WoW Upgrades - The Item Upgrader

Upgrades can give you an increase in specific stats. Each upgrade boosts the level of an item upgrade by +3. A random substat is also added to every upgrade.

The upgraded gear typically has a higher trade value, unless it has inherently low requirements (like the FB sorc's shield) or very high stat variance (like Eth titan weapons). Upgrades are less useful for those with lower requirements due to the need to roll a perfect version.

Recycle Points

The item upgrader allows players to upgrade gear to a higher level by providing the appropriate currency to the NPC. Upgrades can be applied on any type of weapon or armor. The item used to upgrade the item is discarded and cannot be used again. Upgrades can be applied to enchantments.

You can upgrade your equipment at any time by visiting the upgrader in any major city. To ensure that your equipment is up-to-date it is recommended that you visit the upgrader each several weeks.

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

Valorstones

Upgrades are useful items that can be used to level up weapons and tools, armor and accessories. They can be bought by players through NPCs that sell upgrades to items in exchange for a variety of currencies, and can also be found in random treasure lists. Once purchased, an upgrade is able to be applied to any weapon, tool or armor. The button will display a preview of an item's next level of upgrade, if there are enough materials.

Upgrade costs vary depending on the slot for the Best item upgrade and the current item level. For instance weapons cost more than gloves, bracers or bracers. Each upgrade cost 15 Flightstones and a variety of crests, with some upgrades offering discounts to reduce the cost of Flightstones or the crests used. Once an item level upgrade has been upgraded to a certain level, it can be downgraded and sold to the upgrader for a lower price.

Upgraders for items are available in a variety of locations, including the main island and some outposts. The NPCs provide both an upgrade coupon as well as the chance to obtain the latest recipe. The upgrade discount increases with the number of items that are being upgraded. It is also possible to be boosted by having players complete specific achievements or complete quests.

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

In Season 3 the upgrade system has been tweaked a bit, with some new features added. When a player has an upgrade to a specific level for an item in an armor slot, upgrading further items to that same item level will cost less even if they belong to an entirely different set of gear.

The amount of Valorstones required for upgrades is reduced, and the discount is available across 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 achievements.

Crests

Players have several options for upgrading their equipment in WoW. Flightstones are an option that is accessible to everyone for upgrading. Crests are more special and are used for specific item level upgrades. Crests are an essential part of the Dragonflight gear progression system, which was introduced in 10.1, and come in 4 ranks.

The first thing to note is that crests are only able to be spent on equipment that is of a particular rank, and that each rank has its own requirements for upgrading. The simplest and simplest upgrade is 15 crests. The most complex upgrade could require as much as 20 crests, contingent on the type of equipment being upgraded.

Players can obtain 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 with any difficulty for higher-tier items, or Mythic+ dungeons or heroic raid bosses for gear that is used in the endgame. These crests can then be exchanged at an Best item upgrade upgrader NPC, like Cuzolth in Dornogal, or Vaskarn in Valdrakken to get the appropriate upgrade pathways and steps.

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

Another significant change is that crests only have one purpose, so it's important to use them wisely. For instance, it's a good idea use all of your Whelpling-rank crests on the Best item upgrade equipment available and then keep Drake and Wyrm crests to use for the next set of upgrades you plan to make. This is especially relevant for rings and trinkets that take up multiple slots on the character that will be able to take advantage of the discount for all accounts when all slots are full of high-quality equipment.