Are You Making The Most From Your Item Upgrade

WoW Upgrades - The Item Upgrader

Upgrades can give you an increase in specific stats. Each upgrade increases the level of an item by +3. Each upgrade also increases a random substat.

Upgraded gear is generally more valuable, unless the item is not required by nature (like FB sorc shields) or a high stat variance (like the eth Titan weapons). These types of gear get less value from upgrading due to the necessity to roll for a perfect model.

Recycle Points

The item upgrader enables players to upgrade their gear to a higher item level by supplying the appropriate currency to the NPC. Upgrades can be applied to any type of armor or weapon. The item used to upgrade the item is discarded and cannot be used again. Upgrades can also be applied to enhancements.

The upgrader is located in all major cities and is accessible at any time to upgrade your equipment. It is recommended that you visit the upgrader every few weeks to keep your equipment up-to-date.

Upgrades can cost more based on the item level, however, they are always cheaper than buying new gear. Upgrades like 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 tools, armor, weapon, and accessory upgrades. They can be purchased by players from item upgrader NPCs in exchange for various currencies, and may also be found in random treasure lists. Once an upgrade is purchased it can be applied to any weapon or tool using a button, which will display a preview of the item at the next upgrade level in the event that the player has enough materials.

The cost of upgrades varies based on the slot of the item and the current level of the item as well as the level of the weapon, which is more than gloves or bracers for instance. Each step costs 15 Flightstones and a number of crests, with certain upgrades offering discounts to reduce the cost of Flightstones or crests that are used. Once an item level upgrade (my review here) has been upgraded to a certain amount and is degraded, it can be sold and sold back to the upgrader for a lower amount of the two currencies.

Upgraders for items can be found in a variety of locations on the main island, as well as a few outposts. The NPCs offer both an upgrade discount as well as a chance to get a brand new upgrade recipe. The upgrade discount increases according to the number of items being upgraded. It is also possible to be boosted by requiring players to complete specific achievements or complete quests.

Contrary to Cromwell in Baldur's Gate II is no upgrader for items available at the beginning of Icewind Dale. Instead, the NPCs that are available to facilitate upgrades are acquired via a variety of means which is both an improvement and a drawback.

In Season 3, many new features were added to the upgrade system. After a player has upgraded to a certain item upgrades level for an armor slot upgrading other items to the same level will cost less. This is true even if those items are from another set of gear.

The amount of Valorstones needed to upgrade is reduced and the discount is account-wide. The amount of Harbinger Crests required to upgrade is cut too, but it is only available after certain milestones have been reached.

Crests

When upgrading gear in WoW players have a variety of options. Flightstones are an item that is available to everyone for upgrading. Crests are more specialized and are used for specific item level upgrades. Crests are the main component of the Dragonflight gear progression system introduced in 10.1, and come in 4 ranks.

The first thing to remember is that crests are only able to be spent on equipment that is of a particular rank, and each rank has its own requirements for its upgrade path. The simplest and easiest upgrade is 15 crests. The most complicated upgrade could require as much as 20 crests, depending on the type or gear being upgraded.

Players can earn crests through working through content that is of the appropriate level, which involves walking around and engaging in outdoor activities to get lower-tier gear, raids or dungeons of all difficulty for items of higher tier or Mythic+ dungeons or heroic raid bosses to obtain endgame gear. The crests can later be exchanged at an upgrader NPC like Cuzolth in Dornogal, or Vaskarn in Valdrakken to get the appropriate upgrade pathways and steps.

The new currency system isn't complicated to use, but it will bring some modifications to the upgrade process. For example, once an item reaches the highest level of upgrade for any rank (Explorer, Adventurer, Veteran, Champion, Hero, or Mythic), it will no longer require Flightstones to be upgraded. This is to allow players to upgrade their equipment up to the highest level possible for all their characters instead of relying only on seasonal loot.

Another notable modification is that crests have one usage, so it's important to use them wisely. It's best to use your Whelpling-rank crests on the Best item upgrade gear you can locate and save Drake and Wyrm Crests for the next set of upgrades. This is particularly true for items such as trinkets and rings that fill several slots. The discount for the entire account will only be applicable if all the slots on the character are filled with top-quality equipment.