World of Warcraft Item Upgrades
The upgrade of an item can be used to improve the stats of an item. Depending on the type of upgrade you choose, it can boost an item's Rarity or Mark Level and increase other stats.
Each item has a track to upgrade it. Each upgrade increases the cost of the following one by a set amount.
Item Level
The value of an item's stats base increase when it is upgraded. The value is the sum of all of an item's leveled-up perks (attack magic attack and defense). Upgrades can be expensive dependent on who you employ and what you do. This is due to the sheer number of perks that have to be altered to upgrade an item.
The level of an item is a popular measure of power, and can be seen on all item tooltips. It can also be used as a gating requirement while waiting for dungeons, raids and scenarios, and to limit the amount of PvP gear players can wear (since PvP is capped at the lower levels). The average level of an item can be found on the character sheet.
Utilizing the level of an item can help players compare the potency of gear when choosing to buy or sell. It's a measure of the item's condition and quality. Comparing items from the inventory of a vendor can be done by using the item level.
The item level can be checked by pressing the ALT key on your PC or using the left stick (L3) on XB1 and PS4. This will show the item's full description, including ilvl. It can also be located by hovering over an item with the mouse cursor and entering /itemlevel into chat.
There are several theories about how the calculation of an item's level is made. One theory says that the item level is determined by a formula that calculates how valuable the stats of an item really are. It is based on the fact that different benefits are valued differently and that gems in the sockets boost the value of the item. This can result in a calculated amount for the item's ilvl which is usually quite close to the actual Blizzard level of the item.
It's not the only thing that affects the level of an item. The level of the area where the item was dropped can alter its stats. For instance, it could increase the item's haste or crit score. Items dropped in higher-level instances will have higher ilvl.
Item Stats
The stats of an item can determine the fate of an item for players. The game makes use of a lot of them in different ways to encourage players to play with multiple weapons, and to prevent one weapon from being "the best." The stat mods on an weapon increase the base stats. These stat mods are then increased by a player's level.
Upgrades to an item can boost its stats. The rarity of an item determines the upgrade cost. An item that is white or grey, for example, will only be upgraded once and items with rare tiers can be upgraded multiple times at more expensive costs.
Affixes are a different method to alter the stats of an item. These are special stat boosts that can be added to an item by the player and they come in all sizes and shapes. The affixes can be used to give items additional damage, special capabilities (such as reviving dead or reducing cooling downs) or to differentiate them by adding a name.
All affixes are currently re-rolled by selecting them in the upgrade menu pressing the green button. This will cost a certain amount in gold and other items. These can be used as upgrade gauges just like the other rerolling methods.
In addition to Rerolling affixes and rerolls, players can select which of the available stats to keep on an item when it is upgraded. The possible ranges of stats for an item are based on the level of the item, but all items are guaranteed to have at least one stat within the specified range, unless it's an item that is unique or the result of a God roll from a boss in a raid.
This is another aspect that can be modified by introducing an option to upgrade the equipment without rerolling the affixes, or selecting which stats to enhance. Like 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 likelihood of locating items, the properties that are created by loot and the intensity of these properties. However, it does not directly impact damage or the ability to upgrade item s. It simply gives the player a chance to upgrade their equipment earlier in the game and is therefore more useful in early game runs as opposed to later ones, since most players prefer more powerful weapon scaling and defenses over damage gains.
In addition to influencing item discovery, Luck also increases the chance of being successful when upgrading items using the Blacksmith. This is not to be confused with the Blacksmith's overall upgrade chances that increase with each item level. These can also be increased with the use of anti-materials, such as the Scroll of Strength and a Jewel of Blessing.
The shields, armor and weapons have an initial Luck value of 40. item upgrader can be augmented with 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 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 deals damage by 5%. These items are available in the shop, or they can be made using the correct ingredients.
Item Failure
Not all upgrades work. Cash shop items can be used to increase the success rate of an upgrade, or to protect players from losing their item if it fails.
When you upgrade an item the success rate is displayed in the Honing UI. The percentage represents the likelihood of successfully upgrading the item. This can be increased with Additional Materials or Special materials. The percentage of success can only be increased so high, and the probability that an upgrade will fail cannot exceed 100%.
The performance of an upgrades is also influenced by the luck of the item. Each item has an average success rate of 25% and every item that has Luck increases the chance of success by 5%.
Note that upgrades to items are rendered above the items in the inventory, so enchantment glint and other effects can be obscured 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.