World of Warcraft Item Upgrades
Item upgrades are a way to increase the stats of an item. Depending on the type of upgrade you choose, it can boost an item's Rarity or Mark Level and boost additional stats.
The process of upgrading equipment in The War Within requires a specified number of Flightstones and Crests and each item has an upgrade track. More hints increases the cost of the next one by a certain amount.
Item Level
The value of an item's base stats increases as it is upgraded. This value is the total of all its leveled up perks (attack, magic attack and defense). Upgrades can be expensive depending on the person you hire and what you do. This is due to how many perks must be replaced to allow the item to get upgraded.
It is also used to enforce gating requirements when queueing for raids, dungeons and scenarios. 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 capped at the lower levels). Players can see their average level of items on their character sheet.
The level of an item can help players evaluate the power of equipment when they decide to buy or sell. It's an indicator of the item's damage and quality. The item level can also be used to evaluate items when examining the inventory of a seller.
On PC, you can check the level of the item using ALT, or by using the left stick on XB1 or PS4. The item will be displayed with its full description, including the ilvl. It can also be found by hovering over an item with the mouse cursor and typing /itemlevel in chat.
There are several theories about the method by which the level of an item is calculated. One theory is that the level is a number derived from a formula which calculates how much an item's stats are worth. It takes into consideration the fact that various perks have different value and that gems in sockets add to the item's overall value. This process can result in a calculated value for the item's ilvl which is usually quite close to the actual Blizzard item level.
This isn't the only factor that influences the level of an item. The level of the area where the item was dropped may change its stats. For example, it could increase the item's haste, or crit rating. This means that items that drop at higher levels will have more ilvl than those from lower-level instances.
Item Stats
Item stats can make or break an item for players. The game uses a variety of them in a variety of ways to encourage players to use multiple weapons, and to prevent one weapon from being "the most effective." The base stats on a weapon are increased by the weapon's stat mods which are then increased by the player's skill.
Upgrades to an item may boost its stats. The costs for upgrades are determined by the rarity of the item. A grey or white item for instance, will only be upgraded one time however, items with rare tiers may be upgraded multiple times with higher prices.
Affixes can also be used to change an item's stats. These are special stat boosts that can be added to an item by the player and come in a variety of sizes and shapes. The affixes could do things like give the item extra damage, or add a unique ability to the item (such as reviving dead or decreasing the cooldowns) or make the item unique by adding an additional name to the item.
All affixes can be being re-rolled right now by selecting them in the upgrade menu and pressing the green button. This process will cost the player a specific amount of gold and items, which can be added to the upgrade gauge in the same manner as the other options for rerolling.
Players can choose to upgrade an item with a specific stat, or reroll affixes. The possible stat ranges for an item are based on the item level, but all items are guaranteed to have at least one stat within the range, unless it's an exclusive item or an item that is a God roll from a raid boss.
Another thing that could change is the possibility of upgrading equipment without having to reroll attaches, or select which stats to boost. But as with base equipment, this would need to be performed on a per-item level, and the interface for item comparison would not display all the possible stats gained or lost at once.
Item Luck
The Luck stat for a player adds up to increase the odds of item discoveries, the properties spawned on loot drops and the intensity of those properties. However, it does not 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 the early game, because players tend to put defenses and weapon scaling over raw damage gains.
In addition to influencing the discovery of items, Luck also increases the chances of success when upgrading items with the Blacksmith. This should not be confused with the Blacksmith's overall upgrade chance which increases with each level of the item and can be further enhanced 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 with the Luck property, with a default value of 40. These items can be enhanced with golden ingots or spined leather (depending on the material they are made of) for a further +40 luck or to boost the luck of the item to 140.
Moreover there are certain items, like the Hollow weapon that is infused with hollow can be outfitted to boost the damage of any damage-dealing skill by 5%. These items are available in the shop or crafted with the right ingredients.
Item Failure
Not all upgrades are successful. Cash shop items can be used to increase the success rate of an upgrade or to stop players from losing their item if it is not successful.
The success rate of an upgrade can be seen in the Honing UI. The percentage indicates the probability of successfully upgrading an item. This can be increased by using Additional Materials or Special materials. The percentage of success can only be increased so high, and the probability that the upgrade will fail cannot be greater than 100%..
The luck of an item can influence the effectiveness of an upgrade. All items have an average success rate of 25 percent, and each item that has Luck increases this chance by five percent.
The upgrade overlays of the item are rendered above the items in the inventory. This may 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.