WoW Upgrades - The Item Upgrader
Upgrades can give you an increase in certain stats. Each upgrade boosts the item level by +3. Each upgrade also increases an unspecified substat.
Upgraded gear generally sees greater value for trade, unless it has inherently low requirements (like the FB sorc's shield) or has a high stat variance (like Eth titan weapons). The latter see less value from upgrading due to the requirement to roll for a perfect version.
Recycle Points
The upgrader for items allows players to upgrade gear to a higher item level by providing the appropriate currency to the NPC. Upgrades can be applied to any kind of weapon or armor. The item used to upgrade the
item upgrade will be consumed and cannot be used again. Upgrades can also be applied to the enchantments.
You can upgrade your equipment at any time by visiting the upgrader in any major city. To keep your gear up-to-date it is recommended you visit the upgrader each couple of weeks.
Upgrades will cost more depending on the level of the item, however, they are always cheaper than buying new gear. Upgrades such as upgrading a Benthic chest to 385 ilvl will cost you 20 recycle points. Buying a similar item will cost you 105.
Valorstones
Upgrades are items that can be used to purchase tools, armor, weapon and accessory upgrades. Players can purchase them from
Item level upgrade upgraders NPCs in a variety of currencies. They can also find them on random treasure lists. Once purchased, an upgrade is able to be applied to any weapon, tool, or armor. The button will display a preview of an
item level upgrade's next upgrade level, in the event that there are enough materials.
The cost of upgrades varies based on the item slot and current item level and the weapon's price is higher than gloves or bracers, for instance. Each upgrade costs 15 Flightstones plus a specific number of crests. Certain upgrades provide a discount on the Flightstones. Once an item has been upgraded to a certain degree and is degraded, it can be sold and returned to the upgrader for a lesser amount of both currencies.
item level upgrade upgraders can be found in a variety of locations including the main island and some outposts. The NPCs provide both an upgrade coupon and a possibility of obtaining a new recipe. The upgrade discount increases according to the number of items being upgraded, and can be increased by having players complete some specific achievements or complete quests.
Icewind Dale does not have an item upgrader at beginning, unlike Cromwell from Baldur's gate II. The NPCs who can facilitate upgrades are only available through a variety of methods. This is both a positive and an issue.
In Season 3, the upgrade system has been tweaked a bit, with some new features added. After an upgrade has been completed to a certain level of item for an armor slot upgrading other items to the same item level will cost less. This is regardless of whether the items come from another set of equipment.
The amount of Valorstones needed for upgrades is decreased, and the discount is account-wide. In the same way, the amount of Harbinger Crests required for upgrades is also reduced and is not available until players achieve certain achievement milestones.
Crests
Players have a number of options when it comes to upgrading their gear in WoW. Flightstones are an option that is accessible to all players for upgrading. Crests are more special, and are used during specific item level upgrades. Crests are an important element of the Dragonflight Gear Progression System introduced in version 10.1. They come in four ranks.
First, you should know that Crests are only available to equipment that is of a certain rank. Each rank comes with a different upgrade path. The simplest and most straightforward upgrade process costs just 15 crests while the most complex can require as much as 20 crests depending on the type of equipment that is being upgraded.
Players can earn crests through finishing tasks at the appropriate level. This could be by doing outdoor activities, or by completing dungeons and raids in all difficulty levels to obtain equipment of lower tier or Mythic+ raid bosses or dungeons that have a high difficulty to obtain endgame gear. These crests are then exchanged with an upgrader like Cuzolth or Vaskarn in Valdrakken for the appropriate upgrade steps and routes.
The new currency system isn't too difficult to use, however it brings some modifications to the upgrade process. When a piece of equipment has reached the highest level of upgrade for any rank (Explorer or Adventurer), it no longer requires Flightstones. This change is designed to allow players to get their equipment up to the highest possible ilvl on all their characters, rather than relying solely on seasonal loot.
It's also essential to use crests wisely, as they only have one use. For instance, it's best to use all of your Whelpling-rank crests on the best gear you have available and then keep Drake and Wyrm crests to use for the next set of upgrades you're planning on making. This is especially applicable to items like trinkets and rings that take up multiple slots. The discount on the account will only apply when all slots on the character are filled with high-quality gear.