World of Warcraft Item Upgrades
Upgrades to items are a method to boost the stats of an item. Depending on the type of upgrade you choose, it can increase an item's Rarity or Mark Level and increase other stats.
Upgrading gear in The War Within requires a specified number of Flightstones and Crests Each item has an upgrade track. Each upgrade increases the price of the next item by a specific amount.
Item Level
When an item gets upgraded, its basic stats improve in value. This is the sum of all the upgraded advantages (attack, magic attack and defense). Upgrades to items can be costly depending on the upgrader and the type of upgrade you choose to do. This is due to the number of perks that must be altered to upgrade an item.
Item level is a popular measurement of power and is visible on all item tooltips. It is also used to determine a gating condition when waiting for dungeons, raids and scenarios, and to limit the amount of PvP gear that a player can wear (since PvP is restricted to the lower levels). The average item level is listed on the character sheet.
The level of an item can help players compare the power of equipment when choosing to buy or sell. It's a useful gauge of an item's worth and the amount of damage it is capable of causing. Comparing items from the inventory of a seller can be done by using the level of the item.
The level of the item can be checked by pressing the ALT key on PC or using the left stick (L3) on XB1 and PS4. This will show the full description of the item, as well as its value. It is also accessible by hovering an item with the mouse cursor and typing /itemlevel into chat.
There are a variety of theories on how the level of an item is calculated. One theory is that the level is a number that comes from a formula which calculates how much an item's stats are worth. It takes into account the fact that various perks have different value and that sockets have gems that increase the item's overall value. This can result in a calculated value for the item's level, which is typically close to Blizzard's real level of the item.
However, this isn't the only factor which determines the ilvl of an item, since the level of the region the item dropped in can change the value of its stats, such as by adding an additional level to its haste rating or crit rating. Items that drop in higher-level situations will have higher ilvl.
Item Stats
Item stats can be the difference between a good or bad item for players. The game uses a variety of them in different ways to encourage players to play with a variety of weapons, and also to stop one weapon from being "the best." The stats of a base weapon are increased by the weapon's stat modification, which are themselves enhanced by the player's level.
Upgrades to an item may increase the stats of an item. The rarity of an item determines its upgrade cost. An item that is white or grey for instance, can only be upgraded one time, while an item that has rare tiers can be upgraded multiple times with higher prices.
Another method of altering the stats on an item is through affixes. They are stat boosters that can be added by the player to an item. Affixes are used to give items additional damage or special capabilities (such as the ability to revive dead or reduce cooling downs) or to distinguish them by adding a name.
All affixes can be currently re-rolled by selecting them in the upgrade window and pressing the green button. This process will cost the player a certain amount of gold as well as items, which can be added to the upgrade gauge in the same way as other options for rerolling.
Players can upgrade an item by a specific stat or reroll the affixes. The range of stats determined by the item's level. However every item will contain at least one stat in the same range, unless it's an item that is unique or a God Roll from a raid boss.
This is another aspect that could be altered by adding the option to upgrade the equipment without rolling the affixes, or selecting which stats to boost. But, like base equipment, this would need to be performed on a per-item basis and the item compare interface would not display all the possible stats either lost or gained at the same time.
Item Luck
The Luck stat of a player can increase the probability of obtaining items, the properties that are generated by loot, and the intensity of these properties. However, it doesn't directly affect damage or ability to upgrade items. It gives the player an opportunity to get better equipment earlier in the game. This is especially useful for early game runs, since players tend to prioritize defenses and weapon scaling over raw damage gains.
In addition to influencing the discovery of items, Luck also increases the chance of being successful when upgrading items using the Blacksmith. This isn't to be confused with the Blacksmith’s overall upgrade chances, which increase with each item level. It is also possible to be enhanced by using anti-materials, such as the Scroll of Strength and a Jewel of Blessing.
The shields, armor and weapons come with a default Luck value of 40. These items can be enhanced with golden ingots, or spined leather (depending on their material type) to add another 40 luck or to increase the Luck of an item up to 140.
Certain items, such as the Hollow-infused weapon, can also be equipped to increase the damage of any ability that deals damage by 5percent. These items can be bought from the shop or constructed using the right ingredients.
Item Failure
Not all upgrades work. However, there are cash shop items which allow players to increase their chance of success or stop themselves from losing an item in the event that the upgrade fails.
The success rate of an upgrade is displayed in the Honing UI. The percentage is the probability of successful upgrading an item. This can be increased by using Additional Materials or Special materials. The probability of success can only be increased so much, and the chance that the upgrade will fail cannot be greater than 100%..
The success of an item upgrade is also affected by the Luck of that item. All items have an average success rate of 25%, and every item with Luck increases that chance by an additional 5percent.
The item upgrade overlays are rendered above items in the inventory. This may block enchantment effects as well as 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.