Managing your storage has always been an aspect of WoW. For most players, this means keeping your bags open enough to take in loot, and your bank organized sufficiently to find that item you stashed away a few weeks ago. But for anyone wanting to get into large inventory for auction house sales, or stocking up items in preparation for an upcoming content launch, you need more storage than your main character can provide. Here we’ll go over mass storage options, and compare them to see the best storage value in TBC Classic.
Bank Alt vs Personal Guild Bank
Your two means of gaining a lot of new storage are to either create a new bank alt and/or a personal guild bank. Both have pros and cons worth considering, in addition to their cost differences. And you can always do a bit of both.
Bank Alt
Bank alt with 16-slot bags
- Easy to setup
- Mail between your alts is instantaneous
- Low instant storage space, but easily and affordably expandable
- Requires constant logging in and out to switch characters
- Without an addon that tracks inventory across your account, you’ll lose track of what is where
A bank alt is the standard answer to getting more storage space through WoW. You create a new character, run them to the nearest capital city, send them some banks and a bit of gold and you’re good to go. You use four bags on the character and buy and use an additional seven bag slots connected to the bank.
Now in TBC Classic (and going forward into WotLK Classic), there is no longer a limit to the number of characters you can have on one server, beyond the 50-character limit per account. This gives everyone plenty of bank alt creation space.
Personal Guild Banks
Personal guild bank in TBC Classic
- Lots of instant storage space
- Great organization with labeled tabs
- Can be accessed by multiple alts
- Requires more effort to get setup
- Highest gold per slot ratio for the later slots
Guild banks aren’t just for full-sized guilds. Any player who can round up enough signatures to start a guild can then have their own, personal guild bank. The setup effort and cost are more, so you want to do this option when having central storage for multiple alts and built-in organization is a priority for you.
To create a guild you need to buy a charger (Stormwind or Orgrimmar guild building) and then get nine other players to sign it with a non-guilded character. Typically you offer a small bribe for signatures, then kick everyone out once established. To invite several of your alts into the guild you’ll need to either ask a friend for help or have a second WoW account.
Cost Per Slot – How To Find the Best Storage Value In TBC Classic
When comparing different-sized bags and bank storage options you want to focus on cost per slot to find the best value. This is your total cost in gold, divided by the number of new storage slots you’ll receive. It is also good to keep your total storage needs in mind and have a maximum spending limit. But the cost per slot will do the final narrowing down of options for you.
Comparing New Storage Options
| Storage Upgrade | Slots | Cost | Cost Per Slot |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bank Alt w/16-slot bags (includes bank w/o added bag slots) | 112 | 20 gold | 0.18 gold |
| Bank Alt w/18-slot bags (includes bank w/o added bag slots) | 120 | 120 gold | 1 gold |
| Guild Bank Tab 1 | 98 | 100 gold | 1.01 gold |
| Bank Bag Slots w/16-slot bag (all 7) | 112 | 146.1 gold | 1.3 gold |
| Bank Bag Slots w/18-slot bag (all 7) | 126 | 321.1 gold | 2.55 gold |
| Guild Bank Tab 2 | 98 | 250 gold | 2.55 gold |
| Guild Bank Tab 3 | 98 | 500 gold | 5.1 gold |
| Guild Bank Tab 4 | 98 | 1000 gold | 10.4 gold |
| Bank Alt w/20-slot bags (includes bank w/o added bag slots) | 128 | 1360 gold | 10.6 gold |
| Bank Bag Slots w/20-slot bag (all 7) | 140 | 2491.1 gold | 17.8 gold |
| Guild Bank Tab 5 | 98 | 2000 gold | 20.4 gold |
| Guild Bank Tab 6 | 98 | 5000 gold | 51 gold |
| Mooncloth Bag | 16 | 5 gold | 0.31 gold |
| Netherweave Bag | 16 | 5 gold | 0.31 gold |
| Imbued Netherweave Bag | 18 | 30 gold | 1.66 gold |
| Primal Mooncloth Bag | 20 | 340 gold | 17 gold |
| Primal Mooncloth Bag (pre-patch) | 20 | 100 gold | 5 gold |
Cheapest Option
Sticking with only bank alts is your cheapest option. But remember, you’ll need to log on and off the different characters to access their inventory. Sticking with 16-slot bags each alt will give you 224 slots of storage for 0.74 gold per slot.
I prefer Mooncloth Bags over Netherweave Bags for my 16-slot bags. Even if Mooncloth cost a little more the ability to trade or sell them later presents a great value.
Hybrid Option – Recommended
I go with a hybrid option, where I use both bank alts and some guild bank tabs. If you have one bank alt with 16-slot bags and buy 2 guild bank slots you’ll get 420 slots of storage for 1.23 gold per slot. Or get 3 guild bank slots and still be less than 2 gold per slot.
Don’t Go Too Big
Using 20-slot bags right now is a terrible value. After the WotLK Classic pre-patch, I expect the cost of Primal Mooncloth Bags to drop a lot. And once WotLK Classic itself has been out for a couple of weeks you can look at Frostweave Bags for possible upgrades. But until then avoid them.
Likewise, you should consider your needs before committing to buying Guild Bank tabs 4 through 6. They each double in price but give the same additional storage. The ability to organize and share across alts is great, but you’ll get less value out of them than a full-sized guild will. And those guilds get to split up the cost among 25+ players.
