Prepatch items? Anyone exlplain please

[Waldo]

I see a few post of peeps selling prepatch pots, armor ect..Can anyone explain to me what prepatch items are and how can you tell? I took a long break mid 2009 up until recently.

[Elk Eater]

Prepatch potions show the type of potion when clicking them -- instead of saying "A Purple Potion" it would say "A Greater Explosion Potion" or whatever.

Prepatch magic armor/weapons are ID'd to everyone instead of just the person who ID'd them. Currently if you ID a magic sword, it will say something like "An accurate longsword of ruin" but to everyone else it still says "a magic longsword" when clicking it. Prepatch ones will read the full name to everyone, even those who have not ID'd it.

[Hicha]

To expand on what Elk Eater said, prepatch is exactly that: something that existed before a patch changed, altered or removed it.

For example, prior to Patch 127 (March 19, 2010) bronze and heater shields would spawn with magical properties. Once the patch was put into place, any future bronze or heater shields that would spawn would no longer have magical properties. The admins do not always apply the patch to existing items, so any bronze or heater shields that were already existing in the world before this patch got to keep their magical properties.

Knowledge of patch history is probably the biggest way to determine if a specific item you may have is prepatch or not. Definitely feel free to post in the Trade forums if you have specific questions about an item you may have, there are plenty of pixel junkies who would love to appraise it for you.