Five Things Everyone Makes Up About Item Upgrade

WoW Upgrades - The Item Upgrader

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

The upgraded gear typically has a higher trade value, unless it has inherently low requirements (like the FB shield of the sorc) or very high stat variation (like the 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 upgrade upgrader allows players to upgrade their gear by giving the currency to an NPC. Upgrades can be applied on any kind of armor or weapons. The item used to upgrade the item level Upgrade will be consumed and cannot be used again. Upgrades can be used to create enchantments.

You can upgrade your equipment at any time by visiting the upgrader in any major city. It is recommended that you visit the upgrader once every few weeks, to keep your equipment up to date.

Upgrades will cost more, based on the item level, however, they are always cheaper than purchasing new equipment. For instance upgrading a Benthic chest to 385 ilvl will cost 20 recycle points, while buying a similar item upgrade from another player will cost 105.

Valorstones

Upgrades are items that can be used for weapons, armor, tools, and accessory upgrades. They can be purchased by players from NPCs who sell upgrades for items in exchange for different currencies, and can be found in random treasure lists. Once an upgrade has been purchased it can be applied to any weapon, tool, or armor using a button, which will show an image of the item when it is upgraded in the event that the player has enough materials.

The cost of upgrading varies based on the item level upgrade slot, and the current level of the item. For instance, weapons will cost more than bracers, or gloves. Each step costs 15 Flightstones plus a certain number of crests. Certain upgrades provide discounts on Flightstones. Once an item has been upgraded to a certain level, it can be degraded and returned to the upgrader for a lesser amount of both currency types.

Upgraders for items can be found in many places on the main island as well as some outposts. The NPCs offer both an upgrade discount and a chance to acquire a new upgrade recipe. The upgrade discount increases when more items are upgraded. It can be increased by having players complete certain achievements or complete quests.

Icewind Dale does not have an item upgrader at the start unlike Cromwell from Baldur's Gate II. Instead the NPCs that are available to facilitate upgrades are acquired via a variety of means which is both an improvement as well as a disadvantage.

In Season 3 the upgrade system has been tweaked a bit, with some new features added. Once a player has upgraded to a specific level for an armor slot, upgrading other items to the same item level, will cost less. This applies even if those items come from a different set of gear.

The amount of Valorstones needed for upgrades is decreased, and the discount is account-wide. The amount of Harbinger Crests needed for upgrades is reduced also, but is only available once certain milestones have been reached.

Crests

Players have several options when it comes to upgrading their equipment in WoW. Flightstones are an option that is accessible to everyone who wants to upgrade. Crests are more specialized, and are used during specific item level upgrades. Crests are the main component of the Dragonflight gear progression system introduced in 10.1, and come in four ranks.

First, you must be aware that the crests can only be purchased for gear of a certain rank. Each rank comes with distinct upgrade paths. The most basic and straightforward upgrade route costs 15 crests while the most complicated can require as much as 20 crests based on the type of gear being upgraded.

Players can earn crests by finishing content at the appropriate level, whether that means walking around and doing outdoor activities to get lower-tier gear, raids or dungeons of any difficulty for higher-tier items, or Mythic+ heroic raid bosses and dungeons for gear that is used in the endgame. These crests are then exchanged with an upgrader for the item such as Cuzolth or Vaskarn, in Valdrakken for the appropriate upgrade steps and paths.

The new currency system isn't difficult to use, but it does bring some changes to the upgrade process. Once a piece of gear has reached the highest level of upgrade for any rank (Explorer or Adventurer) it no longer requires Flightstones. This change lets players upgrade their gear to the highest possible ilvl on all their characters rather than relying on seasonal loot.

Another notable change is that crests only have one purpose therefore it's essential to use them properly. It is recommended to put your Whelpling-rank Crests on the best gear you can locate and keep Drake and Wyrm Crests for the next round 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 slots are filled with high-quality equipment.