World of Warcraft Item Upgrades
The upgrade of an item can be used to increase the stats of an item. Based on the type of upgrade, it may raise an item's Mark level or Rarity, and also boost other stats.
Upgrades to gear in The War Within requires a specified number of Flightstones and Crests, and each item has an upgrade track. Each upgrade item increases the cost of the next item by a specific amount.
Item Level
When an item gets upgraded, its stats are increased in value. This is the sum of the perks that are leveled up (attack magic attack and defense). Upgrades can be costly, dependent on who you employ and what you decide to do. This is due to how many perks have to be replaced to allow the item to get upgraded.
It can also be used as a gating requirement while queueing for dungeons, raids and scenarios. It also serves as a gating requirement while waiting for dungeons, raids and scenarios, and to limit the amount of PvP gear a player can wear (since PvP is restricted to the lower levels). Players can view their average item level in their character sheet.
When deciding whether to buy or sell equipment players can evaluate the levels of the item. It's a sign of the item's damage and quality. Comparing items in the inventory of a seller is possible using the level of the item upgrader mod.
On your PC, you can check the level of the item by pressing ALT or using the left stick on XB1 or PS4. This will display the item's full description, including ilvl. It is also accessible by hovering over an item with the mouse cursor, and then entering /itemlevel into chat.
There are various theories on how the calculation of the item's level is made. One theory states that the item level is calculated using formulas that determine the worth of the stats of an item really are. It takes into consideration that different perks are valued differently, and that gems in the sockets increase the item upgrader kit's value. This could result in an item's ilvl calculated, which is often very close to Blizzards actual item level.
However, this isn't the only factor which can affect an item's ilvl since the size of the area the item was dropped in could change the value of its stats, for instance by adding an amount to its crit rating or haste rating. This means that items dropped at higher levels will have higher value than items dropped in lower-level instances.
Item Stats
The stats of an item can determine the fate of an item for players. The game makes use of them in various ways to encourage players not to restrict themselves to a particular weapon and to motivate players to experiment with other weapons. The base stats of a weapon are increased by the weapon's stat mods which are then enhanced by the player's level.
The upgrades to an item can increase the stats of an item. The costs for upgrades are determined by the rarity of the item. For example, a grey or white item will only be upgraded once, whereas items with rare tiers will be upgraded several times at higher prices.
Another way to change the stats on an item is by affixing it. They are stat boosters that can be added by the player to an item. Affixes are used to give items extra damage or other special capabilities (such as the ability to revive dead or reduce cooling downs) or to distinguish them by naming them.
All affixes can be re-rolled at the moment by selecting them in the upgrade window, and pressing the green button. This will cost a certain amount in gold and other items. They can also be used as upgrade gauges similar to other methods of rerolling.
In addition to the possibility of rerolling affixes, players may select which stats to be kept on an item when it is upgraded. The possible stat ranges of an item are determined by the item level, but every item is guaranteed to have at least 1 stat within the specified range, unless it is an exclusive item or the result of a God roll from a boss of a raid.
Another thing that could be altered by adding the option to upgrade the equipment without rolling the affixes, or selecting which stats to boost. However, as with the base equipment, this would have to be carried out on a per-item upgrader mod basis and the interface for comparing items would not display all the possible stats either lost or gained at the same time.
Item Luck
The Luck stat for a player adds up to increase the likelihood of item discoveries as well as the properties that appear on loot drops and the strength of those properties. However, it doesn't directly impact damage or the ability to upgrade items. It simply gives players the chance to upgrade their equipment in earlier waves and is therefore more beneficial in the early game than in later ones, as most players prioritize greater weapon scaling and defense over raw damage gains.
Luck can also boost the chance of upgrading items at the Blacksmith. This should not be confused with the Blacksmith's overall upgrade probability, which increases with each item level 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 spawn or be crafted with the Luck property, with an initial value of 40. These items can be augmented with golden ingots, or spined leather (depending on the material they are made of) to add another 40 luck, or to increase the luck of the item to 140.
Furthermore some items, like the Hollow weapon, which is infused with Hollow can be used to increase the damage of any damage-dealing skill by five percent. These items are available at the store or crafted using the right ingredients.
Item Failure
Upgrades to items can be expensive and not all upgrades will succeed. However, there are cash shop items that 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 chances of successfully upgrading the item, and it can be increased by adding Additional Materials or Special Materials. The probability of success can only be increased as high, and the probability that an upgrade will fail can't be greater than 100%..
The Luck of an item may influence the effectiveness of an upgrade. All items have an average success rate of 25%, and every item that has Luck increases that chance by an additional 5%.
Note that upgrades to items are rendered above the items in the inventory therefore enchantment glints and other effects can be obstructed by them. 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.