WoW Upgrades - The Item Upgrader

Upgrades give a guaranteed boost to certain stats. Each upgrade increases the level of an item by 3. A random additional substat is also increased with each upgrade.

The more modernized gear generally has a more value in trade as long as it meets low requirements (like the FB shield of the sorc) or very high stat variance (like the eth titan weapons). Upgrades are not as useful for the latter because of the requirement to roll the perfect version.

Recycle Points

The item upgrader allows players to upgrade gear to a higher level by supplying the appropriate currency to the NPC. Upgrades can be applied on any kind of weapon or armor. However, the item that is used for the upgrade items will be consumed forever and will not be able to be used again. Upgrades can also be used to create the enchantments.

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

The cost of upgrades will be based on the current level of the equipment being upgraded but they will always be cheaper than purchasing new equipment from other sources. For instance, upgrading a Benthic chest to 385 levels will cost 20 recycle points, purchasing a similar piece from another player will costs 105.

Valorstones

Upgrades are items that can be used to purchase weapons, armor, tools and accessory upgrades. They are purchased by players from item upgrader NPCs in exchange for different currencies, and may also be found in random treasure lists. Once an upgrade is purchased, it can be used on any weapon, tool, or armor using the help of button, which will show a preview of the item when it is upgraded if the player has sufficient materials.

Upgrade costs vary depending on the slot of the item and the current item level. For example weapons are more expensive than gloves, bracers, or bracers. Each upgrade costs 15 Flightstones plus a certain number of crests. Certain upgrades provide a discount on the Flightstones. Once an item upgrader mod is upgraded to a certain amount it is able to be downgraded and sold to the upgrader at a lower cost.

Item upgraders can be found in many places including the main island and some outposts. The NPCs provide an upgrade discount as well as a chance to get a brand new upgrade recipe. The discount on upgrades increases according to the number of items that are being upgraded, and can be increased by having players complete some specific achievements or quests.

Contrary to Cromwell in Baldur's Gate II there is no item upgrader available in the beginning of Icewind Dale. Instead the NPCs that are available to help with upgrades require several methods that are both an improvement as well as a disadvantage.

In Season 3, many new features were added to the upgrade system. After a player has earned an upgrade to a particular level for an Best item upgrade in an armor slot, upgrading other items to that level will cost less, even in the event that they are part of a different gear set.

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

Crests

Players have several choices when it comes to upgrading their gear in WoW. They can make use of Flightstones which are a general upgrade currency that is accessible to everyone players, or crests, which are more specialized and used to upgrade specific levels of items. Crests are a key element of the Dragonflight gear progression system, which was introduced in 10.1, and come in four ranks.

The first thing to note is that crests are only able to be spent on equipment that is of a particular rank, and that every rank has different requirements for upgrading. The simplest and most straightforward upgrade process costs just 15 crests while the more complex one can require as much as 20 crests depending on the type of gear that is being upgraded.

Players can obtain crests by finishing content at the appropriate level, whether that means walking around and doing outdoor activities for lower-tier gear, raids or dungeons with all difficulties for higher-tier items, or Mythic+ heroic raid bosses and dungeons for gear that is used in the endgame. The crests can then be exchanged with an item upgrades upgrader, such as Cuzolth or Vaskarn, in Valdrakken for the appropriate upgrade steps and routes.

Using these new currencies isn't that difficult, but the system does introduce some modifications 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 equipment to the highest possible ilvl on all of their characters, instead of relying on seasonal loot.

It's also crucial to choose crests with care, since they are only used for one purpose. It is recommended to use your Whelpling-rank crests on the top-quality equipment that you can find, and keep Drake and Wyrm Crests for the next set of upgrades. This is particularly relevant for rings and trinkets that fill multiple slots on the character which can only be eligible to benefit from the account-wide discount if all of the slots are filled with high-quality gear.