World of Warcraft Item Upgrades
Item upgrades are a way to increase the stats of an item. Based on the type of upgrade it could increase an item's Mark Level or Rarity and boost additional stats.
Each item has a track to upgrade it. Each upgrade increases the cost of the next item by a specific amount.
Item Level
The value of an item's basic stats increases as it is upgraded. This value is the total of all its leveled up perks (attack magic attack, attack defense). The cost of upgrading items can be high, dependent on the upgrader and the kind of upgrade you decide to do. This is due to the number of perks that must be changed in order to upgrade an item.
Item level is a commonly used measurement of power and is visible on all item tooltips. It also serves to determine a gating condition when waiting to queue for dungeons and scenarios, and raids, as well as to limit the amount of PvP gear a player can wear (since PvP is limited to a lower level). The average level of the item can be found in the character sheet.
When deciding to purchase or sell gear, players can compare the item level. It's a sign of the item's damage and its quality. The item level can also be used to compare items when examining a vendor's inventory.
On your PC, you can view the item level by pressing ALT or by using the left stick on XB1 or PS4. This will display the item's full description, including the ilvl. You can also locate it by hovering over an item and typing /itemlevel in chat.
There are many theories about how the item level is determined. One theory is that the item level is a number derived from a formula that calculates the amount an item's stats are worth. It considers that different perks are valued differently, and that gems in sockets increase the item's value. This can lead to an item's ilvl calculated, which is usually very close to Blizzard's actual level of the item.
However, this is not the only factor which affects an item's ilvl, because the size of the area the item was dropped in could change the value of its stats, such as by adding a level to its haste or crit rating. This means that items dropped at higher levels will have higher ilvl than those from lower-level instances.
Item Stats
The item's stats can be the difference between a good or bad item for players. The game uses a lot of them in different ways to encourage players to play with multiple weapons, and prevent one weapon from being "the best." The stats of a base weapon are increased by the weapon's stat modifications, which are themselves boosted by the player's level.
Item upgrades add to that by increasing certain stats on the item. The cost of upgrades is determined by the rarity of the item. An item that is white or grey, for example, will only be upgraded one time however, items with rare tiers may be upgraded several times at more expensive costs.
Another method to alter the stats on an item is through affixes. They are stat boosters that can be added by the player to an item. The affixes can be used to give items extra damage, special capabilities (such as revitalizing dead or reducing cooling downs), or to make them unique by adding a name.
At present, all affixes can be modified by selecting them in the upgrade window and pressing the green button using the arrows that circle. This process will cost the player a certain amount of gold and other items that can be added to the upgrade gauge in the same way as the other rerolling options.
Players can choose to upgrade an item to a specific stat or reroll the affixes. The possible stat ranges for an item are determined by the level of the item, however all items are guaranteed to have at minimum one stat within the range, unless it is an item that is unique or a God roll from a raid boss.
This is another thing that could be altered by adding the option to upgrade the equipment without rerolling the affixes or choosing which stats to increase. As with the base equipment, it would have to be done per item, and the interface for item comparison will not show all possible stats simultaneously.
Item Luck
The Luck stat of a player stacks up to increase the odds of item discoveries, the properties spawned on loot drops and the intensity of those properties. However, it doesn't directly impact damage or the ability to upgrade items. It simply gives players the possibility to obtain better equipment in earlier waves and is thus more beneficial in early game runs as opposed to later ones, since most players prefer greater weapon scaling and defense over damage gains.
Luck can also boost the chance of upgrading items at the Blacksmith. This is not to confuse with the Blacksmith's overall chance of upgrading that increase with each item level. They can also be increased with the use of anti-materials like the Scroll of Strength and a Jewel of Blessing.
Weapons, armor, and shields can be created or spawned using the Luck property, which has a default value of 40. These items can then be upgraded 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 an item, up to 140.
Furthermore there are certain items, like the Hollow infused weapon, can be equipped to increase the damage dealt by any damage-dealing skill by five percent. These items are available from the shop, or they can be made using the correct ingredients.
Item Failure
Not all upgrades are successful. However, there are cash shop items that allow players to boost their success rate or prevent themselves from losing an item in the event that the upgrade is unsuccessful.
When item upgrading Cases gg upgrade an item the success rate is displayed in the Honing UI. The percentage is the probability of successfully upgrading the item. This can be increased with Additional Materials or Special materials. The percentage of success can only be increased so much, and the chance that the upgrade will fail cannot be greater than 100%..
The success of an can be affected by the Luck of that item. Each item has a base success rate of 25% and every item that has Luck increases that chance by an additional five percent.
Note that upgrades to items are rendered above the inventory items, so enchantment glint and other effects could be obstructed 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.