An Easy-To-Follow Guide To Item Upgrade
WoW Upgrades - The Item Level Upgrade Upgrader
Upgrades provide a guaranteed boost to certain stats. Each upgrade boosts the level of the item by +3. A random 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 has a high stat variance (like Eth titan weapons). Upgrades are not as important for those with lower requirements due to the need to roll the perfect version.
Recycle Points
The upgrader for items allows players to upgrade their gear to a higher item upgrader kit level by providing the appropriate currency to the NPC. Upgrades can be applied on any kind of armor or weapons. However, the item used to upgrade will be consumed forever and cannot be used again. Upgrades can be used to create Enchantments.
The upgrader is located in all major cities, and can be visited at any time to upgrade your equipment. It is recommended that you visit the upgrader every couple of weeks to keep your equipment up-to-date.
The cost of upgrading will depend on the current level of the gear being upgraded but they will always be less expensive than purchasing new equipment from other sources. For example upgrading a chest piece from Benthic to ilvl 385 will cost 20 recycle points while purchasing the same item from a different player will cost 105.
Valorstones
Upgrades are items that can be used to upgrade tools, armor, weapon, and accessory upgrades. They are purchased by players from NPCs who sell upgrades for items in exchange for various currencies, and can also be found in random treasure lists. Once purchased, an upgrade is able to be applied to any tool, weapon or armor. button, which will display an image of the item at the next upgrade level if the player has sufficient materials.
The cost of upgrades varies based on the slot of the item and the current level of the item, with weapons costing more than bracers or gloves, for example. Each upgrade cost 15 Flightstones plus a specific number of crests. Certain upgrades provide discounts on Flightstones. After an item upgrader kit has been upgraded to a certain level it can be re-downgraded and sold to the upgrader at a lower price.
Many locations have upgraders for their items, including the main Island and some outposts. The NPCs offer both an upgrade coupon as well as the possibility of obtaining an entirely new recipe. The discount on upgrades increases depending on the amount of items that are being upgraded, and can be boosted by having players complete specific achievements or quests.
In contrast to Cromwell in Baldur's Gate II, there is no item level upgrade upgrader available in the beginning of Icewind Dale. Instead the NPCs that are available to help with upgrades must be acquired through various methods which is both an improvement and a drawback.
In Season 3, several new features were added to the upgrade system. Once a player obtains an upgrade to a particular level for an item in an armor slot, upgrading further items to that same item level will cost less even if they belong to a different gear set.
The amount of Valorstones needed to upgrade is reduced and the discount is available across all accounts. Similarly, the amount of Harbinger Crests needed for upgrades is also cut and is not available until players have reached certain achievement milestones.
Crests
Players have a number of options when it comes to upgrading their equipment in WoW. Flightstones are an option that is accessible to all players for upgrading. Crests are more special 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 note is that crests can only be spent on equipment of a particular rank, and that each rank has different requirements for upgrading. The easiest and most straightforward upgrade costs 15 crests. The most complicated upgrade can require up to 20 crests, depending on the kind of equipment being upgraded.
Players can earn crests by completing content 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 to obtain endgame gear. These crests are then exchanged with an item upgrader, such as Cuzolth or Vaskarn, in Valdrakken to upgrade the item in the proper steps and pathways.
Utilizing these new currencies isn't too difficult, but the system introduces some modifications to the upgrade process. When a piece has reached the highest level of upgrade for any rank (Explorer or Adventurer) it will no longer require Flightstones. This is to allow players to upgrade their gear up to the highest possible ilvl for all their characters instead of relying on seasonal loot.
It's also important to use crests wisely, as they are only used for one purpose. It's best to put your Whelpling-rank Crests on the top-quality equipment you can find, and save Drake and Wyrm Crests for the next set of upgrades. This is especially true for items such as trinkets and rings that take up multiple slots. The discount on the account will only apply when all the slots on the character are filled with high-quality gear.