World of Warcraft Item Upgrades
The upgrade of an item can be used to increase the stats of an item. Based on the type of upgrade, it may increase an item's Mark Level or Rarity and boost additional stats.
Each item comes with a track for upgrading it. Each upgrade increases the price of the next item by a certain amount.
Item Level
When an item is upgraded, its base stats are increased in value. This value is the sum of all of an item's leveled-up perks (attack magic attack and defense). Upgrades can be expensive depending on the person you hire and what you decide to do. This is due to the variety of perks that need to be changed in order to upgrade an item.
The level of an item is a commonly used measure of power, and can be seen on all item tooltips. It is also used as a gating requirement while queueing for dungeons, raids and scenarios, and to limit the amount of PvP gear players can wear (since PvP is capped at the lower levels). The average item level is listed on the character sheet.
Using the item level will allow players to compare the power of equipment when they decide to buy or sell. It's an excellent indicator of the quality of an item and the amount of damage it will be capable of causing. The level of an item can be used to compare items when examining the inventory of a vendor.
On PC, you are able to see the level of the item using ALT, or by using the left stick on XB1 or PS4. This will display the item's full description, including the ilvl. It is also accessible by hovering an item with the mouse cursor, and then typing /itemlevel in chat.
There are many theories about the method by which the level of an item is determined. One theory is that the item level is a numerical value derived from a formula that determines the value of an item's stats are worth. It considers that different benefits are valued differently and that gems found in sockets increase the item's value. This can lead to an item's ilvl calculated, which is often very close to Blizzards actual item level.
However, this isn't the only factor that affects an item's ilvl, as the size of the area the item was dropped in could change the value of its stats, such as by adding an amount to its crit rating or haste rating. Items dropped in higher-level instances will have higher ilvl.
Item Stats
The stats of an item are a major component of what determines the value of an item for players. item upgrades makes use of them in many ways to encourage players to not restrict themselves to a particular weapon and to encourage players to experiment with other weapons. The stat mods on a weapon boost the base stats. These stat mods are then enhanced by the player's level.
Upgrades to an item may increase its stats. The rarity of an item determines its cost of upgrading. For example, a grey or white item can only be upgraded once, whereas an item with rare tiers will be upgraded several times at higher prices.
Another way to change the stats of an item is by affixing it. They are stat boosts that can be added by the player to an item. The affixes are used to provide items with extra damage, special capabilities (such as reviving dead or reducing cooling downs) or to make them unique by putting a name on them.
Currently, all affixes can be changed by selecting them from the upgrade window and pressing the green button using circling arrows. This process will cost the player a specific amount of gold and other items that can be used to add to the upgrade gauge in the same manner as the other options for rerolling.
In addition to rerolling affixes, players can also choose which of the available stats they want to keep on an item when it is upgraded. The possible ranges of stats for an item are based on the level of the item, however all items are guaranteed to have at least one stat within the range, unless it's a unique item or the result of a God roll from a boss of a raid.
This is another aspect that could be altered by adding an option to upgrade the equipment without having to reroll the affixes or choosing which stats to boost. But, like base equipment, this would have to be done on a per-item level, and the interface for item comparison would not display all the possible stats either lost or gained at the same time.
Item Luck
The Luck stat of a player stacks up to increase the odds of finding items and the properties that are spawned from loot drops and the strength of these properties. However, it doesn't directly impact damage or the ability to upgrade items. It gives the player a chance to upgrade their gear in earlier waves, and is therefore more beneficial in early game runs than later ones as most players prioritize more powerful weapon scaling and defenses over the raw damage gain.
Luck can also boost the likelihood of upgrading items at the Blacksmith. This should not be confused with the Blacksmith's overall upgrade chance, which increases with each item level and can be further enhanced through the use of an anti-material such as a Scroll of Strength or a Jewel of Blessing.
The shields, armor, and weapons have a default Luck value of 40. These items can be enhanced with golden ingots, spined leather or oak boards (depending on the type of material used) to grant an additional +40 Luck or to boost the luck of the item up to 140.
Additionally, certain items, such as the Hollow infused weapon can be used to increase the damage of any damage-dealing skill by 5percent. These items can be found in the shop or crafted using the right ingredients.
Item Failure
Not all upgrades are successful. However, there are some cash shop items which allow players to increase their chances of success or even prevent themselves from losing an item in the event that the upgrade is unsuccessful.
When you upgrade an item the success rate is shown in the Honing UI. The percentage represents the chance of successfully upgrading that item, and it can be increased by adding Additional Materials or Special Materials. There are limitations to how much the success rates can be improved, and the overall chance of an upgrade failing cannot exceed 100%.
The Luck of an item can influence the success of an upgrade. Every item has an overall success rate of 25%, and every item with Luck increases this chance by 5percent.
The upgrade overlays for items are displayed above items in the inventory. This could 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.