World of Warcraft Item Upgrades
Upgrades to an item are a way to increase the stats of an item. Depending on the type of upgrade you choose, it may increase an item's Rarity or Mark Level and boost additional 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 upgrader mod's stats base increases when it is upgraded. This value is the total of all its upgraded advantages (attack magic attack, attack defense). The cost of upgrading items can be high depending on the upgrader and the kind of upgrade you decide to do. This is due to how many perks must be replaced to allow the item to be upgraded.
It is also used as a gating requirement when waiting for dungeons, raids and scenarios. It can also be used to limit how much PvP gear players are able to wear as PvP is restricted at a lower level. Players can view their average level of item on their character sheet.
When deciding whether to buy or sell equipment players can look at the item level. It's an indicator of the item's damage and quality. The level of an item can be used to compare items when evaluating a vendor's inventory.
The item level can be checked by pressing the ALT key on your PC or using the left stick (L3) on XB1 and PS4. This will show the full item description, including its level. It is also accessible by hovering over an item using the mouse cursor, and then typing /itemlevel in chat.
There are many theories about how the item level is calculated. One theory says that the level of an item is calculated by an equation that determines the value of the stats of an item really are. It is based on the fact that different advantages are valued differently and that gems found in sockets boost the value of the item. This could result in an item's ilvl calculated, which is often very close to Blizzard's actual level of the item.
However, this isn't the only factor which can affect an item's ilvl because the level of the region the item was dropped in could alter the value of its stats, for example by adding an additional level to its crit rating or haste rating. Items dropped in higher-level instances will have a higher value.
Item Stats
The stats of an item are a major component 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 to prevent one weapon from being "the best." The stat mods on a weapon boost the base stats. These stat mods are then increased by a player's level.
Upgrades to the item add by increasing certain stats on the item. The cost of upgrades is determined by the rarity of the item. A grey or white item, for example, will only be upgraded one time, while an item with rare tiers can be upgraded multiple times at higher prices.
Another way to change the stats of an item is through affixes. They are stat boosts which can be added by the player to an item upgrader. The affixes could provide the item extra damage, add a special ability to the item (such as reviving the dead or reducing the duration of cooldowns), or make the item unique by giving a special name to the item.
All affixes can be currently re-rolled by selecting them in the upgrade window, pressing the green button. This procedure will cost the player a specific amount of gold as well as items that can be added to the upgrade gauge in the same manner as the other rerolling options.
In addition to the possibility of rerolling affixes, players may also choose which stats to be kept on an item after it is upgraded. The range of stats determined by the item's level. However every item will include at least one stat in that range unless they are a unique item or an item that has a God Roll from a boss in a raid.
Another thing that could change is the possibility to upgrade equipment without having to roll the attachments, or pick which stats to enhance. As with base equipment, it must be done per item upgrades and the interface for item comparison would not display all the possible stats at once.
Item Luck
The Luck stat of a player increases the chance of finding items, the properties that are created by loot and the intensity of these properties. However, it does not directly impact damage or the ability to upgrade items. It provides players with the chance to upgrade gear earlier in the game. This is especially useful for early game runs, since players tend to prioritize weapon scaling and defenses above raw damage gains.
Luck can also increase the chance of upgrading items at the Blacksmith. This is not to confuse with the Blacksmith's overall upgrade chances, which increase with each item level. These can also be increased with the use of anti-materials, such as the Scroll of Strength and a Jewel of Blessing.
Armor, shields and weapons can be made or spawn by using the Luck property, with a default value of 40. These items can be improved with golden ingots or spined leather (depending on their material type) to add another 40 luck or to boost the luck of the item to 140.
Additionally some items, such as the Hollow weapon that is infused with hollow can be used to increase the damage dealt by any damage-dealing skill by five percent. These items are available in the shop or created with the right ingredients.
Item Failure
Upgrades to items can be expensive and not every upgrade will be successful. Cash shop items can be used to boost the chances of success for an upgrade or to prevent players from losing their items if it fails.
The success rate of an upgrade is shown in the Honing UI. The percentage represents the probability of completing the upgrade successfully and can be enhanced by adding Additional Materials or Special Materials. There are limits to the extent to which success rates can be increased and the chance of a failed upgrade cannot exceed 100%.
The success of an item can be affected by the luck of the item. All items have an initial success rate of 25%, and every item with Luck increases that chance by 5percent.
It is important to note that upgrade items are rendered above the inventory items, so enchantment glint 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.