Guild Wars 2

Ok, so I have six rare runes hanging out in my bank for when my elementalist turned 39 (the stated minimum level on them). She’s got a full set of rare cloth I crafted, (level 35 cloth). Having just turned 39, I try to apply them and I get bupkiss. They show “red” icons, as in unable to use. Why would this be? I don’t seem to remember having this problem on my Thief with her 35 level armor. However, I can’t be totally certain of that. To me though, an item that says level required 39 means just that. Why then can I not use them? Bug? Anyone else seeing this issue as well?

To apply a major rune to a piece of gear, the piece of gear must be 39 or above, which mean it doesn’t work for your level 35 clothes.

That would be what I was afraid of. Why ANet in their infinite wisdom would decide to make the cutoff for rare runes four levels above the first set of rare gear you can make, I don’t really understand. Hence the thought that it must be a bug. However, I can see that it may indeed be by design. Irritating.