World of Warcraft Item Upgrades
Upgrades to an item are a way to boost the stats of an item. Depending on the type of upgrade you choose, it may increase the rarity of an item, or its Mark Level and increase other stats.
Upgrades to gear in The War Within requires a certain number of Flightstones and Crests Each item comes with an upgrade track. Each upgrade increases the cost of the next one by a certain amount.
Item Level
When an item gets upgraded, its basic stats are increased in value. This value is the sum of all of an item's upgraded perks (attack magic attack and defense). Upgrades to items can be costly, depending on the upgrader you choose and what kind of upgrade you decide to perform. This is due to the number of perks that must be altered to upgrade an item.
The level of an item is a popular measure of power, and can be found on all tooltips of items. It is also used as a gating requirement when waiting to queue for dungeons and raids and scenarios, and to limit the amount of PvP gear that a player can wear (since PvP is limited to an lower level). Players can see their average item level in their character sheet.
The level of an item can help players compare the power of equipment when they decide to buy or sell. It's a good gauge of an item's worth and the amount of damage it will be capable of dealing with. Comparing items from the inventory of a vendor can be done by using the item's level.
The item level can be seen by pressing the ALT key on your PC or using the left stick (L3) on XB1 and PS4. This will display the complete item description, including its level. It is also accessible by hovering over an item with the mouse cursor and typing /itemlevel into chat.
There are several theories on how the calculation of an item's level is carried out. One theory states that the item level is determined by a formula that calculates how valuable the stats of an item really are. It considers that different perks are valued differently, and that gems in sockets increase the item's value. This process could result in a calculated amount for the item's ilvl, which is typically close to Blizzard's actual level of the item.
However, this isn't the only factor that determines the ilvl of an item, as the size of the area the item dropped in can change the value of its stats, for example by adding a level to its haste rating or crit rating. Items that drop in higher-level situations will have a higher value.
Item Stats
The stats of an item can determine the fate of an item for players. The game uses a lot of them in a variety of ways to encourage players to use multiple weapons, and also to stop one weapon from being "the most effective." The base stats of a weapon are boosted by the weapon's stat mods, which are themselves enhanced 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. For example, a grey or white item can only be upgraded once, while an item with rare tiers will be upgraded several times at higher prices.
Another method of altering the stats on an item is through affixes. 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 the ability to revive dead or reduce cooling downs) or to make them unique by adding a name.
Currently, all affixes can be rerolled by selecting them from the upgrade window and pressing the green button, which is accompanied by the arrows that circle. This will cost a certain amount of gold and other items. They can also be used as upgrade gauges similar to other methods of rerolling.
In addition to the possibility of rerolling affixes, players may select which of the available stats to be kept on an item when it is upgraded. The possible stat ranges of an item are determined by the level of the item, however every item is guaranteed to have at minimum one stat within the specified range, unless it is an item that is unique or the result of a God roll from a boss of a raid.
Another thing that could change is the option to upgrade equipment without having to reroll attaches, or select which stats to enhance. But, like base equipment, this would need to be carried out on a per-item basis, and the interface for item comparison wouldn't show all possible stats gained or lost at once.
Item Luck
The Luck stat of a player can increase the likelihood of locating items as well as the properties generated by loot, and the intensity of these properties. However, it does not directly affect damage or the ability to upgrade items. It provides players with an opportunity to get better gear earlier in the game. This is especially advantageous for early game runs, since players tend to prioritize defenses and weapon scaling over raw damage gains.
In addition to influencing item discovery, Luck also increases the chances of success when upgrading items using the Blacksmith. This should not be confused with the Blacksmith's overall upgrade probability that increases with each level 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 spawn or be crafted with 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 material they are made of) to increase the value of 40 luck, or to increase the luck of the item to 140.
Additionally there are certain items, such as the Hollow weapon that is infused with hollow, can be equipped to boost the damage of any damage-dealing skill by five percent. These items are available at the store, or they can be constructed using 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 prevent players from losing their item in the event that it fails.
When you upgrade an item, the success rate is shown in the Honing UI. The percentage represents the chance of completing the upgrade successfully and it can be increased by adding Additional Materials or Special Materials. There are limits to how much success rates can be increased and the chance of an upgrade failing cannot exceed 100%.
The Luck of an item can affect the success of an upgrade. Every item has an average success rate of 25% and every item with Luck increases that chance by 5%.
The item upgrade overlays 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.