WoW Forever: default bank doubled to 48 slots, room for 8 bags

A report published on 21 September says the default bank in WoW Forever has been doubled to 48 slots, from 24 in the original game, and that the bank now has room for 8 bags instead of 6. A screenshot of the bank window published with the report shows a grid of 48 slots and a row of 8 locked bag slots. The report came out during the Forever beta, but it does not say whether the figures come from the beta or are final for launch. We found no statement from Blizzard giving these figures: for now they come from this one report, and Blizzard has not confirmed them.

The report links the change to how Forever is built. Characters stay capped at level 60, and one way the developers plan to keep players engaged is gear with special effects that only work in a certain zone or biome, or against certain enemies. The report gives examples of what players may want: a movement speed bonus while levelling in Elwynn Forest, or a set with bonuses against dragons for the 40-player Onyxia raid. Collecting gear for different situations takes space, on top of the ore, herbs and other things players keep while levelling.

In an interview published on 15 September, Blizzard senior game designer Josh Greenfield was asked whether Blizzard is changing bag space, now that players may collect so much gear for particular situations. He said he believed the default bank is either 2 or 4 times as large as before, and that he thought it was about 96 slots, without being sure of the exact figure. The 48 slots in the report match the lower of his 2 estimates; 96 would be 4 times the old bank. Greenfield also said bags themselves will start at the same sizes as in the original game.

Greenfield said the team is probably not going to add much more space until players really need it, because players fill whatever space they are given. Over time, though, he said he expects the team to do more for storage, and that it has a few ideas for storage systems that could come later, with nothing to announce for launch. The beta runs until 21 October, and WoW Forever launches at 23:00 UK time on 4 November, which is midnight on 5 November in Central Europe. Blizzard has not said whether the bank will be the same size at launch.