One of the biggest pet peeves of players currently playing Black Desert Online is its restricted inventory. Jumping into the game can be harsh if you're used to the almost unlimited bag and bank space from other MMORPGs. A character starting out in Black Desert Online has to cope with a mere 24 inventory slots and a similarly small storage unit per town and city. At first, I ground my teeth wondering if I should buy an eight-slot inventory expansion for real money in the cash shop which is an okay option if not exactly cheap.
Instead, I decided to sit it out and see what happens the further I progress and learn about inventory management in Black Desert Online. Turns out, there's quite a few things to greatly improve the situation as the game progresses without an additional buck spent, so here's my guide to inventory management for those who are still struggling.
The Black Desert Online Guide to Inventory Management
1. Understanding Storage
First and foremost it's important to note that you do in fact get storage warehouses in all the cities and greater towns in Black Desert Online for free. These storage options aren't linked and are used as individual warehouses by your active workers from the same area. They can also simply be used as additional bank space by yourself. If you have nodes connected between cities, you can also have your goods transported from one storage to the other at a good price.
Then there's a handful of storage expansion quests in cities such as Velia, Heidel and Calpheon which are impossible to miss if you do all quests in those areas. More importantly however, you can greatly expand your warehouse space by investing contribution points via the housing system and leveling up storage from there. As contribution points are never lost, you can decide to boost storage all over the place and always cut down when you don't need it any longer. It's worth experimenting and checking out what different houses offer in terms of storage expansion.
A very convenient thing is renting warehouse chests to put in your home. You can get them from the respective warehouse NPC for 10 contribution points. Set them up next to your crafting station and access all your wares from there henceforward without any running back and forth!
2. Making Use of Alts
Black Desert Online is all about alts. Secondary characters can boost your various undertakings with their individual energy pools and they come in handy as personal mules, too. While alts share storage room with you, they do not share bag space. Since most items including armor never get soulbound in Black Desert Online, this means you can transfer almost anything to your alts' inventories which is effortless thanks to the in-game character swap option. Simply transfer items by putting them in storage and then picking them up again on a different character. So far, I use one of my alts for all my cooking materials and another one for gems and armor.
3. Inventory Expansion Quests
According to several sources, there are currently a total of 31 additional inventory spaces available to you by questing and progressing further in Black Desert Online. There's a spreadsheet here made available by a crafty player in case you require guidance, so make sure to pick everything up as you go along. A few of the quests have pre-requisites so it's important to always do all quests in a new area, including fishing quests.
4. Horse Wagons
Wagons and carts along with mounts offer additional inventory space. What some players may not realize is that you can load up your wagon with items and then check it in at the stable master without losing anything. This means you can basically expand storage in every town that has a stable master by checking in a wagon there, or three. Handy, right?
Information is King
Considering there are plenty of things you can do to make things better for yourself in Black Desert Online, I feel like this whole inventory business isn't nearly as bad as it initially gave the impression. Sure, it's not quite as easy or convenient as we're used to nowadays but there's a sense of progression and earning passage that I appreciate about the game. I think there's also a degree of mindset adjustment required when it comes to collecting everything and keeping every single item you acquired while crafting or killing monsters: don't do it! Vendor often and plenty unless items are really rare or beneficial to you in some way. Don't hold on to everything "for later" because it is impossible to do or have everything in Black Desert Online. The sooner you realize that, the better. Good luck!
