Quality Quality is a relative , but not definitive indicator of how good an item or battle pet is compared to another in - game . Quality is most often seen as a color code in tooltips for items and battle pets . Items . All item s found in " World of Warcraft " are given a quality rating that is defined by the item ' s text color . While these are a good guide , it generally isn ' t a wise idea to judge an item ' s worth purely by its color . The item color system was substantially devalued during The Burning Crusade expansion , with becoming excessively plentiful , and ( a . k . a . " " ) often actually being more useful items . Aside from set bonus es , one of the primary defining characteristics of is that they tend to offer bonuses to a larger number of different stats , than do or ( uncommon items ) . Therefore , although in order to ensure that your character has balanced stats , it is usually a good idea to go for whenever they are available , there may be times when will offer a larger amount of a single stat , and depending on what you ' re doing , for a few pieces at least , that may be more useful ( for example , agility in the case of a survival hunter ) . Poor Quality ( Grey ) . quality items only drop from mob s or similar loot ing , such as chest s ; they are never sold by vendor s ( except buy - back ) , are never crafted by profession s , and very rarely awarded by quest s . 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 slightly a lower level . Poor quality weapon s and armor have no stat bonuses . Poor quality items cannot be disenchanted . Poor quality equipment typically does not bind , and has the advantage that it can be used , then traded . However , Poor quality weapon s and armor sell slowly at auction and have a high listing fee . Even when a Poor quality item has comparable stats to a Common quality item , often buyers will pass it by due to the stigma of ' poor quality ' . You will probably find that you are better off vending these items . If you are just starting WoW , from level 1 through about level 10 , Poor quality gear that drops is pretty good . In these levels , mobs drop Poor quality gear , and bosses drop Common quality gear that is only slightly better . Check the gear you find and compare the relevant numbers . Some Poor quality drops may be better than some of the common quality gear you are using . ( compare and ) Another example , and both drop in the Solliden Farmstead pumpkin field in Tirisfal Glades ; it ' s a toss - up which one is better . From level 1 , you will be looking for " frayed " and " unkempt " cloth armor , " ragged " and " scraggy " leather armor , and " flimsy " mail armor . Around level six , when you ' ve just left your beginning area and are starting your village , you will be looking for " patchwork " cloth armor , " worn " leather armor , and " loose " mail armor . For the average non - twink the lowest level shoulder items appear at level 15 and 16 , and are typically Poor quality . These are in demand , and can sell for gold on the auction house . Blacksmiths and tailors can craft Common quality and level 17 shoulders , so the demand drops off fast . ( Note that much better shoulders can be obtained through instances at these levels . The is a quest reward from an quest item found on the end boss in The Wailing Caverns ; in Shadowfang Keep is farmable for his . ) One particularly important Poor quality item , , starts a quest . Useless items dropped by mobs , also known as salvage items , " vendor junk " , or " vendor trash " ( VT ) , are Poor quality items 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 ( at level 70 some items can sell for several gold ) . Common Quality ( White ) . Most quality items are either used for professions , spell reagent s , quest items , consumable s , equipment items bought from a vendor or awarded by a low level quest , or are crafted by a profession in the earlier crafting recipe s . Common quality weapon s and armor usually have no stat bonuses . 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 . Common quality weapon s and armor sell slowly at auction and have a high listing fee . You will probably find that you are better off vending these items . Shirt s are an exception . Shirts are cosmetic , and there is a market for them . These are usually overproduced by tailors , driving the price down . Common shoulder items for level 17 can be sold . Common head items in the low 20s can be sold . These are usually overproduced by crafters , driving the price down . There is a good market for many Common crafting materials . For example , most cloth can be sold at the Auction House for much more than vendors will pay . Since Common quality gear items are less restricted by binding than better quality items , some Common quality equipment items are more valuable than their ' better ' counterparts . Bag s in particular have this , and some vendor wand s may be better than their Uncommon quality counterparts . An item that a trade skill enchantment is enchanted on should usually be a low level common or Poor quality cloth item ( typically a glove ) . This is so any character can use the item and so that it does not bind . The exception is when there is a specific item that has the same skill bonus , because then you want to cast on that item so the bonuses stack . ( Some folks may prefer the enchantment on a Bind on Equip glove they can ' t accidentally give away . ) Functionally for the player , grey and white quality items are similar ; grey has somewhat lower stats , but neither have bonuses , neither bind ( except for quest awards ) , 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 . From level 1 , you will be receiving Common quality gear from quests . Some white items will drop , especially from low level bosses . Buying a white item from a vendor for a slight upgrade from a grey is not warranted ; only upgrade if you get a substantial stat boost , especially in weapon dps . By all means , craft anything for yourself that you can use if you have the profession to do so . Uncommon quality gear becomes increasingly available though the teen levels , and you should be phasing out your whites . Trivia : the most absolutely useless items in the game are white , not grey - excess quest items . Many quest items have no vendor value , cannot be auctioned , and can only be used within the context of the quest . It is often possible to acquire an excess of these items beyond what the quest requires . If the dropped item has to be transformed , additional drops can be acquired after the transformation , before the turn - in . The excess is useless and can only be kept or destroyed . Examples : the Dwarven mining tools in Mulgore that have to be destroyed for , and the necklace worn by the furbolg chief in eastern Teldrassil from which you have to remove a gem for . Also , if a spawned mob can drop the item , you may have an extra one drop . Example : in the Draenei quest , you can net your last needed red snapper , have a murloc spawn , and have another red snapper drop - and it ' s not even edible , nor will your hunter pet eat it . Uncommon Quality ( Green ) . items are usually random world drop s , with an overall drop rate between 1 % and 10 % of kills , are crafted by a profession in mid range crafting recipe s , or are awarded by a mid level quest . Jewelcrafters have the ability to produce Uncommon quality ring s 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 . It ' s a good idea to sell unused Uncommon items at the auction house instead of to vendors , or disenchant them for enchanting reagents . 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 . Itemization for most classes these days is fairly complex , and it ' s not uncommon to need around four - six different stat types . ( say , Agility , Stamina , Intellect , AP , crit rating , and hit rating for Hunters ) Although most people usually want items primarily for ego gratification reasons , the fact that tend to offer bonuses to around four different stats , generally means that they are a far more desirable upgrade in purely objective terms , as well . You won ' t see an Uncommon item drop in your beginning subzone . You will probably see a few in your village level play . The first time you get one is an awesome moment . The honeymoon won ' t last . By the twenties levels , Uncommon items will be your bread and butter gear , and you will be striving for Rare items . Excess Uncommon items with poor stat combinations become disenchanter trash . Rare Quality ( Blue ) . quality can also be referred to as quality . Like Uncommon items , Rare items generally come from world drop s , drops from instance bosses , are crafted by a profession in high level crafting recipe s , or are awarded by a high level quest . Most Rare quality equipment items can be disenchanted , yielding a shard . It is not too difficult to acquire rare quality items if you have a plan . Be realistic . Some items can be farmed , some can ' t . Rare quality PvP gear is within anyone ' s reach . Plan to do quests that yield rare quality gear that you need . Run instances , farm the bosses that can be easily reached and drop items you can use . Epic Quality ( Purple ) . quality items are quite rare and in general have much better bonuses than other items of their required level . Epic items also usually have some sort of passive or on - use effect attached to them or some kind of proc . Like rare items , there are a few BoE world drop epics . Most BoP epic items are found in raid instances , end bosses in heroic mode instances or top level recipes for tradeskills . Most quality equipment items can be disenchanted . In the top level end game , not only do characters replace all of their rare quality gear with epic quality gear , but epic quality gear is tiered so that top level characters continue to have something to strive for . Legendary Quality ( Orange ) . items , such as , and , are a step up from epic items and are truly exceptional . These items are extremely rare and very few people have them . These items usually require the completion of a long chain of quests , as it is with , but this is not always the case . Legendary items cannot be disenchanted . Artifact Quality ( Light Gold ) . quality items are a step above Legendary . They are objects of unimaginable power and are also not yet implemented ( for player characters , at least ) . It has been speculated Frostmourne and Book of Medivh will be an artifact . Artifact items are speculated to end up being " Unique " per server . With the pre - patch Wowhead sometimes uses rose gold for links within effect text of other artifacts . With the introduction of items as light gold , the original color of artifacts as was speculated to be reinstated , but this has yet to be reflected by the in - game API ( at version 3 . 0 . 3 ) . Heirloom Quality ( Aqua Cyan ) . 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 ) . At the present , it is not possible to trade or mail heirloom items across linked Battle . net accounts . Starting with the Mists of Pandaria expansion , heirlooms may be mailed to characters on other realms ( but still within a single account ) . The format for mailing to a different realm is " charactername - realmname " . Legion Heirloom color change ( Aqua Cyan ) . The quality color changed to aqua cyan in Legion . Prior to Legion , the color was light gold . WoW Token Quality ( Aqua Cyan ) . As of Patch 6 . 1 . 2 , introduced a new color exclusive to the item . This color may no longer be exclusive with Legion . Battle pets . Battle pet quality ranges from , , , , and finally to , which is not available for capturing . Not much is known about specific differences between battle pet quality , but stats for captured pets tend to be better as the quality goes up .