World of Warcraft Item Upgrades
Item upgrades can be used to improve the stats of a particular item. Depending on the type of upgrade you choose, it can increase an item's Rarity or Mark Level, and also boost other stats.
Upgrades to gear in The War Within requires a certain number of Flightstones and Crests, and each item has an upgrade track. Each upgrade increases the price of the next item by a specified amount.
Item Level
The value of an item's stats base increase when it is upgraded. The value is the sum of the perks that are leveled up (attack magic attack and defense). Upgrades can be expensive dependent on who you employ and what you do. This is due to how many perks need to be replaced in order for the item to be upgraded.
It is also used as a gating requirement while queueing for raids, dungeons and scenarios. It is also used as a gating requirement when waiting for dungeons, scenarios and raids, and to limit the amount of PvP gear players can wear (since PvP is capped at an lower level). Players can view their average level of item on their character sheet.
Utilizing the level of an item can help players evaluate the potency of gear when choosing to buy or sell. It's a useful gauge of an item's worth and the amount of damage it's capable of causing. Comparing items in a vendor's stock can be done by using the level of the item.
The level of the item can be checked by pressing the ALT key on your PC or using the left stick (L3) on XB1 and PS4. This will display the complete item description, including its ilvl. It can also be found by hovering over an item using the mouse cursor and entering /itemlevel into chat.
There are a variety of theories on how the item level is calculated. One theory is that the item level is a number that comes from a formula which calculates how much an item's stats are worth. It considers that different advantages are valued differently and that gems found in sockets increase the value of the item. This process can result in a calculated value for the item's ilvl, which is usually close to Blizzard's actual item level.
However, this is not the only factor that determines the ilvl of an item, as the size of the area the item is dropped into can alter the value of its stats, such as by adding a level to its haste rating or crit rating. Items dropped in higher-level instances will have higher ilvl.
Item Stats
The stats of an item can be the difference between a good or bad item for players. The game uses a lot of them in different ways to encourage players to play with multiple weapons, and to prevent one weapon from being "the best." The stat mods of an weapon increase the base stats. These stat mods are then boosted by a player's skill.
Upgrades to the item add by boosting certain stats on the item. The rarity of an item determines the cost of upgrading. A white or grey item, for example, will only be upgraded one time however, items that has rare tiers can be upgraded multiple times with higher costs.
Affixes are a different method to alter the stats of an item. They are stat boosters that can be added by the player to an item. The affixes can be used to give items extra damage, special capabilities (such as the ability to revive dead or reduce cooling downs), or to distinguish them by naming them.
Currently, all affixes can be modified by selecting them in the upgrade window and pressing the green button with circles arrows. This will cost a specific amount in gold and items. They can also be used as upgrade gauges similar to other rerolling methods.
In addition to the possibility of rerolling affixes, players may also choose which of the available stats they want to keep on an item when it is upgraded. The possible stat ranges of an item are determined by the level of the item, however every item is guaranteed to have at minimum one stat within the range, unless it is a unique item or a God roll from a boss of a raid.
This is another thing that can be modified by adding the option to upgrade the equipment without having to reroll the affixes or choosing which stats to boost. But as with base equipment, this would need to be carried out on a per-item basis, and the item compare interface wouldn't show all possible stats that were gained or lost at the same time.
Item Luck
The Luck stat of a player can increase the likelihood of locating items, the properties that are spawned by loot and the intensity of these properties. However, it doesn't directly affect damage or ability to upgrade item s. It simply gives players the chance to acquire better equipment in earlier waves and is thus more useful in the initial game run than later ones since most players prefer higher weapon scaling and defenses over raw damage gains.
In addition to influencing the discovery of items, Luck also increases the probability of success when upgrading items using the Blacksmith. This is not to be confused with the Blacksmith's overall chance of upgrading, which increases with each item level and can be further enhanced by using an anti-material, such as a Scroll of Strength or a Jewel of Blessing.
Weapons, armor, and shields can spawn or be crafted using the Luck property, which has an initial value of 40. These items can then be enhanced by golden ingots, spined leather, or oak boards (depending on the type of material used) to grant an additional +40 Luck, or to increase the luck of an item up to 140.
Certain items, like the weapon with Hollow-infused components, can also be equipped to increase the damage of any skill that deals damage by 5%. These items can be found in the shop or crafted with the right ingredients.
Item Failure
Item upgrades are costly and not all upgrades will be successful. However, there are cash shop items that allow players to boost their chance of success or stop themselves from losing an item in the event that the upgrade fails.
When you upgrade an item, the success rate is displayed in the Honing UI. The percentage represents the chance of successfully upgrading that item, and can be increased by adding Additional Materials or Special Materials. There are limitations to the extent to which success rates can be increased, and the overall chance of an upgrade failing can't exceed 100%..
The success of an can be affected by the luck of that item. All items have an average success rate of 25%, and each item with Luck increases the chance of success by an additional five percent.
Note that upgrades to items are rendered above the items in the inventory therefore enchantment glints and other effects may be obscured 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.