World of Warcraft Upgrades and Item Upgrading
Upgrades increase the value of certain numeric stats on weapons, armor and rings. Upgrades also increase bonuses such as crit chance and PvE Damage.
For instance, a weapon with the upgrade template ending in % will take on 3% attack damage every time it is upgraded (relative to its previous value).
Item upgrading costs crests and the item's current level. The cost increases with the item upgrader's level.
Components
Upgrade components are items that can be put into armor, weapons and trinkets to give a stat bonus or extra effect while they're in use. They can be obtained through crafting, purchasing from vendors, trading with other players, or looting. Certain upgrades come with special cosmetic effects.
upgrade item components can be inserted into equipment that has a slot to accommodate them; the item must be at the very least upgraded to blue level for a component to be applied. Unlike other mods, upgrade components can only be used once; they cannot be applied repeatedly or replaced by new upgrades. Infusions and Enrichments are a kind of upgrade component used to upgrade non-amulet legendary and Ascended equipment, as well in some items that aren't ascended. Infusions and enrichments can be recovered by salvaging gear from the ascended, or completing an elite mission in the Prophecies, Factions and Nightfall campaigns.
A prefix or suffix can be added to an upgrade, which alters the name of the item it's used on (for example, 'Canthan Armor Insignia',' changes to Canthan Armor Minor Vigor). Some upgrades increase the Mark Level or Rarity of an item, allowing players to create stronger versions using the smallest amount of Upgrade crystals than they would require to achieve the same level using standard methods.
A 'boost' upgrade can change the attack or defence characteristics of a weapon, or armor. These upgrades are available to be made using the Portative Forging Station once the player completes the cutscene and defeats the Crazed Mechanical. They can be dropped by enemies when upgrading other gear, or by buying them from the cash store for 500 upgrade crystals.
Each upgrade increases the likelihood that a higher tier version of an item will be dropped in the next reset. This gives the player some incentive to keep upgrading their gear even if they're not sure of the extent to which it will improve after a future reset.
Whether a boost upgrade is successful or not, the process can be costly, and there is a high risk that the item may be obsolete or even break if it fails. A failure to upgrade can cause the destruction of the Upgrade Crystals and Assist Powder, as well as the upgraded item. Cash shop items can be used to decrease or eliminate the risk of failure. Some upgrades also offer the player a bonus if they are they are reinserted.
Glyphs
Glyphs are upgrade components that can be inserted into special sockets on the Paragon Board. Glyphs increase the power of nodes within a radius, and include any existing affixes. Glyphs can be upgraded in a variety of ways. We recommend upgrading them as fast as possible up to 15 levels.
It is commonplace to see in the endgame that placing Glyphs is the best way to upgrade your equipment. They are the only upgrade components that can be upgraded straight to level 15 and provide an enormous boost to your power and radius on the Paragon Board, enabling you to climb higher nodes more quickly.
The majority of upgrades in the game can be replaced however, Glyphs are only the one upgrade component that can be removed and re-placed without restrictions. The only exception is legendary equipment, which requires a Black Lion Salvage Kit to salvage and replace.
The value of each Glyph is displayed when you select it in your inventory. You can replace it with a Glyph that is the same or higher rank to increase the value of the Glyph.
Glyphs can be found in the Black Lion Trading Post as part of the Gem Store bundle or purchase them with certain tools that are unlimited in use and also during Faction Crypt Raids. Each Faction Crypt has a chance to drop one of the numerous Glyphs and there are some rare glyphs to be found in the form of drops from any of the four Faction Crypts.
Once you have obtained the desired Glyphs, you will have to attach them to your equipment. Each Glyph unlocks a bonus which will boost the stats of a specific set of nodes in a radius surrounding the Glyph. Depending on the Glyph, this will either be +40 to one of your primary stats, or +25 to two of your secondary stats.
Glyphs will increase the number of nodes connected to them, therefore it is best to put Glyphs in strategic locations on the Graph. This will increase the impact. For example an Druid should try to place their Glyphs close to their primary damage nodes but also be sure to place them near the most critical damage nodes too.
Leveling
The item upgrading system allows players to improve the stats of certain items by placing upgraded components inside them. This is often referred to as "upping". Each upgradeable item has a level that determines its final upgraded stats. Upgraded items can be leveled to a maximum of ilvl 385. Each level of an item requires a different number of components to be reached, and the upgrade costs increase as the item gets advanced in level.
Certain upgrades require a specific ingredient to activate. This ingredient is obtained by completing Upgrade Recipes. These recipes are available in the upgrade tab of a crafting table or purchased from some NPCs. Each Upgrade Recipe that is completed results in a certain amount of Technology points. These points can be used to level up the item. Once enough points are earned, the upgrade can be claimed and any additional bonuses will be added to the item.
When an individual player upgrade an item, the base item will be replaced by the new item. The same armor can be transformed into a weapon or a shield when upgraded. The new item will also come with a bonus of its own. This could be a drawback since the item may be more expensive even if you do not require it.
If the player has enough tokens they can roll the upgrade of their item. The item will be replaced with an entirely new item that has a level 1 basis and completely different bonuses. This can be useful, but shouldn't be done often as it could waste resources.
Certain upgrades can be rerolled many times which increases their value and allows the player to modify their gear. Dolphin's Gift is a good example, as it provides buffs when the player is repeatedly in or exits the water. The item can be upgraded several times by increasing the maximum roll every time by 10 increments. This item is extremely valuable in PvP as a perfectly rolled version of it can be worth between 20 and 50x its value without being upgraded.
Requirements
Item upgrading allows players to upgrade the level of their equippable equipment--armor, weapons, and trinkets above ilvl 385--by offering the appropriate items and currencies to an NPC that upgrades items. Upgrades to armor set pieces also boost the defense of the base set and weapon upgrades items boost their base damage as well as their strength and dexterity.
All items can be upgraded up to five times except for hero gear, which can be upgraded eight times. Every each time you upgrade an item it has the chance to fail. The failure rate increases the farther you go beyond the maximum number of upgrades. Failures can result in the item reverting to its initial state, which requires the player to pay for more resources than if they had stopped upgrading after the maximum amount.
If an item level upgrade fails to upgrade the amount of experience in its growth bar is reset to zero. Additionally, the item will lose any gained bonuses, including crit chance and attack damage, as well as any additional effects associated with the effect (for instance, an increase in heal over time or speed of reload). The player can continue to use their weapon or armor even after the failure.
Whenever an item is upgraded the upgrades are applied from lowest to highest. This means that, if a weapon gains an increase in its crit chance the increase is applied prior to any increase in attack damage. Slots is a new attribute that was added to item definitions. The value is calculated every time an upgrade occurs.
The amount of resources needed to upgrade item an item is based on its rarity rating and the number of upgrade slots. The cost for upgrading non-premium items is the same as the base value of the upgrade--for instance, a standard equipment item could have five upgrades at a cost of 25,600 Technology Points and a 4x Quality Improvement Chance--whereas hero quality items will have a much lower cost for each upgrade.
Premium items have different requirements for upgrading as compared to standard equipment, for instance, they may require fewer sowels but more minerals and erons. Regardless, the player will have to visit the NPC [ArmorBoboko in Central Flarine. Boboko in Central Flarine with each piece of equipment they wish to upgrade. In addition to the upgrade cost mentioned above, each upgrade items requires an individual amount of ingredients needed to upgrade.