World of Warcraft Item Upgrades
Item upgrades are a way to boost the stats of an item. Depending on the type of upgrade, it can boost the rarity of an item or mark Level, and also boost other stats.
Each item comes with a track for upgrading it. Each upgrade increases the cost of the following one by a certain amount.
Item Level
The value of an item's stats base increase when it is upgraded. This is the sum of the perks that are leveled up (attack magic attack and defense). Upgrades can be costly, depending on who you hire and what you do. This is due to the variety of perks that have to be altered to upgrade an item.
It is also used as a gating requirement when queueing for dungeons, raids and scenarios. It is also used to limit how much PvP gear players can use, since PvP is limited at a lower level. The average level of the item can be found on the character sheet.
When deciding whether to purchase or sell gear players can evaluate the levels of the item. It's an excellent gauge of an item's worth and the amount of damage it is capable of dealing with. Comparing items from a vendor's stock can be done by using the item level.
On PC, you are able to check the level of the item by pressing ALT or using the left stick on XB1 or PS4. item upgrader will show the full description of the item, including its level. It can also be located by hovering over an item using the mouse cursor and typing /itemlevel into chat.
There are various theories about how the item level calculation is carried out. One theory is that the item level is a numerical value derived from a formula which calculates the amount an item's stats are worth. It takes into consideration that different perks are valued differently, and that gems in sockets increase the item's value. This could result in a calculated item's ilvl that is typically very close to Blizzard's actual level of the item.
This isn't the only thing that affects the level of an item. The location of where the item was dropped can alter its stats. For instance, it could increase the item's haste or crit rating. Items that drop in higher-level situations will have a higher value.
Item Stats
The item's stats can determine the fate of an item for players. The game uses them in a variety of ways to encourage players to not limit themselves to one weapon and to motivate players to explore other weapons. The stats of a base weapon are enhanced by the weapon's stat modification which are then enhanced by the player's level.
Item upgrades add to that by boosting certain stats on the item. The costs for upgrades are determined by the rarity of the item. An item that is white or grey for instance, will only be upgraded one time however, items that has rare tiers can be upgraded multiple times at higher prices.
Affixes are another way to change an item's stats. These are special stat boosts that can be added to an item by the player and they come in all sizes and shapes. Affixes can provide the item extra damage, or give a specific capability to the item (such as reviving the dead or cutting down the cooldowns) or make the item unique by adding a special name to the item.
All affixes can be re-rolled at the moment by selecting them in the upgrade window pressing the green button. It will cost a set amount in gold and items. They can also be used as upgrade gauges just like the other rerolling methods.
Players can upgrade an item with a specific stat, or reroll affixes. The range of stats is determined by the item's level. However every item will contain at least one stat in the range, unless they are a unique item or the item is a God Roll from a raid boss.
Another thing that could be altered by adding an option to upgrade the equipment without rerolling the affixes, or selecting which stats to enhance. Similar to the base equipment, it must be done per item, and the item comparison interface wouldn't display all possible stats at once.
Item Luck
A player's Luck stat stacks up to increase the chances of item discoveries and the properties that are spawned from loot drops and the strength of these properties. However, it doesn't directly affect damage or the ability to upgrade items. It provides players with the chance to upgrade gear earlier in the game. This is especially advantageous in the early game, because players tend to put weapon scaling and defenses above raw damage gains.
Luck can also boost the likelihood of upgrading items at the Blacksmith. This isn't to be confused with the Blacksmith's overall chance of upgrading, which increase with each level of the item. These can also be increased by using anti-materials, such as the Scroll of Strength and a Jewel of Blessing.
Weapons, shields, and armor can be made or spawn with the Luck property, which has the default value of 40. These items can be enhanced with golden ingots, or spined leather (depending on the type of material) to add another 40 luck or to boost an item's existing Luck up to 140.
Certain items, such as the weapon with Hollow-infused components can also be crafted to increase the damage dealt by any ability that causes damage by five percent. These items can be purchased at the store, or they can be constructed using the right ingredients.
Item Failure
Item upgrades are expensive and not every upgrade will be successful. Cash shop items can be used to increase the chances of success for an upgrade or to stop players from losing their item in the event that it does not work.
The rate of success of an upgrade is shown in the Honing UI. The percentage is the probability of successfully upgrading the item. This can be increased by using Additional Materials or Special materials. The probability of success can only be increased as much, and the chance that the upgrade will fail cannot be greater than 100%..
The performance of an upgrade is also affected by the luck of that item. Every item has a success rate of 25%, and each item that has Luck increases the chance of success by five percent.
Note that item upgrades are rendered above the inventory items therefore enchantment glints and other effects may be masked 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.