Ode to the Embersilk Bag

Ode to the Embersilk Bag

There is a rich history of bag making in the world of Warcraft. From it's earliest days, players demanded larger and larger bags to carry around their "stuff" and to store even more stuff. That included finding storage for, well, more bags. Note: I am not including specialty bags.

When the Autumn Tea Green guild moved into Stormwind, several dozen empty bags drifted into a corner of Tab 4 of the bank. Many of the smallest bags (with as few as 4 slots) were destroyed or sold during the consolidation. Which was a shame, actually, because bags are a part of the game's heritage going back more than a decade. Of course bags that small are essentially useless, but some felt the need to hold on to a few. The smallest bag the guild has is an 8 slot woolen bag. "Back in the day" that was a very serviceable bag. The bag wasn't soulbound and so could be shared and re-shared with new characters. Over time came the 12, 14 and 16 slot bags, none of them soulbound. That's why these bags continue to be used despite what now is considered a small bag.

Bind on equip bags (which can't be shared once they are used) are pretty much the standard now in sizes from 18, 20, 22, 26, 28 and ultimately, today's 30 slot Hexweave bag. Did you notice the gap in that line of bags? Yep, for some reason no 24 slot bag was created. That has now been rectified in Legion with the 24 slot Silkweave Satchel.

Happyface, and now Chaitee, have been making gold off of crafting and selling the two most used bags today - the 20 slot frostweave and the 22 slot embersilk. The question for Chaitee now is whether those two bags will still be money makers, or will they fall to the silkweave or even the hexweave?

After a hard look and a bit of wispful sadness, I an worried that two of the best gold makers in Chaitee's arsenal is going to fall - ie, frostweave and embersilk bags are doomed, and here's why.

The largest bag, the 30 slot hexweave, cannot be crafted in bulk and requires expensive mats. It will continue to cost around 1000 gold per bag. This bag is for those with the gold and the need for the largest utility bag in the game. The 24 slot Silkweave bag, on the other hand, has no such limitations. The bag needs only one easily obtainable mat - Shal'dori silk. It takes 90 silk, at a price currently at about 7g per silk. Do the math and the bag costs 630 gold to craft. BUT, the cost of silk started at around 12 gold and has continued to fall as more gold farmers flood the market. Expect the price of the silk to continue to fall. Embersilk bags are at a current high of 399 gold. However, when shal'dori silk reaches 4 gold per silk (and it will) that price falls to 360 gold, lower than the 22 slot embersilk, which requires more expensive and harder to farm materials. It's a losing battle - the 24 slot bag is going to reign supreme, and it will severely blunt Chaitee's bag business. She can and will make money selling the silkweave satchel (as soon as Sista learns to craft it!), but she will have to eventually find other money makers.