World of Warcraft Item Upgrades
The upgrade of an item can be used to boost the stats of a particular item. Based on the type of upgrade, it may raise an item's Mark level or Rarity and boost additional stats.
Each item comes with a track for upgrading it. Each upgrade increases the price of the next item by a certain amount.
Item Level
The value of an item's basic stats increase when it is upgraded. The value is the sum of all of an item's upgraded perks (attack magic attack and defense). The cost of upgrading items can be high, dependent on the upgrader and the type of upgrade you choose to make. This is due to the number of perks that have to be altered to upgrade an item.
The level of an item is a commonly used measure of power, and can be seen on all tooltips of items. It is also used to limit how much PvP gear players can wear since PvP is not available at lower levels. Players can see their average level of item on their character sheet.
The level of an item can help players compare the power of equipment when choosing to buy or sell. It's a sign of the damage and quality. The level of an item can be used to evaluate items when looking at the inventory of a seller.
On PC, you are able to see the level of the item using ALT, or by using the left stick on XB1 or PS4. This will show the item's full description, including ilvl. It is also accessible by hovering over an item using the mouse cursor, and then 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 item level is a number that comes from a formula that calculates how much an item's stats are worth. It takes into account the fact that different perks have different values and gems in sockets add to the value of the item overall. This can result in an item's ilvl calculated, which is usually very close to Blizzard's real item level.
It's not the only factor that influences the ilvl of an item. The degree of the area in which the item was dropped may change its stats. For instance it can increase the item's haste, or crit rating. This means that items that drop at higher levels will have more value than items dropped in lower-level instances.
Item Stats
Stats on an item are a significant component of what makes or breaks an item for players. The game uses a lot of them in different ways to encourage players to play with multiple weapons, and to prevent one weapon from being "the most effective." The base stats on a weapon are enhanced by the weapon's stat modifications that are in turn boosted by the player's level.
The upgrades to an item can increase its stats. The rarity of an item determines its upgrade cost. A grey or white item for instance, can only be upgraded one time and items that has rare tiers can be upgraded several times at more expensive costs.
Another method to alter the stats of an item is to use 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 capabilities (such as revitalizing dead or reducing cooling downs) or to differentiate them by adding a name.
Presently, all affixes are able to be modified by selecting them in the upgrade window and pressing the green button, which is accompanied by circles arrows. This will cost a specific amount in gold and items. They can also be used as upgrade gauges, similar to other rerolling methods.
In addition to Rerolling affixes and rerolls, players can also choose which stats they want to keep on an item when it is upgraded. The possible stat ranges for an item are based on the level of the item, however every item is guaranteed to have at least one stat within the specified range, unless it's a unique item or an item that is a God roll from a boss in a raid.
Another thing that could be changed is the possibility of upgrading equipment without having to reroll affixes, or choose which stats to increase. But as with base equipment, this would need to be performed on a per-item level, and the item compare interface will not show all the stats that could be gained or lost at once.
Item Luck
The Luck stat of a player boosts the likelihood of locating items and the properties that are spawned by loot and the intensity of these properties. It doesn't, however, directly affect damage or the ability to upgrade item s. It provides players with the chance to upgrade their gear earlier in the game. This is more advantageous in early game runs because players tend to put the scaling of weapons and defenses over raw damage gains.
In addition to influencing item discovery, Luck also increases the chance of being successful when upgrading items using the Blacksmith. This should not be confused with the Blacksmith's overall chance of upgrading, which increases with each level and can be further enhanced by using an anti-material, such as a Scroll of Strength or a Jewel of Blessing.
Armor, shields and weapons come with the default Luck value of 40. These items can be upgraded with golden ingots, spined leather, or oak boards (depending on the material of the item) to grant an additional +40 Luck, or to increase the existing Luck of an item, up to 140.
Certain items, such as the weapon with Hollow-infused components, can also be equipped to increase the damage of any ability that causes damage by 5%. These items can be purchased from the shop, or they can be crafted using the right ingredients.
Item Failure
Item upgrades are expensive and not all upgrades will succeed. Cash shop items can be used to boost the success rate of an upgrade, or to protect players from losing their item in the event that it is not successful.
The success rate of an upgrade is shown in the Honing UI. The percentage is the chances of successfully upgrading that item, and it can be increased by adding Additional Materials or Special Materials. There are limitations to the extent to which success rates can be increased and the probability of an upgrade failing can't exceed 100%.
The performance of an upgrades is also influenced by the luck of that item. Each item has an overall success rate of 25%, and each item with Luck increases this chance by 5percent.
The item upgrade overlays are rendered above items in the inventory. This may block enchantment effects as well as 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.