Make unidentified gear bags exempt from global salvaging

[holodoc.5748]

> **TL;DR** This is **NOT** about reverting to the old loot system. It's about protecting unidentified gear bags from being affected by salvage kit "Salvage All" options and adding a new "Salvage All" option to all stackable inventory items, like unidentified gear bags.

 

I absolutely **hate** the new updated loot system that favors unidentified bags over direct drops. It tried to solve one problem (inventory space) but in the process it introduced at least two new (old) ones where actual opening and salvaging items now (considering their TP value plummeted into oblivion) is an absolute nightmare.

 

> **Important part:**

> Since I realize that the new system is probably here to stay I have one very simple request - make unidentified gear bags exempt from all salvage kit "Salvage All" options and add a separate "Salvage All" option to stackable items that are salvageable.

 

> **EDIT:**

> After I've made this post I realized that there is already a "Salvage Stack" option on the salvage kits. That means that the whole problem could be resolved as easily as just making their "Salvage All" option ignore all bags of unidentified gear.

 

Why are stackable items even affected by global salvaging? The "Salvage All" options were added to help with quickly cleaning up inventory by salvaging non-stackable items, but when PoF came out with unidentified gear bags it became incredibly easy to accidentally salvage them. It's even a bigger problem now that the unidentified gear bags have spread all over the game and are not exclusive to PoF.

 

The invisible/safe boxes/bags are NOT a real solution because even though they protect the bags from global salvaging they do not automatically grab gear if there is not already at least one gear bag already inside that inventory bag. So if you start a new stack it will fill up the first available slot in the normal bags. Click "Salvage All" by accident and PooF... Your unopened bags are gone.

 

 

[Trise.2865]

Four.

 

https://en-forum.guildwars2.com/discussion/72374/invisible-olmakhan-bandolier#latest

https://en-forum.guildwars2.com/discussion/72391/unidentified-gear-salvage-all#latest

https://en-forum.guildwars2.com/discussion/72022/global-unidentified-gear-incoming-march-26th#latest

[holodoc.5748]

> @"Trise.2865" said:

> Four.

>

> https://en-forum.guildwars2.com/discussion/72374/invisible-olmakhan-bandolier#latest

> https://en-forum.guildwars2.com/discussion/72391/unidentified-gear-salvage-all#latest

> https://en-forum.guildwars2.com/discussion/72022/global-unidentified-gear-incoming-march-26th#latest

 

Again, **NOT** a real solution. Invisible bags do not automatically start new unidentified gear stacks. If you remove the gear from the bag the next stack will end up in the first available slot of the inventory and that's usually not a safe bag.

 

Safe bags are just a partial band aid solution to something that was clearly not given enough thought. Making quality of life changes should add actual worth to user experience but having to deal with safe bags and a system which makes it even harder to quickly salvage loot, because now you have to split/open/salvage the gear, is just a far worse experience.

[Tekoneiric.6817]

> @"holodoc.5748" said:

 

> Again, **NOT** a real solution. Invisible bags do not automatically start new unidentified gear stacks. If you remove the gear from the bag the next stack will end up in the first available slot of the inventory and that's usually not a safe bag.

>

> Safe bags are just a partial band aid solution to something that was clearly not given enough thought. Making quality of life changes should add actual worth to user experience but having to deal with safe bags and a system which makes it even harder to quickly salvage loot, because now you have to split/open/salvage the gear, is just a far worse experience.

 

The Olmakhan Bandolier collects bags automatically which is why I posted a request for an invisible version. That would also make them except from salvage all and merchants.

[holodoc.5748]

> @"Tekoneiric.6817" said:

> > @"holodoc.5748" said:

>

> > Again, **NOT** a real solution. Invisible bags do not automatically start new unidentified gear stacks. If you remove the gear from the bag the next stack will end up in the first available slot of the inventory and that's usually not a safe bag.

> >

> > Safe bags are just a partial band aid solution to something that was clearly not given enough thought. Making quality of life changes should add actual worth to user experience but having to deal with safe bags and a system which makes it even harder to quickly salvage loot, because now you have to split/open/salvage the gear, is just a far worse experience.

>

> The Olmakhan Bandolier collects bags automatically which is why I posted a request for an invisible version. That would also make them except from salvage all and merchants.

 

Which means until there is an invisible version it still solves nothing.

 

But even then I hope there is an actual solution to the problem, like the one I proposed, not band aid.

 

I mean, loot is probably just the most important thing in an MMO. It needs to get sorted out properly.

[Illconceived Was Na.9781]

> @"holodoc.5748" said:

> Again, **NOT** a real solution. Invisible bags do not automatically start new unidentified gear stacks. If you remove the gear from the bag the next stack will end up in the first available slot of the inventory and that's usually not a safe bag.

I dunno: it's real for me. It's what I started using when unID gear was first introduced and it works a treat. It's far, far, far, far, far less work than having to deal with dozens of different pieces of actual gear, which is what we had before.

 

Instead of maintaining 50+ free slots, I can reserve just 3. Instead of being forced to salvage when the game demands it, I can salvage whenever I like... which might be never.

 

I think it would be far less convenient for some of us to be forced to deal with a bloated UI for salvaging 3-4 items, although I can certainly understand why not everyone agrees.

[CETheLucid.3964]

Invest in some invisible bags and reserve a few slots for your unid'd gear. It's a good investment (safe place for your alt weapons/armor) and you don't have this problem anymore.

 

With all that space you're retroactively saving you should find a point where you can sort your unid's before you start building stacks and stacks of them. There's no point now in hoarding them. They're meant to be opened.

 

Alt+Shift a few out from the invisible bag reserves at your convenience and off you go. The only feasible reason I can imagine saving them up for is maybe to open them in a specific region for region exclusive loot maybe. Might be a good way to get things like the etched and legionnaire weapon skins.

 

If you're a long time player though you probably already have these sorts of things. But there's a battle plan for you just in case.

[Rasimir.6239]

> @"CETheLucid.3964" said:

> Alt+Shift a few out from the invisible bag reserves at your convenience and off you go. The only feasible reason I can imagine saving them up for is maybe to open them in a specific region for region exclusive loot maybe. Might be a good way to get things like the etched and legionnaire weapon skins.

Region specific loot has its own spot in the loot tables and is not impacted by the change. What comes out of unidentified gear is generic skins (plus reclaimed and elonian), and it doesn't matter where you are when you identify it.

[holodoc.5748]

> @"Illconceived Was Na.9781" said:

> > @"holodoc.5748" said:

> > Again, **NOT** a real solution. Invisible bags do not automatically start new unidentified gear stacks. If you remove the gear from the bag the next stack will end up in the first available slot of the inventory and that's usually not a safe bag.

> I dunno: it's real for me. It's what I started using when unID gear was first introduced and it works a treat. It's far, far, far, far, far less work than having to deal with dozens of different pieces of actual gear, which is what we had before.

>

> Instead of maintaining 50+ free slots, I can reserve just 3. Instead of being forced to salvage when the game demands it, I can salvage whenever I like... which might be never.

>

> I think it would be far less convenient for some of us to be forced to deal with a bloated UI for salvaging 3-4 items, although I can certainly understand why not everyone agrees.

 

It's not a solution and here is why.

 

**Pre-patch workflow**:

 

1) Loot lands directly in your inventory.

2) If inventory get filled up you just click "Deposit collectibles" and there's at least one spot that gets freed up.

3) "Salvage all".

4) Repeat from #1 until the inventory is empty.

 

**Post-patch workflow:**

 

1) Bags land in your inventory (feel free to assume you are using safe bags/boxes).

2) You need to click "Use All" to get the actual loot in your inventory.

3) If inventory gets filled up (and it will) you **can't** use "Salvage All" because it will salvage your unopened bags so you have to manually salvage everything that came out of them.

4) Now to prevent #3, you calculate approximately how many bags you could open to prevent what happened in #3 and then split your unidentified gear stack (Alt+drag).

5) You "Use All" on the stack you've split and...Shoot... You filled your inventory again... Hope that your "Deposit Collectibles" will clean up at least one spot.

6) Rinse and repeat for all three rarity types of unidentified gear.

 

After a couple of events you decide to just "Salvage All" but a couple of seconds later you realize that you forgot to "seed" your inventory gear (put at least one of them in your invisible bags) so all your bags got salvaged...

 

I can't stress enough how much I hate the added post-patch busywork required to just salvage all the contents of the unidentified gear bags now.

 

Before the patch it was just in PoF related maps. Now it's everywhere.

 

 

[CETheLucid.3964]

> @"Rasimir.6239" said:

> > @"CETheLucid.3964" said:

> > Alt+Shift a few out from the invisible bag reserves at your convenience and off you go. The only feasible reason I can imagine saving them up for is maybe to open them in a specific region for region exclusive loot maybe. Might be a good way to get things like the etched and legionnaire weapon skins.

> Region specific loot has its own spot in the loot tables and is not impacted by the change. What comes out of unidentified gear is generic skins (plus reclaimed and elonian), and it doesn't matter where you are when you identify it.

 

That's good to know. I don't know why I thought the unid bags had a chance to drop region specific loot. I'm reading the dev post and your post and that makes sense. I interpreted it wrong the first go around. Even less of a reason to hoard them then.

[Illconceived Was Na.9781]

> @"holodoc.5748" said:

> It's not a solution and here is why.

I just explained to you how it solves nearly all problems in inventory management for me.

 

I'm sorry you don't see the benefits.

[TheGrimm.5624]

In the long run run having a check box on unidentified yes/no on the salvage all option would be a welcome addition. +1 from me.

[Zexanima.7851]

This would be really nice to have. Right now I salvage all the little shits, I can't be bothered to sort stuff out. I got things to fight.

[holodoc.5748]

> @"Illconceived Was Na.9781" said:

> > @"holodoc.5748" said:

> > It's not a solution and here is why.

> I just explained to you how it solves nearly all problems in inventory management for me.

>

> I'm sorry you don't see the benefits.

 

"It doesn't bother me" is not a solution. It's personal preference.

[Julius Seizure.4985]

It is so rediculously easy to “seed” a blue, green, and yellow Unidentified Gear in an invisible bag slot and have this issue completely addressed. It’s why these bags exist!!!

 

“But I don’t wanna,” is invariably the reply.

[holodoc.5748]

> @"Julius Seizure.4985" said:

> It is so rediculously easy to “seed” a blue, green, and yellow Unidentified Gear in an invisible bag slot and have this issue completely addressed. It’s why these bags exist!!!

>

> “But I don’t wanna,” is invariably the reply.

 

How about when you empty the bags? For example when you decide to open and salvage everything? Do you honestly believe that people will always remember to seed the three spots for their unidentified gear?

 

In the end technicalities don't even matter. It all comes down to a very simple question. Why the added busywork and inconvenience?

[Rasimir.6239]

> @"holodoc.5748" said:

> It's not a solution and here is why.

>

> **Pre-patch workflow**:

>

> **Post-patch workflow:**

>

> I can't stress enough how much I hate the added post-patch busywork required to just salvage all the contents of the unidentified gear bags now.

In the upper left of your inventory screen are two numbers: total inventory slots on the character and used inventory slots. Subtract the 2nd from the first, alt+drag an appropriately sized part of the stack to the next slot, open that and salvage away.

 

Personally I very much prefer this way to getting "inventory full" messages in the middle of meta events, wvw fights, and whatever other places you can think of where fiddling around with your inventory is the best recipe to get killed.

[Randulf.7614]

> @"Julius Seizure.4985" said:

> It is so rediculously easy to “seed” a blue, green, and yellow Unidentified Gear in an invisible bag slot and have this issue completely addressed. It’s why these bags exist!!!

>

> “But I don’t wanna,” is invariably the reply.

 

It's a legitimate reply though given that unids are meant to reduce the amount of inventory management - which includes clicks and moves. Invisible bags are a solution, but not to the overall inventory management issue. To some, this patch improved it, to others it increased the problem. Adding an option to exclude salvaging unids is pretty much the soluton short of a radical overhaul of the entire rewards system which isn't realistic . I'm uncertain why there is resistance to the idea.

[ArchonWing.9480]

I think another issue is that the change isn't global and fractals still use the old system that's mixed with the new system.

[holodoc.5748]

> @"Rasimir.6239" said:

> > @"holodoc.5748" said:

> > It's not a solution and here is why.

> >

> > **Pre-patch workflow**:

> >

> > **Post-patch workflow:**

> >

> > I can't stress enough how much I hate the added post-patch busywork required to just salvage all the contents of the unidentified gear bags now.

> In the upper left of your inventory screen are two numbers: total inventory slots on the character and used inventory slots. Subtract the 2nd from the first, alt+drag an appropriately sized part of the stack to the next slot, open that and salvage away.

>

> Personally I very much prefer this way to getting "inventory full" messages in the middle of meta events, wvw fights, and whatever other places you can think of where fiddling around with your inventory is the best recipe to get killed.

 

So, instead of just directly salvaging and quickly depositing collectibles you prefer to first do all the inventory space math, split stacks, open all the bags, salvage every single bag manually because you can't use "Salvage All", deposit salvaged stuff and then rinse and repeat until you've done with all the bags? Because you know, your inventory will get filled with other stuff in WvW, not just bags of unidentified gear.

[Blocki.4931]

When do you ever have more than 250 unid gear at once? Just start managing your inventory once you get to that point.. it takes a while.

[Illconceived Was Na.9781]

> @"holodoc.5748" said:

> > @"Illconceived Was Na.9781" said:

> > > @"holodoc.5748" said:

> > > It's not a solution and here is why.

> > I just explained to you how it solves nearly all problems in inventory management for me.

> >

> > I'm sorry you don't see the benefits.

>

> "It doesn't bother me" is not a solution. It's personal preference.

 

No, I'm not saying, "it doesn't bother me." I'm saying that I now spend less time on inventory management. It's not theoretically better; it's actually better.

In contrast, you've been describing how your personal preference leads to additional busywork and inconvenience.

 

I am not against additional quality of life improvements. I just think the current situation is amazingly convenient: I get the same loot as before and get to choose when I deal with it. For some reason, you've fixated on the "but I have to click to ID it" aspect, without looking at the total picture.

 

 

[CETheLucid.3964]

> @"ArchonWing.9480" said:

> I think another issue is that the change isn't global and fractals still use the old system that's mixed with the new system.

 

Might be the region loot table and since fractals take you all over the place certain things drop per fractal.

[holodoc.5748]

> @"Illconceived Was Na.9781" said:

> > @"holodoc.5748" said:

> > > @"Illconceived Was Na.9781" said:

> > > > @"holodoc.5748" said:

> > > > It's not a solution and here is why.

> > > I just explained to you how it solves nearly all problems in inventory management for me.

> > >

> > > I'm sorry you don't see the benefits.

> >

> > "It doesn't bother me" is not a solution. It's personal preference.

>

> No, I'm not saying, "it doesn't bother me." I'm saying that I now spend less time on inventory management. It's not theoretically better; it's actually better.

> In contrast, you've been describing how your personal preference leads to additional busywork and inconvenience.

 

So, "additional busywork and inconvenience" is all of the sudden "personal preference" but "it's better" is somehow not? Better for what? Saving inventory space? Sure. Inventory management? Not by a long shot. Quite the opposite. Having to go through an additional loot abstraction level with the added obstruction of the "Salvage All" option and all the additional busywork in between, which is now indecently not only restricted to PoF maps, is the definition of hell.

 

> I am not against additional quality of life improvements. I just think the current situation is amazingly convenient: I get the same loot as before and get to choose when I deal with it. For some reason, you've fixated on the "but I have to click to ID it" aspect, without looking at the total picture.

>

>

Of course I am fixated when it makes me spend way more time salvaging stuff than it used before! Why else would I complain? The unidentified gear system was annoying even before the latest patch but it was luckily restricted to only PoF zones. I was actually hoping that someone might take a look at the accidental salvaging issue and come up with a solution like in my original post.

 

In the end, if my request wouldn't affect you in the slightest but would resolve the issue for so many people (and I assure you that I am NOT the only one pissed off about it), then why do you even complain? Did I propose removing the new system completely and reverting to the old one? No. The only difference would be that people would not need to waste money on bags that serve no real purpose aside from duck-taping an issue that should have been resolved differently. They would also never experience the feeling of (yet again) accidentally salvaging the bags. Your personal experience would not change at all but a lot of people that find annoyance with how unidentified gear works would be happy.

 

So please remind me again, why are you against it?

 

I rest my case here.

[Julius Seizure.4985]

 

>

> So please remind me again, why are you against it?

>

> I rest my case here.

 

A lot of us are against these complaints because an easy solution already exists, it’s just not what you prefer. Developer time is a more valuable resource, and you are effectively asking for them to code on something that already has a solution...