Ouch!
02-09-2013, 05:29 PM
Not as official as some of the other news, perhaps, but a translated post on the official forum (http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/threads/14967-Translations-%28JP-to-English%29?p=956357&viewfull=1#post956357) confirmed that any equipment with any soul bonding points on it will become exclusive to that character and untradable.
For those unfamiliar with soul bonding, it is the process by which you turn a piece of equipment into material. Exp. you get while wearing any piece of gear is converted also to soul bonding points. So any equipment you have actually used in battle will no longer be available to trade or sell to other players (presumably, you will still be able to sell it to NPC shops).
This will arguably make leveling from 1-49 more expensive as you now cannot expect to make back the cost of equipment from lower levels. Fortunately, if the alpha was any indication, at least for your first job, quests provide so much of the gear you need that this should not be a huge issue anyway.
On the upshot, this is very good for crafters and gatherers, and given that Square Enix is trying to put emphasis on both crafting and gathering classes as legitimate pursuits, I'm not too surprised to hear about this decision. This effectively removes most equipment from circulation by making equipment a consumable good. Like materia-melding, which removed equipment from the market by introducing high failure rates, thus driving up the demand and lowering the supply for such items, this will help mean crafters aren't diluting the value of the item they're crafting every time they produce it.
For those unfamiliar with soul bonding, it is the process by which you turn a piece of equipment into material. Exp. you get while wearing any piece of gear is converted also to soul bonding points. So any equipment you have actually used in battle will no longer be available to trade or sell to other players (presumably, you will still be able to sell it to NPC shops).
This will arguably make leveling from 1-49 more expensive as you now cannot expect to make back the cost of equipment from lower levels. Fortunately, if the alpha was any indication, at least for your first job, quests provide so much of the gear you need that this should not be a huge issue anyway.
On the upshot, this is very good for crafters and gatherers, and given that Square Enix is trying to put emphasis on both crafting and gathering classes as legitimate pursuits, I'm not too surprised to hear about this decision. This effectively removes most equipment from circulation by making equipment a consumable good. Like materia-melding, which removed equipment from the market by introducing high failure rates, thus driving up the demand and lowering the supply for such items, this will help mean crafters aren't diluting the value of the item they're crafting every time they produce it.