Backpacks on Test: Now Bigger

I have to admit I haven't read through every post in this thread and after a bit I mostly focused on Domino's replys. But I have my own comments and observations on the strong box versus backpack debate.
Fist, I love the fact that backpacks are finally getting some love. Although only four of my toons are mages, I don't think I carry a strong box on a single character but thats my personal choice.
If their is a role playing aspect to prefering strong boxes in the bank/house slots and backpacks in the character slots, why not do the following:
When being carried by a toon:

• backpacks keep weight reduction but increase their slots to the same as strong boxes.
• strong boxes are unchanged.

When in a Bank or House inventory slot:

• Backpacks remain the same.
• Strong Boxes gain 1 to 2 rows or 4 to 8 additional slots.

This would give a benefit to the backpack when being carried around on a character without penelizing those that want to carry around the strong boxes they already own. Meanwhile those that want to use backpacks in the bank and house inventory slots can do so but give up the additional space of the strong boxes.
This idea though may be a long range goal, especially since I'm unsure how much coding would need to be done to facilitate a switch detection on the strong box as to when its in a house/bank slot verses in a characters personal inventory slot.
The only other issue would be when moving a full strong box to a characters personal slot. Anything in the flagged additional slots near the bottom of the window would either need to be made unaccessable until placed back in a Bank/House slot or else end up in the character overflow area. Overflow seems preferable to me but maybe that choice can be made by a right click option on the strong box similar to how you can set an entire container on the toon to Not For Sale when selling stuff to the merchants.
You could also have the weight of the strong boxes actually scale with the size of the strong box to get the incumberance penalties to affect higher level toons in such a way that if you decide to carry 6 strong boxes your going to be slowed significantly. This might mean that T1 strong boxes drop in weight to say 20 pounds while T8 strong boxes go up to 160 pounds in weight or more, but I'm just guessing at a weight change that would have the desired effects for role playing purposes.

Don't know when the change is supposed to happen, but currently on Test still, Strongboxes still weigh 100.

FalseCourage wrote:

Quoted For Emphasis. I wish I had read the forums weeks ago so I could have made this same suggestion before GU54 went live. As of today, there's no benefit to having a strongbox instead of a backpack. It's the inferior product. Instead of making changes to the current boxes and bags in an attempt to "fix" them, the optimal idea would be to make the next tier's items have the desired characteristics, and let all the current items fade away as they become unneeded.

Webin@Befallen wrote:

Nice in theory but you must not be a carp. When I make a new alt I'll grab whatever boxes are available in shared bank. After a while, the bank starts getting full and I take the time to log in my carp and make a full set of bank boxes for the alt, grab the smaller boxes and toss them on the broker, usually for 2 to 4 times what it cost to make. These are 16, 18, 20 slot boxes, we're not talking big ones. And they sell. Even last week, I sold a few because I had some junk left on an old alt I hadn't logged in, in a while.
My point is that the older smaller backpacks and boxes don't fade away, they still get used, they still get made, they still get bought!

erin wrote:

Actually, my main is a carp.... I have other tradeskillers as well, but have always identified myself as a carpenter. In fact, I spent yesterday evening making about 50 mahogany strong boxes for all my toons to carry around (as a silent statement of rebellion). I've never cared to sell any carpenter items on the broker so my opinions are not based on a desire to preserve a revenue stream.
Your experiences selling your old boxes in the past is no longer a valid data point, since as of yesterday, everything has changed (though it may take a few weeks for all players to realize it and make a change in buying habits). In comparing a rare backpack and a rare box, no one will pick the box because it offers nothing extra. The point has been made that a box might be preferable because pelts will be the higher priced (and more in demand) commodity, but I don't see the price differential (which doesn't exist on my server) to be sufficiently large to make up for a distinct lack of benefit on the boxes... especially when you consider that those players who actually buy their rares or boxes/bags will likely have more than enough money to consider the price difference moot.
Don't get me wrong of course, I will live with the new realities and make bags instead of boxes when the situation arises. I'm just trying to point out how poorly this change was implemented, and a disappointment in Domino's thought process in light of long-term design oppurtunities.

Webin@Befallen wrote:

This assumes she doesn't have other plans. She got a lot of feedback and we may get surprised later.

Deson wrote:

I really hope so I'm a huge Domino fan, and generally like what she does for tradeskillers.

Webin@Befallen wrote:

My point was that everytime a new bigger better box or bag comes out, people scream and cry that the old ones are no longer useable. Yet oddly, if you put an 18 slotter or 20 or 24 or whatever on the market, it will still sell. For more than it cost to make it (i.e. profit). So... there's a market for almost anything.