Article: Greens do not necessarily mean better!

Contrary to the popular belief of greens always being the ultimate weapon, I’m afraid that I must bust this myth and no, I’m not calling Mythbusters to bust this Guild Wars myth. So I would like to get the first thing out of the way:

The color coding system:
I want you all to realize that GREEN DOES NOT MEAN BETTER AND BLUE MEANS BAD! Let’s throw that old belief out the window and look at what it really is. The color system is not a measure of better even though with whites through yellows, the stats do tend to get better with rarity. The color system means the following:

White – Common
Blue – Not as common as White
Purple – Rare
Yellow – Rarer
Green – Almost never drops

With that said, obviously, the color coding system is not a measure of how great the drop is but just a measure of your chances of getting this drop. So why do people tend to believe otherwise? The pattern with weapons and runes from white to yellow. Yes, This does reflect the pattern that everyone keeps screaming exists however, they automatically assume with greens.

The Miella’s Focus from Factions has the following stats and is a green offhand:
Energy: +12 (Req. 9 Protection Prayers)
Energy: +15
Energy Regeneration: -1
Health: +30

This is a good off hand item especially if you find that you’re always tight on energy. Farming this green is a pain especially since you have to face the Salt Spray Dragons and many of them as well as other monsters and to top it all off, you’re dealing with a monk.

However, there is an off hand that is EXACTLY like this but it’s blue and you can reliably get it from a collector in the Crystal Desert for 5 Topaz Crests! And what are the stats exactly?
Energy: +12 (Req. 9 Protection Prayers)
Energy: +15
Energy Regeneration: -1
Health: +30
Hmm…there’s no difference! I have found this with several other weapons and you can get just as good of stats on blue or yellow weapons. So what is the big deal with greens if common blue weapons can be potentially just as good?

Now, I’m not saying that greens are totally worthless. I prefer my favorite wand, the end of game Wayward Wand which is a green when it comes to thinking about other weapons but think about this if you’re going nuts trying to get a green weapon. Check to see if the weapon you’re looking for has a blue counterpart. You might be surprised that it just might and your headache will be eliminated. However, if you’re going for the weapon as a status symbol or think that the weapon just looks too cool, then the more power to you however, prepare for a major headache.