Why We Love Item Upgrade And You Should Also
WoW Upgrades - The Item Upgrader
Upgrades give a guaranteed boost to certain stats. Each upgrade boosts the level of an item by 3. Each upgrade also increases an unspecified substat.
The upgraded gear typically has a more value in trade, unless it has inherently low requirements (like the FB sorc's shield) or very high stat variance (like Eth titan weapons). Upgrades are not as important for those with lower requirements due to the need to roll an exact version.
Recycle Points
The item upgrade upgrader allows players to upgrade their gear by giving the currency to an NPC. Upgrades can be made on any kind of weapon or armor. However, the item that is used for the upgrade will be consumed forever and can't be used again. Upgrades can also be used to create enchantments.
The upgrader is located in every major city, and can be accessed at any time to upgrade your gear. To ensure that your equipment is up-to-date, it is recommended that you visit the upgrader every several weeks.
Upgrades will cost more depending on the level of the item, but they will always be cheaper than buying new gear. Upgrades such as upgrading a Benthic chest to ilvl385 will cost you 20 recycle points. Buying a similar item will cost you 105.
Valorstones
Upgrades are useful items which can be used to level up weapons, tools, armor, and other accessories. They can be bought by players through NPCs that sell upgrades to items in exchange for a variety of 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 displays an image of the item at the next upgrade level if the player has sufficient materials.
The cost of upgrades varies based on the slot of the item level upgrade and current item level and the weapon's price is higher than bracers or gloves, for example. Each step costs 15 Flightstones plus a specific number of crests. Certain upgrades provide discounts on Flightstones. Once an item has been upgraded to a certain level, it can be degraded and sold back to the upgrader for a lower amount of both currencies.
Item upgraders can be found in many places including the main island and some outposts. The NPCs provide both an upgrade discount and a chance to obtain a new upgrade recipe. The discount on upgrades increases when more items are upgraded. It can also be increased by having players finish certain achievements or quests.
Icewind Dale does not have an item upgrader at the beginning unlike Cromwell from Baldur's Gate II. Instead, the NPCs that are available to help with upgrades are acquired via a variety of means that are both an improvement and a drawback.
In Season 3 the upgrade system was altered a bit, with several 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 is even if those items are from an entirely different set of gear.
The discount is applicable to all accounts. The amount of Harbinger Crests required to upgrade is cut as well, but is only available after certain milestones have been reached.
Crests
When upgrading equipment in WoW, players have a couple of options. Flightstones are an item that is available to everyone for upgrading. Crests are more specialized, and are used during specific item level upgrades. Crests are an essential part of the Dragonflight gear progression system introduced in 10.1, and come in four ranks.
The first thing to note is that crests can only be spent on equipment of a particular rank, and that each rank has its own requirements for its upgrade path. The simplest and simplest upgrade process costs just 15 crests while the most complex requires as many as 20 crests depending on the kind of gear that is being upgraded.
Players can earn crests by finishing content at the appropriate level. This could be by engaging in outdoor activities or doing dungeons or raids in all difficulties to get equipment of lower tier or Mythicbosses for raids, or dungeons that have a high difficulty for gear in the endgame. These crests can then be exchanged at an item upgrader NPC, like Cuzolth in Dornogal or Vaskarn in Valdrakken to get the appropriate upgrade pathways and steps.
The use of these currencies isn't that difficult however, the system will introduce a few changes to the overall upgrade process. For example, once an item is at the highest upgrade item 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 equipment to the highest ilvl possible on all their characters, rather than relying solely on seasonal loot.
It's also crucial to choose crests in a wise manner, as they have only one purpose. It's Best item upgrade to use your Whelpling-rank Crests on the highest-quality gear you can find, and keep Drake and Wyrm Crests to be used for the next set of upgrades. This is particularly relevant for items like trinkets and rings that fill multiple slots. The discount for the entire account is only applicable when all slots on the character are filled with high-quality gear.