WoW Upgrades - The Item Upgrader

Upgrades will give you a boost in certain statistics. Each upgrade boosts the level of an item by 3. Each upgrade also increases a random substat.

The more modernized gear generally has a more value in trade regardless of whether it has low requirements (like the FB shield of the sorc) or has a high stat variation (like the eth titan weapons). Upgrades are less important for the latter due to the need to roll a perfect version.

Recycle Points

The item upgrader lets players upgrade items their gear by offering the currency to an NPC. Upgrades can be applied on any type of armor or weapons. However, the Item Level Upgrade used for the upgrade will be consumed forever and will not be able to be used again. Upgrades can also be used to create enhancements.

You can upgrade your equipment anytime by visiting the upgrader in any major city. It is recommended to visit the upgrader every couple of weeks to ensure that your equipment is up to date.

The cost of upgrading will depend on the current item level of the gear being upgraded but they will always be cheaper than purchasing new equipment from other sources. Upgrades like upgrading a Benthic chest up to the level of ilvl385 will cost you 20 recycle points. A similar item upgrading will cost you 105.

Valorstones

Upgrades are items that can be used to purchase weapons, armor, tools, and accessory upgrades. They can be purchased by players from NPCs who sell upgrades for items in exchange for a variety of currencies, and can also be found in random treasure lists. Once an upgrade is purchased it can be applied to any weapon or tool using a button, which will show an image of the item when it is upgraded if the player has sufficient materials.

The cost of upgrades varies based on the slot of the item and current item upgrader mod level, with weapons costing more than gloves or bracers, for instance. Each upgrade cost 15 Flightstones and a number of crests, with certain upgrades having a discount to reduce the cost of Flightstones or crests that are used. Once an item is upgraded to a certain degree, it can be downgraded and sold to the upgrader at a lower cost.

A lot of locations offer upgraders for items, including the main Island and some outposts. The NPCs offer both an upgrade coupon and a possibility of obtaining the latest recipe. The discount for upgrading increases when more items are upgraded. It can be increased if players complete certain achievements or quests.

Unlike Cromwell in Baldur's Gate II there is no item upgrader available at the start of Icewind Dale. Instead, the NPCs that are available to help with upgrades must be acquired through various methods which is both an improvement and a drawback.

In Season 3, the upgrade system was modified a bit, and numerous new features added. When a player has an upgrade to a specific item level for a particular armor slot, upgrading additional items to that level will cost less, even if they belong to an entirely different set of gear.

The amount of Valorstones needed for upgrades is decreased, and the discount is affixed to all accounts. The amount of Harbinger Crests required for upgrades is reduced as well, but is only available when certain milestones are reached.

Crests

Players have a variety of options when it comes to upgrading their equipment in WoW. Flightstones are an option that is accessible to all players for upgrading. Crests are more specialized, and are used during specific item level upgrades. Crests are a key element of the Dragonflight gear progression system that was introduced in 10.1 and are available in 4 ranks.

The first thing to remember is that the crests can only be purchased for equipment with a certain rank. Each rank has a different upgrade path. The simplest and easiest upgrade costs 15 crests. The most complicated upgrade could require as much as 20 crests, contingent on the kind of equipment that is being upgraded.

Players can earn crests by completing content of 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+ dungeons or heroic raid bosses for endgame gear. The crests can then be exchanged with an upgrader for the item, such as Cuzolth or Vaskarn, in Valdrakken for the appropriate upgrade steps and pathways.

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

Another notable modification is that crests have one usage, so it's important to make use of them in a responsible manner. It's best to use your Whelpling-rank Crests on the top-quality equipment you can locate and keep Drake and Wyrm Crests to be used for the next set of upgrades. This is especially relevant for rings and trinkets that fill multiple slots on the character, which will only be able to take advantage of the account-wide discount when all slots are filled with top-quality equipment.