Guild Wars 2

I tried searching the forums for this answer before posting this, and I could not find an answer; I apologize if this has already been asked.

I am coming back to GW2 after being absent for 9 months, and I noticed something new about equipping gear/weps. Now when I right-click a piece of gear in my bag there is an option that says: “Turn into a Skin” or something like that… How does this work?
I have collected a lot of rare skins and items from the different festivals and world events, and I am afraid to equip an item to one of my characters and then later find out that I don’t want it on that character but on a different character…. So, in fear of losing my items, I have 3 bank bags full of skins, gear, weps, etc. I’m running out of room I want to be able to use the items, but I don’t want them to get stuck on just one character forever Do skins, gear and weps. bind to a character once I equip them or can I take them off and bind to another character afterwards (Account Bound)? Also, what is this new “create skin” button mean? Does it allow all my characters to have that look by using a transmutation stone OR is that look just available to one character?

Thank you in advance

Cicada.3596:

( this option only appear on equipment/skin that have no stat )

That is wrong. This option will appear on any item that has a skin you don’t have unlocked yet, but would require any sort of binding (account-bound on equip, soulbound on equip) to use. Having an item in your inventory that is either not bound ever (like white rarity items), or bound on aquire (like stuff you buy on the Black Lion Store) will automatically unlock the skin.

When the skin is NOT automatically unlocked, you can do so by rightclicking and then pressing “Unlock Skin…”. This will unlock the skin but ALSO Accountbind the item (note: Even “Soulbound on Equip” items will be accountbound, but will still soulbind when you equip them on any character).

Now, what exactly ARE skins:
In your Hero Panel, you now have three menus where you previously only had one. Equipment is like the old equipment panel. You click a slot, and then get a list of items that you have in your inventory that would fit that slot. The Dye menu is just like the old one as well.
The “Wardrobe” Menu will give you an interface much like the Equipment menu, but when you select something, it will display all the SKINS you have unlocked. Skin-unlocking is account-wide, and skins in the wardrobe are not consumed when you use them. Applying a skin will change the look of an item. It is essentially the same as transmuting one item’s look onto another item, but now you don’t have to keep the item anymore, and you can use the skin on as many items as you want once you have it unlocked (this works even with Legendaries! you can make any Greatsword look like Eternity, if you have the skin unlocked). Applying a skin will, however, cost one Transmutation charge. These are similar to the old Transmutation Stones. You can buy them in the Black Lion Store, but you will also get them by playing the game (I’m drowning in them as a PvP player).

EDIT: Shortened the quote to clarify what part of Cicada’s statement was wrong. The rest was completely correct. Salvaging and Equipping does unlock the skins from items that did not automatically unlock the skin, just like using the rightclick menu option does.

It will allow all your characters to have any skin u have on your wardrobe ( to check your wardrobe simply go to nearest bank on lowest tab ) as long as u have transmutation stone.

To make any skin available on your wardrobe u need to either salvage it , equip it, or unlock skin on wardrobe ( this option only appear on equipment/skin that have no stat )

Both of you guys are GREAT!! Thank you so much for taking the time to read and respond to my question; you are so kind!

Let me see if I got this straight… Let me make up a random scenario…
Scenario 1: Okay, let’s say I just picked up a helmet from some random mob. The helm is a white, lvl 80 item and the stats are crap-o :P But, I think it looks really cool, so I want to use it as a SKIN. The helm is not yet soul bound, or account bound, or anything bound because I just picked it up off the ground :P At this point, I can right-click the item and select “UNLOCK SKIN…” from the dropdown menu. When I click this option, the helm becomes ACCOUNT BOUND. Now, all of my characters can use the SKIN of this item…. though… the helm was lvl 80 and my other characters are newbs… Are they still able to use the skin? And, I still have to use a Transmutation stones to apply the skin to the current armor/wep equipped.

Scenario 2: What if I have an item that I want to use for its looks AND its stats, but I also want my other characters to have the SKIN of that item available…. For example, say I found an awesome-looking lvl 80 chest piece with great stats. I want my lvl 80 to equip it, but I also want my lvl 5 character to have the same look (skin)… Would I be able to right-click the chestpiece and select “Unlock Skin..” for it to become available as a SKIN but then also be able to equip it on my lvl 80 character?

Also, every time I select “Unlock Skin” on an item, it appears in that “LOCKER” place… That thing that you can go to when you visit The Mists… Is this what the “Wardrobe” is now in my Character (H) menu??

Thanks again!!

Scenario 1:
Skins have no level requirement, so your lowlevels will be able to use the skin.

Scenario 2:
Unlocking a skin does not modify the item (apart from Accountbinding it). You can unlock the skin and then use the item on a level 80 char, and ALSO use the skin on lowlevel chars.

Locker and Wardrobe and Transmutation stones:
The “PvP Locker” you were referring to does NOT exist anymore! You can now view your Skin locker at any bank NPC (it’s underneath the Crafting Mat Collections Tab). It shows you all skins in the game, and which of those you have unlocked.

The wardrobe accessible in your character screen allows you to change the skins of any item you have equipped. You can do this anywhere in the world. It also consumes Transmutation charges.

Transmutation STONES (and these other things, Transmutation crystals? Forgot what they were called) do NOT work anymore. If you use them, they will be consumed and you will get Transmutation CHARGES. These have the advantage of not taking up space (they go in your Hero Wallet, like Gold, Karma etc).
There were two different Transmutation items before (sub-80, and 80). This is not the case anymore. Any skin can be applied to any level weapon (of the same type) for exactly one Transmutation Charge. When converting, you need 3 of the sub-80 Transmutation items to get one charge, or one level 80 Transmutation stone/crystal/whatever they were called. (This leads to weird situations where you have some Sub-80 stones left over… I have one, no idea if they can be used in any way, or maybe I can get 2 more from somewhere, like exploration or story, but I doubt it. I still keep that one as a memento though xD)

If you salvage an ordinary item that will also unlock the skin.

Wow! NO MORE PvP Locker or Transmutation Stones. Now, there’s a “Wardrobe” and Transmutation Charges! haha This game is always changing; it’s hard to keep up with everything, but it’s what I like about GW2 (keeps things interesting)!

Ty Ty Ty! I sincerely appreciate everyone’s help! Your responses have really helped clear up my confusion