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The Daily Grind: Do you make use of mule characters?
If you go to any bank in World of Warcraft, you're going to see two different kinds of characters: actual players bedecked in fine combat gear... and level 1 bank mules with cute names and even cuter guild tags. These characters are often seen as worse than alts; they're not merely alternatives to someone's main character but characters who exist solely to hold extra gear or sell items on an auction hall, usually circumventing the intended inventory limits system. In short, they're real characters' pack mules. In some games, especially early sandboxes, such mules were loaded down with tradeskills to allow a single player to craft items for his real character, allowing him to circumvent intended character interdependency too and seriously impacting player-driven economies. Do you make use of mules or bank alts in your MMO of choice? Or has your MMO found a clever way to make muling unnecessary? Every morning, the Massively bloggers probe the minds of their readers with deep, thought-provoking questions about that most serious of topics: massively online gaming. We crave your opinions, so grab your caffeinated beverage of choice and chime in on today's Daily Grind!
How to store your stuff in World of Warcraft
If you've played for very long, you may have noticed that you can accumulate a sizable collection of armor, weapons, bandages, food, and just... well... stuff. And while you can (and should) sell things as you go to fund your continued adventures, sometimes you run into things you want to keep. Maybe it's a weapon with a cool look that you might want to use for transmogrification or maybe it's a full set of armor that you use for an alternate talent spec. Whatever your reasons for hanging on to the things you collect in game, it's far too easy to fill up all your available inventory space. So what do you do when you have stuff you want to keep and no place to keep it? Fortunately there are lots of options for storage in World of Warcraft: all you have to do is take advantage of them. Stock up on bags The first and simplest way to expand your inventory is to buy some bags. While you will run into some as you level up, they're probably smaller than those you can find elsewhere. Here's how you can find some shiny new bags with a minimum of hassle...
It's time for spring cleaning!
Void storage was an amazing addition to WoW, as far as I'm concerned. I've gone from having absolutely no bag space to having about 20 slots free (give or take 10) at a time. As you can see from the screenshot above, however, I could use more space. It's not a major concern right now, mind you, but we're about to head into a new expansion, which means even more stuff to gather and squirrel away for a rainy day. While you might be spending your days dawdling in Dragon Soul or messing around with dungeons, the subject of an upcoming expansion is actually one you might want to turn your attention to. A new expansion isn't just more levels to play -- it's more items to collect, a new market of trade goods to delve into, and a host of game changes you may want to prepare for. Prepare for? Yes, absolutely. After playing through three separate expansions myself, I can tell you with certainty that preparing for an expansion before it's released will save you a lot of headaches in the long run.
The Road to Mordor: Making your alts work for you
I have a confession to make. My name is Justin, and I'm a Lord of the Rings Online altoholic. I know. I have a problem! I'm weak! DON'T STARE WITH THOSE ACCUSING EYES! I always start out in games with the best of intentions: I'm going to stick with just one character, at least until I hit the level cap. I'll only make new characters to reserve names I like. I won't get class envy and wonder what's on the other side of the fence. I'll stay strong! I'll be an oak! And then I turn out to be a willow tree, blowing about in the winds of whimsy, and suddenly I end up with alts staggered all over the leveling track. It's all right; I've come to embrace my altoholic tendencies because it really is who I am as a gamer. I like to sample everything, to try out different approaches to the game, and if I don't end up with a maxed-out uber-raider, then I can live with it. If you follow this pattern and are prone to rolling up a lot of alts in LotRO, there are several advantages you can gain over the monogamous players out there. Today I want to take a look at how you can make your alts work for you, if only to give you an excuse to keep rolling them!
WoW Fashionista: Creating that "super" summer look
Patch 4.1 might have just come out, but it's been months now that you've been sporting that same old tier. With the trade chat PUGs finally catching up to you on gear, are you worried about how you're going to get people to inspect you while you fake standing AFK outside the bank? Sure, you could mount up, but you know in your heart that Invincible mount is sooo last expansion. Fortunately for you, WoW Insider is here to get your bags ready for the summer slump with the hottest new look! With Thor already in theaters and several more costume-heavy blockbusters like Captain America and Green Lantern on the way, you can bet your Val'anyr that the superhero look is in. Better start dusting off those classic capes in the bank and hope to Elune you didn't shard that Netherblade Facemask.
Bank alts galore: Time to vote!
After three snow storms and some milk and cookies, I've managed to whittle down all the submissions readers sent in for the bank alt screen shot contest! It wasn't easy, though; we received hundreds of very creative submissions from readers around the globe. What you see is just a fraction of the submissions that came in. Continue reading to see the submissions and vote for your favorite finalist!
Reminder: Bank alt submissions due
This is a reminder that submissions for the bank alt screenshot contest are due tomorrow, Wednesday January 27th by 11:59 p.m. EST. E-mail your submissions to dawn@wow.com. This is your chance to flaunt your WoW fashion to the rest of the community, and possibly win fabulous prizes in the process. Please make sure your submissions are in a .jpg, .png, or .gif format, and if your bank alt is a higher level character, make a note in your e-mail.
Insider Trader: Building the better bank alt
One of the fine points of professions and Auction House trading is what's commonly referred to as your "bank alt." The art of creating a bank alt is founded mostly on personal preference, but there are still some fundamentals that will give your bank alt a little extra oomph. There are a few reasons to have a bank alt. First, bag and bank space. Since you don't want to "flood the market" with any given particular item (because that drives prices down), you might need to put some items in cold storage until the market stabilizes. While your main character's bankspace might be gargantuan, most people find the additional bag and bank space of a bank alt attractive. Second, if you're a member of a social guild, having a bank alt lets you focus briefly on the Auction game. Many players check their auction mail before they go to work, and don't want the awkward social action of ignoring their fellow guild peers when only on for a very short time. Third, there's an inalienable style to the bank alt. Even now, WoW.com is cruising for submissions for the most stylish, awesome bank alts out there. It's a subculture in WoW. As Penny Arcade once so brilliantly illustrated: "Naked they run, level 1 banks: Clark Kents of Azeroth."
Call for submissions: Bank alts
You've seen them in the streets of capital cities, diligently dashing between the bank and mailboxes. Or maybe you'll occasionally catch a glance of them idling in front of the auctioneers. Who am I talking about? Bank alts! While we toil and triumph in Northrend, these hardworking heroes of the home front care for the well-being of our estates, keeping our investments sound and our pockets full. In return, many players choose to provide them with a share of the profits, so that they can dress themselves (or undress themselves) in the most fashionable ways. Now it's time to pay tribute to them. If you have an amazing bank alt, send a screenshot of it to dawn@wow.com by January 27th at 11:59 p.m. EST and we'll post the best results. We'll also take the top five or so and let you all vote on them, handing out a Slashdance and Papa Hummel's loot code to the top two winners. [Thank you to Lightsource for the idea!]
Possible changes to tabards, backpacks, and banks
In the recent Blizzard developer chat there were several questions pertaining to player storage. They spoke about the issue with storing tabards from all of your various factions, the default backpack falling behind other bags, and being able to access the bank slots of your alts without the need to use the mail. 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.
AddOn Spotlight: Altoholic
AddOn Spotlight takes a look at the little bits of Lua and XML that make our interfaces special. From bar mods to unit frames and beyond, if it goes in your AddOns folder, we'll cover it here. This week we're delving into the world of alts. If you're like me, you've probably got your 10 character slots on your main server filled out with supplemental characters to help your main. I've got my enchanter/scribe warlock who is only level 65 in order to learn Northrend recipes. I've got my death knight alchemist sitting at 70 for titanium and gem transmutes as well as the occasional flasks and elixirs. After a while, it gets difficult to keep track of what you do and don't have on each character. Sometimes you want to help outfit your alts with better gear only to log them in and find out they've already got a set. What you need is Altoholic.
Dealing with bank inventory management
April's dealing with a problem that I've dealt with many times before: bank management. The other day I posted some tips on inventory management, but bank management is a knot that even I can't quite figure out how to untangle. On the one hand, bank space is supposed to be your refuge -- you can only pick things up out in the field as long as you have an empty inventory space for it. But on the other hand, especially on your main, you pick up a lot of things that seem important at the time -- tier gear, your first trinket, that piece you farmed for months until it finally dropped, that Blizzard Bear that you know is account bound, but you just can't bear to give it up. Stuff piles up after a while, and eventually you're carrying stuff around in your backpack that should really be sitting in your bank... and would be if you had room to keep it in there.The only real tip I have is that you have to be ruthless -- you'll probably never use those trinkets again, that Tier 0 armor won't ever really be needed anymore, and you might as well eat those Delicious Chocolate Cakes that you made for a rainy day. You might as well use those cooking and profession mats you've got sitting around now, because if they aren't worth anything at the moment, they probably won't be worth any more in the future. And yes, I know you've only got so much Noggenfogger left, but you might as well go ahead and drink it on the next fun guild run. It sounds harsh, but in a game that's really about collecting, we all tend to have a packrat side.And if worst comes to worst, just create yet another bank alt, charter yet another bank guild, and start filling those bags up also. With all of the junk we've got coming through, they'll probably be full to the brim in no time.
Widget shows character name statistics
If you've ever been fascinated by the MMORPG statistics provided at sites like the Daedalus Project, here's something right up your alley; the WoW Armory Character Distribution widget, programmed to comb both the U.S. and E.U. Armories and capture data on the popularity of character names across race, class, faction, and sex. The project is still in the testing stage, and it's a bit finicky about how you enter character names. Make sure you're always hitting the submit button and not using your enter key, as otherwise the widget will keep searching for the last name you looked for instead of your new query. Its creator, Emilis, also wrote to warn that it uses live information from both armories and will occasionally be slow as a result. I imagine it might also be inaccurate if either Armory is having problems.The widget is tremendously fun to play with and has yielded some rather interesting results even with the completely random names I keep trying. "John" and "Mary," as you might expect, are overwhelmingly Human toons, whereas the greater share of people playing a "Sergei" and "Yekaterina" are Draenei. 3 people with a "Brutus" are actually playing female characters, and 1 person with a "Laura" is playing a male character (Emilis notes that gender-bending names are surprisingly common, although from what I can tell so far this seems to be a lot more true of male names for female toons than the other way around). Most people with a "Killer" are playing a Hunter, Rogue, or Warrior. Characters named "Bank" are mostly Human Warriors, but "Banktoon(s)" are mostly Orcs. And, yes, most of the people playing a toon named Legolas are Night Elf Hunters. Are you really that surprised?Thanks to Emilis for writing in!
Why have a bank alt?
So Zach posted one of my favorite recent articles about making sure your bank toon looks stylish while it's taking care of your business, and I was amazed when I read the comments to see that a few people were wondering what the whole point of a bank alt was at all. I have to admit that I was once like them. Why should I give up one of my precious character spaces for some dude who will just sit around Thunder Bluff or Ironforge and do nothing but store stuff that I should just be using or auctioning anyway? Of course, now that I have a bank alt, I'm pretty happy with the concept. If you're someone who hasn't made one yet, I'll tell you why I think you'd be happy with one too after the break.
Mr. Peanut and his monocle: Bank toon fashion
So you're getting all rich and the gold's started to pour in. You've made lots of wise investments and your arbitrage has been paying off great dividends. You've even got a bank toon to handle all your business -- after all, the rich folk leave all the dirty work to their accountants. Here's a question for you... is your bank toon dressed for the part? See, it just isn't right for your bank toon to run around Stormwind or Orgrimmar in their underwear, no matter how much that delights your inner pervert. Bank toons must be dignified... classy, even. They are the keepers of your wealth, so give them their due by throwing out that ratty Thug Shirt.Fortunately for you, WoW Insider has prepared a simple makeover guide for your bank toon. If you've been treating your banker right, you've probably dressed them in the tuxedo sets made from Tailoring or obtained through the Noblegarden event. Complete the look with a perfectly matching pair of Frayed Shoes. You probably won't find these on the Auction House, but they drop from Level 1-5 mobs, so they shouldn't be a problem to farm. If you're too lazy (or unlucky), you can purchase Heavy Weave Shoes from clothiers in most cities. These also go very well with tuxedo sets but require Level 12. I personally keep my banker at Level 1 too keep her ego in check, so it's the Frayed Shoes for her.
It's Springtime for King Wrynn and Azeroth...
The days are getting longer and the nights a tad warmer. Now is a good time to go through and clean your house in the typical spring cleaning exercise. It's a good time to do that in Azeroth, too.For me this entitles a few things with my mounds of inventory items. First, I organize my bank alts. They each are assigned certain categories of items. For instance my first bank alt gets all my gems, raw ore, processed ore, and leather. My second bank alt gets all my enchanting mats, my herbs, reputation items, food, and other tidbits. Now both these alts have been around for about 3 years. In fact, my first bank has a /played time of 10 days at level one. As a side note having a level one bank alt at ten days really makes me question my sanity...but oh well, on with the article.
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Preparing for 2.3: Guild Banks
Since it's looking hopeful that patch 2.3 will be released within the next couple of weeks, it's probably time to start getting prepared for all the long-awaited features that are being added to the live realms. Aside from Zul'Aman, guild banks are probably the biggest new item coming out with the patch.While guild leaders will undoubtedly be delighted to delete their bank alts, (some of the guilds I've been in have had as many as five or six,) and will also have to make difficult decisions about which members get access to the loot, I'd like to focus more on the impact upon individual players rather than whole guilds. Most players that have been in Azeroth for awhile probably have a bank alt that's mainly used to store trade goods and sell things on the auction house. In 2.3, according to all reports thus far, it should be possible to set up a one-alt guild so that your bank alt will have access to much more storage space.
Guild banks? Someday!
Guild banks are inching closer and closer to reality. According to Enoyls in this thread, Blizzard initially planned to implement guild banks for the expansion, but that has been pushed to the back burner, and the banks will make their appearance in a post-expansion patch.Sure, it is a little disappointing to hear that they were planned for the Burning Crusade but have since been pulled, but it is great news that they are very much on Blizzard's radar. The current system of storing items on alts works, but it is annoying...and wouldn't it be nice to have a guild bank everyone could send items to? Instead of having MiningBank or ShardVault alts? What features would you like to see included in a guild bank? Should everyone in the guild be able to view it? Do any other MMORPGs have a well-implemented guild bank feature you'd like to see Blizzard copy?
