WoW Upgrades - The Item Upgrader
Upgrades give a guaranteed boost to specific stats. Each upgrade increases the level of an item by +3. A random extra substat is also boosted alongside each upgrade.
Upgraded gear generally sees more value in trade, unless it has inherently low requirements (like the FB shield of the sorc) or very high stat variation (like the eth titan weapons). Upgrades aren't as useful for those with higher variance due to the need to roll an exact version.
Recycle Points
The item upgrader lets players upgrade their gear by offering the currency to an NPC. Upgrades can be applied to any type of weapon or armor. However, the item used for the upgrade will be consumed for the duration of time and will not be able to be used again. Upgrades can also be applied to enhancements.
You can upgrade your gear at any time by visiting the upgrader in any major city. It is recommended to visit the upgrader every couple of weeks to keep your equipment up to date.
The cost of upgrades will depend on the current item level of the equipment being upgraded however, they will always be less expensive than purchasing new equipment from other sources. Upgrades such as upgrading a Benthic chest to the level of ilvl385 will cost you 20 recycle points. Buying a similar item will cost you 105.
Valorstones
Upgrades are items that can be used to upgrade weapons, armor, tools, and accessory upgrades. Players can purchase them from NPCs of item upgraders in a variety of currencies. They can also find them on random treasure lists. Once an upgrade has been purchased, it can be used on any weapon, tool, or armor using a The button will show the preview of an item's next upgrade level if there are enough materials.
The cost of upgrading is based on the item slot and current item level as well as the level of the weapon, which is more than gloves or bracers, for instance. Each step costs 15 Flightstones plus a certain number of crests. Some upgrades give discounts on Flightstones. After item upgrades has been upgraded to a certain amount, it can be downgraded and sold to the upgrader at a lower cost.
Many locations offer item upgrader s which include the main island and some outposts. The NPCs provide both an upgrade coupon and the chance to obtain a new recipe. The discount for upgrades increases with the number of items being upgraded. It can also be boosted by requiring players to complete specific achievements or quests.
Unlike Cromwell in Baldur's Gate II is no upgrader for items available in the beginning of Icewind Dale. Instead the NPCs that can be used to upgrade require a variety of means that are both an improvement as well as a disadvantage.
In Season 3, many new features were added to the upgrade system. After the player has upgraded to a certain item level for an armor slot, upgrading other items to the same level will cost less. This applies regardless of whether the items come from an entirely different set of equipment.
The amount of Valorstones needed to upgrade is reduced and the discount is available across all accounts. The amount of Harbinger Crests required to upgrade is also reduced and is not available until players reach certain milestones in their achievement.
Crests
Players have a variety of options when it comes to upgrading their gear in WoW. They can choose to use Flightstones which are a general upgrade currency that is accessible to all players, or crests, which are more specialized and consumed during upgrades at specific levels of items. Crests are an important component 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 spent on gear of a specific rank, and that each rank has its own requirements for upgrading. The simplest and most straightforward upgrade path costs 15 crests, while the most complicated can require as much as 20 crests depending on the type of gear being upgraded.
Players can earn crests through working through content at the appropriate level. This could be done by doing outdoor activities or completing dungeons and raids in all difficulty levels to obtain lower-level gear or Mythic+ raid bosses or dungeons with a heroic difficulty to obtain endgame gear. The crests can then be exchanged with an upgrader for the item like Cuzolth or Vaskarn in Valdrakken for the appropriate upgrade steps and paths.
The new currency system isn't too difficult to use, however it brings some changes to the process of upgrading. For example, once an item is at 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 is designed to allow players to get their gear up to the highest level possible on all their characters, rather than relying solely on seasonal loot.
Another notable modification is that crests have one purpose and it's crucial to make use of them in a responsible manner. For instance, it's a good idea to use all of your Whelpling-rank crests on the best equipment you have, and then save Drake and Wyrm crests for the next batch of upgrades you're planning to make. This is especially true for items such as trinkets and rings that fill several slots. The account-wide discount will only apply when all slots on the character are filled with high-quality gear.