World of Warcraft Item Upgrades
Item upgrades are a way to boost the stats of an item. Depending on the upgrade type, it may increase an item's Mark Level or Rarity, and also boost other stats.
Upgrading equipment in The War Within requires a certain number of Flightstones and Crests, and each item comes with an upgrade track. Each upgrade increases the price of the next item by a specific amount.
Item Level
The value of an item's base stats increases as it is upgraded. This value is the sum of an item's leveled-up perks (attack magic attack and defense). Upgrading items can be expensive, depending on the upgrader you choose and what type of upgrade you choose to do. This is due to the fact that many perks must be replaced in order for the item to be upgraded.
The level of an item is a commonly used measurement of power and is visible on all tooltips of items. It also serves to determine a gating condition when queueing for dungeons, scenarios and raids, and to limit the amount of PvP gear a player can wear (since PvP is limited to a lower level). Players can view their average item level in their character sheet.
The level of an item can help players evaluate the power of equipment when choosing to buy or sell. It's a sign of the damage and quality. Comparing items in the inventory of a seller is possible using the item level.
On PC, you are able to view the item level using ALT, or by using the left stick on XB1 or PS4. This will display the full description of the item, as well as its value. You can also locate it by hovering over an item and typing in /itemlevel chat.
There are various theories on how the item level calculation is made. One theory suggests that the item level is determined by an equation that determines the worth of the stats of an item really are. It takes into consideration that different benefits are valued differently and that gems in the sockets increase the value of the item. This can result in a calculated value for the item's ilvl which is usually close to the actual Blizzard level of the item.
However, this is not the only factor which can affect an item's ilvl as the level of the region the item was dropped in could alter the value of its stats, for example by adding an amount to its crit rating or haste rating. Items dropped in higher-level instances will have a higher value.
item upgrader mod Stats
The item's stats can make or break an item for players. The game uses a lot of them in various ways to encourage players to play with multiple weapons, and also to stop one weapon from being "the best." The base stats on a weapon are boosted by the weapon's stat modifications which are then enhanced by the player's level.
The upgrades to an item can increase its stats. The rarity of an item determines the upgrade cost. For instance, a grey or white item will only be upgraded once, while items with rare levels will be upgraded multiple times, at higher costs.
Affixes can also be used to alter the stats of an item. They are stat boosters that can be added by the player to an item. The affixes are used to give items additional damage, special abilities (such as reviving dead or reducing cooling downs) or to distinguish them by adding a name.
At present, all affixes can be rerolled by selecting them from the upgrade window and pressing the green button, which is accompanied by circling arrows. This will cost a certain amount of gold and other items. These can be used as upgrade gauges, as with other rerolling methods.
In addition to rerolling affixes, players can select which of the available stats they want to keep on an item upgrading when it is upgraded. The stat ranges are determined by the item's level. However, all items will include at least one stat within that range unless they are an item that is unique or the item is a God Roll from a raid boss.
Another thing that could be changed is the option to upgrade equipment without having to reroll attaches, or select which stats to increase. But as with base equipment, this would have to be done on a per-item basis and the interface for item comparison would not display all the possible stats either lost or gained at the same time.
Item Luck
A player's Luck stat stacks up to increase the odds of item discoveries and the properties that are spawned from loot drops and the strength of these properties. However, it doesn't directly impact damage or the ability to upgrade items. It gives the player a chance to acquire better equipment earlier in the game, and is therefore more useful in the early game as opposed to later ones, as most players prioritize greater weapon scaling and defense over the raw damage gain.
In addition to influencing item discovery, Luck also increases the probability of success when upgrading items using the Blacksmith. This is not to be confused with the Blacksmith’s overall chances of upgrading that increase with each item level. These can also be increased with the use of anti-materials like a Scroll of Strength and a Jewel of Blessing.
Weapons, shields, and armor can spawn or be crafted with the Luck property, which has an initial value of 40. These items can be augmented by using golden ingots or spined leather (depending on their material type) to add another 40 luck or to boost an item's existing Luck up to 140.
Additionally there are certain items, such as the Hollow infused weapon can be outfitted to increase the damage of any damage-dealing skill by 5percent. These items can be found in the shop or created with the right ingredients.
Item Failure
Upgrades to items can be a costly process 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 represents the chance of successfully upgrading the item and can be increased by adding Additional Materials or Special Materials. There are limitations to how much success rates can be increased and the chance of an upgrade failing cannot exceed 100%.
The success of an upgrades is also influenced by the luck of the item upgrading. All items have an average success rate of 25%, and every item that has Luck increases the chance of success by an additional 5%.
Note that upgrades to items are rendered above the inventory items 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.