Forums » General Pantheon Discussion

Community Debate - Shared bank storage?

    • 9115 posts
    July 8, 2019 3:58 AM PDT

    Community Debate - Shared bank storage with your account or separate bank storage for separate characters? Please explain your answer. #MMORPG #CommunityMatters

    • 5 posts
    July 8, 2019 4:14 AM PDT

    I think that there should be both a shared account and separate. I enjoy building my wealth on my main character and being able to share my wealth with my other ALTS. 


    This post was edited by bigben0 at July 8, 2019 4:15 AM PDT
    • 297 posts
    July 8, 2019 4:30 AM PDT

    I like having an ability to pass items and money to my alts without having to find a secret corner of a zone where no one's around and hope I can log between characters fast enough. It's a quality of life improvment that is both harmless to the game and I can imagine reduces Customer Service issues from lost and/or stolen items.

    • 46 posts
    July 8, 2019 4:33 AM PDT

    I prefer a separate storages for each char. Char 1 is a ranger, who stores a crossbow, char 2 is a tank who puts a shield into the bank box, char 3 is crafter and stores materials and then the bank is full...

    • 521 posts
    July 8, 2019 4:39 AM PDT

    Shared storage between characters but gained as a Guild perk. This would further increase Guild value, while making detection of certain farmers easier. IMO

    • 216 posts
    July 8, 2019 4:55 AM PDT

    I'd ideally like both, a few slots to send items between characters is a really nice QOL improvment that we've seen over the years.

    • 1247 posts
    July 8, 2019 5:05 AM PDT

    I think shared bank between characters can make sense, but we still need player interaction. So imo here is a good compromise: if there is shared bank between one’s main and alts, then the trade of merchandise/items between players should definitely require player-to-player interaction. 

    #communitymatters 

    Add: I have concerns about shared bank after reading some of the feedback. I do greatly worry about risk and immersion being weakened if there is a shared bank. I am against shared bank now.


    This post was edited by Syrif at July 9, 2019 10:01 AM PDT
    • 1584 posts
    July 8, 2019 5:10 AM PDT
    Both I'm fine with, with limited space, but yeah having both is very helpful.
    • 438 posts
    July 8, 2019 5:13 AM PDT
    I think a couple slots for shared is good. But primarily just storage per character. Being able to send or put an item into a limited slot for an alt is no harm.
    • 245 posts
    July 8, 2019 5:20 AM PDT

    Shared storage and personal.

    Just like EQ did, some personal slots, some shared slots, all slots can contain bags or boxes to expand them. + Shared coin in the bank.

    • 724 posts
    July 8, 2019 5:27 AM PDT

    If there's not shared storage, what are the alternatives? Either sending items per mail ingame (if that's possible), giving them to a guildie (or stranger) to hold them while you switch characters, or dropping them on the ground and hoping you're quick enough to log back in on the other character and pick them up.

    The safest options are obviously shared bank slots and sending by mail, since no other players are involved. Of those, the shared bank slot is usually more convenient (simpler for transfering multiple items at once), and would be my preference.

    Quite frankly tho, given the image I have gotten from the Pantheon community lately, I fully expect everyone to ask for the most inconvenient way to transfer items between characters. QoL stuff? Can't have that!

     

    • 1315 posts
    July 8, 2019 5:35 AM PDT

    So many if/then qualifiers to this answer.

    1)      If all banks are localized safety deposit boxes and therefor all items must be storied and retrieved from a specific location

    2)      If a shared bank does not invalidate the one trade skill per character choice (in other words leveling a crafting skill is time spent crafting bottlenecked rather than material to grind with bottlenecked such that no matter how rich a character is they cannot master a crafting skill in under 100 hours of pure crafting)

    3)      If being twinked gains a character no more than a 20% increase in character power over a character organically collecting gear over time

    Then yes I am ok with multiple characters gaining access to both deposit and withdraw from local safety deposit boxes.

    If any of the above are not true then no characters on the same account should not be able to access the same bank space.  I makes the game to easy and trivializes all the crafting inter-dependencies.

    • 1281 posts
    July 8, 2019 5:40 AM PDT

    There should be a character specific bank, and a shared bank slot. This makes transfering items easier between characters, but gives each character their own space.

    • 1785 posts
    July 8, 2019 5:52 AM PDT

    In general, without going too far into "what ifs" - I prefer having mostly individual bank storage with a very small amount of shared space for transferring items.

    Here are situations I want to avoid:

    1) I do not want people to really be able to use shared bank storage to bypass player interaction for their alts, especially if the alts are primarily crafting.  While it's ok to pass a few items back and forth, that second/third/fourth character should have to go out and interact with the world and people just like the main does.

    2) I want to avoid the use of alternate characters as "bank mules" to get around bank item limitations.  A lot of shared storage or transfer slots make this activity too easy for players.

    3) Assuming there is some form of shared guild storage, I want to try and avoid the phenomenon of "personal guilds" consisting only of a single player's characters, and only so that they can more easily pass items back and forth between those characters and be completely self-sufficient.

    I realize that no matter how difficult it is people will try to do these things, but my point is that Pantheon really shouldn't go overboard with enabling this behavior.  A small amount of shared storage is ok, more than that starts harming the game economy and any interdependence that's set up in the crafting sphere.

    Now, all that said - I would actually prefer that the bank function differently from what many of us are used to.  I like the concept of regional banks with independent storage (and perhaps an NPC service to transfer items from one bank to another for a fee). I also think that bank space should be effectively* unlimited, but that the bankers should charge us money for item storage past a certain amount as a cash sink.  This would encourage players to put thought into what they keep in their bank and where, but also not put players in situations where they need to store more items and are unable to - the cost just goes up instead.

    * - There would have to be a technical limitation, obviously, but the number should be very high.


    This post was edited by Nephele at July 8, 2019 5:52 AM PDT
    • 1479 posts
    July 8, 2019 5:54 AM PDT

    Shared bank slots is a riskless, costless, solution for Alt trading. It recudes players interactions or the risk of putting your gear in a crafting station in order to get them on their alt, at the risk of someone else looting them. It also reduces the risks of asking a random player to trade your stuff with a fee so you increase the chances of them not stealing or something.

    The fact is, trading between your alts should be either having friends, or taking risks.

    Convenience can be a killer for social relationships, and we've been too much used to have everything conveniently handled to us.

    As long as you have even one shared slot, you can transfert your gear with only time mattering "a bit" and honestly it's just a stupid chore with no cost or risk included.

     

    That's why I vote for : No shared bank, no alt mail : Make space matter and relationships flourish over that.

    • 206 posts
    July 8, 2019 5:55 AM PDT

    I love QoL things such as shared banks. Toss a dash of that in the mix for sure =P


    This post was edited by Valorous1 at July 8, 2019 5:55 AM PDT
    • 297 posts
    July 8, 2019 6:17 AM PDT

    I don't know that having to beg my friends to stop what they're doing and act as transfer mules for me fosters the community any more than simply passing items through my shared bank slot to my alt destroys it.

    Seems hyperbolic to me. I am all for supporting ways to improve community relations and player interaction, but something like this isn't it.

    • 483 posts
    July 8, 2019 6:20 AM PDT

    Sperate banks for separate characters, local bank allow to tranfers items between characters of the same account with a fee, but the items and money need to be on that local bank.

    • 1095 posts
    July 8, 2019 6:44 AM PDT

    Account wide storage seems intresting vs shared bank slots. Perhaps just having access to other characters bank via w/e bank is an option. That way the character alt has to exist not just a large account wide. bank.

    • 228 posts
    July 8, 2019 6:52 AM PDT

    I'm surprised to see how many here believe that shared bank slots are harmless. They may seem harmless and appealing from a personal perspective, but they do reduce the incentive for players to colaborate, which is harmful to a game built around the idea of player interaction. And remember: the more you can do without involving other players, the more difficult it becomes for you to find help when you do need it.

    But if there absolutely must be shared item slots, at least make them local. Otherwise, the whole idea of a world where different prices makes inter-continental trade routes very profitable goes down the drain. 

    As for coin, I'm uncertain how harmful it might be to the game economy, but personally I won't find any pleasure in rolling an alt and have immediate access to virtually unlimited wealth. Why go through all that pain of questing for gear when you can buy super fine stuff at a tiny fraction of what your level 50 cousing has collected?

    And before you get started: a preference option will not work. That horse is minced by now.


    This post was edited by Jabir at July 8, 2019 6:54 AM PDT
    • 696 posts
    July 8, 2019 7:02 AM PDT

    I don't know if it really matters for a shared bank if we have a mailing system of sorts that will allow us to mail items and money to our characters anyways...seems redundant and unecessary. Plus Trasak makes a good point if we are going to have banks be localized then the back end will be a pain to deal with in this sense. Soo...for now...no shared banks for me since it isn't needed with a good mailing system.


    This post was edited by Watemper at July 8, 2019 7:03 AM PDT
    • 3852 posts
    July 8, 2019 7:16 AM PDT

    1. Mail should work between characters on the same account - so assuming that Pantheon has a mail system a shared bank is not necessary to enable sharing of items or money with alts. Helpful, yes, but definitively not necessary.

    2. There is no reason why we shouldn't be able to have shared storage at any particular bank we visit. Safe-deposit boxes require neither high technology nor magic. That is all a guild bank or shared storage facility really is, after all. 

    3. Shared storage and mail between alts should both be subject to whatever restrictions VR chooses in its wisdom to impose on characters that are not on the same account. If mail takes time to arrive it should take time between alts. If mail is not available between areas that are too far apart or hostile it should not be available to alts from those areas. If banking requires a visit to the branch where an item was deposited rather than all items being magically available instantly anywhere on Terminus, to use shared storage the alt should need to visit that exact same branch. Alts should be treated precisely the same as non-alts in terms of the rules of the banking and mail systems.

    The world should not be designed to be large and cumbersome and slow - but then made fast and easy and convenient for alts. There is simply no logical reason that the laws of the multiverse should be suspended for alts and only for alts.

    By edit - I strongly disagree with the idea of needing to give items to other players or drop them on the ground to transfer them between alts. If, incomprehensibly, Pantheon has no mail system or prohibits mail between alts as FFXIV essentially did I do want shared storage.


    This post was edited by dorotea at July 8, 2019 7:19 AM PDT
    • 18 posts
    July 8, 2019 7:22 AM PDT

    Shared bank space should only apply to progeny active characters, otherwise all banking should be character specific.  i.e. "Father/son characters can share banks..."

    • 259 posts
    July 8, 2019 7:27 AM PDT

    As long as there is a way to get items to your other characters, such as crafting items, having a shared bank doesn't matter to me. WoW used shared mail instead of a shared bank. Separate banks are an absolute must for each character.

    • 107 posts
    July 8, 2019 7:44 AM PDT
    I liked EQ2's ( if memory serves) approach to banking. Each character had her own separate bank slots which held the majority of bank space but then a smaller number of slots reserved for shared banking. The same could be done for coin.