World of Warcraft Item Upgrades
Upgrades to items are a method to boost the stats of an item. Based on the type of upgrade, it can increase an item's Rarity or Mark Level and increase other stats.
Upgrades to equipment in The War Within requires a set number of Flightstones and Crests Each item has an upgrade track. Each upgrade increases the cost of the following one by a specific amount.
item upgrades
When an item is upgraded, its base stats improve in value. The value is the sum of an item's upgraded perks (attack magic attack and defense). The cost of upgrading items can be high, depending on the upgrader you choose and what type of upgrade you choose to perform. This is due to the number of perks that must be altered to upgrade an item.
It can also be used as a gating requirement when waiting for dungeons, raids and scenarios. It is also used to determine a gating condition when waiting to queue for dungeons and raids and scenarios, and to limit the amount of PvP gear that a player can wear (since PvP is capped at a lower level). The average level of the item is listed on the character sheet.
The level of an item will allow players to compare the power of equipment when choosing to buy or sell. It's a useful indicator of the quality of an item and how much damage it will be capable of dealing with. Comparing items from the inventory of a vendor can be done by using the level of the item.
On PC, you can check the level of the item by pressing ALT or by using the left stick on XB1 or PS4. This will show the full item description, including its level. It can also be located by hovering over an item using the mouse cursor, and then typing /itemlevel into chat.
There are a few theories on how the item level calculation is carried out. One theory suggests that the level of an item is calculated by an equation that determines the value of an item's stats really are. It takes into consideration the fact that different perks have different worth and gems in sockets increase the overall value of the item. This process could result in a calculated value for the item's ilvl which is usually quite close to the actual Blizzard level of the item.
However, this isn't the only factor which affects an item's ilvl, because the size of the area the item is dropped into can change the value of its stats, for example by adding an amount to its haste or crit rating. Items that drop in higher-level situations will have a higher value.
Item Stats
The stats of an item can make or break an item for players. The game uses a lot of them in various ways to encourage players to play with multiple weapons, and also to stop one weapon from being "the most effective." The base stats on a weapon are boosted by the weapon's stat modification which are then increased by the player's skill.
Upgrades to an item can increase the stats of an item. The upgrade costs are determined by the rarity of the item. A grey or white item for instance, will only be upgraded one time and items with rare tiers may be upgraded multiple times at higher costs.
Another method of altering the stats of an item is through affixes. They are stat boosts which can be added by the player to an item. The affixes are used to provide items with extra damage or special capabilities (such as the ability to revive dead or reduce cooling downs), or to differentiate them by naming them.
Presently, all affixes are able to be changed by selecting them from the upgrade window and pressing the green button with circling arrows. This will cost a certain amount in gold and other items. These can be used as upgrade gauges, similar to other rerolling methods.
Players can choose to upgrade an item to a specific stat or reroll affixes. The range of stats determined by the item's level. However every item will have at least one stat within that range unless they are an item that is unique or an item that has a God Roll from a raid boss.
Another thing that could be changed is the possibility to upgrade equipment without having to reroll attaches, or select which stats to increase. However, as with the base equipment, this would need to be performed on a per-item level, and the interface for comparing items will not show all the stats that could be that were gained or lost at the same time.
Item Luck
The Luck stat of a player increases the probability of obtaining items, the properties that are spawned by loot and the intensity of these properties. However, it does not, directly affect damage or the ability to upgrade items. It provides players with the chance to upgrade gear earlier in the game. This is especially beneficial in early game runs because players tend to put the scaling of weapons and defenses over raw damage gains.
In addition to influencing the discovery of items, Luck also increases the chances of being successful when upgrading items using the Blacksmith. This is not to be confused with the Blacksmith's overall upgrade chance that increases with each level and can be further enhanced through the use of an anti-material such as a Scroll of Strength or a Jewel of Blessing.
Armor, shields and weapons can be made or spawn with the Luck property, which has a default value of 40. These items can be enhanced with golden ingots, spined leather, or oak boards (depending on the material of the item) to grant an additional +40 Luck or to boost the luck of an item, up to 140.
Additionally, certain items, such as the Hollow weapon that is infused with hollow can be outfitted to boost the damage of any damage-dealing skill by 5percent. These items can be purchased from the shop, or they can be made using the correct ingredients.
Item Failure
Not all upgrades work. However, there are some cash shop items that allow players to boost their chance of success or stop them from losing an item in the event that the upgrade fails.
The rate of success of an upgrade is displayed in the Honing UI. The percentage is the chances of successfully upgrading that item, and can be increased by adding Additional Materials or Special Materials. The percentage of success can only be increased as much, and the chance that an upgrade will fail cannot exceed 100%..
The Luck of an item can influence the success of an upgrade. All items have a base success rate of 25% and each item with Luck increases the chance of success by an additional 5%.
Note that upgrades to items are rendered above the inventory items which means that enchantment glints and other effects could be masked by them. If you wish to disable the upgrade overlays, the config option decoration.renderUpgradeOverlays can be set to False in the Item Upgrader CORE client config.