15 Surprising Facts About Item Upgrade
WoW Upgrades - The Item Upgrader
Upgrades will give you a boost to certain stats. Each upgrade increases item level by +3. Each upgrade also increases an unspecified substat.
Upgraded gear generally sees higher trade value as long as it meets low requirements (like the FB sorc's shield) or a very high stat variation (like Eth titan weapons). Upgrades are less important for those with higher variance due to the requirement to roll the perfect version.
Recycle Points
The item upgrader lets players upgrade their gear by transferring the currency to an NPC. Upgrades can be applied to any type of armor or weapon. However, the item that is used for the upgrade will be consumed for the duration of time and will not be able to be used again. Upgrades can also be applied to the enchantments.
You can upgrade your gear at any time by visiting the upgrader in any major city. It is recommended that you visit the upgrader every few weeks to ensure that your equipment is up-to-date.
The cost of upgrading will be based on the current item level upgrade level of the gear being upgraded, but will always be less expensive than purchasing new gear from other sources. For instance upgrading a chest piece from Benthic to ilvl 385 will cost 20 recycle points purchasing a similar piece from another player will cost 105.
Valorstones
Upgrades are items that can be used to purchase tools, armor, weapon, and accessory upgrades. They can be purchased by players from item upgrader NPCs in exchange for various currencies, and can be found in random treasure lists. Once purchased, an upgrade can be used on any weapon, tool or armor. The button will show the item's next upgrade level, in the event that there are enough materials.
The upgrade cost depends on the item slot and current item upgrade level and the weapon's price is higher than gloves or bracers, for instance. Each upgrade cost 15 Flightstones plus a specific number of crests. Some upgrades offer discounts on Flightstones. Once an item is upgraded to a certain level it is able to be degraded and sold back to the upgrader for a lesser amount of the two currencies.
Many locations offer item level upgrade upgraders in addition to the main island and some outposts. The NPCs provide an upgrade discount and the chance to obtain a new upgrade recipe. The discount for upgrades increases according to the number of items being upgraded. It can also be increased by having players complete some specific achievements or complete quests.
Icewind Dale does not have an upgrader for items at the beginning, unlike Cromwell from Baldur's Gate II. Instead, the NPCs that can be used to upgrade require several methods that are both an improvement but also a drawback.
In Season 3, several new features were added to the upgrade system. 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 is true even if those items come from an entirely different set of gear.
The amount of Valorstones needed for upgrades is reduced, and the discount is affixed to all accounts. The amount of Harbinger Crests required for upgrades is reduced as well, but is only available when certain milestones are reached.
Crests
When it comes to upgrading gear in WoW, players have a couple of choices. Flightstones are an option that is accessible to everyone who wants to upgrade. Crests are more specific and are used for specific item level upgrades. Crests are an essential part of the Dragonflight gear progression system that was introduced in 10.1 and are available in four ranks.
The first thing to remember is that Crests are only available to equipment that is of a certain rank. Each rank comes with an upgrade path that is different. The most basic and straightforward upgrade path costs 15 crests, while the most complex requires as many 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 gear of lower tiers, raids or dungeons of all difficulty for items of higher tier, or Mythic+ dungeons or heroic raid bosses for endgame gear. These crests can then be exchanged at an item upgrader NPC like Cuzolth in Dornogal, or Vaskarn in Valdrakken to get the appropriate upgrade routes and steps.
The new currency system isn't complicated to use, however it brings some changes to the process of upgrading. 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 need Flightstones to be upgraded. This change is intended to allow players to upgrade their gear up to the highest ilvl possible for all their characters instead of relying on seasonal loot.
Another notable modification is that crests have one usage, so it's important to use them properly. For instance it's Best item upgrader to make use of all your Whelpling-rank crests on the Best item upgrader equipment you have, and then keep Drake and Wyrm crests for the next round of upgrades you plan to make. This is particularly applicable to trinkets and rings that occupy multiple slots on the character, which can only be eligible to benefit from the discount for all accounts when all slots are filled with high-quality gear.