World of Warcraft Item Upgrades
Item upgrades can be used to boost the stats of a particular item. Based on the type of upgrade it can raise an item's Mark level or Rarity, and also boost other stats.
Each item comes with a track for upgrading it. Each upgrade increases the price of the next item by a specific amount.
Item Level
The value of an item's base stats increase when it is upgraded. This value is the total of all the upgraded perks (attack, magic attack and defense). Upgrades can be costly, depending on who you hire and what you decide to do. This is due to the variety of perks that need to be altered to upgrade an item.
The level of an item is a popular measure of power, and is visible on all tooltips for items. It also serves as a gating requirement when waiting to queue for dungeons and raids and scenarios, and to limit the amount of PvP gear a player can wear (since PvP is capped at a lower level). 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 an excellent gauge of an item's worth and how much damage it's capable of causing. Comparing items in a vendor's stock is possible using the item level.
The level of the item can be viewed by pressing the ALT key on your PC or using the left stick (L3) on XB1 and PS4. The item will be displayed with its full description, including the ilvl. You can also find it by hovering over an item and typing /itemlevel in chat.
There are several theories on how the calculation of the item's level is made. One theory is that the level is a number derived from a formula which calculates the value of an item's stats are worth. It considers that different advantages are valued differently and that gems in sockets boost the value of the item. This can lead to a calculated item's ilvl that is often very close to Blizzard's actual level of the item.
However, this isn't the only factor that can affect an item's ilvl because the size of the area the item dropped in can change the value of its stats, such as by adding an amount to its crit rating or haste rating. Items that drop in higher-level instances will have a higher ilvl.
Item Stats
Item stats are a big component of what makes or breaks 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 prevent one weapon from being "the most effective." The base stats of a weapon are enhanced by the weapon's stat mods, which are themselves increased by the player's skill.
The upgrades to items add by boosting certain stats on the item. 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 higher costs.
Affixes can also be used to alter the stats of an item. They are stat boosts that can be added by the player to an item. The affixes can be used to give the item extra damage, or give a specific capability to the item (such as reviving the dead or decreasing cooldowns), or make the item unique by adding an additional name to the item.
At present, all affixes can be rerolled by selecting them from the upgrade window and pressing the green button with the arrows that circle. This procedure will cost the player a specific amount of gold and items that can be used to add to the upgrade gauge in the same manner as other options for rerolling.
In addition to Rerolling affixes and rerolls, players can also choose which of the available stats to be kept on an item when it is upgraded. The range of stats is determined by the item's level. However, all items will have at least one stat within the range, unless they are a unique item, or an item that has a God Roll from a boss in a raid.
This is another thing that could be altered by adding an option to upgrade the equipment without having to reroll the affixes, or selecting which stats to boost. Like base equipment, it would have to be done per item, and the interface for item comparison would not display all the possible stats at once.
Item Luck
The Luck stat of a player increases the probability of obtaining items as well as the properties created by loot and the strength of these properties. However, it does not directly affect damage or ability to upgrade items. It provides players with the chance to upgrade their equipment earlier in the game. This is particularly advantageous in the early game, because players tend to put weapon scaling and defenses above raw damage gains.
Luck can also increase the chances of upgrading items at the Blacksmith. This is not to be confused with the Blacksmith’s overall chance of upgrading that increase with each level of the item. They can also be increased with the use of anti-materials like a Scroll of Strength and a Jewel of Blessing.
The shields, armor and weapons have the default Luck value of 40. These items can be enhanced by using golden ingots or spined leather (depending on the type of material) to increase the value of 40 luck, or to increase an item's existing Luck up to 140.
Additionally some items, like the Hollow infused weapon, can be equipped to increase the damage dealt by any damage-dealing skill by five percent. These items can be purchased in the shop or created with the right ingredients.
Item Failure
Upgrades to items can be a costly process and not all upgrades will succeed. However, there are cash shop items which allow players to increase their success rate or prevent themselves from losing an item in the event that the upgrade is unsuccessful.
The success rate of an upgrade is shown in the Honing UI. The percentage represents the chance of successfully upgrading the item and it can be increased by adding Additional Materials or Special Materials. The probability of success can only be increased as much, and the chance that an upgrade will fail can't exceed 100%.
The Luck of an item can influence the success of an upgrade. Each item has a base success rate of 25% and every item with Luck increases that chance by five percent.
Note item upgrader are rendered above the items in the inventory therefore enchantment glints and other effects can 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.