grahtwood. Like the other MMO I've played, Lord of the Rings online, things get gnarly when you're straddling two crafting tiers, made worse by two tiers of potions dropping off mobs and not stacking with each other.

Turial

I hate the inventory management but I realise the problem is not with ESO, it is with me, with us We have been far too spoiled with games which offer collection tabs like GW2 and forget that this is Elder Scrolls where you CAN go into a city like Bruma or Windhelm and collect all of those silver forks but eventually you will be encumbered and have to just let it go. It is up to us to realise we cannot carry everything we see and we just have to let it go, the faster we remind ourselves of this, the better.

We can have 5 guilds and sell 30 items PER guild so you must decide what to sell, what to trash, what to use and what to bash (deconstruct). Sure the system needs work too but it aint gamebreaking and we need to learn to just let the shinies go sometimes.

youtube.com/watch?v=kohD5z5mE0E

Mabh

This is by far the worst mmo I've played for bag/bank micro managing and I've crafted in all of them. This is the 1st mmo I've actually had to make an alt bank which I haven't had to do even in LOTRO which is now f2p.
This bag/bank micro managing is made worse with the present bank bug and not being able to upgrade my bank b/c I've already lost 20 slots.
I hope this bank/bag system is not in prepartion for going f2p as a friend of mine insists.

OZGODUSA

cromica81_ESO wrote: »

Far to much time is wasted moving things between the bank and mules.

Muling has really saved me in this game in a big way. It's been a long time since I had to get back into muling in a game. But aside from getting good at logging in and out through repetition what has really cut down on my inventory management time (I have it down to 10 mins per hour instead of 20 mins per hour) is by deconstructing weapons and armor, rather than saving them for the traits. That shaved off 10 mins an hour for me. Deciding which mats to keep appears to be an important gaming decision.

Apparently playing the game by levelling multiple alts at the same time and levelling their professions is not intended behavior so I don't expect anything to change anytime soon.

trinta

Turial wrote: »

We have been far too spoiled with games which offer collection tabs like GW2 and forget that this is Elder Scrolls where you CAN go into a city like Bruma or Windhelm and collect all of those silver forks but eventually you will be encumbered and have to just let it go.

When I became overencumbered by my massive collection of silver forks, I took it to my house in Bruma or Windhelm, and deposited them into a dresser.

RustyBlades

trinta wrote: »

When I became overencumbered by my massive collection of silver forks, I took it to my house in Bruma or Windhelm, and deposited them into a dresser.

Well player housing would go a long way to fix this, if chests and the like worked as storage vs things to loot for stuff.

ShinChuck

trinta wrote: »

Turial wrote: »

We have been far too spoiled with games which offer collection tabs like GW2 and forget that this is Elder Scrolls where you CAN go into a city like Bruma or Windhelm and collect all of those silver forks but eventually you will be encumbered and have to just let it go.

When I became overencumbered by my massive collection of silver forks, I took it to my house in Bruma or Windhelm, and deposited them into a dresser.

Hahah, I'm saying! This is an ESO game: if anything, space should be FAR LESS of an issue! If Elder Scrolls spoils us by being Elder Scrolls, then please, ESO, keep being Elder Scrolls! There's a reason I'm playing an Elder Scrolls game and not Guild Wars-With-Your-Own-Inventory 2!

Elvent

Mine got easier after buying a new account and sending mats to those alts that are only for storage lol.

I'm an alt fanatic so storing stuff all on my main account isn't an option. I just hope I don't encounter that all items disappearing bug... I have a lot of mats worth a lot of gold but will eventually use them to skill up all my professions after I get max level.

Seraseth

NaciremaDiputs wrote: »

Out of curiosity though, at what point do you draw the line? Do you want to be able to carry an infinite amount of materials without any penalty? If not, how much is enough? At what point do you begin to realize that maybe you should have to make a choice between carrying a second set of armor/weapons and that stack of ore? We are already able to carry an amount of goods that would be completely unrealistic outside of a video game. How much more do you need to be able to carry without making some form of compromise somewhere?

I have no problem with the size of my personal inventory. I don't mind going back to town every 1-2hrs depending on what I'm doing. The problem is the bank size, and having to log in and out of mules to move it all around once I'm there.

If there was a 2nd storage just for crafting, I can come back to town, dump all crafting mats in there, dump gear to be destructed by my main(if I'm on an alt) into the main bank, and go back to playing. 2mins or less. Then I could likely go the entire day without having to switch between characters.

Daverios

Solution for OP is to make a friend and mail items and return to sender.

This is what I do instead if running back to town but you still have to manage it all eventually.

I find this most useful for deconsructables and things I want to resrarch. Ie. I have about 10 days of reasearch queued up in my inbox.

I deconstruct everything that does not say 'sells to merchant for 100% more'

Orizuru

Seraseth wrote: »

NaciremaDiputs wrote: »

Out of curiosity though, at what point do you draw the line? Do you want to be able to carry an infinite amount of materials without any penalty? If not, how much is enough? At what point do you begin to realize that maybe you should have to make a choice between carrying a second set of armor/weapons and that stack of ore? We are already able to carry an amount of goods that would be completely unrealistic outside of a video game. How much more do you need to be able to carry without making some form of compromise somewhere?

I have no problem with the size of my personal inventory. I don't mind going back to town every 1-2hrs depending on what I'm doing. The problem is the bank size, and having to log in and out of mules to move it all around once I'm there.

If there was a 2nd storage just for crafting, I can come back to town, dump all crafting mats in there, dump gear to be destructed by my main(if I'm on an alt) into the main bank, and go back to playing. 2mins or less. Then I could likely go the entire day without having to switch between characters.

This sounds a lot like you want a nearly limitless place to store crafting materials and are unable or unwilling to try and prioritize what is really important and what is junk that is worthless or worth so little that is it becomes easily replaceable.

How much storage is enough? At what point are you willing to compromise and vendor or destroy an item to make room for something that is more rare or more valuable?