Gold, Purple, Blue... What's the difference?

I'm still kind of new to the game and was wondering if there was any actual difference between the name colors of certain items. I am a w/mo and have come across a few max dmg purple swords yet I still use my regular white named sword because I have added upgrades to it.

I suspect that it has something to do with salvaging the item or possible the value of it but I am not sure. I was just wondering if there was any practical advantage to using, for example, a gold item instead of an identical purple one. Thanks for any of your help!

Father Callaghan
w/mo 20

It has to do with rarity and bonuses:

Blue weapons:
-Common yet enchanted (most of the time)
-High chance of weapon component
-Low chance of two weapon components
-Minimal chance of a Maximum power component
-Damage Bonuses in the 5% to 10% range max.
-Special Chances in the 5% to 10% range max.
-Costs:
>To player: 100 to 1k(Max Damage).
>To NPC: 50 to 100

Purple weapons:
-Uncommon enchanted
-High chance of weapon component
-Fair chance of two weapon components
-Low chance of a Maximum power component
-Damage Bonuses in the 11% to 15% range max.
-Special Chances in the 11% to 15% range max.
-Costs:
>To player: 2k to 5k(Max Damage).
>To NPC: 125 to 175

Gold weapons:
-Rare enchanted
-Very High chance of weapon component
-High chance of two weapon components
-Fair chance of a Maximum power component
-Damage Bonuses in the 16% to 20% range max.
-Special Chances in the 16% to 20% range max.
-Costs:
>To player: 7k to 10k+(Max Damage).
>To NPC: 250 to 300+

Hope that helps ^.^ !

Thanks a lot man, that was perfect!

Hi,

So, say that I found something like this:



I could try to sell it for 7-10k?

it really depends on your buyer.

i've found in this game its hard to find market value, and i have trouble selling items a lot b/c i'm not sure of how much their worth.

I doubt you'd get more than 5k at most for that. The damage mod isn't that appealing to most players; most people want the 15% damage while health is above 50.

But who knows? Some people have a lot of money.

Here's the "Murphey's Law" version of items and colour:
Blue Items:
The ones you find most often. These are like the little fish in the pond; they're small but keep poor saps like me fishing.
Purple Items:
Items that, despite their lavender hue, either have no special ability or an attribute requirement over 512.
Gold Items:
Items that you will see once every 50 years or so. They will either be really good, or really bad. The really good ones will have something like a 5:1 vamp mod or a +30 health mod. These mods will turn to iron, wood, or granite upon expertly salvaging them...
Also, you'll never find weapons that match what your character is using. I'm sure ArenaNet has something to do with that.

Yes I totally agree on the colored items.....I have yet to find a weapon I can use -- very frustrating. I'm a monk but find gold axes, hammers and swords (3). Lots of purple hammers and axes too. What the frack am I to do with them?

Gold staffs are useless compared to my blue (yes blue) wand and energy icon. My wand does 11-22 plus 2 bonuses (skill casting I think and something else) and my energy icon is +12 energy and +15 with +45 health. No gold staff can allow that kind of energy bonus -- they are two handed and render energy icons useless.

I wish GUILD WARS would make upgrade components for WANDS and RODS. Also monks SHOULD be able to SPRINT seeing as we're in light armor and nibble folk! Windborne speed helps but it should be a natural bonus that we move 20% faster than others....as long as we don't choose warrior for our secondary.

Ebay! And this thing i have to say in order for my post be posted because ebay is to short to post alone.

Start ebaying stuff and you could find your account locked by ANet. Selling game items for real money violates the EULA.

Haha, well 5k is at least twice as much as I have at the moment. I can live with that.

That's freakin' awesome. I support that 162.5%.

ive never seen any colored weapons... are they post-searing or something?

Well you should see some coloured weapons even in pre-searing. In pre-searing there are lots of blue drops, and all the weapons and focus items you get as rewards for completing quests are blue. You won't see any purple or gold drops until post-searing, but there are plenty of blue ones in pre-searing.

o...

does it actually say what color it is?

The name of the weapon itself in your inventory should be the appropriate colour, as well as any bonuses and/or the 'Unidentified' label.

All the weapons I've seen so far appear to be in white text. Is it a very pale shade of blue?

I personally consider it turquoise, but most people refer to it as blue and so calling it that saves confusion. I'd show you on the forum, but for some reason nearly every vBulletin function you can have is disabled here, including coloured text.

I know several quests in pre-searing give particularly special weapons, for instance, one of the Ranger quests gives a 'Longbow of Fortitude'. If you get a weapon like that, it will definitely be 'blue'. Just compare it against a normal weapon to see the difference in colour, if you're having trouble.