Item Upgrade Explained In Fewer Than 140 Characters

Guild Wars 2 Item Upgrade
Item upgrade, also referred to as "upping," improves an item's stats. Each upgrade increment increases a stat linearly.
Players can recycle up to six items at once to gain an indicator of the level of the upgraded components. The cost of recycling items increases with their rarity and item level.
Upgrade components
In Guild Wars 2, an upgrade of an item can be a method to increase the stats of your armor and weapons. This can be done through many different methods such as using upgrade components and increasing an item's mark level or rarity. Many items can also be reforged in order to increase their value.
You can purchase upgradeable items throughout the game. They are available all over the world as well as rewards for missions. Players can also make them. The most common method of upgrading equipment is through the use of upgrade components, which are components that can be inserted into equipment. Most equipment has slots to upgrade and some require a certain amount of upgrade. Some upgrade components provide specific bonuses, while other components offer a general bonus.
There are a variety of upgrade components that are available in the game. These include universal upgrades, inscriptions, and jewels. The universal upgrades, such as gemstones and enchantments can be placed on any kind of equipment, and offer less than upgrades for specific equipment. Glyphs can only be placed in gathering tools and offer numerous benefits, from increasing the speed at which an item gathers to providing additional crafting materials.
Choose the item from your inventory, and then open the Upgrade window. This will display a preview on the right side of the screen showing the expected stats after the upgrade, and any required components or materials. If you do not have enough of either the two, the Upgrade button will be marked as Blocked.
The amount of upgrade components required for a given item can be seen in the upper-right corner of the Upgrade window. The cost of an upgrade increases with the upgrade level and rarity, however it can be reduced by many different methods, including purchasing upgrades from a vendor or trading them with other players.
Almost all weapons can be upgraded using a prefix upgrade, such as an insignia or a rune, and many can be upgraded using an upgrade suffix. These upgrades alter the name of the item, adding an adjective, such as 'Radiant' or 'Minor Vigor. There are some exceptions, however. the noninscribable wands, shields and foci from Prophecies and Factions campaigns, which are not upgradeable with any mods in any way.
Glyphs
Glyphs can be used to convey information via visuals. They animate to capture the attention of the viewer and stimulate interest in the brain. The glyphs' animation mimics the body language and makes them more effective in communicating a linguistic barrier-crossing message. Glyphs can also trigger a feeling of familiarity in the brain, which increases retention of the message.
Each glyph increases the value of a stat by certain range. This is clearly displayed on the item when you open it in the Glyph Storage. This is the maximum value that the glyph can enhance a stat by, not the amount that it will actually increase the stat by. The value of the glyph is contingent on the tier as well as the quality of the item that you are admiring.
The majority of upgrade components that are slotted into items can't be replaced or salvaged without dismantling the equipment in question, with the exception of legendary equipment and upgrades. If you have a glyph or rune you don't want to use, but it hasn't been incorporated to the gear yet, you can move the item to a different piece by selecting the Upgrade Glyphs menu in the Glyphs Panel. This will create an Glyph Set that includes the selected glyph.
If you wish to remove a glyph from an item you must salvage it using an Black Lion Salvage Kit or Ascended Salvage Tool. This will destroy the item that it was installed in, but you can recover the upgraded item using the glyph and its shards, so this should not be considered as a loss.
When you take away an item after adding a glyph the shards from the glyph will vanish. You can also apply the glyph to your equipment to give it an extra benefit. For instance the glyph Deferred Damage can store damage for the wearer and deal it slowly rather than all at once. This is useful for those who take a lot damage from their enemies but don't want to be overwhelmed.
Reroll tokens
Reroll tokens let players alter the affixes on their weapons and equipment, and they can be obtained in a variety of ways like mistery boxes, as rare drops from skulled creatures, or even from killing bosses. Each reroll token gives the player a brand new random affix that is usually better than the original one. Reroll tokens can also be a good way to reroll weapon stats that can be upgraded to provide better damage or other perks.
Rerolled items are not listed on the menu for upgrade options, however they can still 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 selected to recycle. The level gauge is boosted by recycling an item. This amount is determined by the item's rarity as well as its level, which means higher-level items are more valuable to recycle than lower level ones.
Players can also use Reroll Tokens and Star Remnants to roll rerolling Weapon Traits to upgrade units. Rerolls roll the % chance of a weapon trait; if it rolls higher, the weapon is upgraded, and if it is lower, the weapon remains unchanged. Weapons can be rerolled up to three times.
A reroll is a good option for upgrading an item, but players should be aware that it will lower the overall ilvl of the weapon based on the number of rerolls used in order to increase it to the final level. This effect of lowering is most effective for ring items and Diadems that do not have any competing ilvl-raising options.
Players have complained that the reroll system is too expensive. It's better to allow people to pay for it with money or food items, which allows players to make adjustments to their builds without having to spend excessive amounts of time. However the paid rerolls aren't something the developers want to incorporate at this point in the game's development. They are planning to add an ingredient that allows players to change their race in the near future.
Leveling
There are a variety of ways to boost the value of an item upgrade. The first is to increase the upgrade amount, which increases the upgrade value of the stat. The second option is to increase the effect of the upgrade, which increases the damage or healing of an individual stat. Finally you have the option to upgrade the base item to a higher upgrade type. The upgraded item will keep its iLevel, but will have the upgraded effects of the upgraded item.
When you upgrade item s it is essential to remember that upgrades aren't always planned. In the majority of cases the chance of a better roll will be derived from glyphs, however there are also possibilities for higher or more special rolls. The type of the item will determine the iLevel. If you upgrade a unique or rare item to a special item type, then it has a chance of gaining an upper level.
The cost of upgrading items can be expensive, particularly when you're upgrading an item of gear from the normal to the legendary track. The cost of upgrading a piece of equipment will depend on its base iLevel and the number of upgrade levels. In addition, some upgrade tracks require crests to achieve the next upgrade level.
If you're lucky your upgraded item will be at the highest level of its upgrade track, and will unlock a bonus effect. This will provide a significant increase in the value of the item. The bonus effect will vary with each upgrade level though. In general the effect of upgrading is increased by a value of +3.
The iLevel can also change according to the upgrade path and its base level. For example an item upgraded from being a rare or exclusive item to an extraordinary one will have the chance to gain the Enhanced Defense of the new base item.