OGRank - World of Warcraft: loot rarity changes

We have already started working on balancing the equipment in game a bit more with patch 2.0.10 with the corrections made to socketing.

There were some items that had to be adjusted to more appropriate values which meant some were adjusted down and others were adjusted up. For example, items that felt too powerful have been readjusted to more appropriate levels. Others that are under have been taken a look at as well and given a boost.

Concerning socketed items, many of them that were not functioning as they should have been modified.

Furthermore, colour = rarity and not value and that is still true, however we also know that generally speaking the more rare an item, sometimes the higher value. That isn't the rule necessarily since we've all seen the purple item that no one wants to take. Does that mean that item isn't worthwhile to someone else? No. It just means different items have different value based on what a particular player wants out of their build.

All loot is being looked at and adjusted and primarily it's about risk vs. reward more than it is colour. If the team feels an area has a significant amount of risk, they want to make sure that the reward is commensurate to go with it. Most people just tend to associate a value with colour because in general rarer items do in fact tend to have better stats or at least there is an expectation for that to be true.

This is going to be something we plan to continue working on over time in upcoming patches as we evaluate items that may not be living up to what we wanted them to be or are more powerful than originally intended. We understand that people don't want to invest time in a dungeon only to get something that isn't equal to the work that goes into getting it, and that people don't want to invest in gear that could change and be less than they wanted

Please note that betas will never cover every possible aspect of a new addition to the game. It gives a good starting picture. A live world however can often show the full story of what is and isn't working.