What s Holding Back The Item Upgrade Industry

WoW Upgrades - The Item Upgrader

Upgrades can give you an increase in specific statistics. Each upgrade boosts the item level by +3. Each upgrade also increases a random substat.

The upgraded gear is usually more valuable, unless the item has a low requirement by nature (like FB sorc shields) or a high stat variance (like Eth Titan weapons). Upgrades aren't as useful for those with higher variance because of the requirement to roll an exact version.

Recycle Points

The item upgrader allows players to upgrade their gear by offering the currency to an NPC. Upgrades can be made on any type of armor or weapons. However, the item used to upgrade will be consumed forever and can't be used again. Upgrades can be used to create enchantments.

The upgrader is located in all major cities, and is accessible anytime to upgrade your gear. To keep your gear current it is recommended that you visit the upgrader every several weeks.

The cost of upgrading will vary based on the current item level of the item being upgraded however, they will always be cheaper than purchasing new gear from other sources. For example, upgrading a chest piece from Benthic to ilvl 385 will cost 20 recycle points purchasing a similar piece from another player will costs 105.

Valorstones

Upgrades are items that can be used for weapons, armor, tools and accessory upgrades. They are purchased by players through item upgrader NPCs in exchange for a variety of currencies, and can also be found in random treasure lists. Once purchased, an upgrade can be used on any weapon, tool or armor. button, which will display a preview of the item when it is upgraded if the player has sufficient materials.

The cost of upgrading varies based on the item slot, and the current item level upgrade level. For example weapons are more expensive than gloves, bracers, or bracers. Each upgrade costs 15 Flightstones and a number of crests, with certain upgrades having a discount to lower the cost of the Flightstones or crests used. After an item has been upgraded to a certain degree it is able to be downgraded and sold to the upgrader at a lower cost.

Item upgraders can be found at many locations including the main island as well as some outposts. The NPCs offer both an upgrade discount as well as a chance to obtain a new upgrade recipe. The discount on upgrades increases when more items are upgraded. It can also be increased by having players finish certain achievements or quests.

Icewind Dale does not have an Item level upgrade upgrader at the beginning, unlike Cromwell from Baldur's gate II. Instead, the NPCs that are available to facilitate upgrades are acquired via several methods which is both an improvement and a drawback.

In Season 3, the upgrade system was tweaked a bit, with numerous new features added. After a player has earned an upgrade to a specific level of an item upgrade for a specific armor slot, upgrading further items to that level will cost less, even if they belong to another set of gear.

The discount applies to all accounts. The amount of Harbinger Crests needed for upgrades is also cut and is not available until players reach certain achievement milestones.

Crests

When upgrading gear in WoW players have a few choices. Flightstones are an item that is available to everyone for upgrading. Crests are more specific and are used for specific item level upgrades. Crests are a key element of the Dragonflight gear progression system introduced in 10.1 and are available in 4 ranks.

The first thing to remember is that crests are only able to be used to purchase equipment that is of a particular rank, and each rank has its own requirements for its upgrade path. The most basic and straightforward upgrade process costs just 15 crests while the more complex one can require as much 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 lower-tier gear, dungeons or raids of all difficulty for items of higher tier, or Mythic+ dungeons or heroic raid bosses for endgame gear. The crests can later be exchanged at an item upgrader NPC, such as Cuzolth in Dornogal or Vaskarn in Valdrakken, for the appropriate upgrade paths and steps.

Using these new currencies isn't too difficult, but the system introduces some changes to the overall upgrade process. When a piece of equipment attains the highest level of upgrade for any rank (Explorer or Adventurer) it no longer requires Flightstones. This is to allow players to upgrade their equipment to the highest possible ilvl on all their characters, instead of relying on seasonal loot.

It's also crucial to choose crests with care, since they have only one purpose. It's best to use your Whelpling-rank Crests on the Best item upgrader gear that you can find, and keep Drake and Wyrm Crests to be used for the next set of upgrades. This is especially true for items like trinkets and rings that occupy multiple slots on the character, that will be able to take advantage of the discount for all accounts when all of the slots are full of high-quality equipment.