WoW Upgrades - The Item Upgrader

Upgrades give a guaranteed boost to certain stats. Each upgrade increases the level of an item by 3. A random substat is also boosted alongside every upgrade.

The upgraded gear is usually more valuable, unless it has a low requirement by nature (like FB sorc shields) or has a large variance in stats (like the eth Titan weapons). Upgrades are not as useful for those with lower requirements because of the requirement to roll a perfect version.

Recycle Points

The item upgrader enables players to upgrade gear to a higher item level by supplying the appropriate currency to the NPC. Upgrades can be made on any type of weapon or armor. The Item Level Upgrade used to upgrade the item is discarded and cannot be used again. Upgrades can be used to create enchantments.

You can upgrade items your gear at any time by visiting the upgrader in any major city. To ensure that your equipment is up-to-date, it is recommended that you visit the upgrader every couple of weeks.

Upgrades will cost more depending on the level of the item, but they will always be cheaper than buying new gear. For example, upgrading a chest piece from Benthic to 385 levels will cost 20 recycle points while buying a similar item from another player will cost 105.

Valorstones

Upgrades are items that are used to upgrade weapons tools, armor, and accessories. They can be purchased by players through NPCs who sell upgrades to item owners in a variety of currencies. They are also available on random treasure lists. Once purchased, an upgrade can be applied to any weapon, tool, or armor. The button will display the preview of an item's next upgrade level if there are enough materials.

The cost of upgrading is based on the item slot and the current item level and the weapon's price is higher than gloves or bracers for instance. Each upgrade cost 15 Flightstones plus a specific number of crests. Some upgrades give a discount on the Flightstones. After an item has been upgraded to a certain degree it can be re-downgraded and sold to the upgrader for a lower price.

Many locations offer item upgrading upgraders, including the main Island and some outposts. The NPCs offer an upgrade coupon and a chance to obtain the latest recipe. The upgrade discount increases when more items are upgraded. It can be increased by having players finish certain achievements or quests.

In contrast to Cromwell in Baldur's Gate II, there is no item upgrader available at the beginning of Icewind Dale. The NPCs who are able to facilitate upgrades are only available through a variety means. This is both a benefit and a disadvantage.

In Season 3 the upgrade system was altered a bit, with numerous new features added. After the player has upgraded to a certain item level for an armor slot upgrading other items to the same level, will cost less. This is regardless of whether the items are from a different set of gear.

The amount of Valorstones required for upgrades is decreased, and the discount is account-wide. The amount of Harbinger Crests needed for upgrades is reduced too, but it is only available after certain milestones are reached.

Crests

When it comes to upgrading gear in WoW, players have a couple of options. Flightstones are an option that is accessible to all players for upgrading. Crests are more specialized and are used for specific item level upgrades. Crests are a key element of the Dragonflight gear progression system introduced in 10.1, and come in 4 ranks.

The first thing to remember is that crests are only available for equipment that is of a certain rank. Each rank comes with an upgrade path that is different. The most basic and straightforward upgrade route costs 15 crests while the most complex requires as many as 20 crests depending on the kind of gear being upgraded.

Players can earn crests by working through content that is of the appropriate level, which means walking around and doing outdoor activities to get lower-tier gear, dungeons or raids of any difficulty for higher-tier items, or Mythic+ heroic raid bosses and dungeons to obtain endgame gear. These crests can then be exchanged at an upgrader NPC, such as Cuzolth in Dornogal, or Vaskarn in Valdrakken, for the appropriate upgrade routes and steps.

The new currency system isn't too difficult to use, but it does bring some changes to the upgrade process. When a piece of equipment attains the highest level of upgrade item for any rank (Explorer or Adventurer), it is no longer required to purchase Flightstones. This change is intended to allow players to upgrade item their gear up to the highest possible ilvl on all their characters, instead of relying only on seasonal loot.

Another important change is that crests have one usage and it's crucial to make use of them in a responsible manner. For instance it's a good idea to make use of all your Whelpling-rank crests on the Best item upgrader gear you have available and then save Drake and Wyrm crests for the next round of upgrades you're planning on making. This is especially relevant for items like trinkets and rings that fill multiple slots. The discount on the account is only applicable when all slots on the character are filled with high-quality gear.