World of Warcraft Item Upgrades
Upgrades to items are a method to increase the stats of an item. Depending on the upgrade type it could boost an item's Mark Level or Rarity, and also boost other stats.
Upgrades to equipment in The War Within requires a specified number of Flightstones and Crests and each item comes with an upgrade track. Each upgrade increases the cost of the next item by a specified amount.
Item Level
The value of an item's stats base increases as it is upgraded. This is the sum of the perks that are leveled up (attack magic attack and defense). The cost of upgrading items can be high, dependent on the upgrader and what type of upgrade you choose to do. This is due to the number of perks that need to be altered to upgrade an item.
It is also used to enforce gating requirements when queueing for raids, dungeons and scenarios. It can also be used as a gating requirement when queueing for dungeons, scenarios, and raids, as well as to limit the amount of PvP gear a player can wear (since PvP is capped at the lower levels). The average item level can be found on the character sheet.
When deciding to purchase or sell equipment players can look at the levels of the item. It's an excellent indicator of an item's quality and how much damage it will be capable of causing. Comparing items in the inventory of a vendor is possible using the item's level.
The level of the item can be checked by pressing the ALT key on a PC or using the left stick (L3) on XB1 and PS4. This will display the full item description, including its level. You can also locate it by hovering over an item and typing in /itemlevel chat.
There are several theories on how the item level calculation is made. One theory is that the level is a numerical value derived from a formula that determines how much an item's stats are worth. It takes into account the fact that various perks have different value and sockets have gems that increase the value of the item overall. This process could result in a calculated amount for the item's ilvl which is usually close to the actual Blizzard item level.
It's not the only thing that affects the value of an item. The level of the area where the item dropped can also change its stats. For item upgrader can add a level to the item's haste or crit rating. Items dropped in higher-level instances will have a higher value.
Item Stats
The stats of an item are a major element in what determines the value of an item for players. The game uses a lot of them in a variety of ways to encourage players to play with multiple weapons, and prevent one weapon from being "the best." The stat mods on weapons boost base stats. These stat mods are then enhanced by the player's level.
Upgrades to an item may increase the stats of an item. The upgrade costs are determined by the rarity of the item. For example, a grey or white item can only be upgraded once, whereas items with rare tiers can be upgraded many times with higher prices.
Affixes can also be used to change an item's stats. They are stat boosters that can be added by the player to an item. The affixes can be used to provide items with extra damage or other special abilities (such as the ability to revive dead or reduce cooling downs), or to make them unique by adding a name.
Presently, all affixes are able to be modified by selecting them in the upgrade window and pressing the green button, which is accompanied by circles arrows. This will cost a specific amount in gold and items. These can be used as upgrade gauges, just like the other methods of rerolling.
Players can upgrade an item to a specific stat or reroll the affixes. The range of stats is determined by the item's level. However each item will include at least one stat in the same range, unless it's an exclusive item, or an item that has a God Roll from a boss in a raid.
Another thing that can be modified by adding an option to upgrade the equipment without having to reroll the affixes, or selecting which stats to boost. Like the base equipment, it will have to be done per item, and the interface for item comparison would not display all the possible stats at once.
Item Luck
The Luck stat of a player boosts the chance of finding items and the properties that are created by loot and the strength of these properties. However, it does not directly impact damage or the ability to upgrade items. It simply gives players a chance to upgrade their gear in earlier waves, and is therefore more useful in the initial game run than in later ones, as most players prioritize more powerful weapon scaling and defenses over raw damage gains.
Luck can also boost the chance of upgrading items at the Blacksmith. This should not be confused with the Blacksmith's overall upgrade chance that increases with each item level and can be further increased through the use of an anti-material such as a Scroll of Strength or a Jewel of Blessing.
Armor, shields and weapons come with the default Luck value of 40. These items can be upgraded with golden ingots, spined leather or oak boards (depending on the type of material used) to grant an additional +40 Luck, or to increase the existing Luck of the item up to 140.
Moreover, certain items, such as the Hollow weapon that is infused with hollow can be used to increase the damage of any damage-dealing skill by 5%. These items can be found in the shop or created using the right ingredients.
Item Failure
Not all upgrades work. However, there are cash shop items that allow players to boost their chance of success or stop them from losing an item if the upgrade is unsuccessful.
The success rate of an upgrade can be seen in the Honing UI. The percentage represents the likelihood of successfully upgrading an item. This can be increased with Additional Materials or Special Materials. The chance of success can only be increased by so high, and the probability that an upgrade will fail can't be greater than 100%..
The luck of an item can also influence the effectiveness of an upgrade. All items have an average success rate of 25%, and each item with Luck increases that chance by 5percent.
Note that item upgrades are rendered above the items in the inventory which means that enchantment glints and other effects could be obscured by the overlays. 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.