WoW Upgrades - The Item Upgrader

Upgrades provide a guaranteed boost to specific stats. Each upgrade increases the level of the item by +3. A random additional substat is also increased with every upgrade.

The upgraded gear is usually more valuable, unless it is not required by nature (like FB sorc shields) or a high stat variance (like eth Titan weapons). Upgrades aren't as important for those with lower requirements due to the requirement to roll an exact version.

Recycle Points

The item upgrader allows players to upgrade their gear by transferring the currency to an NPC. Upgrades can be applied to any kind of weapon or armor. However, the item that is used for the upgrade will be consumed forever and can't 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 equipment. To keep your gear up-to-date, it is recommended that you visit the upgrader every several weeks.

The cost of upgrading will depend on the current item level of the item being upgraded however, they will always be less expensive than buying new equipment from other sources. For example, upgrading a Benthic chest piece to 385 ilvl will cost 20 recycle points, while buying a similar item from a different player will cost 105.

Valorstones

Upgrades are items that can be used to purchase tools, armor, weapon, and accessory upgrades. They are purchased by players through NPCs that sell upgrades to items in exchange for different currencies, and can also be found in random treasure lists. Once purchased, an upgrade can be applied to any tool, weapon or armor. The button will display the item's next level of upgrade, if there are enough materials.

The upgrade cost depends on the item slot and the current item upgrader kit level, with weapons costing more than gloves or bracers, for instance. Each upgrade items cost 15 Flightstones plus a specific number of crests. Certain upgrades provide discounts on Flightstones. Once an item is upgraded to a certain amount it is able to be degraded and returned to the upgrader for a lesser amount of the two currencies.

Many locations offer item upgraders in addition to the main island and some outposts. The NPCs provide an upgrade discount and a chance to acquire a new upgrade recipe. The upgrade discount increases when more items are upgraded. It can be increased by having players complete 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 are available to facilitate upgrades require various methods which is both an improvement but also a drawback.

In Season 3, many new features have been added to the upgrade items system. After a player has upgraded to a specific level for an armor slot upgrading other items to the same item level Upgrade level will cost less. This is regardless of whether the items are from an entirely different set of gear.

The discount is available to all accounts. In the same way, the amount of Harbinger Crests required for upgrades is also reduced and is not available until players have reached certain milestones in their achievements.

Crests

When upgrading equipment in WoW, players have a variety of options. Flightstones are a currency that is available to all players for upgrading. Crests are more specialized, and are used during specific item level upgrades. Crests are the main component 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 used on gear of a specific rank, and each rank has its own requirements for upgrading. The most basic and straightforward upgrade route costs 15 crests while the more complex one can require as much as 20 crests based on the type of equipment being upgraded.

Players can earn crests through working through content that is of the appropriate level, whether that involves walking around and engaging in outdoor activities for gear of lower tiers, dungeons or raids of all difficulties for higher-tier items, or Mythic+ dungeons or heroic raid bosses for endgame gear. The crests can then be exchanged with an item upgrader, such as Cuzolth or Vaskarn, in Valdrakken to upgrade the item in the proper steps and paths.

The new currency system isn't complicated to use, however it brings some modifications to the upgrade process. For example, once an item is at 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 get their equipment to the highest possible ilvl for all their characters instead of relying on seasonal loot.

It's also essential to use crests wisely, as they only have one use. It is Best item upgrade to put your Whelpling-rank Crests on the top-quality equipment you can find, and keep Drake and Wyrm Crests to be used for the next set of upgrades. This is particularly applicable to rings and trinkets that fill multiple slots on the character which will only be able to take advantage of the account-wide discount if all slots are full of high-quality equipment.