Removing account bound from crafting mats - do you support it?

[Nabbut.7480]

Many players have tons of account bound resources they would like to sell.

[Astralporing.1957]

I think it would be better to discuss every single account-bound item separately. Some have very good reasons for being that way, while others probably could use some loosening in restrictions. And there migh be some good arguments for adding account-bound restrictions to few other items as well.

[Cyninja.2954]

Let's see,

• makes a topic with a subjective titles insinuating that the correct option is the on in favor of "free trade"
• gives 2 short sentences as descriptors, both of which again are highly subjective in favor of one of the pole options

I love this unbiased pole you put up.

Let me help:

• free trade in general refers to international exchange of imports and exports with a goal to reduce barriers in form of legislation and taxation. Kinda does not fit the theme here does it? Well unless you wanted to use the term to suggest a specific vote being more favorable
• account bound resources, as well as some of their derivatives, hold specific value because they are account bound resulting in a time value bonus, most often for the selling party. Making them freely exchangeable could very well reduce the value in such a significant amount that selling them becomes far less useful
• gem store items can be bought with gems, not gold. For anyone who wishes to acquire those items, they can convert gold to gems, then purchase them. It is very unlikely that Arenanet will implement a system which undermines their already in place gem/gold exchange (which in its self serves a purpose)

[Danikat.8537]

@Astralporing.1957 said:I think it would be better to discuss every single account-bound item separately. Some have very good reasons for being that way, while others probably could use some loosening in restrictions. And there migh be some good arguments for adding account-bound restrictions to few other items as well.

I agree. In some cases I'd absolutely support making items tradable (like a lot of account bound mini pets) but with others I think it makes sense for them to stay account bound, like many of the achievement reward skins. I don't think it would make sense to try to get agreement on everything together.

[Nabbut.7480]

Okay edited it!

[Inculpatus cedo.9234]

You are likely thinking about the account-bound materials that you have loads of.Well, everyone else has loads of them, as well. If there were able to be traded, they would be worth next to nothing, as everyone has them.

[Zephire.8049]

Given the January 19th patch where they made a lot of previously account-bound materials and other items tradable but only those items that were generated after the patch, such a change probably won't help like you think it would if you horde account-bound mats with the idea that you can sell them on the TP if/when they become tradable.

If something's still new in the game, they can change all currently existing items without it negatively affecting the market (e.g. Prismatium Ingot). If something's been around for years, that's years worth of items that could flood the TP thus to preserve the market and intended value, a new version that can be traded is added (e.g. Serpentine Jewel). It's just not a good look for a material that's supposed to be mid-high tier to sell on the TP for 1c above the vendor price, which is what would happen with a lot of account-bound mats if the existing ones were made tradable in one fell swoop, which also means it won't benefit people holding onto those materials, either.

[Super Hayes.6890]

Sorry, I hate account bound mats and would love to see them all unbound. I have my reasons! Move along ?

[Danikat.8537]

@"Zephire.8049" said:Given the January 19th patch where they made a lot of previously account-bound materials and other items tradable but only those items that were generated after the patch, such a change probably won't help like you think it would if you horde account-bound mats with the idea that you can sell them on the TP if/when they become tradable.

If something's still new in the game, they can change all currently existing items without it negatively affecting the market (e.g. Prismatium Ingot). If something's been around for years, that's years worth of items that could flood the TP thus to preserve the market and intended value, a new version that can be traded is added (e.g. Serpentine Jewel). It's just not a good look for a material that's supposed to be mid-high tier to sell on the TP for 1c above the vendor price, which is what would happen with a lot of account-bound mats if the existing ones were made tradable in one fell swoop, which also means it won't benefit people holding onto those materials, either.

There's been similar problems with various materials which have always been tradable though. There was a time when you couldn't give away thick leather (literally, I tried and no one wanted it) and many other T5 mats have at various times been hovering just above vendor value. It's the same with a lot of the food. Making it account bound might hide the problem because everyone only sees what they've got, but it doesn't mean there's genuinely more demand for it or that it's more valuable.

[Zephire.8049]

@Danikat.8537 said:

@"Zephire.8049" said:Given the

January 19th patch

where they made a lot of previously account-bound materials and other items tradable but

only

those items that were generated after the patch, such a change probably won't help like you think it would if you horde account-bound mats with the idea that you can sell them on the TP if/when they become tradable.

If something's still new in the game, they can change all currently existing items without it negatively affecting the market (e.g. Prismatium Ingot). If something's been around for years, that's years worth of items that could flood the TP thus to preserve the market and intended value, a new version that can be traded is added (e.g. Serpentine Jewel). It's just not a good look for a material that's supposed to be mid-high tier to sell on the TP for 1c above the vendor price, which is what would happen with a lot of account-bound mats if the existing ones were made tradable in one fell swoop, which also means it won't benefit people holding onto those materials, either.

There's been similar problems with various materials which have always been tradable though. There was a time when you couldn't give away thick leather (literally, I tried and no one wanted it) and many other T5 mats have at various times been hovering just above vendor value. It's the same with a lot of the food. Making it account bound might hide the problem because everyone only sees what they've got, but it doesn't mean there's genuinely more demand for it or that it's more valuable.

Oh for sure. There's also the same issue with most of the PoF mats. But if they switch from account-bound to tradable without retroactively changing everything, they do preserve a demand that can now be fulfilled without the TP being flooded with tens of thousands (if not hundreds of thousands) of sell orders. It's hard to find a balance for items that have been tradable for years without drastic changes that may affect far more than just the specific material demand, but at least if they introduce a material that can now be traded, they can more easily monitor the supply and demand of it and adjust it as needed to where they want the balance to be.

(Of course it being Anet you never know what will happen, but an iterative approach on the surface is a safer approach than allowing every player to dump their surplus at once unless the goal is for a previously "desirable" material that people had to work on to get to be at vendor value on the TP.)

[Eloc Freidon.5692]

Charged Quartz Crystals and Ascended materials are account bound for a reason. The refined materials that lose account bound status works because you have to choose what to refine it into based on value.

You just need to log in regularly to make the account bound materials. Commitment is key.

[Solvar.7953]

I'm for this. There may be some exceptions, but there are also some cases where an intermediary (mithrillium) is account bound, but it then gets transformed to tradeable (deldrimor steel ingot) - I'm not sure what having the intermediary be account bound really does.But just as a general principle, being able to buy stuff from the trading post means I don't need to be concerned about keeping piles because I might need it. With tradeable mats, I can sell them at the trading post when material storage fills up, knowing I can rebuy them if needed (I might loose some money in the process).With account bounds, I'm more stuck of 'I just need to keep them', because I have no way of easily getting them back if I destroy them. Even if they have no/minimal trade value, I can safely destroy those piles knowing I can buy them back for a trivial amount of money.Whether or not Anet can retroactively make all these account bound mats tradeable is a technical issue. At minimum, I would think they could have merchants that let you spend the account bound versions for tradeable versions (they have done similar things to this for other items). I suspect the reason they did not do this in the past is that it would result in a very volatile market.I would also be for a hybrid approach, where for new chapters, materials are perhaps account bound for some period of time (so players are forced to do the content, and it will take X days due to ability to gather mats). But after some number or months (when new chapter is released), such restrictions seem a bit more meaningless, and in some ways detrimental - some materials have limitations on how much can be gathered each day, but some players can not play every day, but may be able to play for an extended period on weekends - account bound mats put them at a disadvantage.

[Luthan.5236]

It is already removed - for a lot of stuff. And for the stuff where it isn't removed ... that stuff is meant to be bound. So others could not just buy it cheap. (Cause it is needed for stuff where ArenaNet thinks it should take some time to gather the resources.)

In the end ... if you took it to the extreme (making everything unbound): A lot less people would play certain maps maybe. Just try to craft something which can be sold. Sell it at an NPC. Or throw it away. (In case the other 2 options are not possible.)

Some changes (someone mentioned a patch not too long ago) they made ... were probably in accordance with their philosophy ... making stuff not too much easier. But reacting to the changes in the game. I think some jewels from Thunderhead Peaks got made unbount. They are not too cheap on the TP and you'd still need the branded mass (much slower to obtain) to make the weapons there. And people still would play the map because of this. On the other hand it probably should not be too much grind anymore in the older maps so newer players can catch up to the old players while still completing a lot of stuff in a reasonable time.

[Tukaram.8256]

I am not interested in crafting and would love to sell off a bunch of the junk in my bank! When a useless item gets one full stack - I just delete any more of it that I find. Account bound materials are just piles of junk. B)

[Veprovina.4876]

Or you can, you know, make something out of those mats and sell that instead?Just a thought...

[Super Hayes.6890]

They said they weren't interested in crafting. I do craft and I hate account bound mats. They waste my game time frankly.

[Astralporing.1957]

@Tukaram.8256 said:I am not interested in crafting and would love to sell off a bunch of the junk in my bank! When a useless item gets one full stack - I just delete any more of it that I find. Account bound materials are just piles of junk. B)Making them not bound would just turn them into an even more of a junk. You wouldn't be able to sell them anyway, because everyone has stacks of those, and thus they would also be selling, and not buying.

[Teratus.2859]

I support it but I agree with others that it should be on an item by item basis.. some items staying bound is fine but there are a good few that should loose the restriction as it's just a pointless annoyance.

The same can be applied to daily timers on crafting as well, there's no need for these locks to exist on some older items.They were fine when implemented to stop people rushing stuff but now they just screw people over and slow down progress for no good reason at all.

[Ashen.2907]

@Inculpatus cedo.9234 said:You are likely thinking about the account-bound materials that you have loads of.Well, everyone else has loads of them, as well. If there were able to be traded, they would be worth next to nothing, as everyone has them.

Bingo.

In general I support the idea but Inculpatus cedo is spot on regarding much of what people would want to sell. That said, I have guildies who never seem to have enough clovers and obsidian shards while I have stacks going unused.

[Khisanth.2948]

@"Zephire.8049" said:Given the January 19th patch where they made a lot of previously account-bound materials and other items tradable but only those items that were generated after the patch, such a change probably won't help like you think it would if you horde account-bound mats with the idea that you can sell them on the TP if/when they become tradable.

That patch looks like it was a response to the complains about accessibility of gear with those affixes rather than being about making account bound stuff tradeable.

[Black Storm.6974]

I would also like to see account bound removed from Ascended equipment, Legendary weapons gen 2, legendary Armor, Legendary trinkets, etc.

That way I can play how I want (to get what I want), just like ArenaNet advertised the game before starting to put in the game a lot of account bound items very difficult to get.

[HnRkLnXqZ.1870]

Although I am in a questionable state where I actually collect Bloodstone Dust, burning more than I can collect, it would kill the purpose of many materials. I've seen it with the Exquisite Serpentite Jewels. A lot of people are so happy you can now buy Divine stats off TP, but I barely find any motivation to play Thunderhead Peaks these days, although I used to enjoy that map a lot.

[Eekasqueak.7850]

Need a third option.

[Tukaram.8256]

@Astralporing.1957 said:

@Tukaram.8256 said:I am not interested in crafting and would love to sell off a bunch of the junk in my bank! When a useless item gets one full stack - I just delete any more of it that I find. Account bound materials are just piles of junk. B)Making them not bound would just turn them into an even

more

of a junk. You wouldn't be able to sell them anyway, because everyone has stacks of those, and thus they would also be selling, and not buying.

Selling them for a copper is better than throwing the junk away. I enjoy collecting materials and have zero interest in crafting. I should be able to sell to crafters. Account bound stuff is just the devs way of trying to force people to play certain areas. I am for more in-game freedom. There is almost nothing that should be account bound, or even soul bound. Everything should be tradeable.

[Pacificterror.7805]

I personally would like to be able to sell any materials I don't intend to use on the TP. Having to obtain them again or possibly purchase them for a higher price later may be a consequence of that unbinding but one that I would happily accept.