An Easy-To-Follow Guide To Item Upgrade
WoW Upgrades - The Item Upgrader
Upgrades provide a guaranteed boost to specific stats. Each upgrade increases the level of an item level Upgrade by +3. Each upgrade also boosts a random substat.
Upgraded gear generally sees more value in trade as long as it meets low requirements (like the FB shield of the sorc) or has a high stat variance (like Eth titan weapons). The latter see less value from upgrading due to the necessity to roll to get a perfect version.
Recycle Points
The item upgrader allows players to upgrade items their gear to a higher item level by providing the appropriate currency to the NPC. Upgrades can be applied to any type of weapon or armor. However, the item upgrade that is used for the upgrade will be consumed forever and can't be used again. Upgrades can be used to create the 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 will cost more depending on the item level, but they will always be cheaper than buying new gear. For example upgrading a Benthic chest to ilvl 385 will cost 20 recycle points while buying a similar item from another player will costs 105.
Valorstones
Upgrades are items that can be used for weapons, armor, tools and accessory upgrades. They can be purchased by players from item upgrader NPCs in exchange for different currencies, and can 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's next level of upgrade, when there are enough materials.
The cost of upgrading is based on the item slot and the current item level and the weapon's price is higher than bracers or gloves, for example. Each upgrade item cost 15 Flightstones and a few crests, with some upgrades having a discount to reduce the cost of Flightstones or the crests used. After an item has been upgraded to a certain degree it is able to be degraded and sold back to the upgrader for a lower amount of the two currencies.
Best item upgrader upgraders can be found in a variety of locations on the main island and some outposts. The NPCs offer an upgrade coupon as well as the possibility of getting a new 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 upgrader at the start unlike Cromwell from Baldur's Gate II. Instead, the NPCs that are available to facilitate upgrades must be acquired through a variety of means which is both an improvement as well as a disadvantage.
In Season 3, a number of new features were added to the upgrade system. Once a player obtains an upgrade to a certain item level for a particular armor slot, upgrading further items to that level will be less expensive, even when they belong to another set of gear.
The discount is available to all accounts. The amount of Harbinger Crests required to upgrade is reduced too, but it is only available once certain milestones are achieved.
Crests
When it comes to upgrading gear in WoW players have a few choices. Flightstones are an option that is accessible to everyone for upgrading. Crests are more special and are used for specific item level upgrades. Crests are the main component of the Dragonflight gear progression system that was introduced in 10.1 and are available in 4 ranks.
The first thing to note is that crests can only be used on equipment that is of a particular rank, and every rank has different requirements for its upgrade path. The easiest and most straightforward upgrade costs 15 crests. The most complicated upgrade requires up to 20 crests, depending on the kind of gear being upgraded.
Players can earn crests through completing content of the appropriate level, which involves walking around and performing outdoor activities for lower-tier gear, dungeons or raids of all difficulty for items of higher tier, or Mythic+ dungeons or heroic raid bosses to obtain endgame gear. These crests can be exchanged with an item upgrader such as Cuzolth or Vaskarn in Valdrakken for the appropriate upgrade steps and pathways.
Utilizing these new currencies isn't too difficult, but the system will introduce a few modifications to the upgrade process. For instance, when a piece of equipment reaches the highest upgrade level of any rank (Explorer, Adventurer, Veteran, Champion, Hero, or Mythic), it won't require Flightstones to be upgraded. This allows players to upgrade their equipment to the highest possible level on all their characters instead of relying on seasonal loot.
Another significant change is that crests have one use, so it's important to make use of them in a responsible manner. For instance, it's a good idea to make use of all your Whelpling-rank crests on the top equipment you have and then keep Drake and Wyrm crests to use for the next set of upgrades you plan on making. This is particularly true for items such as trinkets and rings that take up multiple slots. The discount for the entire account will only be applicable if all the slots on the character are filled with top-quality gear.