Guild Wars 2

In Guild Wars 1, Soulbound (aka Customized) was an effect you chose for a bonus to damage with the weapon. In GW2, it’s something that can’t be put on the Trading Post.

Thing is, we already have this, with Account Bound.

So, I was wondering if there would be something broken about them changing all soulbound items to account bound, then adding a vendor that would let you pay coin to soulbound a weapon or armor for a 5% bonus to stats (with the exception of Ascended and Legendary, which must remain account bound).

The idea would be that it’s a way to get BiS stats but limit the use. Ascended and Legendary would still be desirable for the infusion slots and ability to change stats, but then at least Exotics could go back to actually being all that is needed for end game (outside of high level fractals and WvW).

I’m just not sure what it might do to the economy if you really only needed one set of every weapon and armor weight to trade among characters… but I could see some soulbinding just for the 5%.

This would make getting ascended pointless, or it would become only for fractal players. Seeing as how easy it is to get full exotic this would also kill the economy. Why make ascended when you can pay a few gold for a 5% stat increase.

Then you’ll have the people complaining about all the gold they spent on ascended being wasted. One of the reasons for making ascended was for the 5% stats.

I don’t mean to sound harsh or anything, I can just see this doing more harm than good.

Ascended gear is already acct bound. There really is no reason to keep the rest soulbound.

Ubi.4136:

Ascended gear is already acct bound. There really is no reason to keep the rest soulbound.

Yes there is – crafting and the market. When you make an alt you have to either craft a new set for them or buy it off the TP. If all of a sudden all armour sets were not soulbound and if tradable as well that would kill that totally. You could simply keep your old gear from 1 char and pass it to the next or even sell on TP if tradable. This would pretty much kill any market that may be there for crafters.

In the case of ascended the reason that is account bound is because it takes a bit of time and effort and if impatient a bit of coin to create them. So it is perfectly fine these are account bound. While people make their ascended they will have to use the others in the mean time so they will still have to craft or buy from others. And if you do make alts if it is not the same weight class or correct weapon that you already have, again you have to go through that process so in the mean time, craft or buy again.

I don’t have a problem with the current account/soulbound system

BrotherBelial.3094:

This would make getting ascended pointless, or it would become only for fractal players. Seeing as how easy it is to get full exotic this would also kill the economy. Why make ascended when you can pay a few gold for a 5% stat increase.

Then you’ll have the people complaining about all the gold they spent on ascended being wasted. One of the reasons for making ascended was for the 5% stats.

I don’t mean to sound harsh or anything, I can just see this doing more harm than good.

No, not harsh at all. I put this out there for discussion and feedback.

Like Ubi.4136, I just think Account Bound is enough to serve the purpose of keeping things off the TP. However, if they wanted to keep SoulBound as a call back to GW1 ’Customized", it would be nice if the option was worth considering.

In GW1, it was a 20% increase on damage, however, weapons and armor did not give stat bonuses in that game (the runes in the armor could however). A 20% increase on damage would be insane, which was why I suggested 5%.

Perhaps if it applied only to the Damage or Armor ratings, and did not affect the stat bonuses?

Kylden Ar.3724:

BrotherBelial.3094:

This would make getting ascended pointless, or it would become only for fractal players. Seeing as how easy it is to get full exotic this would also kill the economy. Why make ascended when you can pay a few gold for a 5% stat increase.

Then you’ll have the people complaining about all the gold they spent on ascended being wasted. One of the reasons for making ascended was for the 5% stats.

I don’t mean to sound harsh or anything, I can just see this doing more harm than good.

No, not harsh at all. I put this out there for discussion and feedback.

Like Ubi.4136, I just think Account Bound is enough to serve the purpose of keeping things off the TP. However, if they wanted to keep SoulBound as a call back to GW1 ’Customized", it would be nice if the option was worth considering.

In GW1, it was a 20% increase on damage, however, weapons and armor did not give stat bonuses in that game (the runes in the armor could however). A 20% increase on damage would be insane, which was why I suggested 5%.

Perhaps if it applied only to the Damage or Armor ratings, and did not affect the stat bonuses?

You’re still overlooking the economic impact of this change, which would be way bigger than you think. It doesn’t seem like much, but never having to rebuy or recraft gear for alts is a big deal. Soulbinding and account binding have improved over the years and I think they’re currently in a fine spot.

I don’t see the need.

The entire reason they added ascended to the game is that they found that players were finding it too easy to build a full set of exotics.

I doubt they have any desire to return to a system they designed a whole extra 100 points of crafting to get rid of.