20 Things You Should Be Educated About Item Upgrade

WoW Upgrades - The Item Upgrader

Upgrades provide a guaranteed boost to specific stats. Each upgrade boosts the level of an item by 3. A random substat is also added to each upgrade.

Upgraded gear is generally more valuable, unless the item has low requirements by nature (like FB sorc shields) or has a high variance in stats (like eth Titan weapons). The latter see less value from upgrading due to the necessity to roll to get a perfect version.

Recycle Points

The item upgrader enables players to upgrade gear to a higher level by providing the appropriate currency to the NPC. Upgrades can be applied on any type of armor or weapons. However, the item that is used for the upgrade will be consumed forever and will not be able to be used again. Upgrades can be applied to the enchantments.

The upgrader can be found in all major cities, and is accessible at any time to upgrade items your equipment. It is recommended that you visit the upgrader every few weeks to ensure that your equipment is up to date.

The cost of upgrades will depend on the current item upgrader mod level of the gear being upgraded, but will always be cheaper than buying new equipment from other sources. Upgrades like upgrading a Benthic chest up to ilvl385 will cost you 20 recycle points. A similar item will cost you 105.

Valorstones

Upgrades are items that can be used to purchase weapon, armor, tool and accessory upgrades. They can be purchased from item upgraders NPCs for a variety of currencies. They are also available on random treasure lists. Once purchased, an upgrade is able to be applied to any weapon, tool, or armor. The button will show a preview of an Item Upgrader mod's next level of upgrade, in the event that there are enough materials.

Upgrade costs differ based on the item slot, and the current item upgrader mod level. For instance, weapons will cost more than bracers, or gloves. Each step costs 15 Flightstones and a number of crests, with some upgrades offering discounts to reduce the cost of the Flightstones or crests used. Once an item is upgraded to a certain degree it can be re-downgraded and sold to the upgrader at a lower price.

Many locations offer item upgraders, including the main Island and some outposts. The NPCs offer both an upgrade coupon as well as the possibility of getting an entirely new recipe. The upgrade discount increases as more items are upgraded. It can be increased if players complete certain achievements or quests.

Icewind Dale does not have an upgrader for items at the beginning, unlike Cromwell from Baldur's gate II. The NPCs that can assist with upgrades are available only through a variety means. This is both a positive and an issue.

In Season 3, the upgrade system was altered a bit, with numerous new features added. After a player has earned an upgrade to a specific item level for a particular armor slot, upgrading additional items to the same level will cost less, even in the event that they belong to an entirely different set of gear.

The discount is applicable to all accounts. The amount of Harbinger Crests needed to upgrade is reduced also, but is only available once certain milestones are reached.

Crests

When upgrading equipment in WoW players have a couple of options. Flightstones are an item that is available to everyone who wants to upgrade. Crests are more specialized 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 are available in four ranks.

The first thing to remember is that crests can only be used to purchase equipment that is of a particular rank, and each rank has different requirements for its upgrade path. The easiest and most straightforward upgrade costs 15 crests. The most complex upgrade requires up to 20 crests, based on the kind of equipment being upgraded.

Players can earn crests by completing content of the appropriate level, whether that involves walking around and performing outdoor activities for gear of lower tiers, raids or dungeons of any difficulty for higher-tier items, or Mythic+ heroic raid bosses and dungeons for endgame gear. Crests can be exchanged at an item upgrader NPC, like Cuzolth in Dornogal, or Vaskarn in Valdrakken to obtain the appropriate upgrade pathways and steps.

Utilizing these new currencies isn't that difficult, but the system will introduce a few changes to the overall upgrade process. For instance, when an item reaches the highest upgrade level of any rank (Explorer, Adventurer, Veteran, Champion, Hero, or Mythic), it won't require Flightstones to be upgraded. This change is designed to allow players to upgrade their gear up to the highest level possible for all their characters rather than relying solely on seasonal loot.

Another significant change is that crests have one usage, so it's important to use them properly. For instance, it's a good idea use all of your Whelpling-rank crests with the Best item upgrader equipment available and then save Drake and Wyrm crests to use for the next set of upgrades you plan on making. This is especially applicable to trinkets and rings that occupy multiple slots on the character which will only be able to avail the account-wide discount when all slots are filled with top-quality equipment.