The 10 Most Terrifying Things About Item Upgrading
From Shiapedia
World of Warcraft Upgrades and Item Upgrading
Upgrades boost the value of certain numeric stats on armor, weapons and rings. They also increase bonuses such as PvE damage and crit chance.
If the template for upgrading a weapon is in %, the weapon will be able to gain 3percent of its previous damage every time it is upgraded.
Item upgrading costs crests and the current level of the item. The cost increases as the level of the item rises.
Components
Upgrade components can be incorporated into trinkets, weapons and armor in order to give them a boost in stats or to add an additional effect. They can be obtained by crafting, purchasing from vendors trading or looting. Certain upgrades also come with special cosmetic effects.
Upgrade components can only be used on equipment with a slot. The item must be at least upgraded to a blue level before a component can be applied. In contrast to other mods components can only be used one time; they cannot be applied multiple times or replaced with new upgrades. Infusions and enrichments are a particular kind of upgrade component that is used to upgrade non-amulet ascended or legendary equipment and some of the items that are not ascending back. Infusions and enrichments can be retrieved by salvaging gear from the ascended, or completing an elite mission in the Prophecies, Factions and Nightfall campaigns.
A prefix or suffix can be added to an upgrade, changing the name of the item it's applied to (for instance, 'Canthan Armor Insignia,' becomes Canthan Armor Minor Vigor). Some upgrades boost an item's Mark Level, or Rarity, allowing players to make stronger versions of the equipment with the smallest amount of Upgrade Crystals than is required to achieve the same level of upgrade through normal methods.
A boost upgrade is a way to alter the attack or defense properties of a 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 can be purchased by purchasing them from the cash shop or by collecting them from enemies when upgrading other equipment.
The player can have a maximum of five boost upgrades at one time; each upgrade increases the likelihood that a better-quality version of the item will be available at the time of the next reset. This gives the player some 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 could be expensive, and there is a substantial chance that the item could be obsolete or even break when it fails. A failed upgrade will ruin the Upgrade Crystals and Assist Powder as well as the upgraded item. Cash shop items can be used to minimize or eliminate the chance of failure. Some upgrades also give the player a bonus if they are they are reinserted.
Glyphs
Glyphs can be used to upgrade item the Paragon Board by placing them in sockets with special functions. Glyphs boost the power of nodes within a radius, and include any pre-existing affixes. Glyphs can be upgraded in a variety of ways. We recommend upgrading them as fast as possible up to 15 levels.
You'll often see in the final game that placing Glyphs is a great way to upgrade your equipment. They are the only upgrade component that can be upgraded directly to level 15 and offer significant boosts to your power and radius on the Paragon Board, enabling you to get higher nodes much faster.
Glyphs, the sole upgrade component which can be removed without restriction and then replaced again are the most popular. Only legendary equipment can be salvaged and replaced by using the help of a Black Lion Salvage Kit.
The value of each Glyph is displayed when you select it from your inventory. You can replace it with a Glyph that is the same or higher rank to increase the value of the Glyph.
There are Glyphs in the Black Lion Trading Post, as part of a Gem Store purchase or bundle with certain gathering tools that are unlimited-use as well as through Faction Crypt raids. Every Faction Crypt has a chance to drop one of the numerous Glyphs and there are some rare glyphs to be obtained as drops from any of the four Faction Crypts.
After you have acquired the desired Glyphs you will require them to be put on your gear. Each Glyph unlocks a special bonus that will boost the stats of a particular set of nodes that are within the radius of the Glyph. It can be +40 for one of your primary stats or +25 for two of your secondary stats depending on the Glyph.
Glyphs will boost all nodes connected to them, which is why it is Best item upgrade to place Glyphs in strategic places on the Graph. This will increase the impact. For example, a Druid should aim to place their Glyphs close to their primary damage points, however, you may also want to think about placing them near crucial damage nodes, too.
Leveling
The item upgrading system allows players to improve the performance of certain items by placing upgraded components inside them. This is also known as "upping". Each upgradeable item comes with an amount that determines its upgraded stats. Upgraded items are able to be leveled until they reach a maximum level of ilvl 385. Each item level requires a different amount of components to be reached and the cost of upgrading increase as the item is advanced in level.
Some upgrades require an ingredient to be activated. This ingredient is obtained from the completion of Upgrade Recipes. These recipes can be bought from NPCs, or on the upgrade tab of a crafting table. Each completed Upgrade Recipe yields a number of Technology Points. These points can be used to upgrade the item, and when enough points have been earned, the upgrade will be claimed and any additional bonuses will be added to the item.
When a player upgrades an item it is replaced by a new item of the same type. The same armor will be upgraded to the form of a weapon or shield when upgraded. The new item comes with its own set bonus. This could be a drawback because it can cause the item to become more expensive, even if you don't need it.
If the player has enough tokens they can roll the upgrade of their item. The item will be replaced by a brand new one that has a base of level 1 and totally different bonuses. This can be useful for certain items, however it shouldn't be performed frequently, since it could waste lots of resources.
Certain upgrades can be rerolled several times which increases their value and allows the player to modify their gear. An excellent example is Dolphin's Gift, which gives an advantage when a player is repeatedly in and out of the water (or swims like a dolphin). It can be upgraded multiple times, each time raising the max roll by a factor of 10. This item is highly useful in PvP. A well-rolled version could be worth as much as 50x the value of the unupgraded counterpart.
Requirements
Item upgrading allows players to upgrade the level of their equippable equipment--armor, weapons, and trinkets that are above ilvl 385 by providing the appropriate currency and items 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 the required strength and dexterity.
Each item can be upgraded up to five times, except for hero gear which can have eight upgrades. Each when you upgrade an item, it is given the chance to fail. The rate of failure increases as you go beyond the maximum number of upgrades. Failures can cause the item to return to its original state, which requires the player to spend additional resources than if they had stopped upgrading after the maximum amount.
If an item is not able to upgrade the amount of experience in its growth bar is reset to zero. The item also loses any bonuses it gained, such as crit chance attack damage, additional effects (such as a higher healing rate over time, or the speed of reloading). The player can continue to use their weapon or armor even after the failure.
When an item is upgraded, the upgrades are applied from the lowest to the highest. This means that should a weapon gain an increase in the chance of crit, 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 needed to upgrade an item is determined on the rarity rating and the number of upgrade slots. The cost of upgrading non-premium items is equal to the base value of the upgrade--for example, a common equipment item upgrader mod might have 5 upgrades with a cost of 25600 Technology Points 4x Quality Improvement Opportunity. Hero grade items are less expensive per upgrade.
Premium items may have different upgrade requirements than normal equipment. For example they may require less sowels, but they will require more minerals and orons. However, players will need to visit the NPC [ArmorBoboko in Central Flarine. Boboko in Central Flarine with each piece of equipment they wish to upgrade. In addition to the upgrade costs listed above, each upgrade will require the use of different ingredients for upgrading.
