15 Reasons Why You Shouldn t Be Ignoring Item Upgrade
WoW Upgrades - The Item Upgrader
Upgrades give you an increase in certain stats. Each upgrade boosts the level of an item by 3. A random extra substat is also added to each upgrade.
Upgraded gear is generally more valuable, unless it has low requirements by nature (like FB sorc shields) or has a high variance in stats (like eth Titan weapons). Upgrades are not as useful for those with lower requirements because of the requirement to roll a perfect version.
Recycle Points
The item upgrader allows players to upgrade their gear by giving the currency to an NPC. Upgrades can be applied to any kind of weapon or armor. The item used to upgrade the item will be consumed and can't be used again. Upgrades can also be used to create enhancements.
The upgrader can be found in all major cities and can be accessed anytime to upgrade your equipment. To keep your gear up-to-date it is recommended that you visit the upgrader each couple of weeks.
Upgrades will cost more, based on the item level, however they'll always be cheaper than purchasing new equipment. Upgrades like upgrading a Benthic chest to 385 ilvl will cost you 20 recycle points. Buying a similar item will cost you 105.
Valorstones
Upgrades are items that can be used to purchase weapon, armor, tool and accessory upgrades. They can be purchased through NPCs who sell upgrades to item owners in a variety of currencies. They are also available on random treasure lists. Once purchased, an upgrade is able to be used on any tool, weapon, or armor. The button will show the preview of an item's next upgrade level, when there are enough materials.
The cost of upgrading varies based on the slot for the item level upgrade (this site) and the current item level. For instance, weapons will cost more than gloves, bracers or bracers. Each upgrade cost 15 Flightstones and a number of crests, with certain upgrades offering discounts to reduce the cost of Flightstones or crests used. Once an item upgrader mod is upgraded to a certain degree, it can be downgraded and sold to the upgrader at a lower cost.
Many locations have upgraders for their items in addition to the main island and a few outposts. The NPCs offer both an upgrade item coupon and a possibility of obtaining the latest recipe. The discount for upgrading increases as 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 beginning, unlike Cromwell from Baldur's Gate II. Instead the NPCs that can be used to upgrade are acquired via various methods 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 the player has upgraded to a certain level of item for an armor slot upgrading other items to the same level, will cost less. This applies even if those items are from another set of equipment.
The amount of Valorstones needed for upgrades is reduced, and the discount is available across all accounts. Similarly, the amount of Harbinger Crests required for upgrades is also cut and is not available until players achieve certain milestones in their achievement.
Crests
When it comes to upgrading equipment in WoW players have a couple of options. Flightstones are a currency that is available to everyone who wants to upgrade. Crests are more special, and are used during 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.
First, you must be aware that Crests are only available to equipment that is with a certain rank. Each rank has distinct upgrade paths. The easiest and most straightforward upgrade is 15 crests. The most complicated upgrade could require as much as 20 crests, based on the kind of equipment being upgraded.
Players can earn crests by working through content at the appropriate level. This could be by doing outdoor activities, or by completing dungeons and raids in all difficulties to get equipment of lower tier or Mythicbosses for raids, or dungeons that have a high difficulty to obtain endgame gear. The crests can later be exchanged at an item upgrader NPC, like Cuzolth in Dornogal or Vaskarn in Valdrakken, for the appropriate upgrade paths and steps.
The use of these currencies isn't too difficult however, the system introduces some modifications to the upgrade process. When a piece of equipment reaches the highest level of upgrade items for any rank (Explorer or Adventurer) it will no longer require Flightstones. This change is intended to allow players to upgrade their gear up to the highest level possible on all their characters instead of relying only on seasonal loot.
Another important modification is that crests have one usage therefore it's essential to use them wisely. It is best to use your Whelpling-rank crests on the highest-quality gear you can find and save Drake and Wyrm Crests to be used for the next set of upgrades. This is especially applicable to items like trinkets and rings that take up multiple slots. The discount for the entire account will only apply when all slots on the character are filled with top-quality equipment.