having trouble figuring out item title/icon colors

Hey guys and gals,

I'm a returning player from years ago and I'm having trouble figuring out what different colors there are for item names and icon backgrounds, and what they mean. I'm pretty sure they didn't exist when I left, but that was a long time ago.

If there's some kind of up to date manual that explains all this please feel free to point me at that. I would actually prefer to spend an hour reading such a thing than jumping in and figuring out as I go, but I couldn't find one.

Question 1: I think I've figured out that when you examine an item, red name text means that you can't use it. Is that correct?

2: When I examine something with a recommended level higher than my own the stats show as something like 22+6 with the +6 in gold text. I think this means that I'd get 22 now and 28 total at the recommended level. Is that correct?

2b: However, going through the tutorial, when I examine gear I'm wearing with recommended level of 10, but my level is only 5, I don't see any gold numbers or +anything. I just see the current stats. How can I see what those items will eventually grow into?

3: Most of the gear for my new characters has a green name in the examine window, but my old raiding druid from 2005 has purple names on all of his gear. Is this a rarity index, like in WoW? And if so, what are the different rarities that I might find?

4: When I look at my raiding character's stats page, all his core stats say something like 628/400 +0 with the +0 in gold text. What is that +0? Is it warning me I'm not getting benefit from the augments I had that are now prestige? (Still silver level right now.) Or is it something else? All my gear is required/recommended 65-70, so that shouldn't be relevant.

4b: I read that augments are now prestige items, but my new characters have already gotten a few low level ones that weren't. At what level do augments start becoming prestige items?

Hi and welcome back!

1)The gold numbers are heroic stats, they add over the stat cap. To see the full stats of a rec/req item you click on the button that says modified in the item window (I hope that made sense)

2)Purple is augs that are prestige items that only gold accounts get stats from. Yellow is gear that your char can't use (usually also due to prestige issues but can also be due to race/class/level.
Green gear is good to go.

3)The +0 part of your char sheet is the heroic stats part. I'm sure someone out there has a better understanding of exactly what heroic stats do as I haven't researched that part yet!

4) Not all augs are prestige I am not sure of the break down because I have gotten prestige augs in low level LDoNs though I do believe almost all of the high level augs are prestige.

1. Yes, red means you can't equip it, due to race/class/deity/level.

2. As Deavirtus stated above, gold numbers are Heroic Stats, They'll come into play at higher levels. You can start expecting them around 75/80 I would say.

3. Green is usable at your level, by your class, race, and deity.
Red is not usable by your current character, because of one or more reasons: level, class, race, or deity.
Purple means the item is augmented with a prestige augment which is not granting you stats, but you are receiving stats from the base item.
I believe yellow is simply not usable based on Prestige status. (Citation may be required here.)

4a. A little more in depth on this one. With the example of 628/400 +0, the first number is your total in that stat. The second is your stat cap. The third is your Heroic Stat. So that 628/400 means that you now have 400 in that stat, but if your stat cap were to go up, you could have more, with your current gear. Now, if that was 628/400 +10, you would have 410 in that stat, as well as the bonus granted by 10 of that heroic. (Varies by stat, and the effects of some are debated to this day.) Alternately, if you had 400/628 + 10, you would still have 410 + the heroic effects. (The Heroic bonus isn't just a cap boost, it adds to the stat itself.)

4b. Currently, most augments are Prestige. Blanket exceptions to this include any Hotzone Augments, augments quested in various hotzones (there are several quests starting in the Plane of Knowledge for these, and some are worth the work) and a handful of augments listed in the Hero's Journey in your achievement window. (Also quested, and these, too, are worth the effort, if you plan to stay silver.) There are also various augments that have no real explanation for not being Prestige, except that the devs either missed them or were just feeling generous. (Example, some of the CotF augments are not prestige.) It is fully possible to have a full set of non-prestige augments in your equipment, though I can't say for certain at what level there are enough to fill all slots.

You can easily get full set of 10ac or better augments for your entire suit of armor that is not prestige... Some of those will be 20AC... and these are Hot zone augments and are easy to get. The only slot that is hard to get is Charm slot, which you fill by doing the Explore the Depths Quest in Corathus Creep to get the Slipgear Gem which is nice 10ac aug for charm slot. Everything else can be filled within a day or two just going to hotzone and killing at entrance till drops happen.

Thanks everyone for the help. I really missed out last time around only hanging out on my guild forums and never coming here.

Story for the day: I was just hanging out in the Commonlands (whoa, great new look!) with my new lowbie when I accidentally aggro'ed a will-o-wisp. I had a brief flashback of "OH **** that's immune to ... wait nevermind, the tutorial already gave me a magic weapon."