Yet another topic about Storage Management killing the Game

[Helke]

This topic has been raised many times over the years, and I think there is a very good reason why it keeps coming back: DDO desperately needs a major storage and inventory management revamp.

Right now, I have a capped character ready for another TR. I want to reincarnate. I want to try a different class. But I simply cannot bring myself to spend my Friday evening sorting through my Reincarnation Cache, Personal Bank, Shared Bank, and several mule characters.

I'm not new to the TR process. I have over 30 reincarnations, 10+ dedicated mule characters, and even a dedicated Google spreadsheet to track my inventory. This isn't a case of mindless hoarding.

I'm a returning player, and I'm already finding myself unable to tolerate this system again.


What makes this particularly frustrating is that DDO has repeatedly shown that removing obsolete barriers is good for both players and the game.

Over the years we've seen:

• Sigils of Leveling removed.
• Large amounts of older content given away for free.
• Adventure packs permanently unlocked through promotional codes.
• Older expansions sold for 99 DDO points.
• Most races and classes become F2P
• Free Epic Destinies

None of these changes hurt the game. On the contrary, they lowered barriers to entry, improved player retention, and likely increased revenue by encouraging players to spend money on new expansions, VIP, cosmetics, boosters and other convenience features.

I know this issue affects players differently. Veterans with fully upgraded accounts or established builds probably feel it less. But for casual, returning, and newer players who enjoy experimenting with different builds, inventory management is a nightmare.

If I discovered DDO for the first time in 2026, I honestly wouldn't start playing. The only reason I'm still here is because I fell in love with the game back in 2013. But it's 2026 now. Storage limitations are no longer a hardware problem; they're a design problem.

Please let us spend our time playing DDO instead of managing inventories, spreadsheets, mule characters, and overflowing banks.
I want to spend my free time reincarnating, trying new builds, and running quests — not doing inventory maintenance.


P.S. The solution doesn't have to be complex.

Larger Shared Bank upgrades (100+ slots instead of 10) would eliminate much of the need for mules. We will buy more Shared Bank upgrades, instead of character slots. Likewise, folding the TR Cache into larger Personal Bank upgrades would remove the need to constantly empty it after every reincarnation, becouse of BtC.
Anything that reduces inventory management between TRs would be a huge quality-of-life improvement.

​

Spoiler: Proposed solutions datailed

Problem #1: Mule characters are the most cost-effective storage option, while the maximum Shared Bank capacity is insufficient.​

A 600 Point character slot can provide ~220 storage slots, while 1000 Points only buys 10 Shared Bank slots. As a result, players are pushed toward managing mule characters instead of buying storage upgrades.

In addition, the maximum Shared Bank capacity is only around 500 slots and costs a small fortune to reach. Two mule characters can already compete with that capacity, while four mules provide significantly more storage at a much lower cost.

Proposed solution: Increase Shared Bank upgrades from +10 to at least +100 slots. Crafting Storage upgrades already grant 250 slots each, proving that larger storage upgrades are entirely feasible.

Revenue impact: Five mule characters cost roughly 3,000 Points and provide about 1,100 storage slots. With +100-slot Shared Bank upgrades, a player would need roughly eleven upgrades to reach the same capacity, costing around 11,000 Points instead. That's roughly 3–4x more revenue for SSG. Personally, I would gladly pay that premium just to stop managing an army of mules.

Veteran players: This also benefits existing players by reducing the need to manage large mule networks. Even with all available storage upgrades, many veteran players still rely on mules because the maximum Shared Bank capacity remains extremely limited. In addition, all storage obtained through VIP rewards and Ultimate Bundles becomes significantly more valuable, as every additional storage upgrade can potentially eliminate the need for another mule character.

Problem #2: The TR Cache is a poor user experience​

Regardless of how much storage a player owns, emptying the TR Cache is slow, laggy, and turns every reincarnation into inventory management instead of gameplay. Players still have to spend a significant amount of time clearing it before every TR.

Proposed solution: Remove the TR Cache and fold its capacity into Personal Bank upgrades. Increase Personal Bank upgrades from +20 to perhaps +50 slots so players can store BtC items directly in their bank instead of repeatedly moving them through the TR Cache.

Revenue impact: The TR Cache currently provides a large amount of storage for free. By moving that capacity into Personal Bank upgrades, SSG could monetize storage that is currently free while simultaneously improving the user experience.

Veteran players: All the Shared Bank storage they get from existing upgrades does not solve the TR Cache problem. They still have to spend time slowly pulling items out of the cache before every reincarnation.

UPD: The other day I spent 30 minutes cycling through my mules looking for an item that I had apparently placed on the wrong character. I accidentally found it the next day on a completely different mule than the one I expected.

 

[Helke]

People are paying 100$+ for 10 storage space from ultimate expansions. They're not gonna offer 1500+ shared space for anything short of a yacht.

I have already made my argument here:

SSG might actually make more money by selling larger Shared Bank upgrades.

Right now, I can get roughly 220 storage slots by buying a mule character for 600 Points, whereas 10 Shared Bank slots cost 1000 Points. In 99 out of 100 cases, I'll choose the mule.

But if I could buy, say, 100 Shared Bank slots for 1000 Points, I would absolutely choose the Shared Bank instead.

Here's the math: if I use 5 mule characters, that's effectively around 1100 storage slots for 3000 Points. Replacing those mules with Shared Bank upgrades that grant 100 slots each would require 11 upgrades, costing 11,000 Points in total.

And I'd gladly pay that just to get rid of the headache of managing mules.

So, in my case at least, SSG could potentially earn three to four times more revenue from storage while simultaneously improving the player experience.

Making things unreasonably expensive doesn't always mean you'll earn more money.

SSG could make all older content paid again, but many new players simply wouldn't start playing. That's why they repeatedly gave away older quest packs and sold old expansions for token prices.

Storage could follow the same philosophy: offer meaningful upgrades that players actually want to buy instead of pushing them toward mule characters because they're simply more cost-effective.

 

[Ying]

People are paying 100$+ for 10 storage space from ultimate expansions. They're not gonna offer 1500+ shared space for anything short of a yacht.

Let's be real: Ultimate editions are primarily about unlimited tomes.

 

[Helke]

One thing to keep in mind however is that a large amount of additional shared bank space doesn't necessarily solve the personal bank space issue due to SSG's love of making things BTC instead of BTA.

Have solution for it here:

Exactly. Getting rid of the TR Cache and folding its capacity into the Personal Bank by increasing the number of slots granted per bank upgrade would go a long way toward solving the problem.

 

[Vish]

the difference for me was when i had my tr caches smaller than my charachter bank.
i have about 200 items i keep, and when i tr i have enough bank space that i just transfer everything to character bank.

tr gear i keep in shared bank.

i have mules for extra expansion gear

 

[Vish]

the answer obviously is player housing with permanent storage chests.

 

[jotmon]

More Storage...

 

[Helke]

the difference for me was when i had my tr caches smaller than my charachter bank.
i have about 200 items i keep, and when i tr i have enough bank space that i just transfer everything to character bank.

tr gear i keep in shared bank.

i have mules for extra expansion gear

I usually have fewer than 200 items in my TR Cache, yet emptying it is still a slow and laggy process.

Most items have to be moved to my inventory first, and once that's full, I need to move them again into my Personal Bank. Dragging items directly from the TR Cache to the bank is possible, but in my experience, it lags even more.

 

[Helke]

the answer obviously is player housing with permanent storage chests.

Sounds interesting, but it feels like overkill to me and would probably be much harder to implement.

Simply increasing Shared Bank upgrades from 10 slots to 100+ would solve most mule-related problems. Likewise, removing the TR Cache and increasing the value of Personal Bank upgrades from +20 to +50 slots would solve most of the TR-related headaches.

Not to mention that SSG could then sell us additional storage that currently comes for free through the TR Cache. More revenue for SSG.

 

[Helke]

More Storage...

I get your sarcasm, but I think this has very little to do with hoarding. The need to manage TR Caches and maintain mule characters is mostly a consequence of how the game's storage system is designed. For example, a mule character offers far more storage per Point than Shared or Personal Bank upgrades, so the system naturally incentivizes players to create mules.

I agree that no amount of storage will ever solve true hoarding. There will always be players who want to keep everything. But that's not the issue we're trying to solve here.

The issue is reducing the amount of time players spend managing inventories, TR Caches, and mule characters, and keeping track of which items are stored on which mule, so they can spend more time actually playing the game.

And yes, for a game with so many items, classes, races, builds, and a constant stream of new quests and expansions, storage should scale accordingly.

I can assume you veteran players have developed sophisticated mule-management systems and purchased every available storage upgrade, but that does not represent the experience of the entire playerbase, nor does it solve the TR Cache issue, which you probably do not face as often since you likely do not TR that much.

 

[kmoustakas]

This topic has been raised many times over the years, and I think there is a very good reason why it keeps coming back: DDO desperately needs a major storage and inventory management revamp.

Right now, I have a capped character ready for another TR. I want to reincarnate. I want to try a different class. But I simply cannot bring myself to spend my Friday evening sorting through my Reincarnation Cache, Personal Bank, Shared Bank, and several mule characters.

For the second week in a row, this has completely killed my motivation to log in. I haven't stopped playing because of a lack of content. I stopped because storage management has become exhausting.

I returned to DDO less than six months ago after a four-year break, and already I find myself stepping away from the game again: managing items feels more like work than gameplay.

I know this issue affects players differently. Veterans with fully upgraded accounts\maxed characters, established gear sets, or those grinding past lives on the same build probably feel it less. But for casual players, returning players, new players, people experimenting with different builds, or simply enjoying the game's huge amount of content, inventory management is a nightmare.

What makes this particularly frustrating is that DDO has repeatedly shown that removing obsolete barriers is good for both players and the game.

Over the years we've seen:

• Sigils of Leveling removed.
• Large amounts of older content given away for free.
• Adventure packs permanently unlocked through promotional codes.
• Older expansions sold for 99 DDO points.
• Most races and classes become F2P

None of these changes hurt the game. On the contrary, they lowered barriers to entry, improved player retention, and likely increased revenue by encouraging players to spend money on new expansions, VIP, cosmetics, and other convenience features.

Storage management feels like one of the last major obsolete barriers still left in the game.

If I discovered DDO for the first time in 2026 and saw that even basic account-wide storage is heavily restricted and that mule characters are still considered a normal solution, I honestly would not start playing. The only reason I still was playing DDO is because I fell in love with the game back in 2013, when MMO standards were very different and players were far more willing to tolerate friction.

But it's 2026 now. Storage capacity is no longer a hardware problem. It's a design problem and an outdated monetization barrier. Moreover, no amount of money can save you from having to manage your TR Cache before reincarnating.

Please let us spend our time playing DDO instead of managing inventories, spreadsheets, mule characters, and overflowing banks.

I want to spend my free time reincarnating, trying new builds, and running quests — not doing inventory maintenance.



P.S. The solution doesn't even have to be complex.

A shared bank with a capacity comparable to the crafting bank would already solve most of the problems (+250 slots instead of +10 per upgrade). Veteran players with Ultimate Editions or VIP rewards would still retain an advantage through their additional storage.

I'd also gladly see the Reincarnation Cache removed entirely, with its capacity folded into the Personal Bank through larger bank upgrades (+50 slots instead of +20, for example) to store BtC there and do not waste time empting TR Chache,

Anything that reduces the need to constantly sort and reshuffle items between TRs would be a huge quality-of-life improvement.


P.S.2

​

Spoiler: Proposed solutions datailed

Problem #1: Mule characters are the most cost-effective storage option, while the maximum Shared Bank capacity is insufficient.​

A 600 Point character slot can provide ~220 storage slots, while 1000 Points only buys 10 Shared Bank slots. As a result, players are pushed toward managing mule characters instead of buying storage upgrades.

In addition, the maximum Shared Bank capacity is only around 500 slots and costs a small fortune to reach. Two mule characters can already compete with that capacity, while four mules provide significantly more storage at a much lower cost.

Proposed solution: Increase Shared Bank upgrades from +10 to at least +100 slots. Crafting Storage upgrades already grant 250 slots each, proving that larger storage upgrades are entirely feasible.

Revenue impact: Five mule characters cost roughly 3,000 Points and provide about 1,100 storage slots. With +100-slot Shared Bank upgrades, a player would need roughly eleven upgrades to reach the same capacity, costing around 11,000 Points instead. That's roughly 3–4x more revenue for SSG. Personally, I would gladly pay that premium just to stop managing an army of mules.

Veteran players: This also benefits existing players by reducing the need to manage large mule networks. Even with all available storage upgrades, many veteran players still rely on mules because the maximum Shared Bank capacity remains extremely limited. In addition, all storage obtained through VIP rewards and Ultimate Bundles becomes significantly more valuable, as every additional storage upgrade can potentially eliminate the need for another mule character.

Problem #2: The TR Cache is a poor user experience​

Regardless of how much storage a player owns, emptying the TR Cache is slow, laggy, and turns every reincarnation into inventory management instead of gameplay. Players still have to spend a significant amount of time clearing it before every TR.

Proposed solution: Remove the TR Cache and fold its capacity into Personal Bank upgrades. Increase Personal Bank upgrades from +20 to perhaps +50 slots so players can store BtC items directly in their bank instead of repeatedly moving them through the TR Cache.

Revenue impact: The TR Cache currently provides a large amount of storage for free. By moving that capacity into Personal Bank upgrades, SSG could monetize storage that is currently free while simultaneously improving the user experience.

Veteran players: All the Shared Bank storage they get from existing upgrades does not solve the TR Cache problem. They still have to spend time slowly pulling items out of the cache before every reincarnation.

I loved the formating, it makes it easier to read but it's still too long.

Storage sucks, trying to gear multiple toons and moving things between characters usually gives me a headache. TR or ETR also gives me a headache because of this. Emptying the TR cache gives me nightmares, not a headache.

It's my fault for enjoying the game by being a hoarder for sure but the game didn't have to try and make everything even more difficult.

The free bank slots helped a lot.

 

[Helke]

I loved the formating, it makes it easier to read but it's still too long.

Thanks for your input. I've shortened the topic quite a bit.

 

[Dandonk]

I used to throw away useless old gear, which helped keep TRing fairly fast.

Then came set augments. I had just deleted my DoJ items a month or so before.

So no, not deleting items again. DDO has made it clear that we are not supposed to do that.

This is entirely on SSG, this is not a player created problem.

Edit: The free bank space helped me avoid having to mules too much. But getting the items out of TR cache still takes way too long.

 

[Ebondevil]

Always annoyed me, that Character Inventory and Character Bank space aren't account wide upgrades, and because they aren't I refuse to buy them.

Also annoying when they add once off individual character upgrades to expansions or other account wide purchases like Coffers.

 

[Ooblagato]

I'm in absolute agreement and have exactly the same issues. I have stopped playing raids because of this, I am currently struggling to get back into the game after a break because of this.

I think the best way to handle inventory expansion is how it was proposed in this post. (TLDR: make an achievement driven item storage-- get it once you can get it again with tokens)

https://forums.ddo.com/index.php?threads/encyclopedia-magica-named-item-log-book.9364/

And on the reincarnation flow in general:

https://forums.ddo.com/index.php?threads/prioritize-fixing-reincarnation-bank-problems.3330/

 

[Chacka]

Another time when I have to say that the whole Reincarnation Cache was a bad idea from the start – just let us retain our Kundarak and Coin Lords bank and inventory space, and let a TR work like an LR or ER when it comes to our inventory and bank space. That would make things a lot easier. On my main it already helps a lot that all items in my character bank remain in my character bank, and only items in my inventory are moved into the Reincarnation Cache. I don't know why this only works this way on my main, but it is certainly a lot better than moving every item into the Reincarnation Cache.

And in general there is almost no point for BTC items anymore – BTA is a sufficient restriction for almost every item, with a few exceptions like the Saltmarsh VIP ticket.

If I could decide, I would turn every BTC item BTA, then remove all character banks and move all items into the account bank. This way we would have a central storage for our whole account, and there would be no need anymore for "mules." In addition I would give access to the inventory and equipment of all characters on your account via the account bank, so that there is no need anymore to log onto different characters just to search for and retrieve an item. Also, the so-called "Crafting Storage" needs an overhaul – items should stack up to at least 99k, and I would add a VIP perk so that looted items go directly into your Crafting Storage. Currently we already have access to our Crafting Storage from anywhere when crafting things, at least when it works – so I see no reason why this shouldn't work in the other direction too. And for those who ask why this should work, I say it's "VIP magic"!

 

[RangerOne]

Just as in real life sometimes you have to clean your room.

Each life my goal is to empty the TR cache as quickly as possible, not to treat it as extra bank space. Why would I want my stuff sitting over at a friend's house.

I do agree getting favor is a bit of a pain each life but I also realize that the reincarnation process creates a completely new character and this was their way of doing that while retaining your stuff.

The free bank space offered around server moves was a great help and as I pull each piece of equipment out, especially the ones I know I am never going to use, I ask myself why I keep them around. It's the same as in life.

 

[Dandonk]

as I pull each piece of equipment out, especially the ones I know I am never going to use, I ask myself why I keep them around. It's the same as in life.

And the answer is always, for me: because SSG keeps making more set augments from old items. I'm never going to get caught out on that again.

 

[Helke]

If I could decide, I would turn every BTC item BTA, then remove all character banks and move all items into the account bank

BtC exists so ppl buy Raid timers, IMHO

 

[Helke]

Just as in real life sometimes you have to clean your room.

Each life my goal is to empty the TR cache as quickly as possible, not to treat it as extra bank space. Why would I want my stuff sitting over at a friend's house.

As I already mentioned in my original post, I am managing my items: mule characters, spreadsheets, and keeping only BtC items in my TR Cache. The management itself is the issue, because if the system were designed differently, far less of it would be necessary.

 

[jotmon]

~snip~

I can assume you veteran players have developed sophisticated mule-management systems and purchased every available storage upgrade, but that does not represent the experience of the entire playerbase, nor does it solve the TR Cache issue, which you probably do not face as often since you likely do not TR that much.

sophisticated is a bit of an overreach.
my mule toons have names like zJotmuleIOD, zJotmuleVorpal, zJotmulePots, zJotmuleCosmetic, etc.....
I play 2-4 characters depending on timing between releases of new races, classes, etc...
The rest are mules.. currently 64 mules on my main account, then some alt accounts with their own guildships for unbound shtuff.
Generally I add mule for each major expansion to hold items from those packs.

Not sure what you mean by TR much.. what's the bar for that..
I currently have 2 in the midst of TR's and avoid having more in the TR hamsterwheel.
Between my 4 playable toons I have 630 TR's not including TR's to go back to the final life i want that toon to be that doesn't get counted.
Some of my other older alt toons (now mule toons) have TR past lives but I no longer feel they are worth the investment effort to play.



Storage is a concern for me as every expansion adds more items and cosmetics to compound the inventory problem.

Current Inventory management sucks and many players have ideas on what would be better player housing ,storage vaults, whatever.....
In the meantime we deal with the current available options even though its inefficient and frustrating...
So we add alt muless, alt guildships, TR caches, bags, some even overflow the auctionhouse and mailboxes and whatever other methods used to tuck away items to use in some future variations of TR lives or game changes (like the current DC changes) .

*What I want (and probably maybe some other players) is a ONE stop shop location for account access inventory.
My preference is an 'Auctionhouse interface' with 100,000+ slots and purchaseable block expansions that gives search/sort/filter function where I can put all my items, potions, scrolls, collectibles, components, tomes, filigrees, etc...
...Basically a clone of the Auctionhouse that can hold anything that can go into my share bank.
- Let me burn alt accounts and any added store purchases of added space for that alt to convert to the centralized storage.

*Cordovan has said in the past that cosmetics are one off creations so they cannot go into a closet storage like the cosmetic pets, ponies..
.. Its not that they cant do it , its that they choose not to... its programming.
They are capable of coding changes so that cosmetics can be converted to go into an account accessible inventory tab storage..
They are just not motivated to allocate resources to make these changes.