Heirloom items are Bind to Account, scale with character level
by Michael Gray 
Sep 11th 2008 at 1:30PM
I've a few alts. Actually, I have enough alts that my Guildmaster has chided me for trying to be a one-man Guild. I often create the alts to help friends level, but there's only so many hours in the day -- I can't really make sure every single alt has valid gear for their level. I'd like to be more effective on level-appropriate runs, but usually these guys are just tramping along on whatever quest gear happens to be available.
The new Binds to Account gear is going to be incredibly helpful with that issue. You purchase these items with dungeon tokens (like Badges of Justice), but you can pass them around between characters even after use. (You just can't give them to other account-holders, they're only good for your characters.) Tigole calls these Heirloom items.
The really cool thing about them, however, is that they scale with level. You can pick up the Dignified Headmaster's Charge, and use it at level 80. At that level, it gives you 93 Stamina. When your 80 gets an upgrade, pass the Charge down to your level 1 Warlock. For that guy, it'll give only 2 Stamina.
The other neat factor about these Heirloom items is that their models are based off beloved old world items. The Dignified Headmaster's Charge, for example, is an item model familiar to those who farmed Darkmaster Gandling. So, we get to see some of the cooler looking items back in play again.
Yeah, I'm pretty excited about this.
[Via MMO-Champion]
Filed under: Items, Analysis / Opinion, Blizzard, News items, Expansions
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 4)
Cetha Sep 11th 2008 1:37PM
this is AWESOME!!! There aren't words to describe how happy this makes me as someone with 6 70's and a serious case of alt-itis..wheeee
Tarmo Sep 11th 2008 4:52PM
Alt-itis?
Inflammation of the alt?
Eternalpayn Sep 11th 2008 8:17PM
LOL, that's always what I say when people mention that. Anyway, you have no idea how excited I am about these items.
jbodar Sep 12th 2008 3:32AM
I prefer "altaholism".
Saelorn Sep 11th 2008 1:38PM
I hope that the item remains equivalent to a green-ish quality of the appropriate level, or else this will introduce some awkward situations.
"Hold on, you need a mage for this instance instead of a priest? Just give me a couple of minutes to mail over all of my gear."
Heenk Sep 11th 2008 1:45PM
The only gear available in this way are weapons and shoulders though.
Alootrinn Sep 11th 2008 1:46PM
At level 80 the weapons are equivalent to blue drops from level 80 instances.
ash Sep 11th 2008 3:28PM
If the items are equivalent to blue lvl 80 dungeon drops are they pretty much only meant to pass on to your alts? I know I would save whatever badges I have for purple loot and maybe afterward if I had extra tokens I would get something to pass onto my alts. This system looks unwieldy right now.
Aler Sep 11th 2008 1:38PM
I wonder if they'll be cross faction? I'm not big on alts, but I have a horde Warlock and an alliance Priest I enjoy. If they could swap gear, I'd be very happy.
Riley Sep 11th 2008 2:52PM
I'm going to go with no, because you can't mail across factions
Justin Sep 11th 2008 3:09PM
I bet they will given that PvE realms allow one account to play horde/alliance
V Magius Sep 11th 2008 10:26PM
Justin, I'm going to have to disagree with you. I think Riley is correct. The only way to transfer anything cross-faction is a neutral AH. I can't really see them changing the AH rules to allow soulbound/heirloom items. The only way to get it cross-faction would be to change the mailboxes themselves since you can't trade them to yourself.
Eric Sep 11th 2008 1:39PM
Wow this change is wicked! I wonder what the aspect of twinking is if this change goes live, heirloom items to twinks hah!
Chen Sep 11th 2008 1:40PM
OMG i think i just tinkle myself a little.... Hooray for the altaholics!
"There are three kinds of players in WoW: the hardcores, the casuals, and the altaholics!"
Taeous Sep 11th 2008 1:41PM
Honestly, I'm not a big fan of this idea. I think Blizzard's shooting themselves in the foot with this one. Half of the addiction to leveling an alt, or even a main, is that you get nifty upgrades from the quests you do. Virtually no one plays the game for the questlines alone. You don't say "ooo i get to kill 20 hogs" you say "ooo i get this blue item from the quest".
Also, as you level, it's nice to see your gear actually change. Sure it's nice once you're in your T6 on your Bear Mount for it not to change because that's a status symbol. But as you're going around leveling it's refreshing to see your model change when you get upgrades.
Blackhorn Sep 11th 2008 1:44PM
It'd be cool if the look of this heirloom gear evolved with your level (like your vehicle in Crackdown). The gear would continue to pimp itself out as your level gets higher. Because it would just suck to have your new level 1 walking around in something that looks like tier 7.
Well. Wouldn't suck for you, but for everyone else :b
Linkage Sep 11th 2008 2:14PM
Truthfully, while leveling I don't choose my quests based on the rewards. Most of the time the rewards aren't upgrades or even able to be used. I seriously doubt this is going to break people's interest in leveling.
Barth Sep 11th 2008 3:28PM
Not so sure about this. Firstly, many of the quest rewards in vanilla WoW really leave you scratching your head, wondering wtf they were thinking. There are a few classic blue items as you're leveling but mostly, quest rewards are crap, with stats that do nothing for you. You're much better off buying "of the bear/eagle/monkey/etc" stuff off the AH for your alts than using the current quest rewards. If you're into plate with lots of spirit though, they have you covered. Rewards get much much better in BC, but still these items look to be only shoulders and a weapon, so it's not like you'll be using nothing but these types of things.
Balasan Sep 12th 2008 5:13AM
Not in my case. I spoil my alts terribly. Case in point, my hunter, who has enchanting and engineering (I even had the engineering goggles made for her at level 62). Heck, both my mains (paladin and druid) contribute a hell lotta money for my hunter; having played a healer and tank the change of pace to DPS made me love my hunter that much more.
So yeah, since I'm not much of a warrior guy, maybe if my pally can help support my lvl 40 warrior with gear upgrades, I'd play her more.
Birkal Nov 7th 2008 7:22AM
Well that is not quite true... I for one say yey I get to kill 30 talbuks when Im about to do the quests in nagrand I know it might sound wierd but i actually like those grinding quests