World of Warcraft Item Upgrades
Item upgrades are a way to increase the stats of an item. Based on the type of upgrade it can raise an item's Mark level or Rarity, as well as boost other stats.
Upgrades to 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 one by a certain amount.
Item Level
When an item is upgraded, its base stats are increased in value. The value is the sum of all of the perks that are leveled up (attack magic attack and defense). The cost of upgrading items can be high depending on the upgrader and what kind of upgrade you decide to perform. This is due to the variety of perks that need to be changed in order to upgrade an item.
It is also used as a gating requirement while queueing for raids, dungeons and scenarios. It also serves to limit the amount of PvP gear players can wear, since PvP is limited at lower levels. The average level of an item is listed on the character sheet.
The level of an item can help players evaluate the strength of equipment when deciding to purchase or sell. It's an indicator of the item's condition and its quality. The level of the item can be used to compare items when evaluating the inventory of a seller.
On your PC, you can view the item level using ALT, or by using the left stick on XB1 or PS4. This will display the complete description of the item, as well as its value. It can also be located by hovering over an item using the mouse cursor and typing /itemlevel into chat.
There are several theories about how the calculation of the item's level is made. One theory suggests that the item level is calculated by a formula that calculates the worth of an item's stats actually are. It considers that different benefits are valued differently and that gems found in sockets increase the item's value. This can result in a calculated item's ilvl that is typically very close to Blizzards actual level of the item.
However, this isn't the only factor that affects an item's ilvl, since the level of the region the item dropped in can change the value of its stats, for example by adding a level to its haste or crit rating. Items dropped in higher-level instances will have higher ilvl.
Item Stats
The stats of an item are a major part of what determines the value of an item for players. The game uses a variety of them in a variety of ways to encourage players to use multiple weapons, and also to stop one weapon from being "the Best item upgrader." The base stats on a weapon are increased by the weapon's stat modifications, which are themselves enhanced by the player's level.
Upgrades to an item may increase its stats. The costs for upgrades are determined by the rarity of the item. For instance, a grey or white item can only be upgraded once, while an item with the rare tiers can be upgraded many 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 sizes and shapes. The affixes can be used to give items additional damage or special abilities (such as reviving dead or reducing cooling downs), or to differentiate them by putting a name on them.
All affixes are currently re-rolled by selecting them in the upgrade menu and pressing the green button. This will cost a specific amount in gold and other items. These can be used as upgrade gauges, similar to other rerolling methods.
Players can upgrade an item to specific stats, or reroll attaches. The range of stats determined by the item's level. However each item will have at least one stat within the range, unless they are an exclusive item, or a God Roll from a raid boss.
This is another thing that could be altered by adding the option to upgrade the equipment without having to reroll the affixes or choosing which stats to increase. But as with base equipment, this would need to be performed on a per-item level, and the interface for item comparison will not show all the stats that could be gained or lost at once.
Item Luck
The Luck stat of a player can increase the chance of finding items, the properties that are created by loot and the intensity of these properties. It does not, however, directly affect damage or the ability to upgrade items (recent delphi.larsbo.org blog post). It merely gives players a possibility to obtain better gear in earlier waves, and is therefore more beneficial in the early game as opposed to later ones, as most players prioritize greater weapon scaling and defense over damage gains.
In addition to influencing item level upgrade discovery, Luck also increases the chance of success when upgrading items using the Blacksmith. This is not to be confused with the Blacksmith's overall upgrade probability which increases with each level and can be further increased by using an anti-material such as a Scroll of Strength or a Jewel of Blessing.
The shields, armor and weapons have an initial Luck value of 40. These items can then be enhanced by golden ingots, spined leather, or oak boards (depending on the item's material type) to grant a further +40 Luck or to boost the luck of an item, up to 140.
Moreover some items, such as the Hollow infused weapon, can be equipped to increase the damage of any damage-dealing skill by 5%. These items can be purchased in the shop or crafted with the right ingredients.
Item Failure
Upgrades to items can be expensive and not all upgrades will succeed. Cash shop items can be used to boost the chance of success of an upgrade or to prevent players from losing their item in the event that it fails.
When you upgrade an item, the success rate is displayed in the Honing UI. The percentage indicates the probability of successfully upgrading an item. This can be increased by using Additional Materials or Special Materials. The probability of success can only be increased by so much, and the chance that the upgrade will fail cannot exceed 100%..
The Luck of an item can also affect the effectiveness of an upgrade. Every item has an average success rate of 25%, and each item that has Luck increases this chance by five percent.
It is important to note that upgrade items are rendered above the items in the inventory, so enchantment glint and other effects may be obscured by the overlays. 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.