Originally when I read your idea, I thought it was a little pointless. I thought that it effectively would allow the same functions as the current system does, but the more I thought about it the more I like or even crave this idea.
This could absolutely be done. There is one immediate issue I see here, (Obviously you can’t define the proposal and every single change- I get that). That issue is in the way that items are digitally stored. If we are effectively lowering the amount of an item per slot that can be carried, the database of a server would massively increase… We’re talking severe bloat levels… But I have a suggestion for that… later.
To carry the idea forward where this might work better even than the current system, I suggest having a set number of slots somewhere between 50 and 150 in comparison to our current 200. More slots could absolutely work in the system you propose, but I’m going to use 50 slots for the sake of an example. As an example item/material, I’ll be using Stone. Right now, you can carry 1000 Stone in one slot, which I am going to cut in half down to 500. That means with no Expertise, a player could carry 25,000 Stone with 500 less each slot taken.
Current base carry capacity at level 0 is 95 (please correct if I’m wrong there), and that means in comparison to the roughly 1550-1600 Stone you can currently carry at that point, you would be able to hold a lot more. This might alleviate some of @SabunoHakia’s initial concerns, making basic inventory management “easier” on the player in some ways and harder in others.
To move on from this, every point of Expertise would increase the base slot capacity values of each of these items by 20% of that base value. That means that somebody with 20 Expertise would be able to carry 125,000 Stone. From that point, you can keep Beast of Burden in-game, but instead of it being the end-all-be-all “I can carry everything!” Perk, it would double the existing carrying capacity for true max farming runs. (In this example, we’re talking 250,000 in a single run which is 50,000 more that you can currently carry for a maximum run.) Obviously these values could be tweaked to appropriately address the actual amount of items you think creates balance, but I consider this concept to make Expertise more worthwhile in general.
This idea could also apply to other items like potions and arrows, and that would give Expertise far more control over how a battle loadout might look. Again, as some examples, we could be talking about one slot of arrows going from 10 arrows to 100 or 2 potions to 20. Those base values sound small, and I assure you, they are… But using your slots tactically could really be interesting and to your advantage here. A warrior with no expertise could absolutely live off that 50 slot limit with those base numbers, but they would need to think about their inventory carefully. The one thing that comes to mind as a problem is running out of a stack. A new auto-feed from one stack to the next of the same item would almost be required for this, but I think if done properly, that is the perfect remedy.
Now, to get back to the server/save file bloat that I was talking about before. All storage will benefit from the maximum slot size (or perhaps more). There is a PvP “Too much storage!” argument to be had here, that much is true. Still, I think that the benefits are huge to the game for players unwilling to fully commit to Expertise, to the tactical approach to inventory management, and to the performance of servers.
I’ll give one more rundown for Stone with the same system here but different numbers as before (to accommodate for the “value” of a slot for a thrall, weapon, or armor):
- 50 slots: 500 slot capacity, +20% slot capacity each point of Expertise
- 100 slots: 250 slot capacity, +20% slot capacity each point of Expertise
- 150 slots: 150 slot capacity, +20% slot capacity each point of Expertise
- 200 slots: 125 slot capacity, +20% slot capacity each point of Expertise
Please let me know if you would have any suggestions to this system, because I would really like to attempt to create a mod around this concept!
Also, just a straight-up thank you to you, @Taemien, because while I don’t know if I can create a mod like this, you’ve really given me a strong interest in trying.