Stupid noob question about weapons

Okay ive read you can add insignias & runes to weapons to like with armor and then there are inscriptions.

What i would like to know is this

What makes a gold weapon so valuable?
How does insignias and runes & inscriptions come together on a weapon?
Can one add more runes and insignias on a gold item than a normal white weapon?

I have salvaged inscriptions i think it is off weapons would it be best to add gold inscription onto a gold weapon or item rather than a other colour inscription cause i take it once you try to salvage a weapon it might get lost.

thanks

ok, sigs and runes are only added to ARMOR. Inscriptions and other mods can be added to weapons...

A "Gold" weapon means that some part - or all parts - of the weapon have a MAX mod on it.

so a sword of 15-22 damage will be a "Gold" sword cause the part that is max is the 15-22. Also a 15-21 damage sword will be gold cause that is considered to be "max" by the game.

Also, people like Gold. If you have a Purple Sword that is say an Elemental Sword of Enchanting 20% and energy +5 for your 55 monk it will work just fine.
However if you want to sell that sword you will be waiting for a long long time unless you salvage the mods off of it.

If you had a GOLD Ele Sword with those mods - a caster mods as it is called with the 20% enchanting and 5 extra energy - you will be able to sell that sword Much faster and for more money. Cause people how have money want to buy the best they can get.

I have a Chaos Axe req10 that I could never sell but I modded it cause the "skin or the look" of it is fantastic. I got it as a drop so I use it. To sell it is a waste of time.
But a Req9 Axe or a Req8 axe you are looking at some nice gold.

So, if I was to mod the sword, I would need a Pommel and a Hilt. If the weapon says, "Inscription" then I can add the appropriate Inscription there.

So a Max sword I would use is a "sundering 20/20 sword Hilt and a 20% vrs Charr pommel while fighting charr...

White items can not be modded only salvaged

What makes a weapon valuable is its rarity and its skin. It's all a question of vanity, so gold (rare) weapon is much more desirable than a purple or blue weapon with the same stats.

Insignias and runes only apply to armor. With weapons, components (modifiers) and inscriptions can be added to change their functionality. Examples: A Fiery longbow of Fortitude will have a fiery bow string (prefix) and a bow grip of fortitude (suffix), Thise components can be (expert) salvaged and applied to other bows. You can change staff heads and wrappings, etc. Weapons can have 1 inscription applied (unless it's from Prophecies of factions) White items never have inscription slots.

Salvaged inscriptions and weapon components (bow grips, axe hafts, etc.) will always be blue. And those components will not change the color of the weapon that they're applied to.

armor = 1 insignia + 1 rune
http://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/Insignia
http://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/Rune

martial weapons and staves = 1 inscription + 1 prefix upgrade + 1 suffix upgrade
http://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/Inscription
http://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/Upgrade_component
http://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/List_of_weapon_upgrades

wands, focus items and shields = 1 inscription + 1 suffix upgrade

snaek has it dead on the money.

His links to the Wiki will really help you out.

If you have any other questions, you can pm me in game and I can try to make it easier to explain by showing you. A S L A N is my IGN. Just add me to friends and you can whisper me no matter what toon I am on.

Insignias and Runes are for armor only. Weapons have "prefix" and "suffix" mods. The "names" of the weapons mod change depending upon the weapon type - for example, the suffix mod for a bow is a "bow grip", for a sword, it is a "pommel".
Inscriptions are used on weapons, but the weapon has to have an inscription "slot" to use one.

The main things that make a weapon valuable are the desirability and rarity of it's "skin" (it's shape/look). The gold version of a weapon (not counting green weapons) is the rarest, so it is the most valuable, but some weapons aren't worth much, regardless of their colour, because they are common and/or undesirable.

White weapons are the most common type and generally have non-max stats (iirc). Whites are mostly merchant fodder - just another way to pick up some gold along the way. Also, iirc, whites don't have an inscription slot.
You can add the same mods to a weapon, whether it's blue, purple, or gold. (Greens aren't moddable.)

Inscriptions (and other weapons mods) don't have a colour. The colour of the text may appear to vary with the color of the weapon it's on, but once they are removed, they are all the same, colour-wise.

Edit - @OP - if a lot of this stuff doesn't seem to make sense, it's because, back in the early days there was actually a real difference between blue, purple, and gold weapons - both in rarity and stats. But, through the years they futzed around with weapon stats, mods, and inscriptions, so much that there is now very little difference between them (plus they added greens). It's easy nowadays to have a blue or purple weapon with all max stats.

Wrrrrrrrrrrong.
You can find for example a gold 12-19 sword with only one NONMAX mod, for example +29 Health OR damage +14% (while enchanted)
Being gold has nothing to do with having anything maxed.

1. A "Gold" weapon will have it's base stats higher than most whites/blues that can drop from the same source and the same or slightly higher base ststs than most "purples" dropped from the same source.
2. A "Gold" weapon will always drop with at least 1 mod.
3. ALL of mods a "Gold" weapon drops with will be above 80% of the given mod's efficiency.

Most white items CAN be modded (exceptions are tyrian/canthan Shields/Wands/Foci). For example a WHITE sword CAN have a pommel and/or hilt added.
A 'white' weapon will become 'blue' after a mod is added to it.

About the "gold" items:

Items are grouped into rairity groups, going from the most common whites to the rarest golds. The higer the rarity, the better the mods on the weapon will be. For example, a purple can only get a +13% damage when over 50% health mod, while the gold can get 14% or 15% mods.

Removable mods can be applied to lower rarity weapons, though, but every 15% over 50% health mod on a purple item was applied later.


In functionality, the rarity does not matter - the requirement, the mods and moddability do. However, there is one thing to consider - GW is an old game. By now, everyone is RICH. Thus, everyone is looking for the best of the best. Therefore, everyone will want to buy only gold weapons, simply because they are not "imperfect".

On the other hand, white items can never be upgraded with an inscription, since they don't drop with an empty inscription slot.

Thats obv.
Thought there's no need to mention it when I talked about upgrades.
Having an inscription slot automatically makes the item at least blue.

Purples with +14% damage mods (above 50% hp) are very common. This mod can be found on purples and golds. Same with other +14% mods and many other mods.

not always true either

Always true for the last couple years. I don't remember exactly when this was fixed (but you can find it in update notes history, it was mentioned there), but for a quite long time since release it was not-so-rare to get a Gold drop without any mod at all. Nowadays golds will always have at least 1 mod, but the mod may be for example just a Fiery Bow String, so after salvaging you get a completely clean item with a gold name.