I’ve spent quite a lot of time in the game now playing using my main character. I was aware of bound/unbound items and have been hoarding chests and not opening them just to make sure that I have enough materials for my alts by the time I create them.
A few days ago, after reaching T2 on my main I finally created another character, used power pass to get it up to level 50 and set my eyes on increasing its gear score. First thing that I was happy to see was that every in-game currency is roster wide, that is:
- Crystals
- Silver
- Gold
- Pirate Coins
- etc.
EXCEPT for Harmony Shards, of which I have 14k+ on my main. Obviously my main being in T2 I can’t use that currency anymore as I now need Life Shards. I don’t know where I got so many of them but that is really not the point. I earned them during the time that I spent playing the game and I thought they would be available to all my other characters too. Turns out that no, it’s yet another hidden thing that you only discover when it’s much too late and all that stuff is completely useless now.
Same goes for healing potions - we all know how many of them we get by just playing the game. I’ve accumulated around 2000 of various low level and high level Healing Potions and surprise, surprise they are obviously bound to my main and my new character doesn’t have any healing capabilities on it as I’ve not done any story missions or side quests. What’s the solution - start wasting gold and brew these potions in my stronghold?
So much stuff of what drops is split into two stacks. All shards can be bound and unbound. I have 440 Destruction Shards in my main that is nothing but garbage now even though I would love to use them to upgrade my alt.
Why? What is the reason for gating everything behind obscure mechanics and limitations? Why can we have unbound materials drop during chaos dungeons alongside bound? Why is the stuff that I earn in game not usable by all my characters? Why are skins character specific but pets and mounts aren’t? Make pets and mounts bound to characters too if you think that players should be deprived of any freedom.
It must be some weird Eastern mentality where you’re given as little as possible thinking that such drip-feeding will somehow trigger money spending instincts in you. Guess what - if I wasn’t planning on spending any money in this game apart from the initial founders pack then twisting my arms won’t change my mind. All it’ll do is make my experience so much less enjoyable than it could’ve been.
I really think this whole bound/unbound needs to be reviewed. I can understand stuff that’s bought from Mari’s shop should be bound for obvious reasons but materials and currencies that I acquire by just playing the game should be available to my whole roster. As it stands having one alt is already painful, I just can’t imagine what it’s like to have more.