Quality
All items found in World of Warcraft are given a quality rating that is defined by the item's text color.
For equipment, the quality determines the relationship of the item level (which determines the sizes of the stat bonuses on it) to the required level to equip it. It also determines the number of different stat bonuses: in general, a common or poor item has no stat bonuses, an uncommon item has one or two, and a rare or better item has two, three, or four.
| Quality | RGB (0-255) |
RGB (0.0-1.0) |
RGB Hex (00-FF) |
Description | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Poor | 157 | 157 | 157 | 0.62 | 0.62 | 0.62 | #9d9d9d | Gray |
| Common | 255 | 255 | 255 | 1.00 | 1.00 | 1.00 | #ffffff | White |
| Uncommon | 30 | 255 | 0 | 0.12 | 1.00 | 0.00 | #1eff00 | Green |
| Rare | 0 | 112 | 221 | 0.00 | 0.44 | 0.87 | #0070dd | Blue |
| Epic | 163 | 53 | 238 | 0.64 | 0.21 | 0.93 | #a335ee | Purple |
| Legendary | 255 | 128 | 0 | 1.00 | 0.50 | 0.00 | #ff8000 | Orange |
| Artifact | 230 | 204 | 128 | 0.90 | 0.80 | 0.50 | #e6cc80 | Light Gold |
| Heirloom | 0 | 204 | 255 | 0.00 | 0.8 | 1.0 | #00ccff | Blizzard Blue |
| WoW Token | 0 | 204 | 255 | 0.00 | 0.8 | 1.0 | #00ccff | Blizzard Blue |
Poor (gray)
Poor quality items mostly drop from mobs or similar looting, such as chests; they are usually not sold by vendors (except buy-back), are never crafted by professions, and may sometimes be awarded by quests, for example with the now defunct Artifact power items.
Poor quality items are almost synonymous with vendor trash and are good for one thing and one thing only: to sell to a vendor. This does not mean they are worthless, since some Poor quality items can sell for a decent amount of money.
Poor quality pieces of equipment will generally have a minimum level to be able to be equipped, but the benefits that come from them are usually less than those of better quality items, even of a lower level. For example, poor quality weapons and armor have no stat bonuses.
Poor quality items cannot be disenchanted.
Poor quality equipment is typically Bind on Equip, and became transmogable much more recently than other equipment qualities, and as such may find purchasers on the auction house, despite its intended purpose to be simply sold to a vendor.
There are particular and notable poor quality items like, 
[Noboru's Cudgel], which starts a quest.
Common (white)
Most common quality items are either used for professions, spell reagents, quest items, consumables, equipment items bought from a vendor or awarded by a low level quest, or are crafted by a profession in the earlier crafting recipes.
Common quality weapons and armor usually have no stat bonuses and don't drop from mobs.
Common quality items cannot be disenchanted.
Common quality mob drops and purchased items typically do not bind, and have the advantage that they can be used, then traded. Common quality quest awards are typically Bind on Pickup.
Since common quality gear items are less restricted by binding than better quality items, some common quality equipment items are more valuable than their 'rarer' counterparts. Bags in particular have this, and some vendor wands may be better than their Uncommon quality counterparts.
Functionally for the player, grey and white quality items are similar; grey has somewhat lower stats, but neither have bonuses, and neither can be disenchanted. White parts items are used in something; in a recipe or for a quest; grey parts items are generally not useful anywhere except to sell to a vendor.
Uncommon (green)
Uncommon items are usually random world drops, are crafted by a profession in midrange crafting recipes, or are awarded by a quest. Jewelcrafters have the ability to produce Uncommon quality rings as soon as they receive apprentice training.
Uncommon equipment is usually Bind on Equip, though items dropped from bosses or awarded by quests will generally Bind on Pickup.
Most Uncommon quality equipment items can be disenchanted, though there are some exceptions).
The primary difference between uncommon items and items of higher quality is that Uncommon items generally only include bonuses to one or two different stats.
Rare (blue)
Rare items usually come from instances (mostly boss drops or dungeon quest rewards, with some trash drops) or are crafted by a profession in midlevel crafting recipes. A few are awarded by high level non-dungeon quests, usually at the end of a long quest chain. The Satchel of Helpful Goods, awarded for completing a random lower-level dungeon using the Dungeon Finder, also contains a Rare item. Rare PvP items can be bought with Honor points.
- Instance drops are typically found on bosses in instances; such drops are almost always exclusive to that boss (example: the
[Illusionary Rod] that drops off of Arcanist Doan in the Scarlet Monastery only drops off of Doan). Most of these items will Bind on Pickup, but be tradeable among players who could loot them (as long as they have not been gemmed or enchanted) for two hours after they have been looted.
Most Rare quality equipment items can be disenchanted, yielding a shard. (See exceptions)
Epic (purple)
Epic quality items are designed to allow players to continue growing in power after they reach the level cap; thus, epic armor and weapons require the character to be the level cap of the expansion that it was introduced in, and are each tiered higher than the previous so that players will still have something to strive for. They generally have much better bonuses than other items of their required level.
Like rare items, there are a few BoE world drop epics. Most BoP epic items are found in raid instances, top level recipes for tradeskills, or Mythic+; most anything that is part of end-game content, even certain world events.
Most epic quality equipment items can be disenchanted. (See exceptions)
Legendary (orange)
Legendary items, such as 
[Thunderfury, Blessed Blade of the Windseeker], 
[Fen-Yu, Fury of Xuen], and 
[Etheralus, the Eternal Reward], are a step up from epic items and are truly exceptional. Not only do they have even better stat bonuses than epic items, but they also serve pivotal roles in the game's lore. These items usually require the completion of a long chain of quests and a significant material and money investment.
Legendary items cannot be disenchanted.
Artifact (light gold)
Artifact quality items are a step above Legendary. They are objects of unimaginable power, and like legendary items, are grounded deeply in Warcraft lore. Artifact weapons debut in World of Warcraft: Legion, with one artifact per class specialization. Previously, the Artifact item quality existed in the game since launch and was used for GM items unavailable to players.
Heirloom (Blizzard blue)
Heirloom items are Bind to Account, allowing a player to freely mail the item to other characters on the account that reside on the same realm. Heirloom weapons, armor, and trinkets have the ability to scale to the level of the person wearing them with stats equivalent to a Rare quality item. Some scalable heirloom armor will transform into the type of armor the player is capable of wearing (for example: plate armor will temporarily transform into mail when given to a level 1 warrior).
For players who have more than one World of Warcraft account on the same Battle.net account, some heirloom items became Battle.net account bound in Patch 4.1.
In World of Warcraft: Legion, the quality color for heirlooms is changed from light gold to Blizzard blue, presumably to avoid confusion with artifacts, introduced to players in the same expansion.
WoW Token (Blizzard blue)
WoW Token items are special items purchased from the In-Game Shop and give players the ability to legitimately purchase gold using real money. The only items with this quality are the WoW Token in-game items, so see that article for more information.
Items by quality and source
| Source | Poor | Common | Uncommon | Rare | Epic/Legendary/Heirloom |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| World mobs and chests | Vendor junk, armor, and weapons | Crafting materials | Crafting materials, bind on equip armor and weapons | Mounts, bind on equip armor and weapons (very low rates) | Mounts (very low rates) |
| Instance mobs and chests | Vendor junk, armor, and weapons | Crafting materials | Crafting materials, bind on equip armor and weapons | Armor, weapons, mounts (mostly from bosses) | Armor, weapons, mounts (mostly from heroic and raid bosses) |
| Fishing | Vendor junk | Fish | Armor, weapons, lockboxes | n/a | n/a |
| Quest rewards | n/a | Low-level quests | Most quests | Dungeon quests; quests ending long chains | Raid quests |
| Vendors | n/a | Armor and weapons, bought with gold | n/a | Honored and Revered reputation rewards Point rewards Mounts |
Exalted reputation rewards Point rewards Mounts |
| Skinning, Mining, Herbalism | n/a | Skins, ore, herbs | Gems, Ore | Gems | Gems |
| Crafting | n/a | Apprentice and Journeyman recipes | Mid-level recipes | Mid-level recipes | Maximum-level recipes |
| Archaeology | Common artifacts | n/a | n/a | Cosmetic items | Armor and weapons |
Tips
Quality is an indication of how good an item is for gameplay, but other factors must be considered. The level of the item is important, higher is better; quality only makes up for a limited level discrepancy. The appropriateness of the buffs must be considered; there is no point in acquiring an item with buffs that do nothing for your character class.
Blizzard often assigns qualities to limited access items to help prevent the player from accidentally throwing away an item. For example, the characteristics of companions are pretty equivalent, but Blizzard assigned a rare or epic quality to pets that are obtainable only through a special code. You can still throw the item away, but you are more likely to notice.
External links
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