Rare Items Update
Original Link - http://ac.turbine.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=555-rare-items-update&catid=34-features&Itemid=56
Rare Items Update
Some of the most difficult to obtain and most desirable items in Asheron's Call have long been the Rares introduced with the Throne of Destiny expansion. Across the years a few lucky adventurers have located ancient items with a variety of levels of power. In the April 2010 update Rares are becoming less rare and more balanced with the highest tier of loot. The major changes to Rares are occurring with Weapons, Armor and Jewelry.
Rare weapons have been completely re-balanced. Every weapon type now has five rares that each fulfills a different combat role. Every rare weapon now has a Resistance Rending effect to match their damage type as well as one of five different flavors. The five types of rare weapons are 1. Higher Critical Rare 2. Higher Critical Multiplier 3. Slight Armor Rending 4. Creature Slayer Type 5. Shield Hollow with additional Human Slayer. All of the weapons now have Epic Bloodthirst and Blood Drinker VIII and have slightly better base damage than a fully tinkered weapon of the same type.
Armor Rares have been adjusted to 500+ base armor level and cover a much greater variety of spells all of which are Epics and Level 8s. Each location covered by a piece of rare armor has different spells assigned to it. This means that one set of Rare Pauldrons will have the same spell selection as another set of Rare Pauldrons which is different from the spell selection of any other location of Rare Armor.
Rare Jewelry has also been updated. This update was less extreme but all Jewelry now has some form of Epic as well as including only Epic and Level 8 spells.
Rare Weapons, Armor and Jewelry also will no longer always drop on death. These items are all now the same value, 50,000 pyreal.