15 Reasons To Not Be Ignoring Item Upgrade
WoW Upgrades - The Item Upgrader
Upgrades will give you a boost to specific stats. Each upgrade increases the level of an item by 3. Each upgrade also increases the random substatus.
The more modernized gear generally has a higher trade value, unless it has inherently low requirements (like the FB shield of the sorc) or very high stat variation (like eth titan weapons). Upgrades are not as useful for those with lower requirements due to the need to roll an exact version.
Recycle Points
The item upgrader enables 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 armor or weapon. The item used to upgrade the item will be consumed and cannot be used again. Upgrades can also be used to create enhancements.
You can upgrade your gear anytime by visiting the upgrader in any major city. To ensure that your equipment is up-to-date it is recommended you visit the upgrader every several weeks.
Upgrades will cost more depending on the level of the item upgrading however they'll always be cheaper than buying new equipment. For instance upgrading a Benthic chest to 385 levels will cost 20 recycle points while purchasing the same item upgrade from another player will cost 105.
Valorstones
Upgrades are items that can be used to upgrade weapon, armor, tool and accessory upgrades. They can be purchased by players through NPCs who sell upgrades for items in exchange for a variety of currencies, and may also be found in random treasure lists. Once purchased, an upgrade is able to be applied to any weapon, tool or armor. The button will show the item's next upgrade level if there are enough materials.
The upgrade cost depends on the slot of the item and current item level, with weapons costing more than gloves or bracers for instance. Each step costs 15 Flightstones and a number of crests, with some upgrades offering discounts to lower the cost of the Flightstones or crests that are used. After an item has been upgraded to a certain degree it can be re-downgraded and sold to the upgrader at a lower price.
Many locations offer item upgraders, including the main Island and a few outposts. The NPCs offer both an upgrade coupon and the possibility of getting an entirely 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 several methods, which is both an improvement and a drawback.
In Season 3, many new features were added to the upgrade system. After a player has earned an upgrade to a certain level for an item in an armor slot, upgrading further items to that level will cost less, even when they are part of an entirely different set of gear.
The amount of Valorstones needed for upgrades is decreased, and the discount is account-wide. In the same way, the amount of Harbinger Crests needed for upgrades is also reduced and is not available until players have reached certain milestones in their achievement.
Crests
Players have a variety of options when it comes to upgrading their equipment in WoW. Flightstones are an option that is accessible to everyone who wants to upgrade. Crests are more special and are utilized during specific item level upgrade (their explanation) level upgrades. Crests are the main component of the Dragonflight gear progression system introduced in 10.1, and come in four ranks.
First, you must be aware that the crests can only be purchased for equipment that is that is of a particular rank. Each rank has an upgrade path that is different. The simplest and most straightforward upgrade path costs 15 crests, while the most complicated can require as much as 20 crests depending on the type of gear being upgraded.
Players can obtain crests by working through content that is of the appropriate level, whether that means walking around and doing outdoor activities for lower-tier gear, dungeons or raids of all difficulty for items of higher tier, or Mythic+ heroic raid bosses or dungeons for endgame gear. The crests can then be exchanged with an upgrader, such as Cuzolth or Vaskarn in Valdrakken for the appropriate upgrade steps and paths.
The use of these currencies isn't too difficult, but the system introduces some changes to the overall upgrade process. For instance, when a piece of equipment reaches the highest level of upgrading for any rank (Explorer, Adventurer, Veteran, Champion, Hero, or Mythic) it won't require Flightstones to be upgraded. This change lets players upgrade their equipment to the highest possible level on all of their characters rather than relying on seasonal loot.
Another notable change is that crests only have one usage and it's crucial to use them properly. For instance it's Best item upgrader to utilize all of your Whelpling rank crests on the best equipment available, and then save Drake and Wyrm crests for the next round of upgrades you're planning on making. This is particularly true for items like rings and trinkets that take up multiple slots on the character which will only be able to avail the account-wide discount when all slots are filled with high-quality gear.