WoW Upgrades - The Item Upgrader

Upgrades give a guaranteed boost to certain stats. Each upgrade increases the item level Upgrade level by +3. A random extra substat is also increased with each upgrade.

The upgraded gear typically has a greater value for trade regardless of whether it has low requirements (like the FB sorc's shield) or has a high stat variance (like eth titan weapons). The latter are less valuable from upgrading due to the need to roll to get a perfect version.

Recycle Points

The upgrader for items allows players to upgrade their gear to a higher level by supplying the appropriate currency to the NPC. Upgrades can be applied to any kind of armor or weapon. However, the item used to upgrade will be consumed for the duration of time and cannot be used again. Upgrades can also be used to create enchantments.

The upgrader can be found in all major cities and can be visited anytime to upgrade your gear. It is recommended that you visit the upgrader at least once every few weeks, to keep your equipment up-to-date.

Upgrades will cost more depending on the level of the item however they'll always be less expensive than purchasing new gear. Upgrades such as upgrading a Benthic chest to ilvl385 will cost you 20 recycle points. If you purchase a similar item, it will cost you 105.

Valorstones

Upgrades are items that can be used to upgrade tools, armor, weapon, and accessory upgrades. Players can purchase them from NPCs of item upgraders for a variety of currencies. They can also find them on random treasure lists. Once purchased, an upgrade is able to be used on any weapon, tool or armor. The button will display a preview of an item upgrader kit's next level of upgrade, if there are enough materials.

Upgrade costs vary depending on the item slot, and the current item level. For instance weapons are more expensive than gloves, bracers, or bracers. Each step costs 15 Flightstones and a number of crests, with some upgrades having a discount to reduce the cost of Flightstones or crests that are used. Once an item has been upgraded to a certain degree it can be re-downgraded and sold to the upgrader at a lower price.

Upgraders for items are available in many places including the main island, as well as a few outposts. The NPCs provide both an upgrade coupon and a possibility of getting the latest recipe. The discount for upgrades increases according to the number of items being upgraded. It is also possible to be increased by having players complete some specific achievements or complete quests.

Icewind Dale does not have an item upgrader at the start unlike Cromwell from Baldur's gate II. The NPCs who are able to facilitate upgrades are only available via a variety of ways. This is both a benefit and a disadvantage.

In Season 3, several new features were added to the upgrade system. When a player has an upgrade to a certain level of an item for a specific armor slot, upgrading additional items to the same level will cost less, even if they belong to an entirely different set of gear.

The amount of Valorstones required to upgrade is reduced and the discount is account-wide. Similarly, the amount of Harbinger Crests needed for upgrades is also reduced and is not available until players achieve certain achievement milestones.

Crests

When upgrading gear in WoW players have a few choices. Flightstones are an item that is available to all players for upgrading. Crests are more special, and are used during specific item level upgrades. Crests are an essential part of the Dragonflight gear progression system, which was introduced in 10.1, and come in four ranks.

The first thing to be aware of is that crests are only able to be used to purchase gear of a specific rank, and each rank has different requirements for upgrading. The simplest and simplest upgrade route costs 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 obtain crests by completing content of the appropriate level, whether that involves walking around and performing outdoor activities for gear of lower tiers, raids or dungeons of all difficulties for higher-tier items or Mythic+ heroic raid bosses or dungeons for endgame gear. Crests can be exchanged at an upgrader NPC, such as Cuzolth in Dornogal, or Vaskarn in Valdrakken to obtain the appropriate upgrade routes and steps.

Using these new currencies isn't too difficult however, the system will introduce a few changes to the overall upgrade process. For instance, once an item is at the highest level of upgrading for any rank (Explorer, Adventurer, Veteran, Champion, Hero, or Mythic) it won't need Flightstones to be upgraded. This change lets players upgrade their equipment to the highest possible level on all of 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. It is best to use your Whelpling-rank Crests on the highest-quality gear you can locate, and keep Drake and Wyrm Crests for the next set of upgrades. This is particularly applicable to items like rings and trinkets that occupy multiple slots. The discount for the entire account is only applicable when all slots on the character are filled with high-quality equipment.