World of Warcraft Item Upgrades
Upgrades to items are a method to boost the stats of an item. Based on the type of upgrade you choose, it can increase an item's Rarity or Mark Level, and also boost other stats.
Upgrading equipment in The War Within requires a certain number of Flightstones and Crests, and each item has an upgrade track. Each upgrade increases the cost of the next one by a certain amount.
Item Level
When an item is upgraded, its base stats increase in value. This is the sum of all of an item's leveled-up perks (attack magic attack and defense). Upgrading items can be expensive depending on the upgrader you choose and the type of upgrade you choose to perform. This is due to how many perks need to be replaced to allow the item to be upgraded.
It is also used to enforce gating requirements when queueing for dungeons, raids and scenarios. It can also be used as a gating requirement while waiting to queue for dungeons and scenarios and raids, and to limit the amount of PvP gear a player can wear (since PvP is limited to a lower level). The average item level can be found on the character sheet.
Utilizing the level of an item can help players compare the strength of equipment when they decide to buy or sell. It's a good gauge of an item's worth and how much damage it's capable of causing. Comparing items from the inventory of a vendor can be done using the level of the item.
The item level can be viewed by pressing the ALT key on your PC or using the left stick (L3) on XB1 and PS4. The item will be displayed with its full description, including the ilvl. You can also locate it by hovering over an item and typing /itemlevel into chat.
There are a variety of theories on how the item level is calculated. One theory is that the level is a number that comes from a formula which calculates how much an item's stats are worth. It considers the fact that different perks have different worth, and also that gems in sockets increase the item's overall value. This process can result in a calculated amount for the item's level, which is usually close to the actual Blizzard level of the item.
However, this is not the only factor which affects an item's ilvl, since the level of the region the item dropped in can alter the value of its stats, such as by adding an amount to its haste or crit rating. item upgrader means that items dropped at higher levels will have higher ilvl than those from lower-level instances.
Item Stats
Item stats can be the difference between a good or bad 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 stats of a base weapon are increased by the weapon's stat modifications which are then increased by the player's skill.
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 instance, will only be upgraded once and items with rare tiers can be upgraded multiple times with higher prices.
Affixes are a different method to change an item's stats. They are stat boosts which can be added by the player to an item. The affixes can do things like give the item additional damage, or give a specific ability to the item (such as reviving the dead or cutting down cooldowns), or make the item unique by giving an additional name to the item.
All affixes can be re-rolled at the moment 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 which can be used to add to the upgrade gauge in the same way as other options for rerolling.
Players can upgrade an item with specific stats, or reroll the affixes. The possible stat ranges for an item are determined by the item level, but every item is guaranteed to have at minimum one stat within the specified range, unless it's an item that is unique or an item that is a God roll from a raid boss.
Another thing that could be changed is the possibility to upgrade equipment without having to roll the attachments, or pick which stats to boost. As with the base equipment, it must be done per item, and the interface for item comparison wouldn't display all possible stats at once.
Item Luck
The Luck stat for a player adds up to increase the chances of item discoveries as well as the properties that appear on loot drops and the strength of those properties. It does not, however directly impact damage or the ability to upgrade items. It gives players the chance to upgrade their equipment earlier in the game. This is more advantageous for early game runs, since players tend to prioritize defenses and weapon scaling over raw damage gains.
Luck can also boost the chances of upgrading items at the Blacksmith. This isn't to be confused with the Blacksmith’s overall chance of upgrading that increase with each level of the item. They can also be increased with the use of anti-materials, such as a Scroll of Strength and a Jewel of Blessing.
Armor, shields and weapons come with the default Luck value of 40. These items can then be enhanced by golden ingots, spined leather, or oak boards (depending on the item's material type) to give +40 Luck, or to increase the existing Luck of the item up to 140.
Certain items, like the Hollow-infused weapon, can also be equipped to increase the damage of any skill that deals damage by 5%. These items can be found in the shop or crafted with the right ingredients.
Item Failure
Not all upgrades work. Cash shop items can be used to increase the chance of success of an upgrade, or to protect players from losing their item if it does not work.
The rate of success of an upgrade is displayed in the Honing UI. The percentage represents the probability 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 so high, and the probability that an upgrade will fail can't exceed 100%.
The Luck of an item can affect the effectiveness of an upgrade. Each item has a base success rate of 25%, and every item with Luck increases that chance by an additional five percent.
Note that item upgrades are rendered above the items in the inventory, so enchantment glint and other effects could 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.