Backpack inventory is to small

This matter has been discussed before. It's a good, if long read. Be sure to read all the posts in that thread.

Quoted relevant info from my own post for convenience

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Garr0t wrote:

The vendor mechanism is a tool to allow those that 'pack rat' their prizes to receive a reward. It is not intended to monetize every single item that falls on the ground. It is a mini-game to allow those that enjoy the micromanagement aspect of inventory management to be rewarded for their time.

Those that are interested in the core action of killing stuff are not forced to play the inventory management mini-game. Instead, the drop rate for items that are desired should be set sufficiently high that there is no need to play the inventory mini-game to progress.

The balance is achieved by the amount of time it takes to play the mini-game. If the vendor system is too easy/simple/quick to use, it skews the benefit to the action player. If the vendor system is too rewarding, it skews the benefit to the hoarders.

I agree with the OP, backpack is too small due to the amount of orbs you pick up along the way. After a bit of farming, almost half my backpack is various orbs, and its a pain (and breaks the immersion) to move each orb individually to the stash every trip to town. Maybe they could add a separate backpack just for orbs? Ohh, good idea actually. Or at least allow Shift-Click to transfer from bag to stash.

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Garr0t wrote:

This matter has been discussed before. It's a good, if long read. Be sure to read all the posts in that thread.

Yes. The thing is though that for the most part the loot isn't really loot at all, its a sort of card game where you have to fill an inside straight in order to win the orb pot.

I can play the crafting game or not at my choice to some extent - but, if I choose not to do so I still have to sift through a load of uninteresting dross in order to very occasionally find something for my progression.

Further, if you don't play the loot game you must of necessity lose out compared to those who do - otherwise what would be the purpose of all that grind if not to get some kind of progression advantage over others? and that means the loot you get is even less intersting because to get the intersting stuff you have to fire off 200 jewellers orbs in order to possibly get a 5 linked item (yawn).

IMOP loot should be loot - a sword is for thwacking people with, not some symbolic item in an abstract game of orb poker. You get good items from feats of derring do - like rescuing princesses from towers, not from rolling poker dice.

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Roq wrote:

IMOP loot should be loot - a sword is for thwacking people with, not some symbolic item in an abstract game of orb poker. You get good items from feats of derring do - like rescuing princesses from towers, not from rolling poker dice.

Ironically, I have been noted to call games like PoE an elaborate slot machine. If you really look at this game and how it rewards play, it is nothing more than really fancy one-armed bandit that costs time per roll.

Each time you kill a monster, your reward isn't really the xp, the weapon, the armor piece, the crafting orb. The reward is the feeling of gratification you get when something you want/desire drops. Everything else is a means to this end. That's why games like this are so damn addicting. I'm going to have to start a Gamblers Anonymous clan/guild.

Why do we level? To be able to equip better items/gear to kill faster. Why do we want to kill faster? To get more powerful to farm faster still...

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Garr0t wrote:

Ironically, I have been noted to call games like PoE an elaborate slot machine. If you really look at this game and how it rewards play, it is nothing more than really fancy one-armed bandit that costs time per roll.

Jonathan Blow (Braid) gives a fairly interesting lecture on that topic here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SqFu5O-oPmU on how game designers treat their players. he likens many 'fun' games to exactly what you describe, a slightly differently dressed up slot machine, where you simply play for reward but ultimately get nothing in return.

Since we're on the topic of slot-machine loot, here's something that Chris posted about a year ago:

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Chris wrote:

We're using the monsters-can-drop-anything slot-machine system. It's a lot of fun. One thing I hate in action RPGs is when you know that there's no good drop possible from that monster. With this system, any monster could drop some perfect rare (even if it's low level) or a unique.

Like a real slot machine, you play a lot to win. Each win has a very small chance to be a big win.

look, you can stash enough items in you inventory and in you stash.

when i played diablo3 last weekend it was funny. i can backback the stuff of a whole town by in can only but a sausage in my stash---FAIL


also here armor and everything has its space. i like it very much how it is now.

OP I respect your concern but I think if you want to get results you should be more specific in your request to GGG. If you believe the current backpack is too small exactly how many rows/ columns will make you happy? 1 more row? 2 more rows? 1 more column? 1 more row and 1 more column?

Personally, I would love to see a sixth row with the same number columns, but I'm sure if that was adapted people will ask for even more.

The problem is this, lets say they make the backpack larger. it won't ever be large enough, because the issue is that you want to pick up everything that can be of value and you don't want to go back to town to sell things all the time. So, unless they give us Mary Poppins bag of infinite space, nothing will change.


Whiteboy was right when he said that the decision should be on the player for what is chosen to be picked up and what isn't. you aren't intended to pick up every item that drops, if you must do that, you'll need to be prepared to spend a lot of time selling things in town. This isn't a "problem" with PoE, it's the same way in every ARPG/RPG/MMO I have ever played.

Also, yes PoE is a big slot machine, so is D2/TQ/Sacred/TL/D3 some of those games have limited crafting options, but when it comes to items you REALLY want, it's all luck. That's why I find it funny when people brag about the gear they have in games like this.