WoW Upgrades - The Item Upgrader
Upgrades provide a guaranteed boost to specific stats. Each upgrade increases the level of the
item upgrader kit by +3. Each upgrade also boosts a random substat.
The upgraded gear typically has a higher trade value regardless of whether it has low requirements (like the FB shield of the sorc) or a very high stat variation (like Eth titan weapons). These types of gear get less value from upgrading due to the necessity to roll for a perfect version.
Recycle Points
The
item upgrader kit upgrader allows players to upgrade their gear by offering the currency to an 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 used to create enhancements.
The upgrader is located in all major cities, and can be accessed at any time to upgrade your equipment. It is recommended that you visit the upgrader at least once every few weeks, to keep your equipment up-to-date.
Upgrades will cost more depending on the level of the item but they will always be cheaper than purchasing new equipment. Upgrades like upgrading a Benthic chest up to the level of ilvl385 will cost you 20 recycle points. A similar item will cost you 105.
Valorstones
Upgrades are items that can be used for weapons, armor, tools, and accessory upgrades. They can be bought by players through NPCs that sell upgrades to items in exchange for a variety of currencies, and may also be found in random treasure lists. Once purchased, an upgrade is able to be used on any tool, weapon, or armor. button, which will display a preview of the item when it is upgraded if the player has sufficient materials.
The cost of upgrading varies based on the slot of the
item upgrading and the current
item level Upgrade level. For example, weapons will cost more than gloves, bracers or bracers. Each upgrade costs 15 Flightstones and a number of crests, with some upgrades having a discount to reduce the cost of the Flightstones or crests used. Once an item is upgraded to a certain degree and is degraded, it can be sold and sold back to the upgrader for a lower amount of the two currency types.
Item upgraders can be found in a variety of locations on the main island as well as some outposts. The NPCs provide an upgrade discount and the chance to get a brand new upgrade recipe. The upgrade discount increases depending on the amount of items being upgraded. It can also be increased by requiring players to complete specific achievements or complete quests.
Contrary to Cromwell in Baldur's Gate II there is no item upgrader available in the beginning of Icewind Dale. The NPCs that can assist with upgrades are only accessible through a variety means. This is both a benefit as well as a disadvantage.
In Season 3, many new features have been added to the
upgrade item system. When a player has an upgrade to a specific level for an item in an armor slot, upgrading other items to that level will cost less even when they are part of an entirely different set of gear.
The amount of Valorstones required to upgrade is reduced and the discount is account-wide. The amount of Harbinger Crests needed to
upgrade items is also reduced and is not available until players achieve certain milestones in their achievements.
Crests
Players have several options for upgrading their gear in WoW. Flightstones are an option that is accessible to all players for upgrading. Crests are more specialized and are used for specific item level upgrades. Crests are a key element of the Dragonflight gear progression system introduced in 10.1, and come in 4 ranks.
First, you should know that the crests can only be purchased for equipment that is of a particular rank. Each rank comes with an upgrade path that is different. The easiest and most straightforward upgrade costs 15 crests. The most complicated upgrade could require as much as 20 crests, contingent on the kind of gear being upgraded.
Players can obtain crests by finishing content at the appropriate level, whether that involves walking around and performing outdoor activities for gear of lower tiers, dungeons or raids of all difficulties for higher-tier items or Mythic+ heroic raid bosses or dungeons for gear that is used in the endgame. The crests can later be exchanged at an upgrader NPC, like Cuzolth in Dornogal, or Vaskarn in Valdrakken to obtain the appropriate upgrade paths and steps.
Utilizing these new currencies isn't that difficult, but the system does introduce some modifications to the upgrade process. For instance, when a piece of equipment reaches 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 intended to allow players to upgrade their equipment up to the highest possible ilvl on all their characters rather than relying solely on seasonal loot.
Another notable change is that crests only have one use, so it's important to make use of them in a responsible manner. For instance it's best to use all of your Whelpling-rank crests on the top equipment available and then save Drake and Wyrm crests to use for the next set of upgrades you plan to make. This is particularly relevant for trinkets and rings that occupy multiple slots on the character which can only be eligible to benefit from the account-wide discount if all slots are filled with top-quality equipment.