World of Warcraft Item Upgrades
Item upgrades are a way to increase the stats of an item. Depending on the type of upgrade you choose, it may increase the rarity of an item upgrader mod or mark Level and increase other stats.
Each item has a track for upgrading it. Each upgrade increases the cost of the following one by a certain amount.
Item Level
The value of an item's stats base increases as it is upgraded. The value is the sum of an item's leveled-up perks (attack magic attack and defense). Upgrades can be costly, dependent on who you employ and what you do. This is due to how many perks have to be replaced to allow the item to get upgraded.
Item level is a commonly used measurement of power and is visible on all tooltips for items. It also serves to determine a gating condition when waiting to queue for dungeons and raids and scenarios, and to limit the amount of PvP gear that a player can wear (since PvP is restricted to an lower level). The average level of the item can be found in the character sheet.
The level of an item can help players evaluate the strength of equipment when they decide to buy or sell. It's an indicator of the item's damage and quality. 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. 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 then typing /itemlevel in chat.
There are various theories on how the calculation of an item's level is carried out. One theory is that the level is a number derived from a formula which calculates the value of an item's stats are worth. It is based on the fact that different benefits are valued differently and that gems in the sockets increase the item's value. This process could result in a calculated value for the item's ilvl, which is typically close to Blizzard's real item level.
However, this isn't the only factor that determines the ilvl of an item, because the size of the area the item was dropped in could change the value of its stats, for instance by adding an additional level to its haste or crit rating. Items that drop in higher-level situations will have a higher value.
Item Stats
The item's stats can determine the fate of an item for players. The game makes use of them in many ways to encourage players not to limit themselves to one weapon, and to encourage players to explore other weapons. The base stats of a weapon are enhanced by the weapon's stat mods, which are themselves increased by the player's skill.
Upgrades to an item can increase the stats of an item. The upgrade costs are determined by the rarity of the item. An item that is white or grey for instance, will only be upgraded once however, items that has rare tiers can be upgraded multiple times with higher costs.
Another method to alter the stats of an item is to use affixes. They are stat boosters that can be added by the player to an item. The affixes can be used to give items extra damage or other special capabilities (such as the ability to revive dead or reduce cooling downs) or to make them unique by naming them.
At present, all affixes can be modified by selecting them in the upgrade window and pressing the green button with the arrows that circle. This process will cost the player a specific amount of gold and items which can be added to the upgrade gauge in the same way as other rerolling options.
In addition to Rerolling affixes and rerolls, players can also choose which of the available stats they want to keep on an item after it is upgraded. The range of stats is determined by the item's level. However every item will include at least one stat in the range, unless they are an exclusive item or an item that has a God Roll from a raid boss.
This is another thing that could be changed by adding the option to upgrade the equipment without rolling the affixes or choosing which stats to boost. However, as with the base equipment, this would need to be carried out on a per-item basis and the item compare interface wouldn't show all possible stats that were gained or lost at the same time.
Item Luck
The Luck stat of a player boosts the likelihood of locating items, the properties that are generated by loot, and the strength of these properties. However, it does not directly affect damage or the ability to upgrade items. It provides players with an opportunity to get better equipment earlier in the game. This is especially beneficial for early game runs, since players tend to prioritize weapon scaling and defenses above raw damage gains.
Luck can also increase 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 increased by using an anti-material, such as a Scroll of Strength or a Jewel of Blessing.
Weapons, armor, and shields can spawn or be crafted with the Luck property, which has the default value of 40. These items can be enhanced with golden ingots or spined leather (depending on their material type) for a further +40 luck, or to increase the Luck of an item up to 140.
Certain items, like the Hollow-infused weapon can also be outfitted to increase the damage of any skill that deals damage by five percent. These items are available in the shop, or they can be made using the correct ingredients.
Item Failure
Item upgrades are costly and not every upgrade will be successful. Cash shop items can be used to increase the success rate of an upgrade, or to protect players from losing their item if it does not work.
The rate of success of an upgrade can be seen in the Honing UI. The percentage indicates the probability of successfully upgrading the item. This can be increased by using Additional Materials or Special materials. There are limitations on how much the success rates can be improved and the probability of an upgrade failing can't exceed 100%.
The success of an upgrades is also influenced by the luck of the item. Each item has a success rate of 25 percent and each item with Luck increases the chance of success by 5percent.
Note that upgrades to items are rendered above the inventory items which means that enchantment glints and other effects can be masked 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.