WoW Upgrades - The Item Upgrader

Upgrades give you boost in specific stats. Each upgrade boosts the item level by +3. Each upgrade also boosts an unspecified substat.

Upgraded gear is generally more useful, unless the item is not required by nature (like FB sorc shields) or has a large variance in stats (like eth Titan weapons). Upgrades are not as useful for those with higher variance because of the requirement to roll an exact version.

Recycle Points

The item upgrader enables players to upgrade gear to a higher item upgrades level by supplying the appropriate currency to the NPC. Upgrades can be made on any kind of armor or weapons. The item used to upgrade items the item is discarded and cannot be used again. Upgrades can also be used to create the enchantments.

The upgrader can be found in every major city, and can be visited at any time to upgrade your gear. It is recommended that you visit the upgrader once every few weeks, to ensure that your equipment is up-to-date.

Upgrades will cost more, based on the level of the item however, they are always cheaper than purchasing new gear. Upgrades such as upgrading a Benthic chest to ilvl385 will cost you 20 recycle points. A similar item will cost you 105.

Valorstones

Upgrades are items that can be used to upgrade weapons, armor, tools and accessory upgrades. They can be purchased from NPCs of item upgraders for various currencies. They can also find them in random treasure lists. Once an upgrade is purchased, it can be used on any weapon or tool with an button, which will display a preview of the item at its next upgrade level if the player has sufficient materials.

Upgrade costs differ based on the item slot, and the current item level. For example weapons are more expensive than gloves, bracers, or bracers. Each upgrade costs 15 Flightstones and a few crests, with certain upgrades offering discounts to lower the cost of the Flightstones or crests used. Once an item has been upgraded to a certain degree, it can be downgraded and sold to the upgrader at a lower price.

Many locations have upgraders for their items, including the main Island and a few outposts. The NPCs provide both an upgrade coupon and a chance to obtain an entirely new recipe. The upgrade discount increases with the number of items that are being upgraded, and can be increased by having players complete specific achievements or complete quests.

Icewind Dale does not have an upgrader for items at the beginning, unlike Cromwell from Baldur's Gate II. Instead, the NPCs that are available to facilitate upgrades are acquired via several methods, which is both an improvement as well as a disadvantage.

In Season 3, the upgrade system has been altered a bit, with numerous new features added. Once the player has upgraded to a specific level for an armor slot, upgrading other items to the same level will cost less. This is true even if the items come from another set of gear.

The discount is applicable to all accounts. The amount of Harbinger Crests required to upgrade is reduced as well, but is only available once certain milestones have been reached.

Crests

Players have a number of options when it comes to upgrading their gear in WoW. Flightstones are a currency that is available to everyone for upgrading. Crests are more special and are utilized during specific item level upgrades. Crests are a crucial part of the Dragonflight Gear Progression System introduced in version 10.1. They come in four ranks.

The first thing to note is that crests are only able to be used on gear of a specific rank, and that each rank has different requirements for its upgrade path. The easiest and most straightforward upgrade items is 15 crests. The most complicated upgrade requires up to 20 crests, based on the kind of gear that is being upgraded.

Players can earn crests by completing content at the appropriate level. This could mean doing outdoor activities, or by completing dungeons and raids in all difficulty levels to obtain equipment of lower tier or Mythicbosses for raids, or dungeons with a heroic difficulty for endgame gear. These crests can then be exchanged at an Item level upgrade upgrader NPC like Cuzolth in Dornogal or Vaskarn in Valdrakken, for the appropriate upgrade pathways and steps.

The use of these currencies isn't too difficult however, the system will introduce a few modifications to the upgrade process. For instance, when a piece of equipment reaches the highest level of upgrading for any rank (Explorer, Adventurer, Veteran, Champion, Hero, or Mythic), it won't need Flightstones to be upgraded. This allows players to upgrade item their equipment to the highest possible ilvl for all their characters, instead of relying on seasonal loot.

It's also crucial to choose crests in a wise manner, as they have only one purpose. For instance, it's a good idea use all of your Whelpling-rank crests with the best equipment available and then keep Drake and Wyrm crests for the next batch of upgrades you're planning on making. This is particularly true for items like trinkets and rings that occupy multiple slots on the character, that will be able to avail the account-wide discount when all slots are full of high-quality gear.