Is it worth upgrading item?

[Imperial Dane]

It is definately worth upgrading items as you can find new effects as they are upgraded, plus not all items are that hard to upgrade, for example the steel boots are probably the easiest in the game while the officer's rod is much tougher, so while it does take some work to get the most out of them, the rewards are better i would imagine.. of course i haven't seen it to the end with all as the keepers get quite strong