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 additional substat is also added to each upgrade.

Upgraded gear is generally more valuable, unless the item Level upgrade has a low requirement by nature (like FB sorc shields) or has a large variance in stats (like the eth Titan weapons). The latter see less value from upgrading due to the requirement to roll for a perfect model.

Recycle Points

The upgrader for items allows players to upgrade their gear to a higher level by providing the appropriate currency to the 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 used to create enchantments.

You can upgrade your equipment anytime 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 each couple of weeks.

Upgrades can cost more based on the item upgrader kit level, but they will always be cheaper than buying new equipment. Upgrades such as upgrading a Benthic chest up to 385 ilvl will cost you 20 recycle points. If you purchase a similar item, it will cost you 105.

Valorstones

Upgrades are items that can be used to purchase weapons, armor, tools, and accessory upgrades. They can be bought by players from NPCs that sell upgrades to items in exchange for various currencies, and can also be found in random treasure lists. Once an upgrade item is purchased, it can be applied to any weapon, tool, or armor using the help of button, which will show an item's preview at its next upgrade level if the player has sufficient materials.

The cost of upgrading is based on the slot of the item and current item level and the weapon's price is higher than gloves or bracers, for example. Each upgrade cost 15 Flightstones plus a specific number of crests. Certain upgrades provide 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 at a lower cost.

Many locations offer item upgraders in addition to the main island and some outposts. The NPCs provide both an upgrade coupon and a possibility of getting the latest recipe. The upgrade discount increases as more items are upgraded. It can be increased if players complete certain achievements or quests.

Icewind Dale does not have an upgrader for items at the start, unlike Cromwell from Baldur's gate II. Instead, the NPCs that can be used to upgrade must be acquired through a variety of means, which is both an improvement as well as a disadvantage.

In Season 3, the upgrade system was modified a bit, and numerous new features added. Once a player has upgraded to a certain level of item for an armor slot upgrading other items to the same level, will cost less. This applies even if those items are from another set of gear.

The discount applies to all accounts. Similarly, the amount of Harbinger Crests needed to upgrade is also reduced and is not available until players achieve certain milestones in their achievements.

Crests

When upgrading gear in WoW, players have a variety of options. Flightstones are an item that is available to everyone who wants to upgrade. Crests are more special, 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 come in 4 ranks.

The first thing to remember is that Crests are only available to equipment of a certain rank. Each rank comes with an upgrade items path that is different. The simplest and most straightforward upgrade route costs 15 crests while the most complex requires as many as 20 crests, based on the type of equipment being upgraded.

Players can obtain crests by completing content of the appropriate level, whether that involves walking around and performing outdoor activities for gear of lower tiers, dungeons or raids of any difficulty for higher-tier items, or Mythic+ heroic raid bosses or dungeons for endgame gear. The crests can then be exchanged with an item upgrader like Cuzolth or Vaskarn, in Valdrakken for the appropriate upgrade steps and paths.

The use of these currencies isn't too complicated, but the system will introduce a few modifications to the upgrade process. For instance, once an item is at the highest level of upgrade for any rank (Explorer, Adventurer, Veteran, Champion, Hero, or Mythic), it will no longer require Flightstones to be upgraded. This change allows players to upgrade their gear to the highest possible level on all of their characters instead of relying on seasonal loot.

It's also essential to use crests with care, since they have only one purpose. For instance, it's a good idea utilize all of your Whelpling rank crests on the best equipment you have and keep Drake and Wyrm crests for the next round of upgrades you're planning to make. This is particularly true for items like rings and trinkets that take up multiple slots on the character which can only be eligible to benefit from the account-wide discount if all slots are filled with top-quality gear.