World of Warcraft Item Upgrades
Item upgrades are a way to boost the stats of an item. Based on the type of upgrade you choose, it can increase the rarity of an item, or its Mark Level and boost additional stats.
Upgrading equipment in The War Within requires a set number of Flightstones and Crests Each item has an upgrade track. Each upgrade increases the cost of the following one by a set amount.
Item Level
The value of an item's basic stats increase when it is upgraded. This value is the total of all the leveled up perks (attack magic attack, attack defense). Upgrades can be expensive dependent on who you employ and what you decide to do. This is due to the number of perks that have to be altered to upgrade an item.
It can also be used to enforce gating requirements when waiting for dungeons, raids and scenarios. It is also used as a gating requirement when queueing for dungeons, scenarios and raids, and to limit the amount of PvP gear that a player can wear (since PvP is limited to a lower level). Players can view their average level of items on their character sheet.
Using the item level can help players compare the strength of equipment when deciding to purchase or sell. It's a useful indicator of an item's quality and how much damage it's able to deal. The level of an item can be used to evaluate items when evaluating the inventory of a vendor.
On PC, you are able to check the level of the item using ALT, or by using the left stick on XB1 or PS4. This will show the item's full description, including ilvl. It can also be located by hovering over an item using the mouse cursor and entering /itemlevel into chat.
There are a few theories about how the item level calculation is made. One theory is that the item level is a numerical value derived from a formula that calculates how much an item's stats are worth. It is based on the fact that different perks are valued differently, and that gems in sockets increase the item's value. This process can result in a calculated value for the item's ilvl, which is usually close to the actual Blizzard level of the item.
However, this isn't the only factor which can affect an item's ilvl since the level of the area the item is dropped into can alter the value of its stats, such as by adding an additional level to its haste or crit rating. This means that items that drop at higher levels will have higher the ilvl than items from lower level instances.
Item Stats
The item's stats can determine the fate of an item for players. The game uses a lot of them in various ways to encourage players to use multiple weapons, and to prevent one weapon from being "the best." The base stats on a weapon are increased by the weapon's stat modifications which are then boosted by the player's level.
Item upgrades add to that by boosting certain stats on the item. The rarity of an item determines the upgrade cost. For instance, a gray or white item can only be upgraded once, while items with rare levels will be upgraded multiple times, at higher costs.
Another method of altering the stats on an item is through affixes. These are special stat boosts that can be added to an item by the player, and they come in all shapes and sizes. The affixes can do things like give the item additional damage, or add a unique ability to the item (such as reviving the dead or reducing the cooldowns) or make the item unique by giving an additional name to the item.
Presently, all affixes are able to be modified by selecting them in the upgrade window and pressing the green button, which is accompanied by the arrows that circle. This procedure will cost the player a certain amount of gold and items, which can be added to the upgrade gauge in the same manner as other rerolling options.
Players can choose to upgrade an item by a specific stat, or reroll affixes. The range of stats is determined by the item's level. However every item will contain at least one stat in that range unless they are an exclusive item, or the item is a God Roll from a boss in a raid.
Another thing that could change is the possibility to upgrade equipment without having to roll the attachments, or pick which stats to boost. As with the base equipment, it will have to be done per item, and the interface for item comparison would not display all the possible stats simultaneously.
Item Luck
A player's Luck stat stacks up to increase the chances of item discoveries, the properties spawned on loot drops and the strength of these properties. However, it does not directly affect damage or ability to upgrade item s. It gives the player the chance to upgrade their equipment earlier in the game. This is especially useful in the early game, since players tend to prioritize the scaling of weapons 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 by using an anti-material, such as a Scroll of Strength or a Jewel of Blessing.
Weapons, armor, and shields can be created or spawned by using the Luck property, which has an initial value of 40. These items can be enhanced with golden ingots, spined leather, or oak boards (depending on the material of the item) to grant an additional +40 Luck, or to increase the existing Luck of an item up to 140.
Furthermore, certain items, such as the Hollow infused weapon can be used to increase the damage dealt by any damage-dealing skill by five percent. These items can be found in the shop or created by using the appropriate ingredients.
Item Failure
Upgrades to items are costly and not all upgrades will succeed. Cash shop items can be used to increase the success rate of an upgrade or to prevent players from losing their item in the event that it is not successful.
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 can be enhanced by adding Additional Materials or Special Materials. The probability of success can only be increased so much, and the likelihood that the upgrade will fail cannot be greater than 100%..
The performance of an upgrade is also affected by the Luck of that item. All items have an overall success rate of 25%, and each item with Luck increases this chance by five percent.
The upgrade overlays of the item are rendered above 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.