World of Warcraft Item Upgrades
Upgrades to an item are a way to increase the stats of an item. Based on the type of upgrade it can boost an item's Mark Level or Rarity and boost additional stats.
The process of upgrading gear in The War Within requires a certain number of Flightstones and Crests and each item comes with an upgrade track. Each upgrade increases the cost of the next item by a specific amount.
Item Level
When an item is upgraded, its stats are increased in value. This value is the total of all the upgraded benefits (attack magic attack, attack defense). The cost of upgrading items can be high, depending on the upgrader you choose and what type of upgrade you choose to perform. This is due to the sheer number of perks that must be altered to upgrade an item.
It is also used as a gating requirement when waiting for dungeons, raids and scenarios. It is also used to limit the amount of PvP gear players are able to wear as PvP is restricted at a lower level. The average item level can be found on the character sheet.
When deciding to purchase or sell equipment players can look at the levels of the item. It's a sign of the damage and its quality. The level of an item can be used to evaluate items when examining a vendor's inventory.
On your PC, you can check the level of the item by pressing ALT or by using the left stick on XB1 or PS4. This will show the item's full description, including the ilvl. It is also accessible by hovering an item with the mouse cursor, and then typing /itemlevel in chat.
There are a few theories about how the calculation of an item's level is carried out. One theory is that the item level is a number that comes from a formula which calculates the value of an item's stats are worth. It takes into consideration 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 which is calculated and is often very close to Blizzards actual item level.
This isn't the only factor that influences the value of an item. The level of the area where the item was dropped may change its stats. For example, it could add a level to the item's haste or crit score. Items that drop in higher-level instances will have a higher ilvl.
Item Stats
Stats on an item are a significant component of what makes or breaks an item for players. The game makes use of a lot of them in various ways to encourage players to use multiple weapons, and prevent one weapon from being "the most effective." The stat mods of an weapon increase the base stats. These stat mods are then boosted by the player's level.
Upgrades to an item can increase the stats of an item. The rarity of an item determines its upgrade cost. A grey or white item, for example, will only be upgraded one time, while an item that has rare tiers can be upgraded several times at higher costs.
Another method to alter 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 provide items with extra damage or other special abilities (such as revitalizing dead or reducing cooling downs) or to differentiate them by adding a name.
Currently, all affixes can be rerolled by selecting them from the upgrade window and pressing the green button using circling arrows. It will cost a set amount of gold and other items. They can also be used as upgrade gauges, just like the other rerolling methods.
Players can choose to upgrade an item by specific stats or reroll the affixes. The possible ranges of stats for an item are determined by the level of the item, but all items are guaranteed to have at least one stat within that range, unless it is an exclusive item or a God roll from a raid boss.
This is another aspect that can be modified by introducing an option to upgrade the equipment without rolling the affixes or choosing which stats to boost. Like the base equipment, this must be done per item, and the interface for item comparison will not show all possible stats at once.
Item Luck
The Luck stat of a player boosts the chance of finding items as well as the properties created by loot and the strength of these properties. It doesn't, however, directly affect damage or the ability to upgrade items. It gives players an opportunity to get better equipment earlier in the game. This is particularly advantageous in early game runs since players tend to prioritize weapon scaling and defenses above raw damage gains.
In addition to influencing item discovery, Luck also increases the probability of success when upgrading items with the Blacksmith. This is not to be confused with the Blacksmith's overall chance of upgrading, which increases with each item level and can be further increased through the use of an anti-material such as a Scroll of Strength or a Jewel of Blessing.
Weapons, armor, and shields can be made or spawn by using the Luck property, with an initial value of 40. These items can be enhanced with golden ingots, spined leather or oak boards (depending on the item's material type) to give +40 Luck or to increase the luck of an item, up to 140.
Additionally there are certain items, like the Hollow infused weapon can be used to boost the damage of any damage-dealing skill by 5%. These items can be found in the shops or made using the right ingredients.
Item Failure
Upgrades to items can be expensive and not every upgrade will be successful. However, there are some cash shop items that allow players to boost their chances of success or even prevent them from losing an item in the event that the upgrade is unsuccessful.
When item upgrade upgrade an item, the success rate is shown in the Honing UI. The percentage represents the chance of successfully upgrading the item, and can be enhanced by adding Additional Materials or Special Materials. The probability of success can only be increased as much, and the likelihood that an upgrade will fail can't exceed 100%..
The luck of an item may influence the success of an upgrade. Every item has a base success rate of 25%, and each item with Luck increases that chance by five percent.
The upgrade overlays for items are displayed above items in the inventory. This could obscure enchantment effects and 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.