From the Lodestone post here: http://na.finalfantasyxiv.com/lodest...edac3a1c7d46bb

"The current game design prevents high level equipment from gaining spiritbond and becoming bound even if they are equipped to defeat low level monsters or perform crafting or gathering.

This design is scheduled to be changed during an upcoming maintenance so that equipment will become bound if they are used in battle, crafting, or gathering at least once.

Please be very careful as used items cannot be restored after the change is implemented with the maintenance."

I just thought I'd post this here in General Discussion since a lot of people may not look at the Lodestone. I know in the hotfix details they said "Changes will be made to the way equipment is bound.", but it didn't say what those changes were. Apparently this is it.