WoW Upgrades - The Item Upgrader

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

Upgraded gear generally sees greater value for trade, unless it has inherently low requirements (like the FB shield of the sorc) or a very high stat variance (like Eth titan weapons). The latter are less valuable from upgrading due to the necessity to roll to get a perfect version.

Recycle Points

The item upgrader allows players to upgrade their gear to a higher level by providing the appropriate currency to the NPC. Upgrades can be applied on any type of armor or weapons. The item used to upgrade the item will be consumed and can't be used again. Upgrades can also be used to create the enchantments.

The upgrader can be found in all major cities and is accessible at any time to upgrade your gear. To keep your gear current it is recommended that you visit the upgrader every several weeks.

Upgrades will cost more depending on the level of the item but they will always be cheaper than buying new equipment. Upgrades like upgrading a Benthic chest to the level of ilvl385 will cost you 20 recycle points. A similar item will cost you 105.

Valorstones

Upgrades are items which can be used to upgrade weapons and tools, armor and other accessories. They can be purchased by players from item upgrader NPCs in exchange for different currencies, and can also be found in random treasure lists. Once purchased, an upgrade can be used on any tool, weapon, or armor. button, which displays a preview of the item when it is upgraded when the player has enough materials.

The upgrade cost depends on the item slot and current item level, with weapons costing more than gloves or bracers for instance. Each upgrade cost 15 Flightstones plus a set number of crests. Some upgrades offer a discount on the Flightstones. After an item has been upgraded to a certain degree and is degraded, it can be sold and sold back to the upgrader for a lower amount of the two currencies.

Item upgraders can be found in a variety of locations including the main island, as well as a few outposts. The NPCs provide both an upgrade coupon as well as the possibility of getting a new recipe. The discount on upgrades increases according to the number of items that are being upgraded. It can also be boosted by having players complete some specific achievements or quests.

Contrary to Cromwell in Baldur's Gate II there is no item upgrader available in the beginning of Icewind Dale. Instead, the NPCs that can be used to upgrade items require several methods that are both an improvement and a drawback.

In Season 3, the upgrade system was tweaked a bit, with some new features added. After a player has earned an upgrade to a specific item level for a particular armor slot, upgrading additional items to that level will cost less even if they belong to another set of gear.

The amount of Valorstones needed to upgrade is reduced and the discount is available across all accounts. The amount of Harbinger Crests needed for upgrades is reduced too, but it is only available when certain milestones are achieved.

Crests

When upgrading gear in WoW, players have a variety of options. They can choose to use Flightstones that are a common upgrade currency that is accessible to all, or crests, which are more specific and consumed during upgrades at specific levels of the item. Crests are an integral element of the Dragonflight Gear Progression System that was introduced in version 10.1. They are available in four ranks.

The first thing to note is that crests can only be used on equipment of a particular rank, and that each rank has different requirements for its upgrade path. The simplest and easiest upgrade item is 15 crests. The most complex upgrade could require as much as 20 crests, contingent on the kind of gear that is being upgraded.

Players can obtain crests by finishing content at the appropriate level, whether that involves walking around and engaging in outdoor activities for lower-tier gear, dungeons or raids of all difficulty for items of higher tier, or Mythic+ heroic raid bosses or dungeons to obtain endgame gear. The crests can then be exchanged with an item upgrader such as Cuzolth or Vaskarn in Valdrakken for the appropriate upgrade steps and routes.

Utilizing these new currencies isn't too complicated, but the system will introduce a few modifications to the upgrade process. For example, once an item reaches the highest upgrade level of any rank (Explorer, Adventurer, Veteran, Champion, Hero, or Mythic), it will no longer require Flightstones to be upgraded. This change lets players upgrade their gear to the highest possible level for all their characters instead of relying on seasonal loot.

It's also essential to use crests in a wise manner, as they have only one purpose. For instance, it's a good idea use all of your Whelpling-rank crests with the Best item upgrade gear you have available and then keep Drake and Wyrm crests to use for the next set of upgrades you're planning to make. This is particularly applicable to items like trinkets and rings that take up multiple slots. The discount for the entire account is only applicable when all slots on the character are filled with high-quality gear.