Let’s talk about rarity systems in MMOs! The first one I remember was Ultima Online’s, and it was text-based without colors and hardly counts. I don’t think MMOs really had anything resembling a commonly accepted pattern for item rarity until World of Warcraft, which honestly is clearly modeled from Diablo’s. Since WoW’s original system, some MMOs have tried to tinker with it and change the meaning of each color – with varying success.
WoW’s system is still grey, white, green, dark blue, purple, with orange, tan, and light blue on top. Other games have tried to rearrange it and add new colors, like Guild Wars 2’s bright pink for ascended. My favorite one is probably the rainbow one for resplendent items in Trove.
Personally, Guild Wars 2’s makes the most sense to me, and yet I still use “purps” from WoW as slang, so it’s lodged in my head.
What would you say is the best item rarity system in MMOs? Line up the colors and tell me your order!
Every morning, the Massively Overpowered writers team up with mascot Mo to ask MMORPG players pointed questions about the massively multiplayer online roleplaying genre. Grab a mug of your preferred beverage and take a stab at answering the question posed in today’s Daily Grind!
