My
bags and my bank are always in a state of utter disaster. You may
think I’m exaggerating but I’m pretty sure that a
state of emergency could be declared on my inventory. I am constantly
in a frenzy trying to find items that I know are in my bags or bank and
seem to have vanished into some void.



So I was more than a little intrigued when ArkInventory came up for me
to review. I have never tried out any kind of inventory mod and I
honestly had my doubts about them. So I downloaded the mod with
reservations, and expected to be disappointed and quickly revert to
using the standard bag interface. Was this the case? Or was I
pleasantly surprised? Find out below!



style="float: right; width: 340px; height: 300px;" alt=""
src="http://www.tentonhammer.com/image/view/80966">Mod
Name:
ArkInventory

Category:
Bags and Inventory

Author:
Arkayenro

Version
Reviewed At: 3.02.34

Homepage:
href="http://www.wowace.com/addons/ark-inventory/"
target="_blank">Click Here



Ark Inventory (AI) is an inventory mod (as the name implies) that is
based off the no longer functional EngInventory. AI seeks to replace
the standard bag, bank, and even key ring interface to make it more
manageable, and also to help players find items with ease. AI is
useable from installation and no real



Instead of being forced to open each of your individual bags, AI will
open all your bags into a single large bag grid, and your bank will now
also appear in a similar frame. From this frame you can easily see how
many bags you have, and how many items are in each bag. If you hover
over the bags, it will highlight which items are currently in that bag.
You are also able to view your mail, bank, items you are wearing, your
mounts, and tokens quickly and easily, although you cannot modify them
all.



The mod also gives you a nifty little button that will automatically
restack similar items in your bags with just a click.  You are
also able to view the bags and banks of any other character on your
account, however you cannot interact directly with them. AI also
provides a search function that easily lets the user find any item in
their bags as long as they have a general idea of what it’s
called.



style="float: left; width: 400px; height: 216px;" alt=""
src="http://www.tentonhammer.com/image/view/80967">In
all these aspects I was very pleased
with this mod. I loved being
able to use it right out of the box so to speak.
I finally was able to
find everything I needed in my bags by simply typing in the first few
letters of the item name. I was also easily able to check other
characters, and even my own bank to see if I had materials instead of
being forced to log from character to character as usual. Packrats
(such as myself) will love this mod as it will make their lives
significantly easier.



There is however sadly enough a downside to this seemingly excellent
mod. AI attempts to organize your items into categories. When
downloaded, AI automatically assigns your items to default categories,
and it’s really not a terrible thing. However if you are
looking to modify those categories, then you may be in for more than
you bargained for.



Maybe it was just me, but I could not figure out how to configure the
categories. Even after reading the information available on the website
it just didn’t work out for me. I tried various things and
spent quite a while trying to make the changes I desired,  in
the end I just ended up frustrated and no closer to changing things
than when I had started. While this may have been exclusive to me, I
really feel like work needs to be done to make the category
configurations more user friendly.



style="float: right; width: 232px; height: 166px;" alt=""
src="http://www.tentonhammer.com/image/view/80968">That’s
not to say that everything in the mod
was hard to
configure. Simply typing /ai config will open up a menu that will
easily allow you to change many small things about the mod, such as
font, and size of the bag box. Ultimately this helped take away some of
the bad taste in my month the struggles with configuring the categories
left with me.



Overall I was satisfied with this mod. It did what it was supposed to
do, and made my bags and bank far more efficient and easier to sift
through. While I was disappointed with some of the configuration, the
overall ease of using the rest of the mod, and the other perks it
brought to my gaming experience far outweighed any negatives. I
personally am going to continue using the mod, and I would definitely
recommend it to any of my friends struggling with inventory management.



Share your experiences with ArkInventory with us on our forums!