14 Misconceptions Commonly Held About Item Upgrade
WoW Upgrades - The Item Upgrader
Upgrades give you boosts in certain statistics. Each upgrade increases item level by 3. Each upgrade also boosts the random substatus.
The upgraded gear typically has a more value in trade, unless it has inherently low requirements (like the FB sorc's shield) or has a high stat variance (like Eth titan weapons). Upgrades are less important for those with higher variance due to the need to roll an exact version.
Recycle Points
The item upgrader allows players to upgrade gear to a higher item level by supplying the appropriate currency to the NPC. Upgrades can be applied on any kind of armor or weapons. The item used to upgrade the item is discarded and cannot be used again. Upgrades can be applied to the enchantments.
You can upgrade your gear anytime 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 every couple of weeks.
The cost of upgrades will vary based on the current item upgrades level of the gear being upgraded however, they will always be cheaper than buying new equipment from other sources. Upgrades like upgrading a Benthic chest up to 385 ilvl will cost you 20 recycle points. Buying a similar item upgrades will cost you 105.
Valorstones
Upgrades are functional items that can be used to level up weapons, tools, armor, and other items. They can be bought by players through item upgrader NPCs in exchange for a variety of currencies, and can be found in random treasure lists. Once purchased, an upgrade can be used on any tool, weapon or armor. button, which will display an image of the item at its next upgrade level in the event that the player has enough materials.
Upgrade costs differ based on the item slot, and the current item level. For instance weapons cost more than gloves, bracers or bracers. Each step costs 15 Flightstones plus a certain number of crests. Certain upgrades provide a discount on the Flightstones. Once an item has been upgraded to a certain degree it can be re-downgraded and sold to the upgrader for a lower price.
Item upgraders can be found at many locations on the main island, as well as a few outposts. The NPCs offer both an upgrade discount and the chance to acquire a new upgrade recipe. The upgrade discount increases according to the number of items that are being upgraded. It can also be increased by having players complete specific achievements or quests.
Contrary to Cromwell in Baldur's Gate II there is no item upgrading upgrader available at the beginning of Icewind Dale. Instead the NPCs that can be used to upgrade are acquired via several methods that are both an improvement and a drawback.
In Season 3, a number of new features have been added to the upgrade system. After the player has upgraded to a specific level for an armor slot, upgrading other items to the same item level will cost less. This is even if the items are from a different set of equipment.
The amount of Valorstones needed for upgrades is reduced, and the discount is account-wide. The amount of Harbinger Crests needed to upgrade is cut also, but is only available when certain milestones are reached.
Crests
When upgrading gear in WoW, players have a few options. Flightstones are an option that is accessible to everyone for upgrading. Crests are more specific, and are used during specific level upgrades for items. Crests are an essential part of the Dragonflight gear progression system introduced in 10.1, and come in 4 ranks.
The first thing to remember is that the crests can only be purchased for equipment with a certain rank. Each rank comes with distinct upgrade paths. The simplest and easiest upgrade costs 15 crests. The most complex upgrade can require up to 20 crests, based on the type of equipment being upgraded.
Players can earn crests by completing tasks at the appropriate level. This could be by doing outdoor activities or taking on dungeons and raids of all difficulty levels to obtain lower-level gear or Mythic+ raid bosses or dungeons that have a high difficulty for endgame gear. These crests can be exchanged with an item upgrader, such as Cuzolth or Vaskarn, in Valdrakken for the appropriate upgrade steps and pathways.
Utilizing these new currencies isn't too difficult, but the system will introduce a few changes to the overall upgrade process. When a piece has reached the highest level of upgrade for any rank (Explorer or Adventurer), it is no longer required to purchase Flightstones. This allows players to upgrade their gear to the highest possible ilvl for all their characters rather than relying on seasonal loot.
It's also crucial to choose crests in a wise manner, as they only have one use. It is recommended to use your Whelpling-rank crests on the highest-quality gear you can locate, and keep Drake and Wyrm Crests to be used for the next set of upgrades. This is especially applicable to rings and trinkets that fill multiple slots on the character, which will only be able to avail the account-wide discount if all of the slots are filled with top-quality gear.