Time you spend on inventory management

FlameStar

I'm honestly not spending a great deal of time on inventory management. Just sell off all my junk when my bags near full, and store all my crafting stuff and rare drops in the bank every now and again. Working fine with 3 crafting skills so far. No more time spent then in any other game really.

Taurus498

I used to be an Inventory complainer like many of you guys... then I took an arrow in the hoarding Provision Ingredients knee.

I spent the last few days trying to figure out how to most effectively manage my Inventory and Bank Space for my 8 characters, which are all around level 11 and are all crafting 4-5 different crafts each. And I was previously spending ¼ of my time managing my inventories, which was becoming extremely tedious and frustrating.

Here is how I was able to have sufficient room to manage my crafting materials:
http://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/discussion/comment/614518/#Comment_614518

The main key is to not store Provisioning Ingredients at all, as you can easily collect them in town if/when you need them.

I also use these Addons to make things far more easier for Hording and Crafting:
Alchemist
Bank Grid View
Bazgrim’s Toolbar
Craft Compare
Crafting XP
Esohead
Harvest Map
Inventory Insight
Inventory Item Borders
Inventory Mod
Loot Drop – All in one
Research Assistant
Sous Chef
Zr Mini Map – Modified

I just completed a Provision Ingredients farming run around town with one of my alts that wasn't specializing in Provisioning.




As you can see, for 37 mins work from starting off with zero Provisioning Ingredients, I was able to raise this characters Provisioning Skill from 4 to 18, and was able to sell the crafted provisions for 600 gold. And this was from only crafting Green Level 5 Food & Drink! So imagine how good it will be when you have Blues and Purples.

Also as an extra bonus I found 2 Motifs (worth 1000 gold each), 32 Style Materials, a dozen Lockpicks, and a ton of extra Provisioning Ingredients which weren't used because I didn't have the Recipe or Skill for. So it was definitely worth my time just for the gold and extra materials alone.

So if you are one of the many people that are struggling with their inventories, then get proactive and try the above tips and let me know if they did or did not help you.

BTW: If any of you are curious about the hard numbers for Crafting Materials, then you might want to have a look here:
http://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/discussion/comment/583487/#Comment_583487

LilBudyWizerub17_ESO

One of my alts just sells everything so he has no problem with inventory management. The rest of my characters are horders and only sell misc stuff, i.e. foul hides. They spend a lot of time trading goods back and forth so they end up with the stuff they are, um, collecting.

Morthur

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Syzmicke

If you are really desperate for the bank space use the guild store if you have one put up items on the guild store for a large amount of gold (no one will buy level 1 - 50 items for 10K gold each).

These will stay on the store for 30 days or until you cancel the sale you do lose your listing gold but its not a lot.

Morthur

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Syzmicke

Morthur wrote: »

This is not a solution, it's a tedious work-around for a problem that should not exist in a 2014 game (made by semi-competent devs) in the first place.

I Didn't say it was a solution i said if your desperate for space.

Morthur

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Grayphilosophy

When I discover my bags are full I have a look at my map to see how far away the nearest town or vendor is, depending on convenience I either finish whatever I'm doing before going, or go straight away. Sell stuff I don't need, deconstruct everything I need for professions, throw away unwanted style gems and carry on with my adventure.

Orizuru

Morthur wrote: »

Sharee wrote: »

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).

I'll bite (again) ;-)

I too welcome the fact that the devs would rather chose to implement a soft-cap then a hard limit as it is in WOW. However, the method used to implement the soft-cap is simply terrible, mainly for two reasons:

a) it's a highly unfair soft-cap in that it's softer for some people then for others (people with lots of room for mules and people with fast enough computers to relog 20+ times a day are affected far less by this capping mechanism then people that use 4 of their char slots for "real" characters or that take 3 minutes to load after logging in etc.)

b) this soft-capping mechanism punishes everyone, not only people that want to train "too many" crafting skills at once (sure, you can simply not collect any mats or trash them but that's also a very bad and extremely lazy solution)

So I stand by what I said: the (badly implemented) soft-cap on crafting can not be used as an excuse to justify this atrocious inventory system.

So whats the solution? Well, I only thought about it for a few minutes and already came up with a few ideas for implementing a soft-cap on crafting that doesn't require an inventory system that totally screw over all players (and hey, I'm just some little IT-guy, not some big-shot, overpaid, supposedly competent, game designer who had months to think about this sort of crap). So how could the number of crafting skills be soft-capped without needing such a moronic inventory-limit?

Solution 1: implement a "mental capacity" stat in-game. A simple bar that starts out full and empties by a few points for every skill level you gain in a crafting skill and gets re-filled by X every day again. The more empty this bar gets the harder it becomes to further increase a further crafting profession. Then balance the "mental capacity" in such a way that two crafting professions can be trained at the same time without any penalty but starting at the third crafting profession it would become increasingly difficult to train. This would allow the hardcore people to still train 3-4 or even 5 crafting professions in parallel and the "normal" people would simply train one or two crafting professions at a time (since you're mental capacity would regenerate every day you could simply wait a while after training a craft before starting with the other). Hell, you could even make this a fun game mechanic by implementing other game mechanics that influence your mental capacity. For example a crafting school or a proper crafting skill tree (so people that want to can become dedicated crafters and can really specialize in it by upping their "mental capacity" and thereby allowing for way faster training compared to the normal characters who only craft as an afterthought). Or even just a simple potion that gives you more mental capacity and would make Alchemy more interesting etc.

Solution 2: if solution 1 is too complicated for the average prepubescent console moron then simply implement a stacking debuff on how much XP you can gain in crafting professions after the second. So the third crafting skill takes 50% longer to train, the fourth 100% longer etc. And once you stop training one of your crafting professions then the debuff starts to decay again until it's removed and after a few days/weeks/whatever you can start to train a third and fourth crafting skill without any drawbacks.

These two solutions would have the massive advantage that they can be easily adjusted so the devs can steer how fast or slow people should be allowed to train multiple crafting professions in parallel (instead of simply hoping that most people won't feel like creating 7 mules and relogging 20+ times a day) and as an added bonus the inventory system could be replaced with something less dismal without influencing the crafting soft-cap.


So I guess my point is: if I can come up with a solution for this issue on my way to work then the devs should damn well have gone to more effort instead of just releasing this abomination of an inventory system and trying to sell it to us as a feature instead of just laziness and the pile of horse hokey it actually is.

Cheers
Morthur

PS. I already use all addons listed above (I'm not a total scrub after all) and they are the only thing that keeps me sane. If I didn't have things like research assistant then I likely would not have even started playing in the first place because then the UI would be so utterly dismal that I think I literally couldn't stand it (looks like the worst piece of console crap I've ever seen btw.). Addons really are this UIs only saving grace.

There is nothing wrong with inventory management in any game. You're simply spoiled by other games that allow players to have nearly limitless storage and you don't like the design philosophy used by TESO in this regard.

No matter how much storage is available there will always be players who want more. Its an endless cycle and I support any game studio willing to try and break the mold and try something that requires thought.

You can't keep every item you find in this game. That is the bottom line. You have to make decisions about which items you keep, which items you sell, and which items you vendor, deconstruct, or destroy. Inventory management is a system that makes those decisions matter. I'm sorry you don't like a game that encourages a modicum of thought.

flameweaver

Inventory Management is a single player game mechanic, it's time ZOS realised this has no place in a MMO. Sure I need to spend some time at a bank, but not 30-60 mins, each day at the end of a hard days adventuring/questing just trying to work out what to keep, sell, destroy, research, deconstruct or just plain destroy.

jeremylthb14_ESO

I'm doing all my crafting on my main character, so I'll be using lots of materials at some point. Except for Provisioning because I already maxed that to 50 (super easy, just get it done), so I toss all my Provisioning mats in the guild bank.

I had some trouble until I realized that, except for a few things, materials are extremely easy to collect quickly. So I only bank the trait/motif pieces, improvement mats, and high level basic mats. The rest gets tossed into the guild bank. I also stopped trying to hoard items to research later (you'll get more by the time the current research is done).

The simple answer? Quit hoarding, it's not necessary here.

Morthur

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ZiRM

I'm selective, I don't save much except for the very best of the best. Wash, rinse repeat...

OZGODUSA

darkkterror_ESO wrote: »

Too much. Last night I created my second mule character. Never before, in any of the other MMORPGs that I've played, have I ever created a character for the sole purpose of carrying stuff. Two weeks into ESO and I'm already on my second mule.

I have 4 mules:

#1 - for carrying maps and vanity items that the game gives you, as well as blues or items whose traits I want to research
#2 - for enchanting, alchemy and woodworking mats
#3 - for provisioning mats (food and beverage mats)
#4 - for blacksmithing and clothing mats

Right now #1 has about 30 slots left, #2 has about 10 slots left, #3 has 10 slots left and #4 has about 10 slots left. I'm focussing on blacksmithing and clothing on my main and 1 alt (trading items for deconstruction back and forth) and the other 2 alts are focusing on enchanting and woodworking.

Darzil

I'm doing too much of it. I'm keeping a list of what traits I still need to research outside the game as it's too much of a pain to find out inside, even when on the same character. I'm keeping some but not all of those. Once I deconned everything, but certain armour pieces I've not seen since!

The bank is misnamed. It's really just a swap space between characters. Would be good to have a bank for each character.

Not really enjoying the inventory management game side of this game, which seems to be becoming a bigger part of the game as I level.

If it is intended to be a restriction on crafters that'd be a shame. Already we have to manage and plan research (at least if we plan to make things for others, otherwise we could research only what we want, which would be trivial), divert points away from combat effectiveness to crafting (so we can help others), is another restriction on crafters needed? Spending points of crafting still seems bizarre, this isn't a single player game where you are choosing between skill and equipment to improve your character.

Gremlis

Bank slots are horrible in this game. It does take a lot of fun out of the game. Instead of reorganizing my gear when I got full last night I just quit, because I know how much fun I'm going to have sorting it all with the PATHETIC BANK setup. Add to that my gear in said bank disappearing on day 2 of early release and I can confidently call your bank setup an epic failure.

ChrisGoesAFK

I only pick up things that character can us. For example my blacksmith will stop for Iron ore but run by herbs. Another character will pick up herbs but pass by Iron because honestly there is so much of it. The only thing I really stop for on all characters are runes and lock picks. If I am not cooking I leave the 15 tons of mash and grapes where they are, someone else will come along who will make us of them. Items not used get deconned or sold. Makes like easier.
When I was in beta I picked up everything and had more items in my bag then the entire inventory of a local Walmart. That sort of thing will drive you mad and eats up a lot of game time while you play "Which of these items can I live without so I can make room for this one"

Darzil

ChrisGoesAFK wrote: »

When I was in beta I picked up everything and had more items in my bag then the entire inventory of a local Walmart. That sort of thing will drive you mad and eats up a lot of game time while you play "Which of these items can I live without so I can make room for this one"

It's give and take, though. If I pick up all those things I can destroy them at once and have autoloot on, rather than having to hit two keys to pick everything up (as well as having to target it first whilst avoiding the stupid NPC standing on the target). If I could set autoloot everything but white food/food components I'd be very happy!

bigscoothb14_ESO

I ranked up my provisioning to lvl 40 before I was lvl 15 on my character. I only make BLUE food and drink for the lvl's I need, about 15 things I keep an eye out for and leave everything else. Look up the recipies on line and only stock the foods you need or want. Everyone wants the odd items people do not use SALT, PEPPER, ONION, HONEYCOMB, IMPERIAL FLOUR etc. There is no need to stock up on aged meat or pork unless you are trying to rank up by making low lvl food. Keep an eye on what people are asking for and you will have a good idea of what is rare.

Per cost it is much cheaper to upgrade your alts for storage. I have 4 alts with 80 slots, a main with 100 and bank with 100. Storage is still an issue most are full but got hit with the bank reset bug, lost the bought 40 slot bank space now it is a nightmare sorting through loot from my main. I wish there was a WITHDRAW ALL button, it would save hours a week!

bacuus

THIS!

OZGODUSA wrote: »

Right now I probably spend 15 mins of every hour on inventory management. I'm planning to ultimately level every profession so I don't want to discard or sell anything of use. So I have 3 bank mules that hold mats for different crafts and every hour when my bags get full for a particular toon (I'm leveling 4 at once for variety) I dump everything into the bank and log onto each bank mule to distribute.

Probably every couple of hours I also have to have my main toon deconstruct unneeded weps and armor. I used to keep the ones with traits but I eventually figured given how long it takes to research traits I would end up completely filling up all my mules before researching all the traits I had.

The reason it takes a while is because it's an iterative process...not all the inventory fits in the bank at the first cut so I have to log onto the mules to transfer some of the inventory, then back on the main to deconstruct, then back on the mules, etc. it's cumbersome for sure but I would rather go through it than have to re-farm all the mats.

In sum I probably spend a net 20% of time on inventory management. It used to be more like 30% but I've gotten good at it. I wish it wasn't such a pain but apparently it is intended design.

BETAOPTICS

Is there more to add to this thread, other that I agree on this. It is cumbersome and ridiculous that the space we have is so tiny. There simply is not enough space and too many items that you want to hold on, not to mention the ridiculous business of CE edition treasure maps that you can not store and take space, yet when you sell them, you also forfeit all of the treasures I heard.

Ninnghizhidda

I can understand the whole concept behind the huge variety of items, materials and resources that ESO provides, and also the need, or call it freedom, to choose what one would like to do and specialise in. This is fine, and makes the game unique, in a way.

However, the problem is that eventually it does become tedious to deal with everything unless being very careful and picky with what you get and keep.

Sometimes it gets to the point that I feel I have to micro-manage the hardcore way, something like playing a huge Civilization map with dozens of cities.

It doesn't need to be truly "easy-mode", but at some point spending a big chunk of your online time doing the micro-management, and switching toons endless times...

I just wish a slightly better model could be gradually introduced.

baratron

zaria wrote: »

Get an friendly guild and use the guild bank for dumping stuff, then redraw that you want.
Use an alt to store things you want to keep or use later.

I have a friendly guild. And as one of the officers, I have to spend vast amounts of game time rearranging materials in the Guild Bank, because of the bug which means that if members of different alliances deposit the same item, it doesn't stack properly. Apparently Corundum deposited by Ebonheart Pact members is different from Corundum deposited by Aldmeri Dominion members, and different against from Corundum deposited by Daggerfall Covenant members!

Klanae16_ESO

How comes a 2014 game does not propose a consistent inventory solution? Unbelievable. I spend my time scrolling over and over on my "material inventory page" in which almost 90% of the items are stored. Not to mention that having to have mules at level 10 to manage the massive number of items is just a non-sense.

Laerian

Be careful what you wish, it seems they listen only what they want to listen. It would not surprise me if they reduce the number of items or loot drops only to fit the tiny inventory.

Greevir

I don't particularly have any issues with inventory but I know others do. If they do however decide to drastically increase storage I would also like them to drastically reduce values on everything to compensate.

DrPrice

How about having wood workers make Trunks for storage?

BETAOPTICS

baratron wrote: »

zaria wrote: »

Get an friendly guild and use the guild bank for dumping stuff, then redraw that you want.
Use an alt to store things you want to keep or use later.

I have a friendly guild. And as one of the officers, I have to spend vast amounts of game time rearranging materials in the Guild Bank, because of the bug which means that if members of different alliances deposit the same item, it doesn't stack properly. Apparently Corundum deposited by Ebonheart Pact members is different from Corundum deposited by Aldmeri Dominion members, and different against from Corundum deposited by Daggerfall Covenant members!

And even then, this is a luxury only some have. I personally started my own guild for a few of my friends with that huge handy storage in mind but of course you need 10 members at least to get somewhere and I don't want to add randoms to a " guild " that is meant to be private for actual life friends.

I am a part of a bigger guild yes, but like you said, you are personally and officer while a normal member is screwed and even you find the system cumbersome and hard to deal with due to the issues it currently has. Not alone as a regular member without the ability to use that space.

Greydog

greevirb14_ESO wrote: »

I don't particularly have any issues with inventory but I know others do. If they do however decide to drastically increase storage I would also like them to drastically reduce values on everything to compensate.

No need to do anything "drastic" ..they could simply add individual banks per character and I would wager 80% of those asking would be happy. (there are always some who are never happy)