Whats going on with SE ?

[Talraen]

Theres a difference in between searching for a single item for a request versus asking for a whole 140 (including empty spaces)

You're right, there is a difference: searching each time is far less efficient in the long run.

The server doesn't know where your item is, so it has to search blindly. In a bag with 140 items, assuming you have one stack of the item, it's going to have to load an average of 70 items to find the one you need. (And note, sorting is on the client side, so you can't assume the data is orderly at all on the server side.) If you use one item, that's better on average. If you use a second item, you're breaking even on average. Use more than that and you're behind. Even loading all 140 slots the first time you use any item is a much more efficient method. Loading them all up front is far better than either method for a variety of reasons.

With how clunky it is to organize things, not really. Pulling stuff off multiple retainers one at a time so I can craft something is not better than simply crafting it. In this day and age, a unified storage system and appropriate filters/searching would be better than having six different inventories (because housing storage is also a thing).

Added complexity isn't a good thing. It isn't accessible when doing things like crafting.

I mean, it's better than nothing. But it's not better than what could have been done without the server limitations being so severe. Of course, if they didn't make each raid tier have six different currencies that aren't counted as currencies, that might help too.

This is all true, but it's been true since 2.0 launched (to say nothing of 1.0's intensely less convenient inventory system). They aren't "adding complexity," and nothing is getting worse. In fact, between the extra 40 inventory slots and the stack size increase, you can hold many more items for crafting than you used to be able to.

So yes, it could be better, but the idea that it's going to do harm to the game when it's exactly the same as it's always been is a reach.