Shared Bank space (Mirkwood expansion)

[dhurrack]

Also on the list of changes, and an answer to the prayers of many LOTRO players, is the addition of shared storage space for accounts. This means that you no longer have to deal with mailing items to your alts; Mr. Steefel kept mum about whether or not this meant a new "bind on account" system, so no word on that yet, but having shared storage at all will be a boon. Currently, shared storage space appears to be limited to 50 items, though Mr. Steefel said this was likely to increase over time in a similar manner to purchasing further storage space for your character's Vault.

I recently saw this and figured I post a little information about how Turbine implemented this function in thier other title.

**Shared Bank Space** Turbine made this possible on thier other title DDO through Bind to Account Items.

DDO differs from LOTRO in how you can move "named" drop loot items around. What I mean by this is lets say you aquire "insidious cuffs" as a dungeon/instance loot drop. In DDO those Insidious Cuffs would NOT become bind on aquire. You can loot this named item and then mail it to an alt for thier usage, or trade it to anyone else in your fellowship. Also since these items are not B.O.A. it's not uncommon to see those "insidious cuffs" for sale on the auction house. What you can do though is, you may "bind" this item to your account, which would prevents both the sale and trading of the item. It does however allow for dispersement between all of your characters on your account. Effectively becoming "Bind on Account".

I'd explain the functionality as say your running HoC, and a specific item drops that would be best utilized by a Guard. Well the Lore Master running with you also has a Guard alt. As the game mechanic functions in LOTRO currently that L.M. would not roll on the bind on aquire item because it would be pointless.

Now lets say Turbine adopts DDO's means of shared banking space, that level 60 LM could effectively roll on that guard item, while playing his LM, and then transfer it over to his level 20 Guard alt. This would certainly change the current dynamic for this game. It would be interesting to see how this gets implemented in LOTRO because now you may get people running instances for items that "Bind on account" rather than Bind on aquire and be tempted to roll on something while in an instance that they could transfer to an alt. It actually kind of makes things easier because you can play what class the fellowship needs for the instance rather than having to switch characters so your alt can get a chance at the named item it needs.

For example: You could stay on your level 60 MiNi and still effectively be "loot running" to equip your level 20 Guard without ever logging him on...

Final note- Now I don't know if Turbine will adopt DDO's exact "banking" mechanic but it is something to ponder as they have recently implemented LOTRO tech over on that title. They seem to borrow/implement one games technology and mechanics into the other and vice versa.

This will be interesting to monitor how they develop shared banking space here on LOTRO

[Witchdoctor]

Having never played DDO ... thanks for the insight!

[yupytup]

There will be a big problem with this...

Shared bank space will mean that any player will have a legitimate reason to roll on ANY item. "My alt is a guard; My alt is a scholar, etc".

All drops will be free-for-all. If you lose a roll on an item that you wanted, check for it on the AH the next day.

This WILL HAPPEN if item bindings are removed. I'd advise the playerbase to get used to the idea so that they don't contribute to the incredible amount of loot drama on the forums that this is going to ignite.

[Mafia]

This certainly needs to happen. It would be nice to set up groups based on ideal group makeups instead of a less than optimal group because of items people might need.

[dhurrack]

I'd be happy just being able to access my crafting materials without having to ferry items back and forth to my house between alts....

I'll be watching this developement closely as there are other considerations associated (possibly) with this potential change.

[TheStormKing]

Originally Posted by yupytup

All drops will be free-for-all.

This is the way my kinship has been from day one. No drama here.

[Witchdoctor]

Originally Posted by TheStormKing

This is the way my kinship has been from day one. No drama here.

I love how the message reads "You are not hardcore, that is why you are not logged in" on your kinship forums.

/Salute!

[mjk47]

I think folk are making the assumption that currenty Bind-on-Acquire items will now be Bind-to-Account. I haven't seen anything to confirm or deny that. Shared vault paces could be merely a more convenient of way of transferring things between alts. It is only if the BoA rules change that there will be an issue such as those raised by the previous posters.

If shared vault storage is the same as housing storage, i.e. you cannot store bound items there, then nothing changes, apart from an increase in convenience and s decrease in postage fees.

[sirwillow]

Originally Posted by yupytup

This WILL HAPPEN if item bindings are removed. I'd advise the playerbase to get used to the idea so that they don't contribute to the incredible amount of loot drama on the forums that this is going to ignite.

Where does any actual info say that item bindings are being removed? Or even changed? There's a common vault that will be available. That means that instead of mailing things from one char to another, or having to travel to your house to drop off and pick up items that you can put them in a common vault. That's it. There's been no mention of changing any bindings on items at all, let alone removing any.

[Unique]

The OP was stating how Turbine implemented shared storage on another one of their games. I personally don't think they will do it the same way.

I think it will be very basic (at least at first). A relatively small amount of space (they said 50 to start) and I am guessing that it won't accept bound items, but that could change later.




On the video from TenTonHammer Jeffrey Steefel, Executive Producer said:

"Shared storage, this is account level storage, so anything you put in here is available to all your characters on that server, very valuable as you can imagine.
Some limitations obviously to prevent some typical utilization of this feature"

[yupytup]

Originally Posted by sirwillow

Where does any actual info say that item bindings are being removed? Or even changed? There's a common vault that will be available. That means that instead of mailing things from one char to another, or having to travel to your house to drop off and pick up items that you can put them in a common vault. That's it. There's been no mention of changing any bindings on items at all, let alone removing any.

Maybe I'm mistaken. Can players currently move bound items from one alt to another?

[Aldous]

Originally Posted by yupytup

Maybe I'm mistaken. Can players currently move bound items from one alt to another?

Nope. Can't mail them, can't put them in the house storage. You can put them in your personal bank storage though.

[sirwillow]

Originally Posted by yupytup

Maybe I'm mistaken. Can players currently move bound items from one alt to another?

No. But again, this isn't talking about bound items. This is allowing you to put ore, wood, crafting mats, pots, and things like that into a shared vault space. IN other words, items that you can already and currently move from one character to another anyways.

While I know the OP mentioned DDO, nowhere at all has Turbine hinted that bound items are changing. Don't count on them changing. Items that are bound to a character will very likely still be and not affected by this, at least from what I've see so far. Don't confuse binding with sharing.

[VMalcolm]

I'm very happy that account storage is being added. I get so tired of switching back and forth through several storage toons when I need to get different things together to craft. It will also be nice to just keep stacks of consumables in shared storage rather than have personal vault space taken up on each toon by them.

Personally I wouldn't mind a Bind to Account mechanic. It would definitely make grouping more valuable to some people who have several alts but get asked to play their Minstrel or something all the time for the good of the group.

[einherjar]

I for one am looking very forward to this addition.

EQ2 had it and it was great.