World of Warcraft Item Upgrades
The upgrade of an item can be used to boost the stats of a particular item. Based on the type of upgrade it could boost an item's Mark Level or Rarity, as well as boost other stats.
Upgrades to gear in The War Within requires a set number of Flightstones and Crests and each item has an upgrade track. Each upgrade increases the cost of the next one by a certain amount.
Item Level
When an item is upgraded, its basic stats are increased in value. This is the sum of all its leveled up benefits (attack magic attack, attack defense). The cost of upgrading items can be high, depending on the upgrader you choose and the kind of upgrade you decide to perform. This is due to the sheer number of perks that must be changed in order to upgrade an item.
It can also be used to enforce gating requirements when queueing for dungeons, raids and scenarios. It is also used to limit how much PvP gear players are able to wear, since PvP is limited at a lower level. The average level of an item can be found in the character sheet.
Using the item level can help players compare the power of equipment when deciding to purchase or sell. It's a sign of the damage and quality. The item level can also be used to compare items when looking at the inventory of a seller.
The item level can be seen by pressing the ALT key on your PC or using the left stick (L3) on XB1 and PS4. This will show the item's full description, including the ilvl. You can also locate it by hovering over an item and typing /itemlevel into chat.
There are many theories about how the item level is calculated. One theory suggests that the level of an item is calculated by formulas that determine the value of the stats of an item really are. It considers that different perks are valued differently, and that gems in the sockets increase the value of the item. This can lead to an item's ilvl calculated, which is typically very close to Blizzard's real level of the item.
However, this is not the only factor that affects an item's ilvl, because the size of the area the item dropped in can alter the value of its stats, for example by adding an additional level to its haste rating or crit rating. Items that drop in higher-level situations will have higher ilvl.
Item Stats
Stats on an item are a significant part of what makes or breaks an item for players. The game uses them in many ways to encourage players not to limit themselves to one weapon and to motivate players to experiment with other weapons. The stats of a base weapon are increased by the weapon's stat mods that are in turn enhanced by the player's level.
Item upgrades add to that by increasing certain stats on the item. The rarity of an item determines the cost of upgrading. For instance, a grey or white item can only be upgraded once, whereas an item with rare tiers can be upgraded many times, at higher costs.
Another method to alter the stats of an item is through affixes. These are special stat boosts that can be added to an item by the player, and are available in all sizes and shapes. The affixes could be used to give the item additional damage, or add a unique capability to the item (such as reviving the dead or reducing cooldowns) or make the item unique by adding an exclusive name to the item.
Presently, all affixes are able to be rerolled by selecting them from the upgrade window and pressing the green button using circling arrows. This procedure will cost the player a certain amount of gold and items which can be used to add to the upgrade gauge in the same way as other options for rerolling.
Players can choose to upgrade an item with specific stats or reroll attaches. The range of stats determined by the item's level. However each item will contain at least one stat within the same range, unless it's an item that is unique, or the item is a God Roll from a boss in a raid.
Another thing that could change is the option to upgrade equipment without having to reroll attachments, or pick which stats to boost. But as with base equipment, this would have to be carried out on a per-item level, and the interface for comparing items will not show all the stats that could be gained or lost at once.
Item Luck
A player's Luck stat stacks up to increase the chances of finding items and the properties that are spawned from loot drops and the strength of these properties. However, it does not directly affect damage or the ability to upgrade items. It gives the player an opportunity to get better equipment earlier in the game. This is especially useful in early game runs because players tend to put defenses and weapon scaling over raw damage gains.
Luck can also boost the likelihood of upgrading items at the Blacksmith. This is not to be confused with the Blacksmith’s overall chance of upgrading, which increase with each level of the item. They can also be increased with the use of anti-materials, such as a Scroll of Strength and a Jewel of Blessing.
The shields, armor and weapons have an initial Luck value of 40. These items can be improved by using golden ingots or spined leather (depending on the type of material) to add another 40 luck or to boost an item's existing Luck up to 140.
Additionally some items, like the Hollow weapon that is infused with hollow, can be equipped to increase the damage dealt by any damage-dealing skill by 5percent. These items are available in the shop, or they can be constructed using the right ingredients.
Item Failure
Upgrades to items can be costly and not every upgrade will be successful. However, there are some cash shop items which allow players to increase their chances of success or even prevent them from losing an item in the event that the upgrade is unsuccessful.
The success rate of an upgrade is shown in the Honing UI. The percentage is the chances of successfully upgrading that item, and it can be increased by adding Additional Materials or Special Materials. The chance of success can only be increased so much, and the chance that an upgrade will fail can't exceed 100%.
The Luck of an item may affect the effectiveness of an upgrade. All items have an initial success rate of 25%, and every item that has Luck increases that chance by an additional five percent.
The item upgrade overlays are rendered above the items in the inventory. This can cause obscurity to enchantment effects or other effects. 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.