This post was published 9 months 23 days ago which may make it out of date. This does not mean the information is wrong, or useless - it is a warning just in case!

Bank alts are one of the oldest forms of inventory management, being used long before WoW even existed. There are other names used for this form of inventory management, the most common of which – especially outside of WoW – is ‘mule’.

The idea is simple; if the inventory of one character is not enough…make another! Each additional character increases your maximum total of inventory space in a linear fashion.

These characters are often unleveled and are used solely for storing goods, although there are exceptions.

What are the Advantages to Bank Alts?

Cost

Bank alts offer an incredibly cheap form of inventory management, although the cost soon starts to mount up should you try and buy all possible bank tabs. Full costs will be detailed below.

How much storage?
Every new character gets a 16 slot ‘backpack’ bag for free.
You also get an additional 4 spaces, which can be filled with a bag each.

Finally you have your bank, which has a free 28 inventory slots.
You can then purchase an additional 7 bag spaces, which can be filled with a bag each.

How many inventory spaces, and for how much?
Obviously the amount of slots available depends on what size bags you use, and how many additional bag spaces you purchase.

Netherweave bags are the cheapest option, and not just because they sell for the least amount of money! You see, a good way to ‘price’ extra inventory slots is to work out their ‘Cost per Slot’. If you price Netherweave Bags at 10g each, and Frostweave Bags at 80g each, then each slot of a Netherweave is 62s50c, whereas the Frostweave is 4g a slot.

This becomes a considerable amount of money when you are buying all 11 bags (4 normal + 7 bank).

Assuming;

All bank bags purchased, and all bags of the same type.

Netherweave Bags = 10g
Frostweave Bags = 80g
Glacial Bags = 650g
Crafting Bags = 100g

As you can see, even with 32 slot crafting bags, Netherweave Bags are cheaper per slot gained. This means that if you have the character spaces and don’t mind the extra work then you are always better off making a new bank alt rather than buying bags bigger than Netherweave for your existing bankers.

Remarkably this is true even if you can get 32 slot crafting bags for 25g each! They would have to be 22g or less to be more worthwhile. The only crafting bags seen under 22g each commonly are Inscription Bags. Just remember, if you can get the crafting bags for under 22g each then they are definitely worth using instead of neatherweave.

Wrapping Up

Bank alts are definitely a great way to store items, and to let you in on a secret sneak peak of the future post… they are always cheaper per slot than every Guild Bank tabs, if you use Netherweave Bags at 10g or less each!

In conclusion – always use Netherweave Bags, and always create more bank alts rather than increase to larger size bags.