World of Warcraft Item Upgrades
Upgrades to items are a method to boost the stats of an item. Depending on the upgrade type it can boost an item's Mark Level or Rarity and boost additional stats.
Each item comes with a track for upgrading it. Each upgrade increases the cost of the next item by a certain amount.
Item Level
When an item is upgraded, its stats improve in value. The value is the sum of all the upgraded advantages (attack magic attack, attack defense). Upgrades can be expensive depending on the person you hire and what you decide to do. This is due to the sheer number of perks that have to be modified to upgrade an item.
It is also used to enforce gating requirements when queueing for raids, dungeons and scenarios. It also serves to determine a gating condition when waiting for dungeons, raids and scenarios, and to limit the amount of PvP gear a player can wear (since PvP is capped at the lower levels). The average level of the item can be found in the character sheet.
Utilizing the level of an item can help players evaluate the power of equipment when choosing to buy or sell. It's a measure of the item's damage and its quality. Comparing items in the inventory of a seller is possible using the level of the item upgrade.
The level of the item can be viewed by pressing the ALT key on a PC or using the left stick (L3) on XB1 and PS4. This will display the item's full description, including ilvl. You can also find it by hovering over an item and typing /itemlevel in chat.
There are several theories on how the item level calculation is done. One theory is that the item level is a number that comes from a formula that calculates the amount an item's stats are worth. It considers the fact that different perks have different values and sockets have gems that increase the value of the item overall. This can result in an item's ilvl which is calculated and is typically very close to Blizzards actual item level.
However, this is not the only factor which affects an item's ilvl, because the level of the area the item dropped in can change the value of its stats, for instance by adding an amount to its haste rating or crit rating. Items that drop in higher-level instances will have higher ilvl.
Item Stats
Item stats are a big part of what makes or breaks an item for players. The game uses a lot of them in a variety of ways to encourage players to play with a variety of weapons, and prevent one weapon from being "the Best item upgrade." The base stats of a weapon are boosted by the weapon's stat modifications which are then boosted by the player's level.
Upgrades to an item may boost 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 with higher prices.
Another way to change the stats of 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 additional damage, special abilities (such as revitalizing dead or reducing cooling downs) or to distinguish them by putting a name on 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 items. These can be used as upgrade item gauges, just like the other rerolling methods.
In addition to Rerolling affixes and rerolls, players can also choose which stats to keep on an item when it is upgraded. The possible ranges of stats for an item are determined by the level of the item, however all items are guaranteed to have at least one stat within the range, unless it is an item that is unique or an item that is a God roll from a boss of a raid.
Another thing that could be changed is the possibility of upgrading equipment without having to reroll the affixes, or choose which stats to enhance. Like the base equipment, it must be done per item upgrader mod and the interface for item comparison will not show all possible stats at once.
Item Luck
The Luck stat for a player adds up to increase the chances of item discoveries and the properties that are spawned from loot drops and the intensity of these properties. However, it does not, directly affect damage or the ability to upgrade items. It gives players a possibility to obtain better gear in earlier waves and is therefore more valuable in the initial game run than later ones as most players prioritize higher weapon scaling and defenses over damage gains.
Luck can also increase the chance of upgrading items at the Blacksmith. This is not to be confused with the Blacksmith's overall chances of upgrading that increase with each level of the item. They can also be increased with the use of anti-materials like the Scroll of Strength and a Jewel of Blessing.
Weapons, shields, and armor can be made or spawn using the Luck property, which has a default value of 40. These items can be enhanced by using golden ingots or spined leather (depending on the type of material) for a further +40 luck or to increase an item's existing Luck up to 140.
Certain items, like the weapon with Hollow-infused components can also be crafted to increase the damage dealt by any ability that deals damage by 5%. These items are available in the shop or crafted with the right ingredients.
item Upgrader mod Failure
Not all upgrades are successful. Cash shop items can be used to increase the success rate of an upgrade, or to protect 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 is the chances of successfully upgrading the item, and can be increased by adding Additional Materials or Special Materials. The chance of success can only be increased so much, and the likelihood that an upgrade will fail cannot exceed 100%.
The luck of an item can affect the success of an upgrade. Each item has a base success rate of 25% and every item that has Luck increases the chance of success by 5%.
The upgrade overlays of the item are displayed above items in the inventory. This may cause obscurity to enchantment effects or other effects. 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.