WoW Upgrades - The item upgrade Upgrader
Upgrades provide a guaranteed boost to certain stats. Each upgrade items boosts the item level by +3. Each upgrade also increases an unspecified substat.
Upgraded gear is generally more valuable, unless the item has low requirements by nature (like FB sorc shields) or has a large variance in stats (like eth Titan weapons). The latter are less valuable from upgrading due to the requirement to roll for a perfect model.
Recycle Points
The item upgrader allows players to upgrade gear to a higher item level by providing the appropriate currency to the NPC. Upgrades can be applied to any kind of armor or weapon. However, the item upgrade that is used for the upgrade will be consumed forever and cannot be used again. Upgrades can be used to create the enchantments.
You can upgrade your gear anytime by visiting the upgrader in any major city. It is recommended to visit the upgrader once every couple of weeks to ensure that your equipment is up to date.
Upgrades will cost more depending on the level of the item but they will always be cheaper than buying new gear. For example, upgrading a chest piece from Benthic to 385 ilvl will cost 20 recycle points while buying a similar item from another player will costs 105.
Valorstones
Upgrades are functional items that are used to upgrade weapons and tools, armor and other accessories. They can be purchased from item upgraders NPCs for various currencies. They can also find them on random treasure lists. Once purchased, an upgrade is able to be applied to any tool, weapon or armor. The button will display a preview of an item level upgrade's next upgrade level, when there are enough materials.
The upgrade cost depends on the item slot and current item level as well as the level of the weapon, which is more than bracers or gloves, for example. Each upgrade cost 15 Flightstones and a number of crests, with some upgrades offering discounts to lower the cost of the Flightstones or crests that are used. Once an item has been upgraded to a certain amount and is degraded, it can be sold and returned to the upgrader for a lesser amount of both currency types.
Item upgraders can be found in a variety of locations including the main island and some outposts. The NPCs provide an upgrade discount as well as a chance to obtain a new upgrade recipe. The discount on upgrades increases when more items are upgraded. It can also be increased by having players finish certain achievements or quests.
Icewind Dale does not have an upgrader for items at the start unlike Cromwell from Baldur's gate II. The NPCs who can facilitate upgrades are only accessible through a variety means. This is both a benefit and an issue.
In Season 3, the upgrade system has been modified a bit, and numerous new features added. After a player has earned an upgrade to a certain level for an item upgrader mod in an armor slot, upgrading further items to that same item level will be less expensive, even when they are part of another set of gear.
The discount is applicable to all accounts. Similarly, the amount of Harbinger Crests required for upgrades is also cut and is not available until players reach certain milestones in their achievement.
Crests
When upgrading equipment in WoW players have a variety of choices. Flightstones are an item that is available to all players for upgrading. Crests are more special and are utilized during specific item level upgrades. Crests are an important element of the Dragonflight Gear Progression System introduced in version 10.1. They come in four ranks.
The first thing to be aware of is that crests can only be used on gear of a specific rank, and that each rank has different requirements for upgrading. The simplest and simplest upgrade is 15 crests. The most complicated upgrade can require up to 20 crests, contingent on the kind of equipment that is being upgraded.
Players can earn crests by finishing content at the appropriate level, which involves walking around and engaging in outdoor activities for lower-tier gear, dungeons or raids of any difficulty for higher-tier items or Mythic+ heroic raid bosses and dungeons to obtain endgame gear. These crests can then be exchanged at an upgrader NPC, like Cuzolth in Dornogal or Vaskarn in Valdrakken to get the appropriate upgrade routes and steps.
The new currency system isn't difficult to use, however it will bring some changes to the process of upgrading. For example, once an item reaches the highest level of upgrading for 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 level possible on all their characters, instead of relying on seasonal loot.
Another important modification is that crests have one usage and it's crucial to use them properly. It's best to use your Whelpling-rank crests on the top-quality equipment you can locate, and save Drake and Wyrm Crests for the next set of upgrades. This is particularly relevant for trinkets and rings that occupy multiple slots on the character which can only be eligible to take advantage of the account-wide discount when all of the slots are full of high-quality equipment.