World of Warcraft Item Upgrades
Upgrades to items can be used to increase the stats of a particular item. Depending on the upgrade type it could boost an item's Mark Level or Rarity and boost additional stats.
Each item has a track to upgrade it. Each upgrade increases the price of the next item by a specified amount.
Item Level
The value of an item's basic stats increase when it is upgraded. This is the sum of all of its upgraded perks (attack magic attack, attack defense). Upgrades can be costly, depending on the person you hire and what you do. This is due to the sheer number of perks that have to be changed in order to upgrade an item.
Item level is a widely used measure of power, and can be seen on all tooltips of items. It is also used 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 players can wear (since PvP is capped at a lower level). The average item level is listed on the character sheet.
Using the item level can help players compare the strength of equipment when deciding to purchase or sell. It's a measure of the item's damage and its quality. Comparing items in the inventory of a seller can be done using the level of the item.
The level of the item can be checked by pressing the ALT key on your PC or using the left stick (L3) on XB1 and PS4. This will display the item's full description, including ilvl. It can also be located by hovering over an item with the mouse cursor and typing /itemlevel into chat.
There are a few theories on how the calculation of an item's level is carried out. One theory states that the item level is calculated using formulas that determine the value of an item's stats actually are. It takes into consideration the fact that different perks have different values, and also that sockets have gems that increase the value of the item overall. This could result in a calculated item's ilvl that is typically very close to Blizzard's real level of the item.
However, this isn't the only factor which can affect an item's ilvl because the size of the area the item was dropped in could alter the value of its stats, for example by adding an additional level to its haste rating or crit rating. Items dropped in higher-level instances will have a higher ilvl.
Item Stats
The stats of an item are a major component of what makes or breaks an item for players. The game uses them in a variety of ways to encourage players to not limit themselves to a single weapon and to encourage players to explore other weapons. The stats of a base weapon are boosted by the weapon's stat modification that are in turn boosted by the player's level.
Upgrades to an item may increase its stats. The rarity of an item determines its cost of upgrading. A white or grey item for instance, can only be upgraded once however, items that has rare tiers can be upgraded several times at more expensive costs.
Affixes are another way to change an item's stats. These are special stat boosts that can be added to an item by the player, and are available in all shapes and sizes. The affixes are used to give items additional damage or special capabilities (such as the ability to revive dead or reduce cooling downs), or to distinguish them by adding a name.
Presently, all affixes are able to be modified by selecting them in the upgrade window and pressing the green button with circling arrows. item upgrader will cost the player a certain amount of gold and items that can be used to add to the upgrade gauge in the same manner as the other options for rerolling.
Players can upgrade an item by a specific stat, or reroll attaches. The possible stat ranges for an item are based on the level of the item, but all items are guaranteed to have at least 1 stat within that range, unless it is an item that is unique or a God roll from a boss in a raid.
This is another thing that could be changed by introducing an option to upgrade the equipment without having to reroll the affixes, or selecting which stats to enhance. As with the base equipment, this must be done per item, and the item comparison interface wouldn't display all possible stats simultaneously.
Item Luck
The Luck stat of a player boosts the likelihood of locating items and the properties that are spawned by loot and the intensity of these properties. It doesn't, however directly affect damage or the ability to upgrade items. It merely gives players the chance to upgrade their equipment in earlier waves and is therefore more useful in the early game than later ones since most players prefer more powerful weapon scaling and defenses over damage gains.
In addition to influencing the discovery of items, Luck also increases the chances of success when upgrading items with the Blacksmith. This should not be confused with the Blacksmith's overall upgrade probability which increases with each item level and can be further enhanced by using an anti-material such as a Scroll of Strength or a Jewel of Blessing.
Armor, shields and weapons have the default Luck value of 40. These items can be enhanced with golden ingots or spined leather (depending on their material type) to add another 40 luck, or to increase the luck of the item to 140.
Moreover there are certain items, such as the Hollow weapon that is infused with hollow can be outfitted to increase the damage dealt by any damage-dealing skill by 5percent. These items are available in the shop or constructed using the right ingredients.
Item Failure
Not all upgrades are successful. However, there are some cash shop items which allow players to increase their chances of success or even prevent themselves from losing an item in the event that the upgrade fails.
When you upgrade an item the success rate is shown in the Honing UI. The percentage represents the chance of completing the upgrade successfully and it can be increased by adding Additional Materials or Special Materials. There are limitations to the extent to which success rates can be increased, and the overall chance of an upgrade failing can't be greater than 100%..
The success of an item upgrades is also influenced by the Luck of that item. All items have an average success rate of 25%, and every item with Luck increases that chance by an additional 5%.
It is important to note that upgrade items are rendered above the items in the inventory therefore enchantment glints and other effects could be obscured 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.