World of Warcraft Item Upgrades
Upgrades to an item are a way to boost the stats of an item. Based on the type of upgrade, it may raise an item's Mark level or Rarity, and also boost other stats.
Upgrades to equipment in The War Within requires a certain number of Flightstones and Crests Each item has an upgrade track. Each upgrade increases the cost of the following one by a specific amount.
Item Level
When an item is upgraded, its base stats improve in value. This value is the total of all of its upgraded perks (attack magic attack, attack defense). Upgrades can be expensive depending on the person you hire and what you decide to do. This is due to the sheer number of perks that must be changed in order to upgrade an item.
Item level is a commonly used measurement of power and can be seen on all tooltips for items. It is also 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 level of the item can be found in the character sheet.
When deciding whether to purchase or sell gear players can evaluate the levels of the item. It's a useful gauge of an item's worth and how much damage it is capable of causing. The item level can also be used to compare items when examining a vendor's inventory.
The item level can be checked 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 the ilvl. It is also accessible by hovering over an item using the mouse cursor and typing /itemlevel into chat.
There are several theories about the method by which the level of an item is calculated. One theory is that the item level is a number that comes from a formula which calculates the value of an item's stats are worth. It takes into consideration that different perks are valued differently, and that gems in the sockets increase the item's value. This process can result in a calculated amount for the item's ilvl which is usually close to Blizzard's real item level.
This isn't the only thing that affects the value of an item. The location of where the item was dropped may alter its stats. For example, it could add a level to the item's haste or crit rating. Items dropped in higher-level instances will have a higher ilvl.
Item Stats
The stats of an item are a major element in what makes or breaks an item for players. The game makes use of a lot of them in different ways to encourage players to use multiple weapons, and prevent one weapon from being "the most effective." The base stats of a weapon are enhanced by the weapon's stat modification that are in turn boosted by the player's level.
Upgrades to an item can increase the stats of an item. item upgrades of an item determines its cost of upgrading. A grey or white item for instance, can only be upgraded one time, while an item with rare tiers may be upgraded multiple times at more expensive costs.
Affixes are another way to alter the stats of an item. These are special stat boosts that can be added to an item by the player, and they come in all sizes and shapes. The affixes can be used to provide items with extra damage or special abilities (such as reviving dead or reducing cooling downs) or to differentiate them by naming them.
At present, all affixes can be changed by selecting them from the upgrade window and pressing the green button with circling arrows. This procedure will cost the player a specific amount of gold and other items which can be added to the upgrade gauge in the same way as other rerolling options.
In addition to rerolling affixes, players can also choose which stats to keep on an item after it is upgraded. The possible ranges of stats for an item are based on the level of the item, but all items are guaranteed to have at minimum one stat within the specified range, unless it is an exclusive item or the result of a God roll from a boss in a raid.
Another thing that could be changed by introducing an option to upgrade the equipment without rerolling the affixes or choosing which stats to enhance. Similar to base equipment, it must be done per item and the interface for item comparison would not display all the possible stats at once.
Item Luck
A player's Luck stat stacks up to increase the likelihood of item discoveries as well as the properties that appear on loot drops, and the intensity of those properties. However, it does not, directly affect damage or the ability to upgrade items. It simply gives players the chance to acquire better equipment earlier in the game, and is therefore more valuable in the initial game run than in later ones, since most players prefer more powerful weapon scaling and defenses over raw damage gains.
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 level of the item and can be further enhanced 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 with the Luck property, with an initial value of 40. These items can be enhanced by golden ingots, spined leather or oak boards (depending on the type of material used) to grant a further +40 Luck or to increase the Luck of an item, up to 140.
Moreover some items, such as the Hollow weapon that is infused with hollow, can be equipped to increase the damage of any damage-dealing skill by 5percent. These items are available in the shop or created by using the appropriate ingredients.
Item Failure
Not all upgrades work. However, there are cash shop items that allow players to increase their chance of success or stop them from losing an item if the upgrade is unsuccessful.
The rate of success of an upgrade can be seen in the Honing UI. The percentage is the chances of successfully upgrading the item and can be enhanced by adding Additional Materials or Special Materials. The percentage of success can only be increased so much, and the likelihood that an upgrade will fail cannot be greater than 100%..
The luck of an item can also affect the effectiveness of an upgrade. Each item has an average success rate of 25%, and every item with Luck increases the chance of success by 5percent.
The upgrade overlays for items are rendered above the items in the inventory. This could 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.