Guild Wars 2 Item Upgrade
The stats of an item are improved through upgrading it, also known as "upping". Each upgrade increment boosts the stat linearly.
Players can recycle up to six items at once to gain an indicator of the level of the item's upgraded components. The cost of recycling items scales with their rarity and item level.
Upgrade components
In Guild Wars 2, an upgrade of an item can be a method to boost the stats of your weapon and armor. This can be accomplished through a variety of methods, including by using upgrade components or by increasing an item's rarity or mark level. Many items can also be reforged to increase their value.
Upgradeable items can be found all over the game, both around the world and as rewards for missions. They can also be crafted by players. The main way to upgrade equipment is by making use of upgrade components which are the items that can be slotted into equipment. Most equipment comes with upgrade slots, and most require a certain level of upgrade. Certain upgrade components offer specific bonuses, while other components offer general bonuses.
There are several types of upgrade components available in the game, including universal upgrades, inscriptions, and jewels. Universal upgrades, like gems and enchantments, are able to be put in any equipment type and offer less bonuses than those that are equipment-type specific. Glyphs are only available in gathering tools, and provide various bonuses, ranging from increasing the speed of the item's collection to supplying additional crafting materials.
To upgrade an item, click it from your inventory and open the Upgrade window. The preview will be displayed on the right-hand side of the screen. It will display the expected statistics after the upgrade. If you don't possess enough of either, the Upgrade button will show as Blocked.
The upper-right side of the screen shows the number of upgrade components required for a particular item. The cost of an upgrade increases as the level and rarity of the item increase. However you can lower the cost of upgrades by purchasing them from a vendor, or trading them with other players.
Most weapons can be upgraded by the use of a prefix upgrade like an insignia or a rune. Many can be upgraded with a suffix upgrade. These upgrades include an adjective in the item's name, such as "Radiant" or "Minor Vigor".
Glyphs
Glyphs can be used to convey information via visuals. They are animated to grab the attention of the viewer and stimulate interest in the brain. The animation of glyphs resembles body language, making them even more effective at conveying the message across linguistic barriers. Glyphs can also trigger a feeling of familiarity in the brain, which increases retention of the message.
Each glyph comes with a range of values that it could improve a stat by in the form of an item when you open the glyph in the Glyph Storage or when you use them to enchant an Artifact. This is the highest value that the glyph can increase a stat's value by but not the amount it will actually increase the stat by. The actual value of the glyph is determined by the quality and tier of the item you are creating it for.
The majority of upgrade components that are installed into items cannot be removed or replaced without removing them, with the exception of legendary upgrades and equipment. However, if you have an unusable rune or glyph that has not yet been applied to your gear, you can move it to a different piece gear by using the Upgrade Glyphs context menu in the Glyphs panel. This will create an Glyph Set that includes the chosen glyph.
You can take out the glyph using the Black Lion Salvage Kit, or an Ascended Salvage tool. This will cause the item to be destroyed in which it is installed but you will be able to salvage the upgraded item with the glyph and its shards therefore it should not be considered a loss.
If you take an item off after adding a glyph the shards of the glyph will vanish. You can also add a glyph to your equipment to add an additional benefit. Deferred Damage, for example can store damage, and be distributed slowly to the wearer instead of all at one time. This is beneficial for those who take many hits from enemies but don't want to be overwhelmed.
Reroll tokens
Reroll tokens are used to alter the affixes of equipment and weapons. They can be obtained from many sources, including mystery boxes or rare drops from skulled monsters or by killing bosses. Each reroll token grants the player a new random affix, which is typically superior to the original. Reroll tokens are also a great way to reroll weapon stats that can be upgraded to provide better damage or other perks.
Rerolled items don't appear in the menu of upgrade options, however they can be upgraded. These rerolled items can be recycled by pressing the "upgrade" button which alters the appearance of the window and allows up to six items to recycle. Recycling an item adds a small amount of points to its level gauge. This amount is determined by the item's rarity as well as its own level, so items with higher levels are more valuable to recycle than lower-level ones.
Players can also make use of Reroll Tokens and Star Remnants to roll rerolling Weapon Traits to upgrade units. item upgrading will determine the percentage chance of a particular weapon trait; if it rolls higher, the weapon is upgraded, and if it is lower, it remains unchanged. Weapons can be repeatedly rolled up to three times.
Rerolling is an excellent method to improve an item. However, players must be aware of the fact that the total ilvl will be decreased by the number of the rerolls required to bring it to the final level. This reduction effect is most effective on Diadems and ring items, which have no alternatives to raise their ilvls.
The reroll system has been criticized by players as being too expensive, and it would be more equitable to let players pay for it in the form of money or a food item that would allow players to modify their build without wasting time and energy. However paying for rerolls is not something the developers are planning to implement at this point in the game's development. Instead, they're planning to include a race change potion in the future.
Leveling
There are many ways to level up an upgrade to an item. The first is to increase the upgrade amount which boosts the upgrade value of any stat. The second is to increase the upgrade effect that increases the damage or heal of a given stat. In addition there is the possibility to upgrade the base item to a higher upgrade type. Once this is done the new item will retain its iLevel but it will have the upgrade effects of the upgraded item type.
When upgrading your items, it is important to remember that upgrades are not guaranteed. In the majority of cases the best roll will come from the glyphs, but there are also possibilities for higher or more special rolls. The item type will also determine the iLevel. If you upgrade a rare or exclusive item to a unique kind of item, it has a chance of getting an additional level.
Upgrades can be expensive particularly if you are upgrading your equipment from the standard track to legendary. The price will depend on the item's iLevel base and the amount of upgrade levels it comes with. Additionally, certain upgrade tracks require crests in order to reach the next upgrade level.
If you're lucky your upgraded item will be at the maximum level of its upgrade track and gain an additional bonus effect. This will increase the item's upgrade value. The bonus effect changes with each upgrade level. In general, the upgrade effect is increased by +3.
Based on the item's base level and its upgrade path, the iLevel of the upgraded item will change as well. For instance, an item that is upgraded from a rare or unique item to an exceptional one is likely to gain the Enhanced Defense of the new base item.