Blue Posts about Heirloom Items in WotLK

We really like the idea of the heirloom items and thought we would post all the blue posts we could find regarding this subject.

The following are quotes from Blizzard posters:
You guys have discovered our Heirloom items. These (as you know) are Bound to account, which means you can mail them to any character on the same realm. They also scale with level. So you can mail these to a level one character and it will have appropriate stats (although slightly uber) for about 10 levels and then the item scales in power again, all the way up to how you’re seeing it now.

We’re also going to add some Bind on Account non-scaling items for higher level alts. in the future.

1) Heirloom items Bind to Account. This means you can mail them between other characters on your account of the same faction.

2) Heirloom items’ stats scale to the level of the person wearing them.

3) Heirlooms’ power is equivalent to a blue item of the characters level.

4) Heirloom armor pieces will transform based on the type of the gear the character is capable of wearing. That is to say Heirlooms that are Plate on a level 80 character will be mail when equipped by a level 1-39 character who can wear plate. Items that are Mail on a level 80 character, such as Herod’s Shoulders, will be equippable by people who can wear Mail armor at level 40.

We wanted to add something to the game for people interested in trying new classes or who just generally love playing alts, and what’s more fun than using an Arcanite Reaper on your level 1 Warrior

We are intending to expand where we use the “Account Bound” flag over time but for now Heirlooms are the only items that work this way. We also intend to expand the types of ways that Heirlooms can be attained but for now they are only purchasable via Emblems of Heroism (the new BoJ) and Stone Keeper’s Shards, which are attained by killing any dungeon boss in Northrend while your faction controls Wintergrasp.

As for enchanting these items, they can only be the recipient of anything that you could put on a level one item.

Originally we wanted these to be transferable to any character on any account you own. Unfortunately we were unable to make this happen for Lich King. Ideally I would like to see these transferable to any same server same faction character on any account a player owns. If this becomes possible in the future it is certainly something we will look into. I own five accounts myself so I’m right there with you all.

Heirlooms do not cross any boundaries except those that you would expect them to. Plate items become mail pre-40, pail items become leather pre-40. A cloth Heirloom is still a cloth item. Currently the only Heirloom types available are weapons, shoulders, and trinkets, in time we will expand on this.

As far as how they are attained, your point is definitely something that we are aware of and after the system has had more time to solidify itself in game we will consider expanding the number of ways that they can be attained.