What does someone mean when he says his items is up'ed

[dibilo]

how do you upgrade?

[Thyiad]

http://www.battle.net/diablo2exp/items/cube.shtml

[thegiantturtle]

how do you upgrade?There are 3 types of base items: normal, exceptional, and elite. Examples:Normal Exceptional Elite

War Axe Naga Berserker Axe
Cap War Hat Shako
Rare and Unique items can be upgraded from one base item to the higher base item. Normal -> Exceptional. Exceptional -> Elite. The item will keep all of it's properties, except that it's base item will change. Changing the base item will most likely change the str/dex req, level req, and durability. For weapons, the damage, speed, and range may change. For armor, the defense will change.

The recipes can be found on the Arreat Summit (http://battle.net/diablo2exp/items/cube.shtml).

[moremayhem]

What is the benefit to upgrading an item?

All the attributes remain the same, but the item type is changed?

Why bother or am I missing something?

[TheBhoy]

What is the benefit to upgrading an item?

All the attributes remain the same, but the item type is changed?

Why bother or am I missing something?

The base damage/defence goes up. the unique atts stay the same

[Black Market]

Let's take a Golwrap belt... it's a good magic finding belt but when you're at lvl 70, you want your belt to have more than 35 defense on it. So with two cube upgrade, your Goldwrap become a Troll belt and get a defense boost and can go around 120 def.

Same goes for Chancies gloves. They need a boost.

[Cattleya]

The other thing to keep in mind with belts are that upgrading some of the normal ones (like Goldwrap) will get you more potion slots. Also, boots get more damage for Kicksins. Other than that, however, you are mostly looking at more defense (armor) or damage (weapons.)

Honestly, though, I'm not sure I understand upgrading Chancies. Really, how many builds that use them really actually make use of the small defense upgrade? The extra requirements (and rune cost, but I play SP) just don't seem worth it.

[Black Market]

You're right, more potion slot on belt. That single point's worth the upgrade.

As for chancies, yeah i guess if you're mfing with sorc, it's not worth it.
I use a melee for mfing so i tend to think that every single bonus point in def is useful but the bonus on upped chancies isn't really a big deal.

[moremayhem]

Okay, maybe I'll give it a try then.

Say I have an Exceptional Unique sword: The Atlantean.

Say it currently has about 60 - 140 damage & +2 Paladin skills amomg other attributes.

If I upgrade it (Lum,Pul,PEmerald), It'll get more damage and not lose the attributes?

Is amount of increased damage random, or is there a way to know what the increase would be?

[Evrae Altana]

If I upgrade it (Lum,Pul,PEmerald), It'll get more damage and not lose the attributes?

Is amount of increased damage random, or is there a way to know what the increase would be?The mods themselves will remain the same (ie. the ED, +skills, +str, etc. will still be there when you upgrade). The only thing that's different is the base item of the weapon. Unupgraded, your Atlantean is in an ancient sword. When you upgrade it, the base item type will now be the elite version, which is the mythical sword. To find out the final damage on the upgraded version, simply take the base damage of the new weapon, then multiply it by the ED found on that weapon. In your case, the upgraded Atlantean will have a new damage of 140-175 (assuming the original Atlantean rolled a perfect 250% ED).