The 10 Most Terrifying Things About Item Upgrading
From Shiapedia
World of Warcraft Upgrades and Item upgrading (sixn.net)
Upgrades can increase the value of weapons, armors and rings. They also increase bonuses like PvE damage and crit chance.
For example a weapon that has the upgrade template ending in % will take on 3% attack damage every time it is upgraded (relative to its previous value).
Item upgrading costs crests and the item's current level. The cost increases as the item's level rises.
Components
Upgrade components can be incorporated into weapons, armor and trinkets to give them a stat boost or add a bonus effect. They can be obtained through crafting, purchasing from vendors or trading with other players or looting. Some upgrades also have specific cosmetic effects.
Upgrade components can only be used on devices that have slots. The item must be at least upgraded to blue level before a component can be used. Upgrade components, unlike other modifications, can only be applied only once. They are not able to be replaced or applied multiple times. Infusions and enrichments are a specific kind of upgrade component that is that is used to upgrade non-amulet ascended or legendary equipment as well as the back items that are not ascending. Infusions and enrichments can be recovered by salvaging gear from the ascended, or by 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 used (for examplethe 'Canthan Armor Insignia is changed to Canthan Armor of Minor Vigor). Some upgrades boost an item's Mark Level or Rarity, allowing players to create stronger versions of that equipment that require the smallest amount of Upgrade Crystals than are required to achieve the same upgrade level through normal methods.
A boost upgrade can alter the attack or defense attributes of a weapon or armor. These upgrades can be crafted from the Portative Forging Station once the player has completed the cutscene and defeats the Crazed mechanic. These upgrades can be obtained by purchasing them in the cash shop, or by obtaining them from enemies when upgrading other gear.
Each upgrade increases the probability that a higher-tier version of an item will be dropped in the next reset. This gives the player an incentive to keep upgrading their gear even if they're not sure of the extent to which it will improve after a future reset.
The boost upgrade may be successful or not, the process may be costly, and there is a substantial risk that the item may be obsolete or even break if it fails; a failure to upgrade can destroy the Upgrade Crystals and Assist Powder as well as the upgraded item. This is reduced by the availability of cash shop items to double or even eliminate the chances of failure, and some upgrades that provide an additional benefit when they are inserted into an item.
Glyphs
Glyphs are upgrade components that can be placed in special sockets on the Paragon Board. Glyphs increase the power of nodes within a radius, which includes any existing affixes. Glyphs can be upgraded in many ways, and we recommend getting them to level 15 whenever you can.
It is commonplace to see in the endgame that placing Glyphs is the most effective way to upgrade your gear. These are the only upgrade component which can be upgraded to level 15 and give a significant boost to your power on the Paragon Board.
Most of the upgrades in the game can be replaced, but Glyphs are the only upgrade component that can be removed and replaced without any restrictions. Only legendary equipment can be salvaged and rebuilt using the aid of a Black Lion Salvage Kit.
Each Glyph has a particular range of values that it can improve a statistic by, and the value is displayed when you select the Glyph in your inventory. You can replace it with a Glyph that is the same or higher rank to boost the value of the Glyph.
Glyphs can be found in the Black Lion Trading Post as part of an Gem Store bundle or purchase the glyphs with certain tools that allow unlimited use and also during Faction Crypt Raids. Every Faction Crypt has a chance to drop one of the many Glyphs and there are also a few rare glyphs to be found as drops from any of the four Faction Crypts.
Once you have obtained the desired Glyphs you will need them to be placed on your equipment. Each Glyph unlocks a bonus which will boost the stats of a particular set of nodes in a radius surrounding the Glyph. It could be +40 for one of your primary stats or +25 for two of your secondary stats, based on the Glyph.
Using Glyphs Glyph can boost all nodes that are linked to it, and you should try to place your Glyphs near key nodes on the Graph to maximise the impact. For example an Druid should try to place their Glyphs near their primary damage nodes, but you should also think about placing them near crucial damage nodes, too.
Leveling
The item upgrading system allows players to increase the performance of specific items by putting upgraded components in them. This is known as "upping". Each upgradeable item is assigned an amount that determines the final stats. Upgraded items can be leveled up to a maximum of 385. Each level requires a different amount of components to reach and the costs for upgrading increase as the item level upgrade is upgraded.
Certain upgrades require an ingredient to be activated. This ingredient can be obtained by finishing Upgrade Recipes. These recipes can be found in the upgrade tab of a crafting table, or purchased from some NPCs. Each completed Upgrade Recipe yields several Technology Points. These points can be used to level the item. Once enough points are earned, the upgrade will be claimed and the additional bonuses will be added to the item.
When the player upgrades a piece of equipment it will be replaced by a new item. This means that the same armor piece will become an weapon or shield once upgraded. The new item upgrader mod will have a unique bonus. This can be a downside, as the item can increase in price even if you don't require it.
If the player has enough tokens, they can roll item upgrades. This causes the item to be traded for a new one, with a level 1 base and a different set of bonuses. This can be useful, but should not be used frequently as it could waste resources.
Certain upgrades can be rerolled multiple times to increase their value, allowing the player to customize their gear. Dolphin's Gift is a good example, as it gives an increase in power if the player is repeatedly in or leaves the water. This can be upgraded several times, each time raising the max roll by an increment of 10. This item is highly useful in PvP. A perfectly rolled version could be worth up to 50x the value of a unupgraded counterpart.
Requirements
Item upgrading allows players to boost the quality of their equippable gear--armor, weapons and trinkets above ilvl 385--by offering the appropriate items and currency to an NPC who upgrades items. Upgrades to armor set pieces also increase its base defense and upgrades to weapon items increase their base damage as well as their strength and dexterity.
All items can be upgraded up to five times, except for hero equipment, which can be upgraded eight times. Every each time you upgrade an item, it has an opportunity to fail. The rate of failure increases as you go beyond the maximum number of upgrades. Failures will cause the item to go back to its original state, requiring the player to spend more money on materials than they would have to had they stopped upgrading at the highest number of upgrades.
If an item fails to upgrade, the amount of accumulated experience in its growth bar is reset to zero. The item also loses any bonuses it gained, such as the chance to crit damage to attack, additional effects (such as increased heal over time, or reloading speed). The player is able to use their weapon or armor even after the failure.
When an item upgrader is upgraded, the upgrades are applied from lowest to the highest. This means that when a weapon gains an increase in crit chance, the increase is applied prior to any increase in attack damage. Slots is a brand-new attribute that has been added to item definitions. The value is recalculated each time an upgrade occurs.
The amount of resources required to upgrade an item upgrader mod are based on its rarity rating and the number of upgrade slots. The cost of upgrading equipment that is not premium is equal to its value. For instance an item that is commonplace could have five upgrades at a cost of. 25,600 Technology Points and a 4x Quality Improvement Chance--whereas hero quality items will have a much lower cost for each upgrade.
Premium items might require different upgrades than regular gear. For example they might require fewer sowels, but more minerals and orons. The player will need to take each piece of gear they wish to upgrade to the NPC [Armor] Boboko located in Central Flarine. In addition to the upgrade costs listed above, each equipment upgrade will require the use of different ingredients for upgrading.
