Possible changes to tabards, backpacks, and banks
by Gregg Reece 
Jan 16th 2010 at 4:00PM
All three of these are long standing issues that have usually been avoided when direct questions came up, usually invoking the safe and often used "we'll see" remark. I would love to be able to replace my backpack with a Glacial Bag and gain six storage slots or clear out the bank space I'm using to store specialty tabards. Let's take a look at their responses after the break.
Tabard Storage
This would probably be the best way to address this. The problem you run into is do you end up having a tab on your character sheet similar to the mount and pet tabs where you can see and select your various mounts or do you just have the drop-down like the titles. Being as some tabards have special abilities, the former solution would probably be the best. This would give you a way to swap them in and out easily as well as possibly a way to activate these special properties.Q. For those of us who collect tabards and armor sets, do you see a way for us to store and not use our very limited inventory?
A. Yes. We'd like to store them the same way you do titles. In general, we don't want to punish the pack-rats out there who just like to collect stuff. We will have to wait and see what we can do about it though.
Shirts also fall into this same issue. While most shirts are just for looks, there are some that do technically give buffs and there is even a specific one that you have to wear while doing part of the gunship battle portion of Icecrown Citadel. If tabards are reworked to require less storage, we'll have to see if shirts get the same treatment.
Personal banks act like guild banks across alts...
Q. Would you be willing to make personal bank storage look more like guild storage and available to all characters on a realm?OMG, YES PLZ!... err... That would be nice as well. For those of us with a server full of alts (most of which leveled up to their mid-60s or higher just for professions) this would be an awesome change. I've got an alchemist, scribe, leatherworker, engineer, and enchanter who are constantly sending mails back and forth. It would be a lot easier to just toss the raw materials in the bank, hop on the alt, get them out of that character's bank tab and then make whatever it is I wanted to make. No more mail lag or alt hopping to grab the needed items from each and every character. For those of you with personal guild banks already, I'm sure you can see further ways to expand on this.
A. This is something we discuss a lot. It actually helps with keeping mail volume down as well as a player convenience.
Increased backpack size...
I imagine this will be done similar to the riding system or any of the other things that require money and a certain level to obtain. You'd likely have an NPC in each of the major city banks offering the option to upgrade your backpack or offering a quest to do so. This would keep the upgrade process gated and allow for players to only get larger backpacks at points the developers believe players will need them. It's a sad day when what started out as your 'big' backpack is now your 'I really wish I could replace this' backpack.Q. Any plans to increase the size of the backpack?
A. Yeah, it's something we discuss a lot. On the other hand, the madness has to end somewhere. I'm not sure I want a 100 slot bag with that much stuff to manage. We'd need to make sure you could easily upgrade the existing backpack; we wouldn't want anyone to manage to just be without any bags.
We still have no idea if we'll see these changes in Cataclysm or even the expansion after it. However, storage is a concern to us pack-rats out there and being able to manage it a little easier is always appreciated.
World of Warcraft: Cataclysm will destroy Azeroth as we know it. Nothing will be the same. In WoW.com's Guide to Cataclysm you can find out everything you need to know about WoW's third expansion. From Goblins and Worgens to Mastery and Guild changes, it's all there for your cataclysmic enjoyment.Filed under: News items, Cataclysm
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 4)
Talutha Jan 16th 2010 4:04PM
They should just make tabards like titles. Have a pull down menu where you can select the one you want rather then having it an equip-able item that takes up inventory space.
Sula Jan 16th 2010 5:00PM
And you should suggest that on the forums, its an awesome idea.
slunk Jan 16th 2010 5:25PM
But if they did that, my click tabards would not work.
Jamie Jan 16th 2010 5:40PM
Why not still use the Tabard slot in the UI and like the Equipment Manager brings an extended list it would show all the tabard you can equip.
That way you can still use the tabard like an item.
Hoggersbud Jan 16th 2010 5:45PM
It's trivial to add a /usetabard function to the macro language in comparison to the tabard menu.
That's what I'd do.
Mattimus Jan 16th 2010 6:42PM
All they really need to do is make a Keyring-style storage for Tabards. Open it up, pull out your tabard and equip it.
jared.daniels Jan 16th 2010 7:39PM
Well, you know how you can hold 'alt' over a piece of gear in the character sheet? It works for tabards as well. Just make it to where when you put one on for the first time, it doesn't go into your bag, but rather disappears to be able to be chosen by the alt-mouseover method.
Netheral Jan 17th 2010 10:55AM
I call that the "key-ring" will be called "Coathanger"!
Luke Jan 17th 2010 11:10AM
I think they should make tabards account-bound instead of soulbound. I have a lot of alts, and buying a full set of tabards for each of them, and then vendoring them when I'm done, seems like a waste.
Chris Anthony Jan 17th 2010 5:56PM
@Luke: It had never occurred to me to vendor my tabards. O_o
That aside - while I'm all for communal bank/bag space for alts on a given server, the idea of communal tabards takes an uncomfortable step toward the "sheet full of numbers" approach to characters. (THAT said, I've never really been thrilled with the "wear tabard = get rep" model either, from a character perspective. To whom are we representing our chosen faction? If it's to the dungeon denizens, we're literally killing our target market; if it's to our fellow dungeoneers, why do we still get rep when all five characters are wearing the same faction's tabard? - and if it's to the people to whom we're theoretically boasting later, why does it matter what we're wearing in the instance?)
ladygamertn Jan 16th 2010 4:16PM
I absolutely need more bank space! I have a bank alt with a guild bank for all my alts to send stuff too but then there is the constant need to log on/off to access the stuff as my bank alt is in our family guild and the alts are in another guild. Plus with two hybrid class characters, I have to carry complete changes of gear for each spec. I guess I am pretty bad at money making cuz I don't have glacial bags for every slot and can never get enough gold together to buy enough frostweave bags for all the bank slots and inventory slots for each character. I am trying to get epic flight for two more characters and so something has to give.
artifex Jan 16th 2010 4:46PM
The answer for for you, for now is more bank alts. You can also buy each of them their own guilds and set up guild banks, though I wouldn't buy more than a couple tabs in each guild bank until you run out of space to make alts on your server :) Can't figure out where you left something? Get the ArkInventory plugin.
Karuna Jan 17th 2010 2:42AM
My mains a druid and I have 4 sets of gear, 2 feral (pve and pvp) and 2 resto(pve and pvp). I would love to leave it in the bank but I always find that i need a certain set 5 minutes after i drop it off at the bank. I find that if ever i go fishing im deleting things rather than keeping to vendor because i run out of space so quickly. Any help from blizz would be deeply appreciated!
Stone_Rhino Jan 17th 2010 4:54PM
@Karuna
Just get an argent squire so you can access your bank anywwhere.
Its fantastic on my paladin. Normally I only PVE as prot/ret, but when wintergrasp comes up I just get out my squire, open the bank, and grab my pvp set.
Hal Jan 16th 2010 4:16PM
My preferred solution to tabards/shirts is a specialized "bag" similar to the keyring.
Gessilea Jan 16th 2010 4:40PM
I don't know that special bags are a workable solution, or as appealing as drop down options or character tabs. It seems like Blizzard tried this with profession bags, but most people only use those on gathering alts or in their banks. People just don't want to give up a general purpose bag slot. As for having it be a whole new slot like a keyring, that seems too specialized, and doesn't seem like a good use of screen real estate either.
I'd still like see the wardrobe function that I thought the in-game outfitter would bring - specifically the ability to store gear somewhere entirely external from bags. We could put tabards and shirts in there too, and not have to worry about hearthing to the bank when we're suddenly asked to heal or something.
Tremelizzer Jan 16th 2010 4:51PM
@Gessilea:
Keyring is not normal special bag.
Hal Jan 16th 2010 5:19PM
Let me clarify my thoughts on the matter:
The Keyring is a "bag" in as much as it works via the same graphical interface as your bags. Aside from the blacksmithing skeleton keys, you could relegate keys to a list on the character tab.
In this way, the difference between the keyring and the titles is the interface. One functions like the inventory, one is a drop down menu. I prefer the pseudo-bag, but it's almost identical in function to the drop down menu.
Heck, you wouldn't even have to show that "bag" on the main UI! Currently, you can select a slot on your character screen and see everything you have in your bags that can be equipped there. If the tabard "bag" were implemented, you could easily select each tabard in that manner.
EZ Jan 17th 2010 12:18PM
i don't think i ever opened my key ring.
i open my character tab every day.
VioletPheonix Jan 19th 2010 11:41AM
"It seems like Blizzard tried this with profession bags, but most people only use those on gathering alts or in their banks. People just don't want to give up a general purpose bag slot."
I am not sure this is true. Sure it was a big deal when I was leveling, but now that I am 80 and have massive bags I find I use profession specific bags all the time (and am working to get some for a friend as well). This is even with carrying around a bag stuffed with PVP gear and a few offspec/side grade pieces for switching up my gear on the fly during raids.
No not everyone uses them in their bag bars, but you would be surprised how often they are used.