Not having 1 more row of inventory space has gotta be intentional

We'd be able to tetris items in our inventory much more efficiently. We'd be able to stack 2 2x3 items, 3 2x2 items, and a 2x4 with a 2x2.

Surely someone at GGG has considered this and they decided to stick with what is for some reason. Maybe because it creates this 'friction' I keep hearing about?

That's not even asking much. Make it another MTX. I'd pay $5 for 1 more row of space to reduce porting to town with 40% of inventory space unused and still being unable to pick up an item

Learn to play teatris (lol, it's a joke)

It's been a long while since i last played D2, but i could swear they literally just copy implemented that inventory for the most part? Thats all. Much like most things in this game, that really are not that far off.

IMO, aside from some cool 'league' content over the years, POE's greatest achievement and 'bring it' moment, to the ARPG genre, is all about Skill Gem + Skill Gem Support + Mix Match / Combos, etc.

Sure there were games like D2, and others, that uses sockets, runes, etc. But the skill / support thing... Huge new innovative idea! Now, here we are in POE2, and they removed that damn near completely by implementing a limit to gem use. I'm not sure i see much diversity with this chosen path at all. But we'll see.

That one thing (skill / support / sockets) put it at the top. And sadly, all this time later, no one has really moved beyond that in any given direction much at all.

+1

But i doubt they will ever change that, the devs philosophy is that every little thing must have a downside to it

It is very much for friction, for the same reason as we have such a large variety of item sizes. It stopped being for realism many moons ago; the original game evolved to be one where people rush maps (often with a nearly full inventory) and generally only pick up single slot (stackable) currency or the rare single-slot item.

One more row would also make the player inventory exactly half of the space found in a standard tab.

What I'd love to consider in POE2 is being able to break down items in inventory (replacing the salvage bench and disenchanting).