World of Warcraft Item Upgrades
Item upgrades are a way to boost the stats of an item. Based on the type of upgrade it could boost 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 cost of the following one by a set amount.
Item Level
The value of an item's basic stats increases as it is upgraded. The value is the sum of all of its upgraded advantages (attack, magic attack and defense). The cost of upgrading items can be high, depending on the upgrader and what kind of upgrade you decide to do. This is due to the variety of perks that have to be altered to upgrade an item.
It can also be used as a gating requirement when waiting for dungeons, raids and scenarios. It can also be used to limit the amount of PvP gear players can use, since PvP is limited at lower levels. Players can view their average item level in their character sheet.
Utilizing the level of an item can help players evaluate the strength of equipment when they decide to buy or sell. It's a good indicator of an item's quality and how much damage it will be able to deal. Comparing items in the inventory of a seller is possible using the item's level.
On PC, you are able to view the item level by pressing ALT or using the left stick on XB1 or PS4. The item will be displayed with its full description, including the ilvl. You can also locate it by hovering over an item and typing /itemlevel in chat.
There are various theories about how the item level calculation is carried out. One theory is that the item level is a number that comes from a formula that calculates the value of an item's stats are worth. It takes into consideration the fact that different perks have different worth and gems in sockets add to the value of the item overall. This could result in an item's ilvl calculated, which is often very close to Blizzards actual item level.
This isn't the only factor that influences the value of an item. The location of where the item was dropped may alter its stats. For example, it could add a level to the item's haste, or crit rating. Items that drop in higher-level instances will have a higher value.
Item Stats
The stats of an item are a major part of what makes or breaks an item for players. The game uses a variety of them in different ways to encourage players to use multiple weapons, and to prevent one weapon from being "the best." The stats of a base weapon are enhanced by the weapon's stat modification, which are themselves increased by the player's skill.
The upgrades to items add by increasing certain stats on the item. The upgrade costs are determined by the rarity of the item. A white or grey item for instance, can only be upgraded one time however, items that has rare tiers can be upgraded multiple times with more expensive costs.
Affixes are a different method to change an item's stats. These are special stat boosts that can be added to an item by the player, and come in a variety of shapes and sizes. Affixes are used to give items extra damage or special capabilities (such as revitalizing dead or reducing cooling downs) or to differentiate them by adding a name.
At present, all affixes can be rerolled by selecting them from the upgrade window and pressing the green button, which is accompanied by circling arrows. This will cost a certain amount of gold and other items. These can be used as upgrade gauges similar to other methods of rerolling.
Players can choose to upgrade an item to a specific stat, or reroll affixes. The stat ranges are determined by the item's level. However, all items will include at least one stat in the range, unless they are a unique item or the item is a God Roll from a raid boss.
This is another thing that can be modified by adding the option to upgrade the equipment without rolling the affixes or deciding which stats to boost. Similar to the base equipment, this will 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 boosts the chance of finding items and the properties that are created by loot and the strength of these properties. However, it doesn't directly impact damage or the ability to upgrade items. It gives the player the chance to upgrade their equipment earlier in the game. This is more useful in early game runs since players tend to prioritize weapon scaling and defenses above raw damage gains.
In item upgrades to influencing item discovery, Luck also increases the chances of success when upgrading items using the Blacksmith. This is not to confuse with the Blacksmith's overall upgrade chances that increase with each item level. They can also be increased with the use of anti-materials such as a Scroll of Strength and a Jewel of Blessing.
Weapons, armor, and shields can spawn or be crafted with the Luck property, with a default value of 40. These items can be enhanced with golden ingots or spined leather (depending on the material they are made of) for a further +40 luck, or to increase the Luck of an item up to 140.
Moreover, certain items, like the Hollow infused weapon can be outfitted to increase the damage of any damage-dealing skill 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 can be expensive and not all upgrades will be successful. However, there are cash shop items that allow players to increase their chances of success or even prevent them from losing an item in the event that the upgrade is unsuccessful.
The rate of success of an upgrade is displayed in the Honing UI. The percentage is the probability of successful upgrading an item. This can be increased by using Additional Materials or Special materials. There are limitations on how much success rates can be increased, and the overall chance of an upgrade failing can't exceed 100%.
The Luck of an item can also affect the effectiveness of an upgrade. Each item has a success rate of 25 percent and each item that has Luck increases the chance of success by 5percent.
The upgrade overlays of the item are rendered above items in the inventory. This can cause obscurity to enchantment effects or other effects. 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.