Your Inventory

Your Inventory

There are two ways to access your inventory. Press the I key to bring up the inventory interface that lets you equip weapons, armor, and off-hand items like shields and artifacts. You can then navigate between your backpack, belt pouch, and extra bags with keys F5-F8. Press F9 to bring up a separate window that displays all of the items in all of your bags at once. Bags are expandable via certain upgrades, and you can expand your inventory even more by opening an account with a Xunlai Storage Agent. If you have the Factions installment, you may upgrade your Xunlai storage account to hold even more materials.

Item Rarity

Usefulness and rarity determines an item's worth. Common items—including weapons, armor, and most anything else—will have names in white lettering. Uncommon items with innate magical power have names written in light blue, while the names of rare items are displayed in purple text. The rarest and most valuable tools of the trade have names written literally in gold. Unique items belonging to a single boss will sometimes drop when that boss dies; these items' names are shown in green (boss items are not necessarily better than gold or purple items).

If you're looking to sell items, be sure to hit the Trade chat channel before you go straight to the Merchant or Trader. You will almost always get a better price from your fellow gamers if you're a reasonable negotiator.

Weapons

Every profession has a unique type of weapon all its own (though any profession can use any weapon if necessary), but only the character type that meets a weapon's requirements will get the most out of it. For example, a Warrior with high Swordsmanship skill would want to use a sword that required a certain level of Swordsmanship attribute points. That same Warrior, however, would not be able to get the most out of a bow that required 8 Marksmanship—but a Ranger certainly would find that bow effective. When you find or buy a weapon that you intend to use for a while, be sure to hit the Weaponsmith in town. This type of NPC can customize your weapon so that it does more damage, but no other character will be able to use it (meaning you likely won't find a buyer).

Armor

Your primary profession determines what type of armor you wear—no matter how much you want your Ranger/Necromancer to dress up in shiny black leather, you're always going to look like a Ranger. Pieces of armor, unlike weapons, are customized by default when you buy them. You can purchase armor from an armor crafter NPC if you have the components (bought from a Materials Trader, for example) and gold to meet the crafter's price. You might also find collector NPCs that offer you even better armor in exchange for trophies you collect from fallen enemies—this armor is often your best option if it's available. Enemies do not drop wearable armor when killed, although they may drop salvageable pieces.

Kits

Merchants sell two item types that are crucial for getting the most out of the other items in your inventory: Identification Kits and Salvage Kits. Identification Kits come in two varieties: Normal and Superior. Only Expert or Superior Salvage Kits yield Runes, weapon upgrades, or rare materials from salvaging items. Normal Salvage Kits will return basic crafting materials. The only difference between the Normal and Superior Identification Kits is the number of times that you can use them. When you find a magic item of any kind, the word "unidentified" will appear beneath its name in your inventory. Use Identification Kits to discover the true identity of an item and its most effective use. Salvage Kits are divided into normal, expert, and superior classification. Normal Salvage Kits can break down most anything in your inventory into materials like wood or cloth that are useful for crafting. Expert and Superior Salvage Kits let you unlock Runes and upgrades from valuable magic items, or give you rare crafting materials such as fur squares. You can only unlock a Rune or upgrade after you have identified the magic item. If you salvage an item before identifying it, you may get a Rune or upgrade which says "unidentified" beneath it. You can still use an Identification Kit on your unidentified salvage result. To use any kind of kit, simply double click on it and then click once on the item you wish to identify or salvage.

Salvage Items

Salvage items are the remains of enemy armor. You can't use these items yourself, but you can use a normal Salvage Kit to break them down into useable materials for crafting. Some rare salvage items also contain Runes or weapon upgrades, so be sure to use an Expert Salvage Kit on those items after identifying them. http://www.guildwars.com/gameplay/combat/inventory/