Rarity systems (common→legendary)

Items are stratified into color-coded quality bands — the near-universal white/green/blue/purple/orange ladder popularized by Diablo and cemented by World of Warcraft. Rarity compresses complex item evaluation into an instant read: the color says how excited to be before a single stat is parsed. Designers use rarity to structure the reward curve (each tier is an escalating class of excitement), to pace progression (tiers gate stat budgets), and to make drops legible at a glance in loot-heavy games. Key decisions: what rarity actually means (raw stat budget, affix count, or unique mechanics — 'legendary' items that are merely bigger numbers waste the tier's promise), colorblind-accessible palettes, and inflation discipline: bolting new tiers above orange devalues every existing drop and trains players to ignore the old top. Pitfall: when high rarity stops correlating with actual usefulness, players learn to distrust the colors and the system's legibility value collapses.

• Dev effort: Small
• Timing: Real-time or turn-based
• Common in: arpg, looter-shooter

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