So i got my hand on a 100% perfect ethereal vamp gaze for 2 bers, upped it, and it actually lowered its defense. Did i just get rekt?
Yeah, it is old known effect. But it requries deep knowledge from Legacy 
Check old explanation:
It’s really simple. Never up gaze (eth or otherwise). Grim Helm (Gaze) could have a base def of 60-125. Bone Visage (the upped v.) could have 100-157. As you can see, they overlap. And since Gaze always comes with 252 def . . . (a bit over the max def of Grim helm) your Bone Visage would have to roll somewhere between 127 and 157 to gain def. If it rolls below 125, the def stays the same; but the reqs increase. If it rolls somewhere around 140, you’d have around 280 def (not worth it). Even with eth.
It can also happen to : Arreat’s Face and Crown of Thieves might also roll lower defense in their Elite forms. But there is much lower overlap so it happens rarely.
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welp my fault, this game has been fun while it lasted, so long.
This is correct, an Eth Gaze has a chance of coming out worse or at best a minimal upgrade when upgrading.
Taken from diabloii:
An upped gaze has a reasonable chance of turning out worse than the exceptional version.
1. When an unique item has the %ExtraDefense mod, the base defense of this item is ALWAYS MaxDef+1. So, in the case of Herald of Zakarum (Gilded Shield base defense: 144-168), the base defense is ALWAYS 169. On top of this 169, you will add the extra defense (that varies from 150 to 200%).
2. When you UPGRADE an item with a defense attribute (shields, armors, belts, boots, helms, gloves…), the rule #1 above is NOT respected anymore. In the case of Herald of Zakarum (Gilded Shield base defense: 144-168 —> Zakarum Shield base defense: 169-193), the base defense of the item will now VARY between 169 and 193. And then, the %ExtraDefense mod (150-200%) will apply.
So, if you’re very unlucky and you roll a 169 BaseDef Zakarum shield, the defense of your upgraded HoZ will be exactly the same as before. The mods on the items are NOT modified. If your HoZ had 167% ExtraDef, your upgraded HoZ will have 167% ExtraDef too. Only the BaseDef of the upgraded item will vary.
you’re going to quit over something you didn’t know about? It’s going on a merc anyways so why are you even upset about it?
LOL, no you didnt, really?
Well, if you wana quit over it, thats ok. I will gladly take all your items if you arent going to use them anymore 
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It sux I get it, but generally only few items are woth upping. Like gwrap to get max potion in belt etc., or boots for kicksins.
Shame you did not google : Is it worth to upp vgaze. Google would have told you no.
But yeah if you are perfectionist it sux for sure, but def matters very little unless it is in several thousands.
Man not only i paid 2 ber for it, i had to have a guy buy it from someone on xbox to transfer it on pc. I mean i got rekt by my fault i understand, but its bad design that upping makes it worst. And yes im done. Time to wait for d4 i guess
What a useless response.
20 char
What sux is that it has about 45 % chance of being worse. So you lost the roll.
D2 has a lot of depth once you start digging into its systems. It just most people never stumble on them so its not that commonly spread knowledge unless you play for years and just like to read/learn about details.
If you are not an actual 11 year-old boy, you sure are acting like one.
Buh-bye, then.
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Yeah in no world should upgrading an item make it worse. Wtf is that range? Makes no sense. Every item should have increased min/max values over its predecessor.
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As a designer, this is one thing I don’t like intuitive design. It dumbs the sh*t out of people.
Being intuitive is not an answer to everything. Sometime having counter-intuitive mystery adds level of depth. The journey of understanding non-obvious things makes this a masterpiece.
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If by depth you mean blatantly bad design by having one of most desirable item in the game to upgrade giving it the option to roll lower then yes, depth.
Let me upgrade your pc, ill install an i3 second gen instead of your i9 11th gen, replace that 16gb ram with 4gb, and your ssd with a slow 2tb. That will be 2-3weeks of farming. Depth. Masterpiece.
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Blizz 1
Badonkadonq 0
Look at the bright side, it is still useable and defense won’t matter that much.
Indeed my man, indeed…
I basically paid 2 ber for a perfectly rolled 20/8/8/15 eth vampire gaze for 30 more def than a non eth 
That is extreme Opay next time only pay that much for one that is already upp’d. Lesson learned.
I’ll take your stuff let me know
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Upgrading a non belt armor piece is useless anyway. Defense is a mostly useless stat. Never upgrade anything that isn’t a weapon or a less than 4 slot belt. It’s not worth it.