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 extra substat is also increased with each upgrade.

The upgraded gear typically has a greater value for trade as long as it meets low requirements (like the FB sorc's shield) or a very high stat variance (like the eth titan weapons). These types of gear get less value from upgrading due to the need to roll for a perfect model.

Recycle Points

The item upgrader allows players to upgrade their gear by offering the currency to an NPC. Upgrades can be applied to any type of weapon or armor. The item used to upgrade the item is discarded and cannot be used again. Upgrades can be applied to Enchantments.

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

Upgrades will cost more, based on the level of the item, however, they are always less expensive than purchasing new equipment. Upgrades like upgrading a Benthic chest up to 385 ilvl will cost you 20 recycle points. Buying a similar item level upgrade will cost you 105.

Valorstones

Upgrades are items that can be used to upgrade weapon, armor, tool and accessory upgrades. They can be bought by players from NPCs who sell upgrades for items in exchange for different currencies, and may also be found in random treasure lists. Once purchased, an upgrade can be applied to any weapon, tool, or armor. The button will show the Item Level Upgrade's next upgrade level if there are enough materials.

The cost of upgrading is based on the item slot and the current level of the item, with weapons costing more than bracers or gloves, for example. Each upgrade costs 15 Flightstones and a number of crests, with certain upgrades offering discounts to lower the cost of Flightstones or the crests used. Once an item has been upgraded to a certain amount, it can be downgraded and sold to the upgrader for a lower price.

A lot of locations offer upgraders for items, including the main Island and a few outposts. The NPCs offer both an upgrade discount as well as a chance to obtain a new upgrade recipe. The discount for upgrading increases as more items are upgraded. It can also be increased by having players complete certain achievements or quests.

Icewind Dale does not have an item upgrader at start, unlike Cromwell from Baldur's gate II. The NPCs who can facilitate upgrades are only accessible via a variety of ways. This is both a benefit as well as a disadvantage.

In Season 3, several new features have been added to the upgrade system. Once a player obtains an upgrade to a particular level for an item in an armor slot, upgrading other items to that level will be less expensive, even if they belong to an entirely different set of gear.

The discount is available to all accounts. The amount of Harbinger Crests needed to upgrade is reduced also, but is only available once certain milestones have been reached.

Crests

When upgrading equipment in WoW players have a variety of options. Flightstones are an item upgrading that is available to all players for upgrading. Crests are more specific and are utilized during specific item level upgrades. Crests are an important component of the Dragonflight Gear Progression System introduced in version 10.1. They are available in four ranks.

The first thing to remember is that crests are only able to be spent on gear of a specific rank, and that every rank has different requirements for upgrading. The most basic and straightforward upgrade route costs 15 crests while the more complex one requires 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, which involves walking around and engaging in outdoor activities for gear of lower tiers, dungeons or raids of all difficulties for higher-tier items or Mythic+ heroic raid bosses or dungeons to obtain endgame gear. These crests can then be exchanged at an upgrader NPC, like Cuzolth in Dornogal or Vaskarn in Valdrakken to get the appropriate upgrade paths and steps.

The new currency system isn't difficult to use, however it will bring some changes to the upgrade process. Once a piece of gear reaches the highest level of upgrade for any rank (Explorer or Adventurer), it no longer requires Flightstones. This change allows players to upgrade their gear to the highest possible ilvl for all their characters instead of relying on seasonal loot.

Another important change is that crests only have one usage and it's crucial to make use of them in a responsible manner. For instance it's a good idea make use of all your Whelpling-rank crests with the Best item upgrader gear you have available and then keep Drake and Wyrm crests for the next batch of upgrades you're planning to make. This is particularly applicable to trinkets and rings that occupy multiple slots on the character which will only be able to take advantage of the account-wide discount when all of the slots are filled with top-quality gear.