[ynnek]

once you get the advanced salvage kit(yak's bend i think is the first place), you can start getting things like grips, wraps, runes, etc to put enhancements on your armor and weapons.. especially on the higher level places, where more interesting stuff can get dropped.

when you get to the higher levels, you start seeing relatively more (but still not much) rare stuff.. that comes up as purple

Also, the next jump in armor I've seen is in Lions Gate.