I wonder if it would be helpful to try and define "need" in this situation.

Obviously, if we say want vs. need in a binary way. We don't need inventory slots. We don't need anything, including ESO itself, as it is a game. We need things like food, water, shelter. And even then, the human body can survive without food a lot longer than it can without water, so even debating when food goes from a want to a need could be an exercise.

But that is a silly lens to apply here!

So, I propose that "need" in this case refers to when a decent portion of the community, even after spending the reasonable and expected time managing their inventory and storage (which is intentional in games so gamers have to make meaningful choices and spend more time in game), loses significant enjoyment in the game because they don't have enough space to simply play the game for a play session (let's say 4 - 8 hours). This would include not being able to get through a dungeon or trial without clearing inventory, avoiding participating in seasonal events one would otherwise enjoy, because there is no space to put the extra prizes, regularly considering not logging in or quitting altogether because the inventory management pre-play step feels oppressive, etc. Inventory hurdles should require players to make thoughtful choices and at least periodically maintain their storage. It should not get to the point where players have to do things like choose to purposefully not unlock Bastian's benefit because the thought of those extra potions dropping is soul crushing.

I know that, for me, because of my play style (which I described in an earlier post) being able to have 50 - 70 open slots per play session on a support character would make a HUGE difference in how I feel about inventory management. I have a robust inventory management system, such that the extra slots wouldn't just get "filled" if ZOS granted the extra space without adding more types of inventory items to carry. But it would be nice to only have to deal with inventory once per play session, not every 15 minutes.

The fact is, while ZOS has done a lot of great things for inventory management, they have, at the same time, pushed a lot of new inventory types to the game, many of them as rewards that you can't enjoy if you have nowhere to put them. Which means this is largely a ZOS-created problem, not a player-created problem, and it is a bit unfair to lay the blame at the feet of "hoarders." Furniture rewards from events and leads were a big lift. Mythics were a lift, not just for that one piece but for the different configurations of armor you need to wear as you add and remove them. Sometimes I need a shoulder piece, sometimes not. Companions and their gear were added in the worst possible way for inventory management. You can't upgrade, tweak, or craft gear, companions can't hold any extra gear, the whole system completely encourages a "hang onto stuff" mentality. There's no stickerbook for companion gear. I don't think that ZOS has added inventory management features such that they have kept pace with the potential inventory they have added to the game. If you assume the storage potential to inventory type when the game launched was a thoughtful one, then we can also assume if that ratio has changed there will be a point when we "need" more storage so as not to have to spend an unreasonable time on inventory management.

I mean, if ZOS came out and said "we can make performing lightning fast by reducing character storage to 10 slots"... would that be ok? Or do we "need" more than 10 slots? How about 15? 20? I hope you see my point. We do "need" a certain amount of storage to properly play. The question is, what is that number, especially now that we have the Amory, an ESO-approved way to play multiple roles per character? I would say we "need" enough slots to carry the sets needed for the roles the character plays, plus appropriate consumables and siege, with enough free slots such that the clearing of inventory can be done at the end of each play session. Having to think about which food sits in the bank or my character's inventory depending on whether I'm PvPing or PvEing for the day crosses a line from inventory management to inventory nightmare. There should be plenty of room such that you can be an effective player in any or all of the game areas. Consider, too, that the Armory allows for 10 slots per character. That theoretically means ZOS supports using one character for up to 10 different roles before they'd expect you to "have" to make a new character. And the Armory is not designed to look into the bank when switching roles and moving armor around.

Now certainly there are other options besides adding more slots. I know some games have containers for gear sets... that could really help. ZOS said that a furniture bag isn't possible because of the large amount of unique IDs... that still tells me that a survey bag MIGHT be possible, and that would be a tremendous help.

The last thing to consider is... what percentage of the community doesn't subscribe, or doesn't have Summerset, and/or doesn't have Clockwork City? Those people don't have the craft bag, can't craft/upgrade jewelry, and can't recreate or re-trait gear. Which means they definitely need to save more gear than others. If we take the stance that the definition for acceptable levels of inventory (are you losing significant enjoyment in the game due to inventory management) should equally apply to everyone in the community, the bar for when we "need" more slots is much, much lower. I also personally have a lot of respect for console players who can't benefit from some of the inventory management mods.

So, I should think that the context of need for this poll is, assuming if we don't get better inventory management features, are you struggling with inventory management such that it is impacting your enjoyment of the game? If enough people answer yes... I'd say we are sliding into the "need" definition for more slots. Especially if the "potential items to potential storage" ratio is significantly changed from when the game launched... which is math I'm not going to do but I think is good food for thought, anyway.

For the more than “casual gamer” more inventory slots is definitively needed. Because they, like myself, participate in more than just one avenue of gameplay. The amount of sets required for multifaceted gameplay eats up inventory.

My problem would be solved with a furniture bag - half of my bank is filled with furniture and things I'm waiting to sell via traders - my trader slots are always full, I get stuff faster than I can sell, but I would definitely prefer more slots, at least for inventory. I carry around 30 or so different pieces for different builds with the armorer, it's a pain.

SilverBride wrote: »

Cooperharley wrote: »

I don’t see a logical reason why anyone would say they DONT want more slots.

Because it's not going to make any difference.

They could quadruple the number of slots and players would just fill them up then ask for more. The real problem is inventory management.

When they keep adding more crafting mats, the space in banks is gonna keep running out.

Lots of [Snip] people here who forget not everyone plays with a sub, just because I do doesn't mean I don't want others to have a better game experience, not to mention for a new player it takes many months to get to the 200 inventory slot cap (without crown pets) due to gold sink and horse research focusing on speed first, [Snip].

Inventory is not as big of an issue for a veteran player that has ESO+ but it certainly is something that might keep new players from getting into the game as you might see by just watching a few first impression about ESO videos on YouTube. Gating such a crucial and vital part of QoL behind a large time sink is something that does and will continue to repel prospective new players as many of them only buy the game when on sale and do not sub immediately as they have not deemed the game worthy of it when just starting.

[Edited for Baiting]

DUTCH_REAPER wrote: »

For the more than “casual gamer” more inventory slots is definitively needed. Because they, like myself, participate in more than just one avenue of gameplay. The amount of sets required for multifaceted gameplay eats up inventory.

Nah you can't lay this off as casual game play doesn't need the inventory. I participate in every aspect of the game except the card game and now that we have transmutes and the sticker book I can easily manage my inventory. So long as I stay on top of doing master writs and surveys I have plenty of room. Part of that is keeping my PvP gear in a chest when I am doing PvE activities so my character and bank has extra room. Having the banker and merchant in my back pocket also helps.

I would gladly take more space were it offered but I don't need more space. Like others I would like to see more things stack. Would be nice if siege equipment that is at 100% would stack in banks and chests. Things like that.

Of course we need more. I couldn’t play without ESO+, but even with it my inventory is always full. Given how much stuff they keep adding to the game, it’s way past time for an inventory and bank space upgrade.

DarcyMardin wrote: »

Of course we need more. I couldn’t play without ESO+, but even with it my inventory is always full. Given how much stuff they keep adding to the game, it’s way past time for an inventory and bank space upgrade.

Agreed. Every chapter (and most patches) bring new stuff along with them, but apart from the inventory pets in the crown store that add 5 slots each (and there are only three) the number of inventory/bank slots has remained the same (at least since I've been playing the game). They should be including an inventory/bank upgrade with every chapter.

Tandor wrote: »

New releases bring some new sets, and render some old ones obsolete. No need to hang onto them. The game already panders to far too much unnecessary hoarding, adding more slots would just keep some players quiet for a few days and then they'd start lobbying for more slots again.

It's not just that. It's all those pesky shards to collect 7 of them, museum pices, furnishings, it's always some new unstackable item to carry around that won't go into a guild bank.

Worst of it all are the sieges in Cyrodiil. My. God. It's time to make them all stackable already. For us that PvP 90% of our game time it would be the QOL of them all.

We definitely need more bank space. Per character inventory space is enough. Maybe more housing coffers or housing coffers buffed to sixty and one hundred twenty slots. Instead of thirty and sixty.

Most of my space is used up by master writs(bank til full, then inventory) and surveys(bank). Surveys I only run when I am out of materials, as they are a pain to do. Each new zone/expansion adds several new surveys, which all take up a new slot in the bank. And master writs I save for double exp events, like this one. Right now my bank is at 300/480 slots, and my main crafter went from 211/215 to 100/215. And I'm not yet done with every master writ, but close.

Even if my inventory is at 0/215, questing fills it up to 215 really quick. But it never starts at 0/215. Even my lowest inventory used characters are usually at 70/215. Which is 15-20 minutes of questing tops, as I kill and loot everything.

There are many parts of the game which need more inventory space. Like some mentioned in this thread already: Master writs, siege equipment, furnishings, etc.

PS: I'm not against more housing coffers/chests, but personally I do not like those very much as I can only see what is in them if I visit them. (And I mostly store the daily login rewards in those)

Maybe, just maybe if the armorer's assistant or the armory itself would hold the saved set pieces per build would free up quite a bit of inventory space. as expensive as the assistants are it would only make sense IMHO

I’m curious. How many of you saying we don’t need inventory slot space would be willing to post a screen shot of your achievement points?
That would be a potential great “guage” to compare and see if people, who have a much larger achievement point pool, meaning, they do More content, or do you have less points and don’t do everything in the game so you don’t care about space?
I’ll go first.

I believe we desperately need more inventory and bank space slots.

What I would also appreciate would be some kind of functionality to turn locked items invisible, so that you can at least manage your inventory quickly without having all your gear, poisons etc. cluttering the list. Also: Make all item types lockable in that case. That should make inventory management at least less tedious.

More bank slots would be great, because the amount of available storage is no longer proportional to the amount of unique items that exist at this point.