WoW Upgrades - The Item Upgrader

Upgrades give a guaranteed boost to specific stats. Each upgrade boosts the level of an item by 3. Each upgrade also boosts an unspecified substat.

The upgraded gear is usually more useful, unless the item has a low requirement by nature (like FB sorc shields) or has a high variance in stats (like the eth Titan weapons). These types of gear get less value from upgrading due to the need to roll for a perfect version.

Recycle Points

The item upgrader allows players to upgrade their gear to a higher item level by supplying the appropriate currency to the NPC. Upgrades can be applied to any type of weapon or armor. However, the item used to upgrade will remain in use for a long time and can't be used again. Upgrades can also be applied to enchantments.

You can upgrade your equipment at any time by visiting the upgrader in any major city. It is recommended that you visit the upgrader at least once every few weeks to keep your equipment up to date.

The cost of upgrading will depend on the current item level of the gear being upgraded, but will always be cheaper than purchasing new equipment from other sources. For example, upgrading a Benthic chest to ilvl 385 will cost 20 recycle points, while purchasing the same item from another player will costs 105.

Valorstones

Upgrades are items that can be used to purchase weapons, armor, tools and accessory upgrades. They can be purchased from NPCs of item upgraders for a variety of currencies. They are also available on random treasure lists. Once an upgrade has been purchased, it can be applied to any weapon, tool, or armor using an button, which displays an image of the item when it is upgraded when the player has enough materials.

Upgrade costs vary depending on the slot for the item and the current level of the item upgrading. For example weapons cost more than gloves, bracers or bracers. Each upgrade cost 15 Flightstones and a number of crests, with certain upgrades offering discounts to reduce the cost of the Flightstones or the crests used. Once an item has been upgraded to a certain degree and is degraded, it can be sold and sold back to the upgrader for a lesser amount of both currencies.

Upgraders for items can be found in many places including the main island and some outposts. The NPCs provide an upgrade discount and the chance to obtain a new upgrade recipe. The discount for upgrades increases with the number of items that are being upgraded, and can be boosted by having players complete specific achievements or complete quests.

Contrary to Cromwell in Baldur's Gate II is no item upgrader available in the beginning of Icewind Dale. Instead the NPCs that are available to facilitate upgrades are acquired via various methods which is both an improvement but also a drawback.

In Season 3, many new features were added to the upgrade system. When a player has an upgrade item to a particular level for an item level upgrade in an armor slot, upgrading further items to that same item upgrader mod level will cost less, even when they are part of an entirely different set of gear.

The amount of Valorstones required to upgrade is reduced and the discount is account-wide. The amount of Harbinger Crests needed to upgrade is reduced as well, but is only available when certain milestones are reached.

Crests

When it comes to upgrading equipment in WoW players have a variety of choices. Flightstones are an option that is accessible to everyone who wants to upgrade. Crests are more specialized and are used for specific upgrades to the level of an item. Crests are an important component of the Dragonflight Gear Progression System introduced in version 10.1. They come in four ranks.

The first thing to remember is that crests are only able to be used to purchase gear of a specific rank, and that each rank has different requirements for its upgrade path. The simplest and most straightforward upgrade process costs just 15 crests while the more complex one may require as many as 20 crests based on the type of equipment being upgraded.

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

Using these new currencies isn't too difficult, but the system does introduce some changes to the overall upgrade process. For example, once a piece of equipment reaches the highest upgrade level of any rank (Explorer, Adventurer, Veteran, Champion, Hero, or Mythic), it won't need Flightstones to be upgraded. This change is intended to allow players to get their equipment up to the highest level possible for all their characters instead of relying only on seasonal loot.

Another important change is that crests have one usage and it's crucial to use them wisely. It is best to put your Whelpling-rank Crests on the highest-quality gear you can locate, and save Drake and Wyrm Crests to be used for the next set of upgrades. 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 of the slots are filled with high-quality gear.