The 10 Scariest Things About Item Upgrading
From Shiapedia
World of Warcraft Upgrades and item upgrading (writes in the official Gpsites blog)
Upgrades increase the value of certain numeric stats on armor, weapons and rings. Upgrades also boost bonuses like crit chance and PvE Damage.
For instance, a weapon with the upgrade template ending in % will take on an attack damage of 3% each time it upgrades (relative to its previous value).
Item upgrading costs crests and the item's current level. The cost increases as the item upgrader kit's level rises.
Components
Upgrade components are items that can be put into weapons, armor, and trinkets to give an additional stat boost or effect while they're in use. They can be acquired through crafting, buying from vendors, trading or looting. Certain upgrades also come with special cosmetic effects.
Upgrade components can be placed in equipment with a slot for them; the item must be at a minimum upgraded to blue level for a component to be used. In contrast to other mods components can only be used once and can't be used multiple times or replaced with upgrades. Infusions and Enrichments are a type of upgrade component used to upgrade non-amulet legendary and Ascended equipment, as well other items that are not ascended. Infusions and enrichments can be retrieved by salvaging gear from the ascended, or completing an elite mission in the Prophecies, Factions and Nightfall campaigns.
An upgrade can include a suffix or prefix that alters the name of the equipment with which it is applied (for example 'Canthan Armor Insignia" becomes Canthan Armor of Minor Vigor). Certain upgrades can increase the Mark Level or Rarity of an item, allowing players to create stronger versions using fewer Upgrade crystals than they require to reach the same level with normal methods.
A 'boost' upgrade can change the attack or defence characteristics of the weapon or armor. Once the player has completed the cutscene and defeated the Crazed Mechanist the upgrades can be crafted at the Portative Forging Station. These upgrades are available for purchase them in the cash shop or getting them from enemies while upgrading other gear.
The player can have a maximum of five boost upgrades at a time. Each upgrade increases the chance that a higher-tier version of the item will drop at the time of the next reset. This gives players a reason to upgrade their equipment even in the event that they don't know how much it can be improved upon the reset.
The process of upgrading an item can be costly and it is likely that the item will become obsolete or even break in the event that the upgrade fails. Upgrade Crystals and assist powders are also destroyed if the upgrade fails. This is reduced by the availability of cash shop items to double or even eliminate chances of failure, and some upgrades that offer the benefit of being reinserted into an item.
Glyphs
Glyphs can be used to upgrade the Paragon Board by placing them in sockets with special functions. Glyphs boost the power of all nodes within the area around them, including pre-existing affixes on equipment. Glyphs can be upgraded in numerous ways. We recommend upgrading them as quickly as possible to level 15.
It is commonplace to see in the final game that placing Glyphs is a great method to upgrade your gear. They are the only upgrade components that can be upgraded straight to level 15 and offer a large boost to your power and radius on the Paragon Board, enabling you to climb higher nodes much faster.
Glyphs, the only upgrade component which can be removed without restriction and then replaced again are the most commonly used. Only legendary equipment can be salvaged and re-placed by using the aid of a Black Lion Salvage Kit.
The value of each Glyph is displayed when you select it in your inventory. You can decide to replace it with a different Glyph with the same rank or a higher rank, which will boost the overall value of the Glyph.
You can find Glyphs in the Black Lion Trading Post, as part of a Gem Store purchase or bundle with certain gathering tools that are unlimited-use, and through Faction Crypt raids. Every Faction Crypt can drop one of these Glyphs. There are some rare glyphs that you can find in any of the Faction Crypts.
Once you have obtained the desired Glyphs, you will need to place them on your gear. Each Glyph will grant a distinct bonus that will boost the stats of a specific set of nodes that are within a radius of the Glyph. This will either be +40 for one of your primary stats or +25 for two of your secondary stats based on the Glyph.
The use of a Glyph can boost all nodes that are connected to it, so you should try to place your Glyphs near key nodes on the Graph to maximize the impact. Druids, for example should put their Glyphs close to their primary damage nodes. They might also consider placing them near their primary damage nodes.
Leveling
The item upgrading system allows players to increase the effectiveness of certain items by placing upgraded components into them. This is known as "upping". Each upgradeable item has a level which determines the final stats. Upgraded items can be upgraded until they reach a maximum level of 385 ilvl. Each level requires a different number of components to be reached and the costs for upgrading increase as the item upgrades is upgraded.
Some upgrades require a special ingredient to activate. This ingredient can be obtained by finishing Upgrade Recipes. These recipes are available in the upgrade tab of a crafting table, or purchased from some NPCs. Each Upgrade Recipe completed results in a certain amount of Technology points. These points can be used for leveling up an item. Once enough points are earned you will be able to claim your upgrade and get its extra bonuses.
When a player improves the equipment they have the original item is replaced by a new item. The same armor will be upgraded to an weapon or shield when upgraded. The new item comes with its own set of bonuses. This could be a problem, as it can make the item more expensive if you do not require it.
The upgrades to items can be rerolled, if the player has enough reroll tokens in order to do this. The item will be replaced by a brand new one that is based on a level 1 base and totally different bonuses. This is a good option for certain items, but it's not something that should be performed frequently, since it can use up lots of resources.
Some upgrades can increase their value and allow players to modify their gear. One example is Dolphin's Gift, which gives a buff when the player is repeatedly in and out of the water (or is able to swim like dolphins). It is possible to upgrade it several times, each time raising the max roll by an increment of 10. This item can be very useful in PvP battles, since the best version of it could be worth between 20 and 50 times its value without being upgraded.
Requirements
item upgrades upgrading allows players to boost the level of their equippable gear--armor, weapons and trinkets over ilvl 385 by offering the appropriate items and currency to an NPC who upgrades items. Upgrades to armor set pieces also boost the defense of the base set and weapon upgrades items increase the damage they deal as well as their strength and dexterity.
Each item can be upgraded a maximum of five times, with the exception of hero gear, which can be upgraded up to eight times. Every time you upgrade an item, it has an opportunity to fail. The failure rate increases the more you go beyond the maximum amount of upgrades. Failures will result in the item reverting to its original state and the player having to spend additional resources than if they had stopped upgrading after the maximum number.
If an item is not able to upgrade the amount of experience in its growth bar is reset to zero. Additionally the item will be deducted any bonus it earned, including crit chance and attack damage, as well as all additional effects associated with that effect (for instance, a higher healing over time or speed of reload). However, the player can still continue to use the weapon or armor after the failure.
When an item is upgraded the upgrades are applied from the lowest to the highest. This means that when a weapon is upgraded, if it receives a crit chance boost that it will be applied prior to any attack damage increases. Slots is a brand new attribute that has been added to item definitions. The value is calculated every time an upgrade occurs.
The amount of resources needed to upgrade an item is based on the rarity rating and number of upgrade slots. The cost for upgrading non-premium items is equal to the base value of the upgrade--for instance, a standard equipment item might have 5 upgrades with a cost of 25,600 Technology Points and a 4x Quality Improvement Chance--whereas hero quality items will have the lowest cost for each additional upgrade.
Premium items may have different upgrade requirements from normal equipment. For example they might require less sowels, however they may require more minerals and orons. However, players must visit the NPC [Armorthe ] Boboko in Central Flarine with each piece of equipment they want to upgrade. In addition to the upgrade costs listed above, each upgrade requires the use of different ingredients needed to upgrade.
