The High Inquisitor: How Can Bags Carry All Our Crap?
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pixiestixy on Friday, October 9, 2009 - 42 Comments Tags: Lore, bag slots, bags, bigger on the inside, bottomless bag, carry, endless pockets, game mechanics, heavy, high inquisitor, inventory, lore, reagents, slot, space, weight
pixiestixy on Friday, October 9, 2009 - 42 Comments Tags: Lore, bag slots, bags, bigger on the inside, bottomless bag, carry, endless pockets, game mechanics, heavy, high inquisitor, inventory, lore, reagents, slot, space, weight
The High Inquisitor is a new regular column at Project Lore that seeks answers to the greatest mysteries of Azeroth. Each week, the inquisitor will attack a previously unanswered question and attempt to explain the unknown. But she won’t rest until all plausible explanations are explored. The best, most probable comment(s) will be highlighted with the next edition’s inquisition.
First off, a look back to last week's question on why dwarves are portrayed as drunk Scots.
Azurienatei had this answer that may explain: "In both Irish and Scottish lore there is a type of fae, something between a leprechaun and what we think of as a dwarf, that wears red clothes, is heavily bearded, and often likes to trick humans in taverns and inns by drinking unattended ale. Given the demographics and of course the penchant for drinking these creatures were eventually molded in with dwarves."
Most of you seemed to agree that WoW hasn't strayed much from the stereotypical view of a dwarf, which has evolved over time. Thanks for the input!
Now onward to this week's inquisition! Last week was somewhat of a philosophical view on a topic that could be at least somewhat explained with real life folklore. So this week, let's take a look at something that, at least when thought of through a realistic magnifying glass, would be pretty much impossible; Just how do us WoW toons carry all that crap around in our bags while criss-crossing the world and fighting our enemies?
Here's a look at what I have in this 22-slot Dragon Hide bag:
Super-Scientifically Estimated weight: 452 pounds. And that's just one bag! Now multiply that by 5, and also consider all the armor and weapons we carry on ourselves that's NOT in bags. That's easily a TON, literally, of stuff we're carrying around. All without feeling any effects whatsoever.
When put into a game mechanics perspective, it's certainly a matter of making it easier for a character to get around as they level or go about their business without having to stop at a bank or vendor every 10 minutes. But let's think beyond mechanics and decide whether the question could be answered with lore/in-game explanations.
Consider the Bottomless Bag and Pack of Endless Pockets. Sure, they each have a limited number of slots, but not necessarily a specified amount of space. Could it be that, like a magician's hat (or Time Lord technology for all you Dr. Who fans) the bags are bigger on the inside? And if that's the case, then perhaps it's true for all equippable bags. But there's still the matter of the sheer weight of all our gear. Even if it fits in a bag, it's still incredibly heavy! Or is it? If the size of an item is compressed, then you could conjecture that the weight could be, too. Perhaps this also helps explain why a giant lance fits in the same slot as a tiny vial of poison.
Or perhaps the answer lies not in the bags, but in the super strength of adventurers. Our toons are all so strong and fearsome that we manage to carry everything on us and it doesn't effect our fighting whatsoever.
So here's where you all come in! Do you accept either of my possible answers? Have a better proposition? Let me know, and I'll feature the best comment(s) next week.
First off, a look back to last week's question on why dwarves are portrayed as drunk Scots.
Azurienatei had this answer that may explain: "In both Irish and Scottish lore there is a type of fae, something between a leprechaun and what we think of as a dwarf, that wears red clothes, is heavily bearded, and often likes to trick humans in taverns and inns by drinking unattended ale. Given the demographics and of course the penchant for drinking these creatures were eventually molded in with dwarves."
Most of you seemed to agree that WoW hasn't strayed much from the stereotypical view of a dwarf, which has evolved over time. Thanks for the input!
Now onward to this week's inquisition! Last week was somewhat of a philosophical view on a topic that could be at least somewhat explained with real life folklore. So this week, let's take a look at something that, at least when thought of through a realistic magnifying glass, would be pretty much impossible; Just how do us WoW toons carry all that crap around in our bags while criss-crossing the world and fighting our enemies?Here's a look at what I have in this 22-slot Dragon Hide bag:
- 49 Drakkari Offerings
- 15 Vrykul Bones
- 12 pieces of Salted Yeti Cheese (yummy)
- 8 Core of Elements
- 8 Dark Iron Scraps
- Sayge's Fortune #29
- A Horde LANCE (I refuse to believe that this would fit into a conventional bag!)
- Green Brewfest Stein
- 933 (!!) Frostbite Bullets
- 2 Dalaran Fireworks
- 9 Sewer Carp
- A lone piece of Frostweave Cloth
- Tabard of the Explorer
- Frost-Rimed Cloth Gloves (Need to sell!)
- 20 Heavy Frostweave Bandages
- 14 Slabs of Salted Venison
- Tabard of the Ebon Blade
- 6 Relics of Ulduar
- 891 Terrorshaft Arrows
- 4 Knothide Armor Kits
- Grom's Tribute
- Brewfest Dress
Super-Scientifically Estimated weight: 452 pounds. And that's just one bag! Now multiply that by 5, and also consider all the armor and weapons we carry on ourselves that's NOT in bags. That's easily a TON, literally, of stuff we're carrying around. All without feeling any effects whatsoever.
When put into a game mechanics perspective, it's certainly a matter of making it easier for a character to get around as they level or go about their business without having to stop at a bank or vendor every 10 minutes. But let's think beyond mechanics and decide whether the question could be answered with lore/in-game explanations.Consider the Bottomless Bag and Pack of Endless Pockets. Sure, they each have a limited number of slots, but not necessarily a specified amount of space. Could it be that, like a magician's hat (or Time Lord technology for all you Dr. Who fans) the bags are bigger on the inside? And if that's the case, then perhaps it's true for all equippable bags. But there's still the matter of the sheer weight of all our gear. Even if it fits in a bag, it's still incredibly heavy! Or is it? If the size of an item is compressed, then you could conjecture that the weight could be, too. Perhaps this also helps explain why a giant lance fits in the same slot as a tiny vial of poison.
Or perhaps the answer lies not in the bags, but in the super strength of adventurers. Our toons are all so strong and fearsome that we manage to carry everything on us and it doesn't effect our fighting whatsoever.
So here's where you all come in! Do you accept either of my possible answers? Have a better proposition? Let me know, and I'll feature the best comment(s) next week.
Reader Comments (42)
I think Marry Poppins helped designed the bags.
Mary*
It's probably that the inside of the bags in part of another dimension, so we aren't physically carrying the items but we can reach in and grab them.
A lot of bags work that way in other RPGs too.
one name: Santa Claus. our bags are made of enchanted cloth and magic. just like Santa, that's all the explanation necessary.
its....a game....who cares about whyy our toons can carry all of this crap, we just do! (although, i have thought about it before, and just lost interest after a few minutes ^^)
Well, when we log off of our characters, they immediately drop everything a let out a HUGE sigh of relief and rest before we log on again and they have to put on their bags
I would go for Dimension enchanted bag so you don't carry your stuff but just the portal to it
Not to mention the fact you can now pull a multi ton pachyderm complete with two riders each having bags of purchasable merchandise and a seemingly unlimited supply of funds from which to purchase others merchandise out of your ass in less than 1.5 seconds.
u know some ppl make this a joke like during a pre-BC joke "not unless u have some kodo in your pockets" but what i find ridiculous is 2 fit ..... say a Onyxia head in your backpack (i think there was something like that started a quest) without even showing itself.
"Intact Basilisk Spine"s stack in 10s iirc. And the basilisks were about the size of a cow.
Assuming 1x24 slot bag and 3x22s
(24x10)+(22x3x10)+(16x10)=1060 Intact Basilisk Spine.
That's a lot! Must be the heaviest sets of items :-)
I think it's like a D&D bag of holding like they go into another realm and they feel weightless Id guess all bags in game would have this property though I still dont know how you carry like 5 backpacks at once without your character looking like a school kid with way too many books
dude i am sorry but your expecting to much of this game its good for its fun its good to past accouple of hours but its not good for logic it does puzzle the mind but the fact is its just something that doesnt make any sance and is their for making our life easier think of this way you go to buy some weed but weed is illigal the state but the vendor sells it to you anyway you dont ask any questions you injoy the weed this is the same thing their are lots of things that dont make any sance as how (ex: a guy is swinging at you with 5 foot long sword and hitting you yat you still have all your body parts a 30 foot high mob stopming its big feet around how is your not a pankake from teh first time it hit you the fire mage abillity called ignite as in light on fire a normal person would die if was lit on fire but not our toons no matter how you hit something or something hits you, your or the something allways dies the same way the logicly in the words of newton every action has a diffrent reaction so how is it we die the same way every time how is it we are able to walk though what is supostu to be a solid being how is it we could run for hours at a time and not get tired thats some strong cardio our toons must have and did you notice the bags arent shown you would thing we woudl able to see 5 bags i mean how we even carry that many bags hands free for wapons we should wailling on them with 500 pound bags) and tahts jsut the tip of the iceberg
I say our bags each get a limited space in another rhelm, explaining why some bags get more space then others. This other rhelm I shall call, the "item" rhelm. I propose we have a new 5man in this "item" rhelm.
@cocopuff
From what I could translate, you ought to lighten up a bit yourself. :)
My answer: The crafters of Azeroth are very skilled.
@cocopuff Newton's 3rd law is in fact that 'Every action has an EQUAL and OPPOSITE reaction' those two are fairly important to a physics student =P
It's easy to answer this interesting riddle (Or is it ? ).
The bags are like the "wizards hat" as it we're. You can store even a full sized kodo in it without being submited to the weight or size. It's just magic , let's not forget that World of Warcraft is all about ( 98 %) magic so it's pretty obvious that the bags are "magical bags.
I havent found the display bags check in the interface yet. my char isnt visibly carrying any bags, so carrying all those items shouldnt be a prob either. /shrugs
duuh they are magic like doraemon's bag!
Yeah in Dungeons and Dragons (one of the influences behind WoW mind you) they have things like pocket dimensions and special bags that could carry in essence an army's worth of stuff. Its no big stretch that special bags such as Frostweave, Mageweave, and Runecloth (to name a few) would be magically imbued when being created to provide enough room and space for a near infinite amount of items. Otherwise Blizzard would be providing us with our own freaking pack mules or Sherpa to carry our things (especially in the frozen North)
And btw, ZOMG I got mentioned!!! *squees!*
I do believe that we all remember the Project Lore Episode of The Oculus 3.1 where we learn the answer and where all the gear really goes...
"What happens is that they give you a little doll, and then you like study it and then go 'i could pull that out of my...'"
lol so why do we even need any bags
I like the dimensional bag idea stated previously. It might just be that when the objects enter the said, all properties of weight go away, I've thought of this idea a lot, how can we carry 2 mounts and a flying mount plus all our profession tools and armor in bags we don't even see. But I guess it is just a game, but still fun to wonder!
I meant "when the objects enter the bag"*
Actually what happened with the bags is this: a bunch of Titans and Old Ones (collectivelly called Grinches) got together and said, "Look, a bunch of folks are gonna run around killing junk for spits and giggles. If they think things like basilisk spines and dragon heads are gonna be a big mystery when they fit in their itty bitty bags, what are they gonna think when they finally decide to come kill US? We'll make things even worse by dropping junk that concievely couldn't fit into the largest bag in the universe and it'll cause people to puzzle and puzz till their puzzlers are sore. Sadly because they spend a lot of time playing this game, they'll never think of something they haven't before!"