Inventory and Account based Managment

[untface]

So I have just returned to the game after about 15 months off. During my time off from DDO I played quite a bit of Guild Wars 2 and although I was not as impressed with GW2 as much as I had hoped, it definitely had some very positive design aspects.

So, based on my experiences both DDO and GW2, I have a couple of suggestions:

1. Get rid of character based mailboxes. Link the mail box to the player's account (accessible from any character). It would be nice if you could still mail to yourself. I hate logging on thinking "I've got mail!" only to find it's the same **** I read on 6 other characters already.

2. Add an account based Collectible/Ingredient page to the inventory page. Or maybe implement a whole new interface (like the monster manual(s)). Either way, collectibles and ingredients that are not BtC should not have to be micromanaged back and forth across characters, it is pointless time-wasting.

BtC, BtA and non-bound items should be accessible from this GUI. The design should lend itself to meeting player needs For example: What does my collection of shards/scrolls/seals look like, at a glance.

Ingredients bags are just a searchable backpack that I can't organise very easily.

3. Get rid of the character based purse. Create an account based one with plat limits of (current character based plat cap)*(number of character slots available on account).

4. A natural consequence of the above changes will be an account based Auction house system.

5. Get rid of spell components. They are...silly. Put a quest chain or some reputation reward to earn the "From thin Air" title or something and make people earn a "no-components" ability if it makes you happy.

Just a few suggestions. Probably not high on everyone's list, but I have always felt that the inventory management aspect DDO left a LOT to be desired.

Regards.

[dunklezhan]

Just a few suggestions.

I fully agree with everything except:

3, which I don't like on the basis that I do like the idea of tracking personal wealth. I'm terrible at earning it, so it serves as a useful track on how I'm improving with each new character, and in terms of seeing whether any characters earn less or more and why. I will, as usual, be in a minority there though However, if things changed to what you suggest, it wouldn't fundamentally make any difference to me. I prefer the current system but it's certainly not a deal breaker

5, which I only like if the option to do away with components is earned in game and is not easy to get. A feat to me is probably too much. An enhancement would be better, probably low-mid tier in either Archmage (supposedly the ubergeek mage) or EK (which needs it's hands free for whackin' stuff).

Components are an important part of DnD. However, I do think it notable that the pnp games went down a similar route to that which you are suggesting, it did so for very good reason and it didn't hurt the game at all since most DMs I know abstracted components anyway ("oh, just spend 50gp each time you hit a town with a magic shop, that's good enough.."). PnP also balanced it though with a need to still specifically track 'rare'/'expensive' components for specific spells (e.g. a pearl worth 1000gps is needed for one - I forget which - pnp spell). DDO could and probably should go the same way: do away with components for everything except 'expensive' components (e.g. those for Stoneskin)



Not wishing to derail, but I'd also like to add to the discussion while we're talking about 'inventory' management, auction house improvements.

The auction house needs another big overhaul. We need to be able to search and sort by:
Augment slot
Spell level (scrolls)
caster level (wands)
Spell School (both)
Companion Collars (no, searching for 'collar' doesn't cut it, particularly if you know the name of the effect but not whether it is a suffix or prefix)
Orbs (since they are named, looking just to see what orbs are in the AH is very hard).
Thaumaturgy effects - it takes a very, very long time to find out that none of the quarterstaffs currently in the AH are of any use to you.
Ingredients needs splitting out so we can select by crafting type, ditto augments (including an aggregate filter for purple/green).

It would be helpful if there was a selection of tick boxes or filters to apply for prefixes/suffixes - it's always been hard to keep track of what the various prefixes/suffixes do, its much worse now, when they do multiple things that are randomly generated. It would be helpful if there was a race restricted selector too.

It would be helpful if multiple categories could be selected: so I could search for just weapon type 1 and weapon type 2 with x effect on. Alternatively or additionally, a tick box to 'only show proficient equipment'.

No doubt a bunch of other stuff I can't think of right now. But it's time. 2 years ago you finally gave us search (thank you! Thank you, thank you!) but now it's time for more to be done.

Quality of life improvements (which is what the OP is suggesting also) are as important as bug fixes when it comes to retaining new players. Inventory management is one important thing, and so is an AH - it's visible and accessible from early game, and the DDO AH is noticeably lamer than just about every other AH out there in MMO-land right now (which new players are likely to be comparing against), so please look at giving it a polish, it's embarrassing, even when compared to other MMOs from the same original launch period.

[Neomarica]

For 5, just make the Eschew materials feat work like it's supposed to. It's not a metamagic feat, it just means you don't need to worry about non-expensive material components ever. Or maybe even make it available as an enchantment, because it's still less useful than in the PnP version since in that game you actually may have to worry about losing all your equipment and waking up naked in a prison cell.

[Ungood]

I played GWII myself for a while, and I have to say, they did quite a good job with the inventory system, not the best system mind you, but a good system none the less.

A few down sides to the GWII system was the fact that everything was shared, so you did not have "personal" inventory, unless it was in your toons inventory.

DDO, has a division of Shared and Personal bank Space, while this may be annoying to some , it does increase the overall space that an account can have as opposed to what GWII offered.

I and many others enjoyed the Account Wide collectibles system, even tho it had a max stack of 250 (iirc), however in DDO, you can have stacks up to 10K, so again, DDO is very much ahead on that as far as collecting stuff goes, not to mention, you can move volumes of stuff via large bags from one player to another.

In the end, DDO's largest problem is lack of BTC inventory space, that is what is hurting the game as far as inventory goes right now.

If DDO copies anything from GWII, I would like to first see Account based names, and then they can think of the other fluff.

[era42]

Components are an important part of DnD. However, I do think it notable that the pnp games went down a similar route to that which you are suggesting, it did so for very good reason and it didn't hurt the game at all since most DMs I know abstracted components anyway ("oh, just spend 50gp each time you hit a town with a magic shop, that's good enough.."). PnP also balanced it though with a need to still specifically track 'rare'/'expensive' components for specific spells (e.g. a pearl worth 1000gps is needed for one - I forget which - pnp spell). DDO could and probably should go the same way: do away with components for everything except 'expensive' components (e.g. those for Stoneskin)

Important part of DnD, are you serious? They were so important, that they were almost always abstracted away by GM:s, and eventually abstracted it away fully by the game. An optional part of the pen and paper maybe.

A named Component Pouch would be a nice solution to this. Straight from the pen and paper, a pouch that is assumed to contain enough of the regular components, so as long as you carry that, you would be able to cast spells requiring any of the regular components. I personally would just get rid of them, no quest, no pouch, just no reagents. They are not fun, and they add yet another layer to the annoyance that is the inventory management in this game.

[dunklezhan]

Important part of DnD, are you serious? They were so important, that they were almost always abstracted away by GM:s, and eventually abstracted it away fully by the game. An optional part of the pen and paper maybe.

In terms of conceptualising that magic requires prepared materials and that this is important enough that overcoming said limitation requires feat investment (and in 2nd ed a higher level optional class feature)? Yes. In terms of tracking every loose feather or ball bearing... no, of course not, I completely agree on that score.

A named Component Pouch would be a nice solution to this. Straight from the pen and paper, a pouch that is assumed to contain enough of the regular components, so as long as you carry that, you would be able to cast spells requiring any of the regular components.

Yes it would. I don't see the need to buy 'ordinary' components, just the pouch should be enough it can be assumed it automagically refills when you're in a public area. I would also like it to hold 'rare/expensive' components for certain specific spells that you DO have to buy, to retain the feel of PnP whereby certain powerful spells did require proper investment so were not cast all the time.

I personally would just get rid of them, no quest, no pouch, just no reagents. They are not fun, and they add yet another layer to the annoyance that is the inventory management in this game.

I agree they take up too much inventory space: they are 'must haves' for certain spells yet are somehow still genericised so they can be used on more than one specific spell, and I think if you're going to do that, why bother even splitting them by spell level, or indeed, having them at all? A large number of the spells I use on all my casters end up being ones that don't need components anyway.

On that basis I'd certainly prefer that those 'generic' components at least were consolidated into one slot somehow and an automagic bag works for me. Perhaps a favour unlock to keep that element of 'earning' the ability - I only want to see it for TP if it's earnable via an in game mechanism too. A component pouch would be the easiest way to solve that, providing the game can be taught to recognise that you have them (in many cases retrieval from bags has been a problem in the past), because it would also allow the retention of 'rare/expensive' components which could be stored there too, rather than just soaking up bagspace needlessly.

[zaphear]

My only issue is I kind of like my components in my inventory.. that way I can put them on my hotbars and tell how many I have left.

[dunklezhan]

My only issue is I kind of like my components in my inventory.. that way I can put them on my hotbars and tell how many I have left.

I do that too! Yes, even if the bag can cope with consuming them when you cast, this would also still need to be possible

[Ungood]

Important part of DnD, are you serious? They were so important, that they were almost always abstracted away by GM:s, and eventually abstracted it away fully by the game. An optional part of the pen and paper maybe.

Actually, Spell Components were a big part in PnP games, especially as a means to keep casting higher level spells in check by the lack of the ability to buy stacks of 1000 of the needed items.

Case in point, to cast the Resurrection Spell, took a gem that was supposed to be expensive, iirc it was a diamond that cost 5K Gold, or something. For a typical PnP character, to get such a gem would be an adventure in it's own right as opposed to going to "House J and getting a stack of 100 for 50K plat"

So it was a large part of the ambiance of the game, and a means by which magic was controlled to a extent, even the "pouches" were just basic stuff, like, "Bat Guano" or "Bull Dung" if you needed something like "crushed black opals" you were going to need to go buy those or quest after the opals and crush them yourself.

While personally, I would have liked a once and done type of approach with some "pouch" construct, I don't foresee that as happening, when they have stuff like "Omnispell" dust in the DDO store, it would simply hurt their sales to have a "pouch" or renewable resource.

[SirValentine]

Get rid of spell components. They are...silly. Put a quest chain or some reputation reward to earn the "From thin Air" title or something and make people earn a "no-components" ability if it makes you happy.

I notice that there is currently no favor reward for the 3rd tier of favor with The Twelve.

[untface]

I notice that there is currently no favor reward for the 3rd tier of favor with The Twelve.

I've noticed you noticing...and I like it.

[dunklezhan]

While personally, I would have liked a once and done type of approach with some "pouch" construct, I don't foresee that as happening, when they have stuff like "Omnispell" dust in the DDO store, it would simply hurt their sales to have a "pouch" or renewable resource.

Omnispell dust would function as a 'rare/expensive' component which would still be needed under the suggested system (well, under my suggested system anyway). I don't think it would hurt the bottom line too much.

[untface]

Omnispell dust would function as a 'rare/expensive' component which would still be needed under the suggested system (well, under my suggested system anyway). I don't think it would hurt the bottom line too much.

Personally, I think having an appealing game in terms of user interaction is much more valuable than a single store item (that also drops in chests).

I wouldn't go so far as to say that inventory management has caused people to quit, but it can be very aggravating at times and certainly contributes in a negative way to the overall DOD experience.

Player(customer)-orientated design still has its place in the micro-transaction world.