WoW Upgrades - The Item Upgrader
Upgrades give you an increase in specific statistics. Each upgrade increases the level of an item by 3. Each upgrade also increases a random substat.
The upgraded gear typically has a greater value for trade regardless of whether it has low requirements (like the FB sorc's shield) or very high stat variance (like eth titan weapons). The latter see less value from upgrading due to the requirement to roll to get a perfect version.
Recycle Points
The
item Level upgrade upgrader allows players to upgrade their gear to a higher item level by providing the appropriate currency to the NPC. Upgrades can be applied to any kind of armor or weapon. However, the item used for the upgrade will be consumed for the duration of time and cannot be used again. Upgrades can be applied to Enchantments.
You can upgrade your equipment anytime by visiting the upgrader in any major city. To keep your gear up-to-date it is recommended you visit the upgrader each few weeks.
The cost of upgrades will depend on the current item level of the equipment being upgraded but they will always be less expensive than purchasing new gear from other sources. For example, upgrading a Benthic chest piece to 385 levels will cost 20 recycle points purchasing a similar piece from another player will cost 105.
Valorstones
Upgrades are items that can be used to purchase tools, armor, weapon and accessory upgrades. They can be purchased through NPCs who sell upgrades to
item level upgrade owners for various currencies. They can also find them on random treasure lists. Once purchased, an upgrade can be used on any weapon, tool, or armor. button, which displays an item's preview at the next upgrade level if the player has sufficient materials.
The cost of upgrades varies based on the item slot and current item level and the weapon's price is higher than bracers or gloves, for instance. Each upgrade costs 15 Flightstones plus a specific number of crests. Some upgrades offer discounts on Flightstones. Once an item is upgraded to a certain amount it is able to be degraded and sold back to the upgrader for a lower amount of the two currency types.
A lot of locations offer upgraders for items in addition to the main island and a few outposts. The NPCs provide both an upgrade discount and a chance to obtain a new upgrade recipe. The upgrade discount increases when more items are upgraded. It can be increased by having players finish certain achievements or quests.
Icewind Dale does not have an item upgrader at start unlike Cromwell from Baldur's Gate II. Instead, the NPCs that are available to help with upgrades are acquired via a variety of means, which is both an improvement but also a drawback.
In Season 3, the upgrade system has been tweaked a bit, with numerous new features added. Once a player obtains an upgrade to a specific level of an item for a specific armor slot, upgrading further items to that level will be less expensive, even if they are part of a different gear set.
The discount is available to all accounts. In the same way, the amount of Harbinger Crests required to upgrade is also reduced and is not available until players reach certain milestones in their achievements.
Crests
When upgrading equipment in WoW players have a couple of choices. Flightstones are a currency that is available to everyone who wants to upgrade. Crests are more special, and are used during specific
item upgrading 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 note is that crests are only able to be used on gear of a specific rank, and each rank has its own requirements for upgrading. The simplest and simplest
upgrade items route costs 15 crests while the more complex one can require as much as 20 crests, based on the kind of gear being upgraded.
Players can obtain crests by finishing content at the appropriate level, whether that involves walking around and engaging in outdoor activities for lower-tier gear, raids or dungeons with any difficulty for higher-tier items, or Mythic+ heroic raid bosses and dungeons for gear that is used in the endgame. The crests can then be exchanged with an upgrader such as Cuzolth or Vaskarn in Valdrakken to
upgrade items the item in the proper steps and pathways.
The use of these currencies isn't that difficult however, the system does introduce some changes to the overall upgrade process. When a piece reaches the highest level of upgrade for any rank (Explorer or Adventurer) it will no longer require Flightstones. This change is intended to allow players to upgrade their equipment to the highest possible ilvl for all their characters instead of relying on seasonal loot.
Another notable change is that crests have one use, so it's important to use them properly. For instance, it's a good idea use all of your Whelpling-rank crests with the
Best item upgrader equipment you have, and then keep Drake and Wyrm crests for the next round of upgrades you plan to make. This is especially true for items like rings and trinkets that take up multiple slots on the character which can only be eligible to avail the account-wide discount if all of the slots are full of high-quality equipment.