Feedback:User/Bubbinska/Item Rarity Values

For the purposes of clarity, in this suggestion page I will use "Item rarity" or "rarity" to refer to the color of an item's name (white, blue, purple, gold, green) and "quality" to refer to the power of the modifiers on the item (ie. a high-quality mod has near-max stats, for example 20/19 sundering or 20/20 sundering).

The current system for determining Item rarity is not indicative of an item's actual quality, but rather its quality when initially dropped, spawned or otherwise looted. Blue items have low-quality mods, Purples have mid-quality mods, Golds have high-quality mods, and greens have fixed, usually-max mods (exception for non-max greens). This is a useful system for determining if it's worth picking up, identifying and possibly selling an item, but it also has problems - because an item's rarity is not changed when the mods are upgraded to max, and because players naturally desire the "top-quality" item. This means that a blue item with exactly the same stats will be far more difficult to sell than a gold item, despite there being little-to-no difference in the items' actual function. It is too late in Guild Wars' life to reasonably expect such a change to be implemented, so I am suggesting that Guild Wars 2 adopt the following system from day 1:


 * An item's name color is evaluated based on the quality of the mods applied to it, just like in GW1. The change is that whenever a new mod is applied, whether overwriting an old one or simply adding a new one, the item's rarity is re-calculated based on the new set of mods on it.
 * Taking GW1's mod system as an example, a max or near-max mod would provide +4 or +5 "rarity points" (from here on called RP), a mid-range mod would provide +2 or +3, and a low-quality mod would provide +0 or +1 RP.
 * When a new mod is applied or an item is spawned by loot, the mods on it are used to calculate rarity, and the name is colored appropriately. An item with 3 mods (for example a sword with Pommel, Hilt and Inscription) would need 13-15 RP to be given a gold name, 9-12 points to be given a purple name, and 1-8 for a blue name. Focus items, Shields and other items that use only 2 mods would go on a scale of 1-5 blue, 6-8 purple, 9-10 gold.
 * I assume such a system is already in place for loot spawning, as Item Rarity is determined by the quality of its mods, but the main change would of course be to add a re-evaluation of the item's rarity when a new mod is put on it.
 * Additionally, when ctrl-click "pinging" a character's weapons, the text could be colored to show the item's rarity. This suggestion is not related specifically to the item rarity calculation but rather for vanity purposes.

Pros
 * An item's rarity becomes a better indicator of the current state of is mods in trade (no more "clean gold" items, only near-perfect golds)
 * Reduces the number of criteria that need to be satisfied to have a "sell-worthy" item, removing item rarity from the equation and leaving just skin, requirement and mods.

Cons
 * More server calculations
 * Please post ideas on the talk page