I think i would go wthl localized banking due to it creating travel to new places to sell goods.
I like the idea of a big bank. It supports your ability to trade and tradeskill better. And yes, with climate runes being a thing you will need a bigger bank.
I think banks should not be global. Carrying stuff from one bank to another gives more customers to teleporters. It also makes realistic mounts as is being discussed right now elsewhere on the forum more interesting.
I prefer just having a mailbox over shared bank space myself. The mailbox even provides us with a small money sink.
Yes to banks, yes to global bank (as in, not separate per city), and yes to at least a part of it shared between characters on the same account.
Even a guild bank would be nice, one per guild, shared between those the guild leader assigns.
This is something that people will anyway have, one way or another. If you don't let them share bank between characters on the same account, they will transfer items through friends, and they will also fake a guild bank through mule characters.
So, you might as well let the players do it normally.
(twinking is easily prevented through required/recommended levels on items, and through Bind on Equip / Bind on Pickup mechanics, limiting access to bank slots is not needed nor would it stop twinking)
You could make people work for it, though... do some hard quests and get bank slots shared between characters on the same account.
Do quests or kill raid bosses for extra bank space, or for a guild bank.
Just don't ask for RL money for it.
Counterfleche said: I'm in favor of global banking. Sure, it's not as "realistic", but this is an area where realism really detracts from enjoying the game. I don't want my entire gaming session to be me traveling across Terminus, grabbing one item, then traveling back just so i can sell / give it to someone. And while banking does make twinking easier, virtually everyone will do it regardless, and the only real way to (mostly) prevent it is with servers that limit you to one character.
A fair point that helps bring to light just how reliant banks are on everything else.
You could be complaining about an hour long session of traveling between banks. Or, it could be a 5 minute session. All depending on what kind of travel options we have.
So far we know we have tps and very likely have mounts, which doesn't tell us much until we know how easy/fast the mounts are and how easy/common the ports and port locations are.
We also don't know if a mailbox would cut out the time you need to get the item to your friend.
One bank account per character, it makes no sense to me that each character you play has access to the same bank account. Having said that, trying to transfer items between characters becomes a real pain in the arse if you have no way of doing it on your own. EQ progression servers give you two shared slots, and I liked that feature quite a lot. Even one slot, which cannot have bags dropped in to it would be enough. Not wanting shared bank accounts, but wanting a shared slot is quite contradictory, I know, but having played MMOs since Ultima Online, the need / want / desire to transfer items, will always become an issue, eventually. It used to drive me crazy standing at the bank in the city of Camelot, in Dark Age of Camelot asking strangers to hold items for me whilst I switched character, just to transfer items between them. You also risk losing those items if you ask the wrong person to help you!
Maybe a postage system is better than slots in the bank? Coming to think of it, it makes more sense, and I think I’d prefer that, if I’m honest. You could send letters / messages to friends as often as you like, but limit the number of actual parcels (items) which can be sent daily by making the cost to send them increase exponentially (charging to send parcels in-game would be a good money sponge to help battle gold inflation, too).
Not sure how I feel about having your bank account limited to a single region, but if you look at it from a functional / logical perspective, how are your accounts linked in this world? There's no digital network, and even if there was, how can you access a breastplate you stored in the bank in one city, when accessing your account in another? It’s this concept that makes a parcel postage system more appealing, in my mind.
I think the key thing to be aware of is the distinction between physical items, and currency. A bank could grant you access to money from anywhere in the world, but when it comes to items, such as weapons, or armour, the idea of being able to access those from anywhere gets a little odd.
Maybe your bank account is just 'magic', that's how it works! Yeah, that answers all the questions…
I think local banks are great. loved the bank in Freeport. was close to the tunnel to help with selling and storing stuff. I don't want this to turn into WoW where there is just one main city i go to do everything i need untill the next expansion comes out with a new city. Keep banks local like action houses so i have more reasons to revist cities across the world. Also makes cities in the game feel more alive with players of all levels using them.
I want to clarify that while I do like shared banks for sharing equipment/money between my own characters, if Pantheon decided to do regional banking only (like Brad's original vision) I would totally support that as well.
Counterfleche said: @BeaverBiscuit, I wasn't thinking about a mail system, which would cut down on time (unless you want to sell/trade the item). But if we had a mail system without a global bank, then the mail system becomes the defacto global bank since most players would simply mail items to themselves / alts to store them. And if we really think about it, if teleportation exists in game, than it makes sense that a bank would teleport items for a fee.
I have no issue with any of that as long as it has a fee=).
However if it became a problem some how mailboxxes could have a limit on storage space just like banks.
Banks yes. Coin should be accessible from any bank, no matter where it was deposited. Items shouldn't be globally accessible, only from the bank the item was deposited in.
Shared slots yes, but with the same restrictions as above.
As for size, probably 50-60 slots per bank. If you want more, rent a safe deposit box for a monthly fee. Different rates for different sized boxes. Would help pull coin out of the economy.
Should there be a bank? YES. Size? Depends on how banking is done.
Counterfleche said: I'm in favor of global banking. Sure, it's not as "realistic", but this is an area where realism really detracts from enjoying the game. I don't want my entire gaming session to be me traveling across Terminus, grabbing one item, then traveling back just so i can sell / give it to someone. And while banking does make twinking easier, virtually everyone will do it regardless, and the only real way to (mostly) prevent it is with servers that limit you to one character.
This is what I think on the issue. Global banking, with SOME shared slots. No passing of NO DROP items. Currency is global. and for the love of god, no fee's. You guys are in here clamouring for everything to cost something. Just UGH
There is no reason to banking with a FEE... period. At no point should banking even be a problem or discouraging.
Twinking should NOT be an issue either. It can be negated with having level requirements to equip. Plus, If no drop items aren't passable.. that's more than enough. I'm willing to bet that most Names will drop items that will be no drop also. That leaves trash loot to twink with. Who cares about that? Especially since any twink can BUY it from another player via a market.
How combat mailing storage? -- Make mailing require you to be friends with the character to mail. Make adding friends require both characters online (can't friend yourself if the other character is offline) ((ffxiv does this)). OR just save yourself some time and not allow mailing to other characters on same account.
In the end... if someone is willing to make a 2nd account and pay a monthly sub just to twink an alt and have more storage then let them! It's more money for visionary and with the things above... the 2% that will do it, really gain no advantage over anyone.
Mailing in game? Fee *nods
Travel? Fee *nods (Ferries, etc)
Porting? no fee, make it require an item. this is a sink
Listing items on the market? Fee
Crafting - I mean obvious
There are your sinks and that is plenty imo.