Upgrading Items to Legendary with Umbral Shards
by Xyo — Published on Lets take a look at how you can upgrade Epic items to Legendary, using Umbral Shard.
Latest PTR update reduces the Gear Score required for using 
Depleted Umbral Shard from 600, to 590. This also introduces a side effect, which allows you to convert some items from Epic to Legendary.
Those are items that come with a preset perks list (mostly named items), where you lose the last perk unless it is 600 Gear Score, such items are: 
Infamy, 
Will of the Ancients, 
Beginning, 
Featherweight Ring, 
Doom's Chance Earring just to name a few. Upgrading these kind of items to 600 Gear Score using Umbral Shards, will unlock the fifth perk slot (fifth? read technical explanation below), making them Legendary.
We've also got an Umbral Shards Guide which contains a list of all shard requirements and reward values.
Technical Explanation
Lets start with some basics - items can have up to 5 perks (not 3). From a technical point of view, attributes and gems (or gem slots) are just perks. The maximum amount of perks an item can have is decided by the item's Tier and Gear Score. A Tier 5 item needs 600 Gear Score for it to be able to have the last perk slot unlocked (which is needed for legendary items).
The Gear Score - Perk Count system is used in two different ways:
- When dropping/crafting/obtaining in any way, an item with random perks, you will only roll for the eligible perk buckets, based on the item's Gear Score (which is rolled before the perks).
- When items have a preset list of perks, the system is still used to "disable" non eligible perks. This is what happens to, for example, Infamy when it is below 600 Gear Score.
Case #2 is what we're interested in. Even if the Gear Score is too low for the last perk, the perk itself is still attached to the item, compared to case #1 where it isn't. The perk gets disabled. If you use Umbral Shards to bump up the item's Gear Score too 600, it will unlock the last perk slot (which already has a predefined perk inside), and the item becomes Legendary.
This case applies to every single item in the game which has a preset perk list, where the last perk just gets disabled due to low Gear Score.
There's also some fixed gear score items, like 
Guillotine, which can also be upgraded to legendary. AGS is probably gonna remove the last perk on these - they already did that with 
Needler, which no longer has 
Refreshing Move on PTR.
What remains to be seen is if this is intended, or just a slight oversight. I personally hope it's intended, or if it isn't, that it stays, since it makes it more enjoyable knowing your 599 Gear Score Infamy isn't gonna go to waste.
Edit: Kay from AGS has confirmed on the official Discord server that this mechanic is intended.
About the author
Xyo Founder of NWDB
This will allow for people to use look as a way showing power. Which is how it always should be with MMO's should always be about looking the best.
The next MMO to do it right will do it by using hard content to gain great looking gear. THat is the value of MMO's anymore, people hate stat gaps b.c it limits play and new players are forced to catch up which limits new players in every MMO anymore. IF you know your stats will all be normalized and the only difference is how you play and how you learn your characters skills it would be more enjoyable to everyone.
Next MMO should be about getting the best looking gear and not about getting that next stat upgrade. It should be about the achievements you do and have done. If the next MMO does that than expect new players to join constantly b.c they know they wont need to worry about "Catching up" to friends or everyone else.
One thing I hate about New World is no skins other than what you can buy for the most part. YOu should have been able to look however you wanted depending on the gear you salvaged.