Factions: runes confusion

Ok, I'm trying to figure out exactly how the upgrading of armor works and am a bit confused. So, if someone could lend a hand to answer these questions, I'd appreciate it.

1. Can you upgrade a shield, like you do with the body armor?

2. I'm correct in thinking that each armor piece can only have one rune and one insignia, right?

3. If the item doesn't say "non-stacking", you can apply the same kind of rune/insignia to multiple armor pieces for a stacking effect, right?

4. I've heard that you can upgrade a weapon, but what do you upgrade it with? I have yet to see anything that says "weapon upgrade".

The manual doesn't explain it very well. Please help, I'm getting frustrated with the game cuz of this.

Thanks a lot.

Yes, you can - but instead of runes & insignias, they take handles & inscriptions (more below)

Yep, that's correct. TIP: For whichever attribute you're primarily focusing on, put the corresponding rune on your head peice to get the +1 from the armor as well as the boost you get from the rune

Sounds right to me.

There are several types of upgrades to weapons & off-hands. Some will cause the weapon to do different types of damage (Fiery, earth, etc.) Others will give the wielder a benefit such as increased armor, health, etc. As you can guess, there's a lot involved with this, so for a full explanation see http://guildwars.wikia.com/wiki/Main_Page You can get weapon upgrades by expert salvaging blue, purple, and gold drops.

Hang in there and welcome to Guild Wars! Feel free to PM me in-game if you've got any questions.

A shield dropped in Factions, no. Unless they came from the end chests in the elite areas(or Z-chest and HA chest).

Yes.

Yup.

Most weapons come with a prefix and suffix mod and an inscription/inherent mod. A fiery daggers of fortitude, for example would have a Fiery dagger tang and a dagger handles of fortitude. You won't find them in that state, unless you buy the mods from other players. Otherwise you must expert salvage them off other weapons you find in order to add them to the weapon you want. Inscriptions/inherents won't be found in the naming, but they would be the third of mods found on your weapons(ie +15% damage while health above 50%). Read this as it helps explain in more detail.

Oh, can't mod shields from Prophecies, either. (I've been spending too much time in Nightfall - LOL.)

I don't think this is correct. Runes do NOT stack even if you apply the same rune on a different armor piece. So runes like runes of absorbtion for warriors do not stack on different armor pieces, even if they hit other.
Insignia's on the other hand do stack, for the exception of stonefist since this is maxed with any KD with just 1.

It IS correct, all the examples you named are runes that have the "non-stacking" text added to them, because they do not stack


Do take into account that armor bonusses do stack with other bonusses (like weapon/shield bonusses), they just don't stack with armor bonusses of the same kind when "non-stacking" is added.