As the title states, here me out. Sorry if this is too long, a TL/DR version, skip the first 3 paragraphs.
Now I understand this might be a popular idea, and I also understand it’s probably a vehemently hated idea. I also don’t believe this was Anet’s initial vision when Gw2 was created.. the “play how you want to play” focus. Sometimes things, IMO, are essential to both game longevity, economy stabilization, account security, and overall play experience.
An example, D3; I don’t believe Blizzard’s vision was to have a game where gold couldn’t be traded, but alas, that’s the road they took. When they had a system in game where players can financially benefit, what better reason to hack someones account or bot?
Now I admire Anet’s vigilance in keeping up with the banning of botters as I rarely have seen any since I started playing over a year ago, but in light of recent activities, people are still vulnerable despite having taken the maximum amount of precautions. Now given Anet’s 1 account restore rule, it really works in favor of the hackers because you ban someone, they hack someone else to start again. Aka, you ban a gold botter account, they now hack a legit player and start again; legit player left screwed.
The way I see it, what a better way to discourage a hacker/botter than to take away their very reason to commit such activities in the first place; stop gold from being traded. It can still be used on the trading post to purchase, but as far as trading from one person to another, IMO, that should be stopped. I know this has advantages and also disadvantages, but I think there is a workout for the negative aspects.
I think some rules would need to come into play to make it work (which I think would also help/stop item flippers on the trading post).
1. Make gold un-tradeable from 1 player to another, it can still be used for the trading post and in-game purchases
2. All items traded on the trading post exchanged from player to player become bound to their account (sorry flippers). This includes everything: Weapons, Armor, Materials, consumables, siege, etc. I craft something, sell it on the TP, whatever the buyer bought, it’s now bound to their account. I mine a stack of platinum, mail it to another player, if they accept it, that stack of platinum is bound to their account. Anything they craft with their account bound mats, becomes account bound itself. Crafting the platinum to make darksteel, you guess it account bound. The account bound darksteel used to forge whatever item, account bound as well.
3. Account bound items can still be salvaged, but the mats themselves will still be account bound and cannot be sold. Items that are not account bound and salvaged, can have their mats sold.
Seems like a good way to ensure a healthy/stable economy, as well as, protect people from being hacked. Why hack when there is literally nothing you can do to benefit from it?
The negatives?
Possibly Guild banks…
Guild leader and whomever they appoint can access the banks gold and items. The gold in the guild bank, basically acts like a bank account for the Trading post. For example, the guild bank has 1000g; when either the guild leader or those they appointed access the bank, there is an option to click on the trading post. They now see they have 1000g available to make purchases off the TP (siege and consumables). These of course become account bound, but who cares, who else is usually going to drop siege and food on the battle field than your commanders?
If the guild leader or people appointed are hacked, what can the hacker do? Anything they purchase off the TP is account bound, so they can’t do anything with it. They can’t pillage the gold, as it’s un-tradeable. At worse, they might be able to salvage some exotics and mail the mats to their account, which of course is completely useless. Even if the hacker is malicious and wants to destroy/salvage everything, why can’t Anet just restore the account? The economy isn’t affected due to un-tradeable gold, as well as, all items and mats becoming account bound (can’t double up your items on a rollback if you give them to your buddy to hold. I believe Anet’s current 1 account restore rule is due to how it affects the economy.. well, problem solved.
What are other’s thoughts on this? I’m also curious if Anet has ever thought about making gold un-tradeable so to speak, which would probably make their lives infinitely easier.
(edited by DeadlySynz.3471)