Bags and storage in WoW Forever: when is more space worth the gold?

Where are you running out of room?

Look at what's filling the bags when you have to stop looting or return to town. Materials for a future craft can go into suitable bank space if you have it. Supplies you need on this trip have to stay within reach.

Read the bag's allowed contents and compatible slot before comparing prices. Extra capacity is of little use if the bag won't fit or accept the items you're trying to store.

Clear the items you're ready to sell

Sell the stock you've already decided to part with. For crafting materials, keep enough for the recipes you intend to make and look at the surplus separately. This may leave enough room without a purchase. The vendor comparison can help with items that are ready to go.

Keep the supplies you expect to use on the next trip. Selling them to free a slot only helps briefly if you have to buy them again before leaving town.

For spare equipment, check whether you're keeping its stats or its appearance. Blizzard describes an appearance collection system for Forever, so check the collection status before selling a piece whose look you want. Source: Blizzard's deep dive, Transmogrification and Player Choice. If you still use the equipment itself, collecting its appearance doesn't remove the need to store it.

Compare the extra slots

For bags that fit the same slot and accept the same items:

Extra usable slots = new capacity − capacity being replaced.

Cost per extra usable slot = net cash cost of the change ÷ extra usable slots.

The gain must be positive for the second calculation to help. An exchange that adds no usable slots needs some other reason to justify its price.

Fictional comparison: replace a six-slot general bag with either of these compatible general bags. Neither price includes resale money.

Option A costs less upfront and per extra slot. If four slots are enough, 40s buys the room you need. If you need eight, buying A still leaves you short. B costs another 80s and gives the full eight.

Dividing the price by ten or fourteen would include the six slots you already own. You're paying for the four or eight you gain, unless you can also put the old bag to use elsewhere.

Where does the old bag go?

Check whether the old bag can replace a smaller bag or fill a compatible empty slot. If several bags move, count all the usable slots before and after the swap.

Fictional rearrangement: you have a six-slot bag and a four-slot bag, ten slots in total. Buy option A's ten-slot bag, then move the old six-slot bag into the four-slot bag's position. You finish with 10 + 6 = 16 slots, a gain of six. The purchase adds four slots in one position and two in the other. Counting the transferred bag as six extra would forget the four slots it replaced.

If the old bag goes to another character instead, that character gets the benefit. It doesn't add more space to the character buying the upgrade.

You may also be able to sell a displaced bag, depending on its state and eligibility. Subtract sale money from the eventual cost once received, or mark it as an estimate while waiting. You still need 40s to buy option A. In this rearrangement the six-slot bag stays equipped, so it cannot also be sold; only the displaced four-slot bag is a possible sale.

Count what fits a specialist bag

A restricted bag can free general slots by taking compatible items out of them. Count the stacks you can move, then subtract any general slots removed by the swap. Check the tooltip and slot rules for the current bag; a reagent label alone doesn't establish that an item fits.

Fictional specialist example: a ten-slot restricted bag replaces a six-slot general bag. Both fit the intended position. You have eight compatible stacks taking eight general slots elsewhere. Moving those stacks into the restricted bag frees eight general slots while the swap removes six: two more general slots are free for other loot.

With only four compatible stacks to move, the same swap leaves two fewer free general slots. The larger number printed on the bag hasn't helped with general loot.

Unused restricted slots may suit materials you expect to collect later. Check what you carry now and what you expect to bring home. A general bag can be worth the higher price if the restricted one leaves you short of room for those items.

Buy the bag or have it made?

Compare the price of the same finished bag. Making it yourself may require materials, a recipe and other preparation. For a commission, add the value of the materials you supply to the agreed fee. A fee quoted without materials isn't the full price.

Gathered ingredients have a cost too: using them gives up whatever you could realistically receive by selling them. Count their value once. The profession guide explains that comparison in more detail.

If you already want to learn the profession, making your own bag may be part of the fun. If you only want this bag, include the learning and preparation costs before calling it cheaper than buying from someone who can already make it.

Are fewer trips to town worth the price?

You can buy a bag because you'd rather keep questing than return to town. It doesn't need to earn its price back to be useful. More income would depend on extra loot you actually collect and sell; empty slots alone don't pay for the bag.

After clearing the surplus, check how much room is still missing. Buy enough compatible capacity to cover that shortage if you can afford it alongside the supplies and training you want for the next trip. If the bag would use gold saved for riding or a recipe, the spending priorities guide can help compare those purchases.

In the fictional comparison, four extra slots cost 40s. If that's enough room, there's no need to spend another 80s for option B. If you need all eight slots, the 14-slot bag covers the shortage.