World of Warcraft Item Upgrades
Item upgrades can be used to improve the stats of an item. Based on the type of upgrade, it may increase an item's Rarity or Mark Level and boost additional stats.
Upgrading gear in The War Within requires a certain 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 increase when it is upgraded. The value is the sum of all of an item's upgraded perks (attack magic attack and defense). Upgrades can be costly, depending on the person you hire and what you do. This is due to the variety of perks that have to be modified to upgrade an item.
The level of an item is a popular measurement of power and is visible on all tooltips for items. It can also be used as a gating requirement while waiting for dungeons, raids and scenarios, and to limit the amount of PvP gear players can wear (since PvP is restricted to an lower level). Players can see their average level of item on their character sheet.
When deciding to purchase or sell equipment, players can compare the item level. It's a sign of the item's condition and its quality. The item level can also be used to compare items when evaluating a vendor's inventory.
The item level can be viewed by pressing the ALT key on PC or using the left stick (L3) on XB1 and PS4. The item will be displayed with its full description, including ilvl. It can also be located by hovering over an item using the mouse cursor, and then entering /itemlevel into chat.
There are a variety of theories on the method by which the level of an item is determined. One theory is that the level is a numerical value derived from a formula that calculates the amount an item's stats are worth. It takes into account the fact that various perks have different value and gems in sockets add to the value of the item overall. This process can result in a calculated amount for the item's ilvl, which is typically close to Blizzard's real item level.
It's not the only factor that affects the ilvl of an item. The degree of the area in which the item was dropped can alter its stats. For example it can increase the item's haste, or crit rating. This means that items dropped at higher levels will have higher the ilvl than items from lower level instances.
Item Stats
The stats of an item can be the difference between a good or bad item for players. The game uses them in many ways to encourage players not to limit themselves to one weapon and to motivate them to try out other weapons. The stat mods of an weapon increase the base stats. item upgrading are then increased by a player's skill.
The upgrades to an item can boost its stats. The costs for upgrades are determined by the rarity of the item. For example, a grey or white item can only be upgraded once, while items with rare tiers can be upgraded many times at higher prices.
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. Affixes can provide the item extra damage, or give a specific ability to the item (such as reviving dead or cutting down cooldowns), or make the item unique by adding a special name to the item.
All affixes are re-rolled at the moment by selecting them in the upgrade window, and pressing the green button. This will cost a specific amount of gold and other items. These can be used as upgrade gauges, as with other methods of rerolling.
In addition to rerolling affixes, players can select which of the available stats to keep on an item when it is upgraded. The possible stat ranges for an item are based on the level of the item, but every item is guaranteed to have at least 1 stat within the specified range, unless it's an exclusive item or a God roll from a boss in a raid.
Another thing that could be changed is the possibility to upgrade equipment without having to reroll the attaches, or select which stats to boost. But, like base equipment, this would have to be performed on a per-item basis, and the interface for item comparison wouldn't show all possible stats that were gained or lost at the same time.
Item Luck
The Luck stat of a player increases the likelihood of locating items as well as the properties generated by loot, and the intensity of these properties. However, it doesn't directly affect damage or ability to upgrade items. It simply gives players a chance to acquire better equipment earlier in the game and is therefore more useful in the initial game run than later ones since most players prefer more powerful weapon scaling and defenses over the raw damage gain.
In addition to influencing item discovery, Luck also increases the chances of success when upgrading items with the Blacksmith. This is not to be confused with the Blacksmith's overall upgrade probability that increases with each level of the item 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 can be created or spawned using the Luck property, with a default value of 40. These items can be upgraded with golden ingots, spined leather or oak boards (depending on the item's material type) to grant a further +40 Luck, or to increase the existing Luck of the item up to 140.
Certain items, such as the Hollow-infused weapon, can also be equipped to increase the damage of any ability that causes damage by five percent. These items can be purchased in the shop, or they can be made using the correct ingredients.
Item Failure
Not all upgrades work. Cash shop items can be used to increase the chances of success for an upgrade or to stop players from losing their item in the event that it fails.
The success rate of an upgrade can be seen in the Honing UI. The percentage represents the chance of successfully upgrading that item, and can be enhanced by adding Additional Materials or Special Materials. The chance of success can only be increased so much, and the likelihood that an upgrade will fail cannot exceed 100%.
The luck of an item can also influence the success of an upgrade. Each item has an initial success rate of 25%, and each item with Luck increases the chance of success by five percent.
The upgrade overlays for items are rendered above items in the inventory. This may obscure enchantment effects and 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.