Guild Wars 2

Once I learn a recipe I should be able to use it on any character at the required level. When I came back and learned basically everything else is account bound I assumed that meant any learned recipes too. Also they use laurels so I don’t see why something that expensive/time gated isn’t account bound, along with the fact that the equipment is.

The recipe item is account bound. The unlock is not.
That is consistent with everything else.

If you’ve unlocked the recipe on a character with a high enough level in the right crafting discipline, you can just craft the item on that character, bank it and then take it out on the character you need.

If you unlocked the recipe on the wrong character expecting to be able to use it on a different character, then you have, basically, done the wrong thing. You could try submitting a support ticket, though, to see if you get could the recipe refunded – I’ve heard of support helping with things like that, when players have made an expensive mistake. The worst they can do is say no, so it might be worth a try.