World of Warcraft Item Upgrades
Upgrades to items can be used to boost the stats of an item. Based on the type of upgrade it could raise an item's Mark level or Rarity and boost additional stats.
The process of upgrading equipment in The War Within requires a certain number of Flightstones and Crests, and each item has an upgrade track. Each upgrade increases the price of the next item by a specific amount.
Item Level
The value of an item's base stats increases as it is upgraded. This is the sum of all of the perks that are leveled up (attack magic attack and defense). Upgrades to items can be costly, depending on the upgrader you choose and the kind of upgrade you decide to make. This is due to the sheer number of perks that need to be changed in order to upgrade an item.
Item level is a commonly used measurement of power and can be seen on all item tooltips. It is also used to determine a gating condition when waiting for dungeons, raids and scenarios, and to limit the amount of PvP gear players can wear (since PvP is restricted to the lower levels). The average level of the item can be found in the character sheet.
The level of an item will allow players to compare the strength of equipment when they decide to buy or sell. It's an indicator of the damage and quality. Comparing items from the inventory of a vendor is possible using the level of the item.
On your PC, you can view the item level by pressing ALT or by using the left stick on XB1 or PS4. The item will be displayed with its full description, including ilvl. It can also be found by hovering over an item using the mouse cursor and typing /itemlevel into chat.
There are various theories on how the calculation of an item's level is made. One theory is that the level is a number derived from a formula which calculates how much an item's stats are worth. It takes into consideration the fact that various perks have different value, and also that gems in sockets add to the overall value of the item. This can result in a calculated value for the item's ilvl which is usually close to Blizzard's actual item level.
However, this is not the only factor which affects an item's ilvl, since the level of the area the item was dropped in could change the value of its stats, for instance by adding an amount to its haste or crit rating. Items dropped in higher-level instances will have a higher value.
Item Stats
Stats on an item are a significant 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 use multiple weapons, and to prevent one weapon from being "the best." The stat mods of a weapon boost the 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 the cost of upgrading. An item that is white or grey for instance, will only be upgraded one time, while an item with rare tiers may be upgraded multiple times with 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 are used to give items extra damage or other special capabilities (such as revitalizing dead or reducing cooling downs), or to make them unique by naming them.
All affixes are re-rolled at the moment by selecting them in the upgrade window pressing the green button. This process will cost the player a specific amount of gold and other items, which can be used to add to the upgrade gauge in the same manner as other options for rerolling.
Players can upgrade an item by specific stats, or reroll affixes. The possible stat ranges for an item are determined by the level of the item, however all items are guaranteed to have at least one stat within that range, unless it's a unique item or the result of a God roll from a boss of a raid.
This is another thing that could be changed by adding the option to upgrade the equipment without rerolling the affixes or choosing which stats to increase. But, like base equipment, this would have to be performed on a per-item basis, and the interface for item comparison wouldn't show all possible stats that were gained or lost at the same time.
Item Luck
The Luck stat of a player increases the likelihood of locating items, the properties that are spawned by loot and the strength of these properties. It does not, however directly affect damage or the ability to upgrade item s. It gives the player a chance to acquire better equipment in earlier waves and is thus more beneficial in the early game as opposed to later ones, since most players prefer more powerful weapon scaling and defenses over raw damage gains.
In addition to influencing item discovery, Luck also increases the chance of success when upgrading items with the Blacksmith. This is not to be confused with the Blacksmith’s overall chances of upgrading that increase with each item level. These can also be enhanced by using anti-materials like the Scroll of Strength and a Jewel of Blessing.
Armor, shields and weapons can be created or spawned with the Luck property, with the default value of 40. These items can be augmented with golden ingots, or spined leather (depending on the material they are made of) for a further +40 luck or to boost the luck of the item to 140.
Certain items, such as the weapon with Hollow-infused components can also be crafted to increase the damage of any ability that deals damage by five percent. These items can be bought at the store, or they can be crafted using the right ingredients.
Item Failure
Upgrades to items are a costly process and not all upgrades will succeed. However, there are cash shop items that allow players to increase their success rate or prevent themselves from losing an item if the upgrade fails.
The rate of success of an upgrade is displayed in the Honing UI. The percentage is the chances of completing the upgrade successfully and can be increased by adding Additional Materials or Special Materials. The percentage of success can only be increased so high, and the probability that an upgrade will fail can't exceed 100%.
The luck of an item may affect the success of an upgrade. Every item has an average success rate of 25 percent, and each item that has Luck increases the chance of success by five percent.
Note that upgrades to items are rendered above the inventory items therefore enchantment glints and other effects could 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.