Inventory management is exhausting

[Infinitedrift]

I've been playing this game for many years now.. and have spent much money on it.. and purchased lots of storage.. and it's still not enough. I have made multiple side characters to store things and take up like 15 slots.. and it's still not enough. Our storage space is massively constricted compared to the sheer number of items, and new items being constantly added. Swapping, mailing, and moving things around in the bank has become extremely tedious and time consuming. Like, I don't want to spend hours upon hours just managing inventory.. especially when I want to do a TR and have to deal with the cache. Can you guys fix this?? It's actually taking a lot of enjoyment out of the game. I shouldn't be having to run a warehouse, when I should be running dungeons. However, not being able to collect the items from the dungeon removes the reward for doing them other than xp, which would be irrelevant at level cap. There has got to be a way.. for us to select what cosmetic items we wish to wear from the character inventory screen without having to constantly swap and do all kinds of tedious back and forth. I know it's possible.. I have seen it in other games. The RPG "Rift" from Trion Worlds for example, has such a system. You can select any cosmetic you want to wear right there in a wardrobe tab of your inventory screen. It's so easy. It would be grand if we could do the same with weapons and items for each equip slot; click on a slot which opens a window that allows us to select from our arsenal of weapons, or armory of other items. Click on a necklace slot; every necklace you collected is an option. This would be a massive quality of life boost for this game. Quite honestly, the anniversary event is here.. and I would love to earn the items from it.. but I have no place to put it.. so what is the point? I do not wish to destroy the items I already collected. Some of them are even crafted items that can never be replaced. Inventory.. needs a complete overhaul because it is sucking the fun out of the game for me. I can't even get excited about new items because I have nowhere to put them..

[Oxarhamar]

I've been playing this game for many years now.. and have spent much money on it.. and purchased lots of storage.. and it's still not enough. I have made multiple side characters to store things and take up like 15 slots.. and it's still not enough. Our storage space is massively constricted compared to the sheer number of items, and new items being constantly added. Swapping, mailing, and moving things around in the bank has become extremely tedious and time consuming. Like, I don't want to spend hours upon hours just managing inventory.. especially when I want to do a TR and have to deal with the cache. Can you guys fix this?? It's actually taking a lot of enjoyment out of the game. I shouldn't be having to run a warehouse, when I should be running dungeons. However, not being able to collect the items from the dungeon removes the reward for doing them other than xp, which would be irrelevant at level cap. There has got to be a way.. for us to select what cosmetic items we wish to wear from the character inventory screen without having to constantly swap and do all kinds of tedious back and forth. I know it's possible.. I have seen it in other games. The RPG "Rift" from Trion Worlds for example, has such a system. You can select any cosmetic you want to wear right there in a wardrobe tab of your inventory screen. It's so easy. It would be grand if we could do the same with weapons and items for each equip slot; click on a slot which opens a window that allows us to select from our arsenal of weapons, or armory of other items. Click on a necklace slot; every necklace you collected is an option. This would be a massive quality of life boost for this game. Quite honestly, the anniversary event is here.. and I would love to earn the items from it.. but I have no place to put it.. so what is the point? I do not wish to destroy the items I already collected. Some of them are even crafted items that can never be replaced. Inventory.. needs a complete overhaul because it is sucking the fun out of the game for me. I can't even get excited about new items because I have nowhere to put them..

Inventory is much easier if you take a minimalist approach you will save your time too

[KoobTheProud]

Think of it from the perspective of a hoarder.

House is full, no more rooms to store stuff in. Either build another addition onto the house to keep more stuff or have the epiphany and get rid of all the stuff that is either redundant or easy to farm up again the next life.

You'd be amazed at how much stuff that is irrelevant to whatever you are playing now just drops casually as you go through the next life.

[Onyxia2019]

Look at it this way. If you ever apply for a job as a warehouse manager you on need to list under experience, "Played DDO of X number of years and managed 15 bank alts".

In all seriousness it can be a challenge if you get in the mindset of needing to keep every blue item and up. Lot of the early stuff is worthless as newer items of the same level are more powerful. There are also items from packs like the borderlands that drop from ever rare chest. Anyone need a pair of "Travelers Bracers"?

Focus on gear the works for multiple classes and then augment swap to customize for the class you are playing at the time. Once you get a good base set of gear. Other unused pieces will just collect dust and you will realize you don't need them. It is hard at first but if you have been playing for awhile you have already started to do this although you may not have realized it. Think about your last handful of TR's. Was there pieces of gear you seem to always reach for in you bank? When you hit level 8, 10 or 15 do you rush to the bank to grab that piece you always grab? There is also the gear that is really only good for a couple of levels as you have a much better piece waiting. Does it make sense to hoard a piece of gear that is only useful for a coupe levels?

I do agree we could use more storage in the form of shared bank space. The hard part about managing multiple mules is the logging in and out to organize stuff.
Maybe someday SSG will grant this wish.

[C-Dog]

... Swapping, mailing, and moving things around in the bank has become extremely tedious and time consuming. ... It's actually taking a lot of enjoyment out of the game. ... I can't even get excited about new items because I have nowhere to put them..

+1

[Logicman69]

I'm with the "minimalist" style approach to inventory. I only keep what I need for my current characters/builds, everything else gets sold or fed. For leveling, I have gear sets for level 3, 5, 7, 10, 15, and cap. If I find a new piece of gear that replaces a current piece, the old one gets sold. This keeps my gear lean and lets me go through TR's effectively.

My current struggle is cosmetic gear. I am starting to get a good collection of cosmetic gear for characters that were either purchased or acquired through packs. There really needs to be a "cosmetic closet" tab for the shared bank. Similar to the crafting storage, but coded to only accept items marked as cosmetic. Give me 50 spots to start, and let me purchase additional space for points.

[boredGamer]

I'm with the "minimalist" style approach to inventory. I only keep what I need for my current characters/builds, everything else gets sold or fed. For leveling, I have gear sets for level 3, 5, 7, 10, 15, and cap. If I find a new piece of gear that replaces a current piece, the old one gets sold. This keeps my gear lean and lets me go through TR's effectively.

My current struggle is cosmetic gear. I am starting to get a good collection of cosmetic gear for characters that were either purchased or acquired through packs. There really needs to be a "cosmetic closet" tab for the shared bank. Similar to the crafting storage, but coded to only accept items marked as cosmetic. Give me 50 spots to start, and let me purchase additional space for points.

Totally agree here, and I trashed 7 and 10 sets also. Just 3/5/15/20/29/32 at this point. Also have trashed anything that is *good* but I would *never* wear because it doubles up a slot that is already BiS.

It bites me on occasion if I want to do a really different build, which is annoying about this game (a game built for builds), but it's hard to switch builds (sentience, inventory, etc) - but generally is much better.

[Bunker]

#1 top solution to inventory management. Stop being a pack rat. Ask yourself how often you transfer items around to fix inventory, but you havn't actually equipped the item in over a year.

GL on clearing out the clutter.

[Wahnsinnig]

#1 top solution to inventory management. Stop being a pack rat. Ask yourself how often you transfer items around to fix inventory, but you havn't actually equipped the item in over a year.

GL on clearing out the clutter.

This. A lot of DDO players waste a lot of time on items they will never ever use. Only keep items you are actually using.

[axel15810]

Built in account wide inventory search would be a good compromise. I'd be plenty happy with that.

[erethizon]

Inventory is much easier if you take a minimalist approach you will save your time too

I did that for many years, but it makes the game far less fun. Passing every raid item I ever got because I had no place to put it and could only use it for a couple of levels before TRing, made raids pointless to run. The loot reward is a big part of the game and when every reward must either be passed or is a cursed object that will add to your headache, receiving named items becomes a chore. I used to dread seeing any named loot in the chest because it meant I had to make a decision whether to deal with the curse myself or throw it away.

If they are going to constantly make new gear, they should give us a place to put it. This is not a normal game where your character only needs the best gear they have found. We TR, which means we need to keep gear for all levels, and there are 15 classes we need to play for past lives, which means we need gear for all classes. I have quit this game many times because the headache of figuring out how I was going to manage my inventory was so daunting that I just didn't log in for months. The game is significantly more enjoyable now that i have 16 mules with 160 inventory space each, but needless to say it is still an annoyance to have to log in a few different characters each time I want to put away some new gear I have found from a day of playing.

The suggestion of the original post is definitely a good one. I would even be okay with gear that levels with you so you don't need to have multiple levels of gear. But at this point I have simply given up and taken to buying mules (something I refused to do for many, many years) and frankly the game is a lot more fun. Now I actually look forward to getting named loot and that is a massive improvement for me.

[Infinitedrift]

Sorry, but to those of you who suggest a minimalist approach, you are asking me to be you. I'm not you. I don't want a minimalist approach. I want to optimize my gear.. depending on a massive variety of builds I may wish to play. I may keep items that are suboptimal, not because they are USEFUL, but because I may wish to make a a future cosmetic when I change classes in the future. Then each time I do this, I have spent ddo points to make a cosmetic, which then adds to clutter of things that I do not wish to get rid of. Hoarding is the entire point of it for me. There is no one here who can rationally say that loot simply doesn't matter, and does not motivate the actions they take, which dungeons they farm for gear, etc. You are all hoarders. The only difference between me and a minimalist is that the minimalist gave up on it.. but in my opinion they shouldn't have to. We all want our characters optimized, because the combat system if you are not optimized can effectively make you defenseless and ineffective. You cannot escape that fact.. especially if a person wishes to play the more difficult modes like Reaper. I seriously don't want to play the game anymore until this is fixed. I have spent a lot of money.. but I will not play anymore until this issue is addressed. I'm leaving. No amount of debate can change my desire to optimize any character I play, try to make them look good through cosmetics, and simply hold on to the many, many items that are just fun like cookies for example which can allow players to do things they would not otherwise be able to do. It's irrational to manufacture thousands of items for the game, and then expect people not to want to keep or use them. The constant addition of new classes and universal trees only further manufactures the need for maintaining optimal gear.. as well as the creation of new cosmetics. I will be leaving the game now; I may return if I check back and this issue is relsolved, but until then, I will not be playing this game.

[Dandonk]

This. A lot of DDO players waste a lot of time on items they will never ever use. Only keep items you are actually using.

But that's not how the game is built. If you do the TRs, which is currently a LOT of the game, then you might need them next life. Or the one after.

Or you may want to try a different build, and need the gear for that. The drop rates are so low that farming the gear for a new build is painful in the extreme.

And then, my pet peeve, the updating of old items. Sure, this is cool, right? Except I had just thrown out my DoJ on the principle, as you said, that I was never going to use them. So I'm not throwing out old raid items ever again, when I don't know if they suddenly become useful for augments or whatever in a few updates.
(especially annoyed about the DoJ things... I loathe that boring raid, and now I have to run it again to get items I already had and threw out just a month or two before the update came)

So, sure, in a normal MMO this might be a point. But DDO is built differently, and the mechanics encourage players to hoard. Don't blame the players for that.

[thedip]

My last few lives:

Str based Druid.
Cha based Swashbuckler Bard.
Int based Melee Artificer.

Currently a Cha based GOO 'lock.

Next life either a Cha based fire Sorcerer or Wis based Dark Apostate.

The synergy between these classes, in terms of gear, is almost non existent.

Given the drop rates suck, I have to keep items as they appear for the next lives. With one of the main aspects of the game being the TR train, a considerable amount of space is required to just store different gear sets.

I used to have all packs but I have not purchased the last few as I don't have the room to store items.

[Bunker]

Sorry, but to those of you who suggest a minimalist approach, you are asking me to be you. I'm not you. I don't want a minimalist approach. I want to optimize my gear.. depending on a massive variety of builds I may wish to play. I may keep items that are suboptimal, not because they are USEFUL, but because I may wish to make a a future cosmetic when I change classes in the future. Then each time I do this, I have spent ddo points to make a cosmetic, which then adds to clutter of things that I do not wish to get rid of. Hoarding is the entire point of it for me. There is no one here who can rationally say that loot simply doesn't matter, and does not motivate the actions they take, which dungeons they farm for gear, etc. You are all hoarders. The only difference between me and a minimalist is that the minimalist gave up on it.. but in my opinion they shouldn't have to. We all want our characters optimized, because the combat system if you are not optimized can effectively make you defenseless and ineffective. You cannot escape that fact.. especially if a person wishes to play the more difficult modes like Reaper. I seriously don't want to play the game anymore until this is fixed. I have spent a lot of money.. but I will not play anymore until this issue is addressed. I'm leaving. No amount of debate can change my desire to optimize any character I play, try to make them look good through cosmetics, and simply hold on to the many, many items that are just fun like cookies for example which can allow players to do things they would not otherwise be able to do. It's irrational to manufacture thousands of items for the game, and then expect people not to want to keep or use them. The constant addition of new classes and universal trees only further manufactures the need for maintaining optimal gear.. as well as the creation of new cosmetics. I will be leaving the game now; I may return if I check back and this issue is relsolved, but until then, I will not be playing this game.

Cosmetics should have their own area in shared banking. Currently shared banking have 3 areas. (plat, item storage, crafting storage)

If they simply just added a cosmetic tab with roughly the same amount of available space as crafting storage, I think that would satisfy the playing community. Cosmetic only TAB.

[DaviMOC]

Whoever hansacked a chest for a whole month with discovery pots at multiple toons wont be talking about being "minimalist".

The reincarnation nature of DDO combined with the need for monetization on inventory storage and loot/ransack systems makes DDO inventory system the most annoying one I ever seen on a online game.

When a new pack arrives and only 1 gear is an upgrade but it is in a different slot and you need to recreate your whole gearset, thats also a no no for minimalism. The game itself pushs you into a acumulator behaviour.

[Drunkendex]

Sorry, but to those of you who suggest a minimalist approach, you are asking me to be you. I'm not you. I don't want a minimalist approach. I want to optimize my gear.. depending on a massive variety of builds I may wish to play. I may keep items that are suboptimal, not because they are USEFUL, but because I may wish to make a a future cosmetic when I change classes in the future. Then each time I do this, I have spent ddo points to make a cosmetic, which then adds to clutter of things that I do not wish to get rid of. Hoarding is the entire point of it for me. There is no one here who can rationally say that loot simply doesn't matter, and does not motivate the actions they take, which dungeons they farm for gear, etc. You are all hoarders. The only difference between me and a minimalist is that the minimalist gave up on it.. but in my opinion they shouldn't have to. We all want our characters optimized, because the combat system if you are not optimized can effectively make you defenseless and ineffective. You cannot escape that fact.. especially if a person wishes to play the more difficult modes like Reaper. I seriously don't want to play the game anymore until this is fixed. I have spent a lot of money.. but I will not play anymore until this issue is addressed. I'm leaving. No amount of debate can change my desire to optimize any character I play, try to make them look good through cosmetics, and simply hold on to the many, many items that are just fun like cookies for example which can allow players to do things they would not otherwise be able to do. It's irrational to manufacture thousands of items for the game, and then expect people not to want to keep or use them. The constant addition of new classes and universal trees only further manufactures the need for maintaining optimal gear.. as well as the creation of new cosmetics. I will be leaving the game now; I may return if I check back and this issue is relsolved, but until then, I will not be playing this game.

Signed.

I'm a hoarder, I plan on pausing my TR train on main after several more life's to play with builds. I like collecting rare stuff. I hate it when I have to pass rare raid loot because it's useless to toon I got it with and I'm not selfish enough to just leave it in chest.

You have your play style, I have mine, and understanding that different people have different play styles is nice, expecting that everyone plays like you is rude.

for me, main selling point of DDO, which no other MMO has, is TR-ing.
And minimalist approach forces you to TR in same build over and over because you can't store gear for multiple builds without turning game into inventory management game.

and that's not even looking at DDO's stupid chest ransack, i actually quit DDO for 2 years because i had no luck getting named i wanted after 3 months of weekly ransacks.

One way I WOULD approve of minimalist approach was if SSG turned on their brains and got away with chest ransack. No Severlin, it would not reduce pot sales, it WOULD increase them because someone farming specific item WOULD be able to loot one chest more than 8 times a week.
people don't pay for chance to get named in 8 pulls, they pay for time saving option.

[Bozone]

I recently returned from an extended break (almost 4 yrs? away from the game). When I started playing DDO it was the game I played almost exclusively for about 4 years. I've taken shorter breaks in the past - maybe 6 to 18 months 3 or 4 times. None of the times I've returned in the past have lasted very long for various reasons.

One of the things that made the game less fun and led to me taking breaks was storage/inventory management. But as bad as it is when you've been playing the game regularly, imagine coming back to the game after a 9 month break to find that on top of the normal inventory problem, they've changed random loot gen, much of the powerful named items you had are now cheap baubles, and you don't know what items are good or which are not. It makes sorting through your inventory that much harder. Consequently, when I came back to the game after my previous breaks, it never lasted for long and I would leave the game again.

But more than that, during this long break I just had, inventory management was the primary thing that kept me away. At times I'd think about coming back but knew that my equipment would mostly be outdated, my banks were full and I'd spend more time sorting through that than I would spend questing or raiding. So I just wouldn't bother to come back (Luckily, I was finally in the mood to play some DDO and in a spring cleaning mood at the same time recently so I have started playing again). It has been the primary reason my recent break kept getting extended. I've played and left other games but I still go back to them when I'm in the mood to play a little (and they will make a little more money from me). That's hard to do with DDO.

[boredGamer]

Signed.

I'm a hoarder, I plan on pausing my TR train on main after several more life's to play with builds. I like collecting rare stuff. I hate it when I have to pass rare raid loot because it's useless to toon I got it with and I'm not selfish enough to just leave it in chest.

You have your play style, I have mine, and understanding that different people have different play styles is nice, expecting that everyone plays like you is rude.

for me, main selling point of DDO, which no other MMO has, is TR-ing.
And minimalist approach forces you to TR in same build over and over because you can't store gear for multiple builds without turning game into inventory management game.

and that's not even looking at DDO's stupid chest ransack, i actually quit DDO for 2 years because i had no luck getting named i wanted after 3 months of weekly ransacks.

One way I WOULD approve of minimalist approach was if SSG turned on their brains and got away with chest ransack. No Severlin, it would not reduce pot sales, it WOULD increase them because someone farming specific item WOULD be able to loot one chest more than 8 times a week.
people don't pay for chance to get named in 8 pulls, they pay for time saving option.

The only one being rude is the one responding with a hostile attitude to some people giving you friendly suggestions on how they deal with it.

No one has said anything like "this shouldn't be addressed".

But now, I hope it's not addressed, out of spite.

[erethizon]

Sorry, but to those of you who suggest a minimalist approach, you are asking me to be you. I'm not you. I don't want a minimalist approach. I want to optimize my gear.. depending on a massive variety of builds I may wish to play. I may keep items that are suboptimal, not because they are USEFUL, but because I may wish to make a a future cosmetic when I change classes in the future. Then each time I do this, I have spent ddo points to make a cosmetic, which then adds to clutter of things that I do not wish to get rid of. Hoarding is the entire point of it for me. There is no one here who can rationally say that loot simply doesn't matter, and does not motivate the actions they take, which dungeons they farm for gear, etc. You are all hoarders. The only difference between me and a minimalist is that the minimalist gave up on it.. but in my opinion they shouldn't have to. We all want our characters optimized, because the combat system if you are not optimized can effectively make you defenseless and ineffective. You cannot escape that fact.. especially if a person wishes to play the more difficult modes like Reaper. I seriously don't want to play the game anymore until this is fixed. I have spent a lot of money.. but I will not play anymore until this issue is addressed. I'm leaving. No amount of debate can change my desire to optimize any character I play, try to make them look good through cosmetics, and simply hold on to the many, many items that are just fun like cookies for example which can allow players to do things they would not otherwise be able to do. It's irrational to manufacture thousands of items for the game, and then expect people not to want to keep or use them. The constant addition of new classes and universal trees only further manufactures the need for maintaining optimal gear.. as well as the creation of new cosmetics. I will be leaving the game now; I may return if I check back and this issue is relsolved, but until then, I will not be playing this game.

The thing is, I am a minimalist. I am a minimalist that hates gear (in all games, not just this one). I want 100% of power to be inherent character power and for gear to be entirely cosmetic. That said, DDO is the furthest from my desire of any game I have ever played. Not only is gear incredibly important (as it is in far too many games), but you need more of it than in any game I have ever played.

For years I went the minimalist route, and the result was that my character sucked. You look a the best players of the game there is not a single one wearing suboptimal gear. I crafted and wore the same gear life after life for many years and the result was that I felt like I was piking the entire time. The only reason I can run R10's now is because I gave up on my much preferred minimalist approach and made 16 mules. I don't like it at all, but it is an unfortunate part of the game.

Given that character slots are absolutely never on sale anymore (I recently gave up after waiting an entire year for a sale), I assume that SSG would prefer we not make a million characters just to store stuff (I'm sure it isn't helping the lag), so the request to come up with more efficient way to store things is perfectly reasonable.

I've advocated for an item manual (i.e. a monster manual for gear) for many years. When you find a named item it notes it in your item manual (ideally along with a note of mythic and reaper bonuses) and then you can destroy the item. Any time you need the item in the future you can go to the item manual to summon up a bound copy of the item. No need to store anything you are not actively using because it is all stored as a simple mark in the ledger.

If this isn't the best system, that is fine, I am open to anything. The current system is pretty poor. I keep a list of all mules and what types of gear they store so I know where to go for whatever I need, but the result can be that I have to log in several mules just to put everything away. It isn't great but the game is much, much more enjoyable than when I was a minimalist. Now I don't have to find a group I can pike, because I can fully carry my own weight, and getting gear is actually fun (rather than an annoyance that I strongly disliked). I'll repeat what I said earlier, I used to hope that chests would not have any named gear for me just so I wouldn't have to deal with whether I was going to keep it or throw it away (this was before sentient items ate named gear). It's pretty bad when the storage system for a game is so bad that you hope you won't get rare drops. That is DDO in a nutshell and mules are absolutely necessary in the current system to make acquiring gear at all enjoyable for me.

I feel you for your desire to leave the game over this. I have done it many times before. Inventory management is the #1 reason I leave games. If you want a VIP bonus that would actually make VIP worthwhile, it would be 10,000 bank slots in your personal bank. Inventory management is not fun. It is a miserable experience. I would rather play a game where it was unnecessary because gear didn't matter at all, but unfortunately my fellow players are obsessed with gear and getting item drops so the only reasonable solution is an inventory management system that makes hoarding all this stuff easy.