Allow for invention computer to see and use stored salvage

Here is the background..

I spend about 3 hours yesterday slotting a character from SOs to IOs. Between Tabbing out checking the slotting in Mids.. Looking through my 15 salvage bins for the salvage needed. Getting the IOs I was short on having or thought I had.. Logging in characters to check if they had the salvage I might need. Who wants to pay 3 million when your alt has it sitting in his bag.

Then if your like me.. You have 2 IO storage bins that are full, so you start sending stuff to alts to make room. Using the mail system to send IOs that won't fit in the bins.

End result if your doing this either through the course of playing or all in one sitting your gonna be spending some time respecing out a character.. It just is not a 15 minute ordeal.

Now the idea

I think what would have helped is if the invention computer could see and use the salvage you have stored in your Salvage bins. Further if your have a storage vault in the base it would be nice if it could see that as well.

If you don't have a base and your in the university then all you can see is your bank vault. Or even if you do have a base and storage it can only see the bank vault, simply because you are not in your base when creating at the university.

I think something as simple as this would cut down some respecing time to allow for more real play time. I honestly feel it would have probably cut my respec time by half. I did a lot running around looking for the salvage.. Sometimes looking twice because I thought I just seen it when making another IO.. Your eye just start to get screwy looking through all those bins after a while.

Further what also can toss you for a loop is when you expect an IO to be available and then find out the set is dry on the market.. So now your jumping back on mids crunching numbers to see if a replacement set that might be available is going to damage your build. Or that the set you seen going for 1 million each now has jumped to 20 million each. Again 2 things that happen to me last night.

The reality is no planning saving and setting up is going to make it possible to smoothly slot a level 50 with all these IOs and salvage required.

Consider it like linking your saving and checking account and transferring money between the 2 accounts online.

End result this has no effect on actual game play. If your in a SG/VG you should only have access to the salvage bins you normally should have access to for your designated rank.

Again less time trying to make this stuff is more time of actually having some fun with the build.

Mids is not an official CoX product so I can't really see the devs making something to allow it to directly interface with the game.

as far as SuperGroup storage bins go:

never gonna happen.

Primary reason is that the bins can have individual permission codes set on access, and coding around the permissions would likely require a lot of both engine development resources and User-Interface development resources.

And yes, even if you are the only Global-Name in your supergroup, and every single one of your avatars is highest rank, it's still not feasible. The developers still would have to program for every super-group member, with every possible rank, and every possible salvage variables.

I'm sorry, but the "ease of use" factor here isn't going to be enough to justify the dev time.

I am all for making storages easier to view and sort.

Sorry, I have to disagree with how hard you are making this sound... But maybe it's a question of the methodology.

I've been saying for years now (since crafting and base storage was introduced) that we need the ability to sort it out, if we want one. Maybe a craftable computer interface that allows you to view a database of what is available in the entire base storage, allowing you to snag it from the computer (think auto parts stores for an analogy). And, before people get all snippy and scream "we don't WANT people knowing what we have stored" I have a few points to make about this: A) if you don't want people knowing, don't put it in public storage; B) I am talking about an optional craftable item, you don't HAVE to put it in your base.

Now, as for it being difficult... I think it's being overthought in previous posts. There is a database that contains all of the salvage in storage for the base. That database also contains the security level of the rack holding salvage. It's a simple sort, and some of the same methodology that determines if you have access when you click an individual storage rack. The list would show anything that is in your access level or lower only. Anything higher would be hidden on the list. You could also sort by name, origin, etc. We are talking about database manipulation at its most basic, and it is light years easier than what happens on the markets. So, as far as it being doable, I say if they can't, there is something seriously wrong with the programmers... heh.

Now, I can see where that access list might be harder to implement if it popped up whenever you were accessing your own personal storage. There are too many implications in that respect, with possible multiple SG users accessing simultaneously. But, with a single interface component, in the base, it's simplified and overlaps are eliminated. You pick an item, it checks to make sure someone didn't just take it off a rack, then it gives it to you. Simple. Elegant. More importantly, makes crafting less tedious (and aging MMOs usually want to reduce tedium, tends to help keep player numbers higher).

I would like to see something like this. Instead of having to go to the vault, it takes it right out of your inventory. Very good idea, and improves QOL I think. Maybe not link to SG, but definitely to personal storage.

I couldn't agree more with the Original Poster of this thread and IMO it seems as if some responders are reading more work into this suggestion than I did when I read it.

I find that not only do I have a problem remembering what I have in salvage bins but also what I need to get to make things when I get to the salvage bin -- I spend a lot of time in Steel Canyon running from University to Storage to Auction house and then forgetting something that I learned on the way. Obvious solution: write things down. But this irritates me since I am using a computer and should be able to get it to remember things for me (computers are known for things like that).

To that end, I recommend the following additional functionality be implemented (note that this can be done incrementally with the Devs postponing or even skipping some of the more complicated changes based on what can be put in any given patch or expansion):

[1] Allow read access to all recipes (owned or not) from anywhere so that crafters can see what they need while visiting the auction house or the storage bins. Note: this doesn't directly address the OP's concerns but would help me out.

[2] Allow users to take snapshots of the contents of their auctions and of their salvage (personal, vault, SG,...) every time they visit so that, subsequently, they can VIEW them from anywhere and from any character on their account. This would probably need to be saved locally by the client and, so, a given snapshot would only be available on the same computer on which it was taken.

[3] When viewing recipes or crafting items, allow user to specify whether snapshots should be taken into consideration to see what salvage is available to make the recipes: Allow them to selectively enable other characters, whether or not to use SG base snapshots, and so on. Recipes should show whether all items are available or not and whether the user has to take any special action (such as visit the vault or log on to another character) to make any of them.

[4] Later feature: allow snapshots for the CURRENT character's salvage/recipes/crafted items to be taken without visiting auction house, vaults, and bases (when the player decides that he wants to view the snapshot, the client interrogates the database[s] without the character actually going there). The snapshots for alternate characters on the same account will be unaffected and still be whatever they were when the alternate character was last visited.

[4a] Later feature: if possible, allow users to query availability and price history on the auction house at the time of viewing the log. This would not involve actually buying or selling anything but should allow user to see what is available and what items have been going for without actually going to the auction house. This could be especially useful at stores for seeing whether you should sell to a vendor or auction it.

[4b] Later feature: if possible, show prices stores will pay for items when at auction house to assist in determining whether to auction it or vendor it.

[5] Later feature: allow automatic snapshot when logging a character out if desired by the user (via an option) -- don't want to waste time if player doesn't use the feature.

[6] I think any attempt to update the snapshot of one character while on another character even on the same account will probably be too difficult but it would be nice.

[7] BIG CHANGE - LATER FEATURE:

[7a] Create a wish list of desired recipes by dragging the recipes into a list. The client will track what items the user needs, what he already has (again users can control which snapshots are used -- only use current character and no SG base salvage? fine!), and what still needs to be acquired. Note that the recipe itself is also considered an item ESPECIALLY for sets.

[7b] Provide a mechanism for users to enter estimated prices for salvage, recipes, and crafted items to determine whether it is cheaper to make an item or to buy it.

[7c] Allow users to prioritize recipes on a given character and between different characters on a given account so that users can be presented with tables of instructions such as ("send <number> of <itemname> from current character to <other character>" or "acquire <number> of <itemname> -- not available from any alternative characters" or "dispose of <number> of <itemname> -- they are not used by anything you want"). The list needs to be prioritized so that items which are few in number but needed by many recipes don't get used to make low priority things.

[7d] Provide two priorities for each recipe: one if you have everything you need for a recipe and the other for incomplete recipes (to reserve rare salvage for crafting even more rare or expensive items).

Well thats my brainstorming for now. I am not sure if I communicated everything I intended and will probably need to modify the idea in the future. The keypoint is really to provide more information to the user and to set up a roadmap that can be incremented in stages as CoX build plans allow (implementing all of item [7] would probably be very complex and expensive though I think it would be worth it -- the question is whether enough other paying customers would agree to justify the cost of the changes to the DEVS).

I welcome any constructive criticism especially regarding how to simplify the concept but provide the same functionality.

Thanks.