WoW Upgrades - The Item Upgrader

Upgrades give a guaranteed boost to certain stats. Each upgrade boosts the level of an item by 3. Each upgrade also boosts an unspecified substat.

Upgraded gear is generally more valuable, unless the item has low requirements by nature (like FB sorc shields) or a high stat variance (like eth Titan weapons). Upgrades are less useful for those with higher variance due to the need to roll a perfect version.

Recycle Points

The item upgrades upgrader lets players upgrade their gear by offering the currency to an NPC. Upgrades can be applied to any type of weapon or armor. However, the item that is used for the upgrade will remain in use for a long time and can't be used again. Upgrades can be applied to the enchantments.

The upgrader is located in all major cities, and can be accessed at any time to upgrade your equipment. It is recommended that you visit the upgrader once every couple of weeks to ensure that your equipment is up-to-date.

The cost of upgrading will be based on the current item level of the equipment being upgraded but they will always be cheaper than buying new equipment from other sources. For instance upgrading a Benthic chest piece to 385 levels will cost 20 recycle points, while buying a similar item from a different player will cost 105.

Valorstones

Upgrades are useful items which can be used to improve the quality of weapons tools, armor, and accessories. They can be purchased by players from NPCs who sell upgrades for items in exchange for different currencies, and may also be found in random treasure lists. Once purchased, an upgrade can be applied to any weapon, tool, or armor. button, which will show an image of the item upgrade at the next upgrade level when the player has enough materials.

The cost of upgrading is based on the slot of the item and current item upgrader kit level as well as the level of the weapon, which is more than gloves or bracers, for instance. Each step costs 15 Flightstones and a variety of crests, with certain upgrades having a discount to lower the cost of Flightstones or the crests used. Once an item is upgraded to a certain degree, it can be degraded and sold back to the upgrader for a lesser amount of both currencies.

Upgraders for items are available at many locations on the main island, as well as a few outposts. The NPCs offer both an upgrade coupon as well as the possibility of obtaining the latest recipe. The discount for upgrading increases when more items are upgraded. It can also be increased by having players complete certain achievements or quests.

Icewind Dale does not have an item upgrading upgrader at the start, unlike Cromwell from Baldur's gate II. Instead, the NPCs that can be used to upgrade must be acquired through a variety of means that are both an improvement but also a drawback.

In Season 3 the upgrade system was altered a bit, with several new features added. When a player has an upgrade to a certain level for an item level upgrade in an armor slot, upgrading additional items to the same level will be less expensive, even when they are part of a different gear set.

The amount of Valorstones needed to upgrade is reduced and the discount is affixed to all accounts. Similarly, the amount of Harbinger Crests needed for upgrades is also reduced and is not available until players reach certain milestones in their achievement.

Crests

Players have a number of options when it comes to upgrading their equipment in WoW. Flightstones are an item that is available to all players for upgrading. Crests are more specific and are utilized during specific item level upgrades. Crests are an important part of the Dragonflight Gear Progression System that was introduced in version 10.1. They come in four ranks.

The first thing to note is that crests can only be used to purchase equipment of a particular rank, and that every rank has different requirements for upgrading. The simplest and easiest upgrade costs 15 crests. The most complicated upgrade could require as much as 20 crests, depending on the type or gear being upgraded.

Players can earn crests by completing tasks at the appropriate level. This could be done by doing outdoor activities, or by taking on dungeons and raids of all difficulties to get lower-tier gear or Mythic+ raid bosses or dungeons that have a high difficulty for endgame gear. The crests can later be exchanged at an upgrader NPC, like Cuzolth in Dornogal, or Vaskarn in Valdrakken to get the appropriate upgrade paths and steps.

Utilizing these new currencies isn't too difficult however, the system introduces some modifications to the upgrade process. Once a piece of gear has reached the highest level of upgrade for any rank (Explorer or Adventurer), it is no longer required to purchase Flightstones. This change allows players to upgrade their gear to the highest level possible for all their characters rather than relying on seasonal loot.

Another significant change is that crests have one use, so it's important to use them wisely. For instance, it's a good idea make use of all your Whelpling-rank crests on the top equipment available, and then save Drake and Wyrm crests to use for the next set of upgrades you're planning on making. This is especially true for items like trinkets and rings that occupy multiple slots on the character, which will only be able to benefit from the account-wide discount when all slots are full of high-quality equipment.