The stats of an item can be improved by upgrading it, also referred to as "upping". Each upgrade increment boosts the stats linearly.
Players can recycle up to six items at a time to gain an indicator of the level of the item's upgraded components. The cost of recycling a piece of equipment increases with their rarity and item level.
Upgrade components
In Guild Wars 2, an upgrade to an item is a method to increase the stats of your weapons and armor. This can be accomplished by various methods that include the use of upgrade components and also upgrading an item's mark level or rarity. A lot of items can be reforged to increase their stats.
Upgradable items can be found throughout the game, both in the world and as rewards for missions. Players can also craft them. The main way to upgrade equipment is by making use of upgrade components, which are items that can be slotted into equipment. The majority of equipment comes with upgrade slots, and the majority require a certain level of upgrade. Some upgrade components give specific bonuses while others provide an overall bonus.
There are many types of upgrade components that are available in the game. These include universal upgrades, inscriptions, and jewels. Universal upgrades, like gemstones and enchantments can be placed in any equipment type and offer less bonuses than those that are type specific to the type of equipment. Glyphs can only be placed in gathering tools and offer numerous bonuses, from increasing the speed of an item's gathering to providing extra crafting materials.
Choose the item from your inventory, then open the Upgrade window. The preview will be displayed on the right hand side of the screen. It will show the expected stats following the upgrade. If you do not have enough of either, the Upgrade button will show as Blocked.
The amount of upgrade components required for a specific item is displayed in the upper-right corner of the Upgrade window. The price of an upgrade increases with the level and rarity of the item. However you can cut down on the cost of upgrades by purchasing them from a seller or trading them with other players.
Most weapons can be improved by adding a prefix, like a rune or an insignia, and others can be upgraded by adding the suffix. These upgrades alter the name of the item to add an adjective, like 'Radiant' or 'Minor Vigor. The only exceptions are the non-inscribable wands, the shields and foci from the Prophecies and Factions campaigns, which are not upgradeable with any mods at all.
Glyphs
Glyphs can be a powerful tool to communicate visual information. They animate in order to draw the attention of the viewer and entice curiosity. The animation of glyphs mimics body language, making them more effective in communicating a message across linguistic barriers. Glyphs can also enhance the likelihood of remembering messages by creating an experience of familiarity in the brain.
Each glyph can increase a stat's value by a certain amount. This is displayed on the item upgrader kit when you open it in the Glyph Storage. This isn't the actual amount at the glyph can increase the stat, but rather the maximum amount it is able to do so. The actual value of the glyph is determined by the quality and tier of the item you are enchanting it to.
Most upgrade components inserted into items cannot be repaired or replaced without dismantling the gear in question, except for legendary equipment and upgrades. If you have a glyph or rune you don't want to use but it's not been applied to gear yet, you can move the item to a different piece by selecting the Upgrade Glyphs menu within the Glyphs Panel. This will create the new Glyph Set with the selected glyph.
If you are looking to remove the glyph from an item, you will need to salvage it using a Black Lion Salvage Kit or Ascended Salvage Tool. This will destroy the item that it was installed in however, you can salvage the upgraded item by using the glyph and its fragments, therefore it should not be considered a loss.
If you take an item upgrader off after putting a glyph on it, the shards that are part of that glyph will disappear. You can also place an inscription on your equipment to give it a bonus. Deferred Damage, for example can store damage, and then be dealt slowly to the wearer instead of all at once. This is beneficial for players who take many hits from enemies, but do not want to be overwhelmed.
Reroll tokens
Reroll tokens are used to alter the affixes on weapons and equipment. They can be obtained from many sources, such as mystery boxes or rare drops from skulled monsters, or by killing bosses. Every reroll grants the player a random affix that is usually better than what they had before. Reroll tokens can also be used to improve weapon stats to cause more damage or bonuses.
Rerolled items do not appear on the menu for item upgrades, but they are still able to be upgraded. By pressing the "upgrade button" you can recycle the rerolled items. This will alter the layout of the item's window, and allow up to six items to be chosen to recycle. Recycling an item can add a small amount of points to its level gauge. The amount is determined by the rarity of the item and its own level, so items with higher levels are more valuable to recycle than lower level ones.
In addition to tokens for rerolls, players can use Star Remnants and Reroll Tokens to roll the weapon traits of an upgraded unit. A reroll will roll the percentage chance of a particular weapon trait. If it rolls higher, the weapon is upgraded. If it is lower, the weapon remains unchanged. Weapons can be upgraded up to three times.
A reroll is a good option to upgrade an item, but players must be aware that it could reduce the total ilvl of the weapon due to the number of rerolls required to increase it to the final level. This reduction effect is most effective on Diadems and s.lui.au rings that do not have any competing ilvl-raising options.
Players have complained that the reroll system is expensive. It's better to allow players to pay for it using money or food items which would allow players to make adjustments to their builds without having to invest too much time. However the paid rerolls aren't something that the developers would like to incorporate at this point in the game's development. They're planning to include the ability for players to alter their race in the future.
Leveling
There are several ways to upgrade an item. The first method of leveling up an upgrade for an item is to increase the upgrade amount. This boosts the value of upgrading a stat. The alternative is to increase the effect of the upgrade, which boosts the healing or damage for a stat. The base item can be upgraded to a more advanced upgrade type. When this is done the new item will retain its iLevel, but will benefit from the upgrade effects of the upgraded type of item.
When you upgrade items, it is important to keep in mind that upgrades are not guaranteed. In the majority of cases the best roll will result from glyphs, however there are also opportunities for greater or special rolls. The item type will also determine the iLevel. If you upgrade a rare or exclusive item to a specific item type, then it's likely to receiving an upper level.
The cost of upgrading items can be expensive, particularly if you're upgrading a piece of gear from the normal to the legendary track. The cost of upgrading an item will depend on the iLevel it's built upon as well as the amount of upgrade levels. Some upgrade tracks also require crests in order to get to the next level.
If you're lucky the upgraded item could get to the top of its upgrade track, and thus unlock an additional effect. This will provide the item with a significant upgrade value. The bonus effect will vary with each upgrade level though. In general, the upgrade effect is increased by +3.
The iLevel also changes in accordance with the item upgrader mod's upgrade path and its base level. For example the weapon that has been upgraded from a unique or rare to an extraordinary item will have a chance to be upgraded to the enhanced defense of the new base type of item.
