Bank Slots and Storage (Improvements)

Apologies if this has already been discussed; a cursory search of the forums didn't reveal that it had.

As it stands, to my knowledge, this is how banks currently work:

• Limited # of slots for items, can be expanded using in game currency or store purchase.
• Items are stored at the bank you deposited them at; you cannot retrieve them from elsewhere.

Now this presents a few problems as there are a lot of disadvantages to this approach compared to the advantages.

• Items cannot "magically" be withdrawn from another bank branch.
• Items somehow "magically" take up slots in other bank branches, despite not being stored there.
• In order to move items from one branch to another, you need to waste a lot of time legging it from one branch to another (or money using recall/teleport scrolls). This is not fun
• Houses render banks basically useless as they have infinite storage (for now) with all the same restrictions.

It appears to me that banks are not really worth using when you have a house, and if you don't have a house, they're inconvenient and lock you down to operating out of mostly one town/city. Now I can't claim to understand the design choices that went into implementing banks this way, however, I do have a few suggestions to make banks a little more appealing to home owners and the homeless. There are two approaches: maintain that items kept in one bank cannot be withdrawn from another or allow global access to all items in a bank.

With the approach of just making all items globally accessible, we remove the advantage that houses have over banks as they currently exist. Banks can then now be used to store items that you may require in resupplying for adventuring (spell components, spare equipment, potions, arrows, etc) while you store bulk items in your home.

If we were to maintain the item withdraw restriction to the bank they were stored in, it would be more practical if we had at least some of the following features:

• Every bank has its own set of slots that are not occupied by items that are in another bank. (Allow people to take advantage of having items store in multiple banks by having more space)
• Items can be transferred between banks for a cost (gold per weight or time).
• Instead of having each individual bank have its own storage, create bank branches that share between multiple cities (Hidden Vale Branch, Perennial Coast Branch, etc)

I'm interesting in hearing not only what the developers have to say about the current system, but also from all the rest of you as to how it currently stands. And if you made it this far, thanks for reading!

 

When you buy a safety deposit box in a bank in real life it is only available at one branch. You also don't get access to more boxes at other branches but must either buy another spot or empty the first box you got and transfer it to another bank location. This is the system currently in use in SOTA. You aren't storing gold so other real world examples would not apply. I am certainly not arguing that it should be this way but telling the logical reason why it would be. I also believe that the dev team wants us to have to walk around more so this system is unlikely to change.

 

That does not explain why items somehow "magically" take up slots in other bank branches, despite not being stored there, although it might be easier to code it that way.

 

If you think of the bank as a central corporation they will consider the boxes you have in one place part of the ones you are allowed and won't just issue you more space in another bank just because. You would have to pay another fee to use another location.

 

I don't think the devs will remove the advantage of home storage over bank storage... but who knows...

 

i would like to see crowns treated as currency and so flagged global when deposited.

 

Eventually there will be a limit placed on chests as well. But for some reason it was decided that we must use our local bank. Fedx some items home occasionally . But alas the current banking system even adds to making encumbrance viable and makes be mindful of the choices you make while traveling and exploring. All of it has reasons that are just not all totally fleshed out or implemented atm. We will have to make decisions and watch our limits. Also hopefully pack animals will make in in one day sooner than later . Another thing for encumbrance is using strength buffs and strength potions or training skills make those things viable. We get choices to make again in this. I do love your post @shiftingbits. You bring up good points