Are You Getting The Most From Your Item Upgrade
WoW Upgrades - The Item Upgrader
Upgrades give you boosts in specific statistics. Each upgrade items increases the item level by +3. A random extra substat is also increased with each upgrade.
Upgraded gear generally sees more value in trade as long as it meets low requirements (like the FB shield of the sorc) or very high stat variance (like the eth titan weapons). These types of gear get less value from upgrading due to the requirement to roll for a perfect version.
Recycle Points
The upgrader for items allows players to upgrade their gear to a higher level by supplying the appropriate currency to the NPC. Upgrades can be made on any type of weapon or armor. However, the item used to upgrade will be consumed for the duration of time and will not be able to be used again. Upgrades can also be applied to enhancements.
The upgrader can be found in all major cities, and can be accessed at any time to upgrade your gear. To ensure that your equipment is up-to-date, it is recommended that you visit the upgrader each few weeks.
Upgrades will cost more depending on the item level, but they will always be cheaper than purchasing new gear. For example upgrading a chest piece from Benthic to 385 levels will cost 20 recycle points, while purchasing the same item from another player will costs 105.
Valorstones
Upgrades are items that can be used to purchase tools, armor, weapon, and accessory upgrades. Players can purchase them through NPCs who sell upgrades to item owners in a variety of currencies. They can also find them in random treasure lists. Once purchased, an upgrade can be used on any tool, weapon or armor. button, which displays an image of the item when it is upgraded in the event that the player has enough materials.
The cost of upgrading is based on the slot of the item and the current item level and the weapon's price is higher than gloves or bracers, for example. Each step costs 15 Flightstones and a variety of crests, with certain upgrades offering discounts to reduce the cost of Flightstones or the crests used. Once an item is upgraded to a certain amount it is able to be downgraded and sold to the upgrader at a lower cost.
Item upgraders can be found in many places on the main island, as well as a few outposts. The NPCs offer both an upgrade coupon and the possibility of getting an entirely new recipe. The discount for upgrading increases when more items are upgraded. It can be increased if players complete certain achievements or quests.
In contrast to 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 facilitate upgrades are acquired via various methods that are both an improvement and a drawback.
In Season 3, the upgrade system was tweaked a bit, with several new features added. Once a player has upgraded to a certain item level for an armor slot upgrading other items to the same level will cost less. This applies regardless of whether the items are from an entirely different set of equipment.
The amount of Valorstones needed for upgrades is decreased, and the discount is available across all accounts. The amount of Harbinger Crests required for upgrades is reduced as well, but is only available when certain milestones have been reached.
Crests
When upgrading equipment in WoW players have a few choices. Flightstones are a currency that is available to all players for upgrading. Crests are more specific and are used for specific item upgrades level upgrades. Crests are a key element of the Dragonflight gear progression system introduced in 10.1, and come in 4 ranks.
The first thing to be aware of is that crests are only able to be used on gear of a specific rank, and every rank has different requirements for its upgrade path. The simplest and simplest upgrade process costs just 15 crests while the most complex requires as many as 20 crests depending on the kind of gear being upgraded.
Players can earn crests through working through content that is of the appropriate level, whether that means walking around and doing outdoor activities for lower-tier gear, raids or dungeons of all difficulties for higher-tier items or Mythic+ heroic raid bosses and dungeons for gear that is used in the endgame. The crests can later be exchanged at an Item Level Upgrade upgrader NPC like Cuzolth in Dornogal or Vaskarn in Valdrakken to get the appropriate upgrade pathways and steps.
The new currency system isn't difficult to use, however it brings some modifications to the upgrade process. For example, once an item is at 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 items their equipment to the highest possible ilvl on all their characters rather than relying on seasonal loot.
Another notable change is that crests have one use and it's crucial to use them properly. For instance it's Best item upgrade to utilize all of your Whelpling rank crests on the best equipment you have and then keep Drake and Wyrm crests to use for the next set of upgrades you plan to create. This is particularly relevant for trinkets and rings that occupy multiple slots on the character, which will only be able to avail the discount for all accounts when all slots are filled with high-quality gear.