World of Warcraft Item Upgrades
Upgrades to items are a method to increase the stats of an item. Depending on the type of upgrade you choose, it may increase an item's Rarity or Mark Level, and also boost other stats.
Each item has a track to upgrade it. Each upgrade increases the cost of the following one by a certain amount.
Item Level
When an item is upgraded, its basic stats increase in value. The value is the sum of all of its leveled up advantages (attack magic attack, attack defense). Upgrades can be expensive, depending on who you hire and what you decide to do. This is due to how many perks must be replaced to allow the item to be upgraded.
The level of an item is a popular measurement of power and is visible on all tooltips of items. It also serves to determine a gating condition when waiting for dungeons, raids and scenarios, and to limit the amount of PvP gear that a player can wear (since PvP is limited to a lower level). Players can see their average level of items on their character sheet.
When deciding whether to purchase or sell gear players can evaluate the levels of the item. It's a useful indicator of an item's quality and the amount of damage it will be capable of dealing with. Comparing items in the inventory of a seller is possible using the item's level.
The item level can be viewed by pressing the ALT key on a PC or using the left stick (L3) on XB1 and PS4. This will show the full description of the item, as well as its ilvl. You can also locate it by hovering over an item and typing /itemlevel in chat.
There are many theories about how the level of an item is calculated. One theory states that the item level is determined by formulas that determine the value of an item's stats actually are. It considers the fact that various perks have different value and that gems in sockets add to the item's overall value. This can lead to an item's ilvl calculated, which is usually very close to Blizzards actual level of the item.
It's not the only factor that affects the level of an item. The location of where the item was dropped can change its stats. For instance, it could increase the item's haste or crit score. This means that items dropped at higher levels will have more the ilvl than items from lower level instances.
Item Stats
Item stats can determine the fate of an item for players. The game makes use of them in a variety of ways to encourage players to not limit themselves to one weapon, and to encourage them to try out other weapons. The stat modifications of weapons boost base stats. These stat mods are then boosted by the player's level.
Item upgrades add to that by boosting certain stats on the item. The rarity of an item determines its cost of upgrading. For example, a grey or white item can only be upgraded once, while an item with the rare tiers will be upgraded several times, at higher costs.
Another method to alter the stats of an item is by affixing it. These are special stat boosts that can be added to an item by the player, and come in a variety of sizes and shapes. Affixes are used to give items additional damage or special capabilities (such as revitalizing dead or reducing cooling downs) or to make them unique by naming them.
At present, all affixes can be rerolled by selecting them from the upgrade window and pressing the green button with the arrows that circle. It will cost a set amount of gold and other items. They can also be used as upgrade gauges similar to other methods of rerolling.
Players can upgrade an item by specific stats or reroll the affixes. The range of stats is determined by the item's level. However each item will have at least one stat within the range, unless they are an item that is unique, or a God Roll from a raid boss.
Another thing that could change is the option to upgrade equipment without having to reroll attachments, or pick which stats to enhance. As with the base equipment, this will have to be done per item and the item comparison interface would not display all the possible stats at once.
Item Luck
The Luck stat of a player boosts the probability of obtaining items, the properties that are spawned by loot and the intensity of these properties. It doesn't, however directly impact damage or the ability to upgrade item s. It simply gives players the possibility to obtain better equipment earlier in the game and is therefore more useful in early game runs as opposed to later ones, because most players value higher weapon scaling and defenses over raw damage gains.
Luck can also boost the chance of upgrading items at the Blacksmith. This is not to be confused with the Blacksmith's overall upgrade chance that 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.
The shields, armor, and weapons have an initial Luck value of 40. These items can then be enhanced with golden ingots, spined leather, or oak boards (depending on the item's material type) to grant an additional +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 ability that is able to deal damage by 5%. These items can be purchased in the shop or crafted with the right ingredients.
Item Failure
Item upgrades are a costly process and not every upgrade will be successful. However, there are cash shop items that allow players to boost their chance of success or stop them from losing an item in the event that the upgrade is unsuccessful.
The success rate of an upgrade can be seen 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 limitations on how much the success rates can be improved and the chance of a failed upgrade cannot be greater than 100%..
The success of an upgrades is also influenced by the luck of that item. All items have an initial success rate of 25% and every item that has Luck increases the chance of success by an additional five percent.
Note that upgrades to items are rendered above the items in the inventory which means that enchantment glints and other effects could be masked by the overlays. 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.