15 Surprising Facts About Item Upgrade
WoW Upgrades - The Item Upgrader
Upgrades will give you a boost to certain stats. Each upgrade increases item upgrades level by +3. Each upgrade also boosts a random substat.
The more modernized gear generally has a higher trade value, unless it has inherently low requirements (like the FB shield of the sorc) or very high stat variation (like the eth titan weapons). These types of gear get less value from upgrading due to the requirement to roll for a perfect version.
Recycle Points
The item level upgrade (official statement) upgrader lets players upgrade their gear by giving the currency to an NPC. Upgrades can be applied on any type of armor or weapons. The item used to upgrade the item is discarded and cannot be used again. Upgrades can be used to create the enchantments.
The upgrader can be found in all major cities and can be accessed at any time to upgrade your equipment. It is recommended to visit the upgrader every couple of weeks to ensure that your equipment is up-to-date.
Upgrades will cost more depending on the item level, however they'll always be less expensive than purchasing new equipment. For example, upgrading a chest piece from Benthic to ilvl 385 will cost 20 recycle points while purchasing the same item from another player will costs 105.
Valorstones
Upgrades are items that can be used to upgrade weapons, armor, tools, and accessory upgrades. They can be purchased 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 an upgrade has been purchased, it can be used on any weapon, tool, or armor using an button, which displays an image of the item at the next upgrade level in the event that the player has enough materials.
Upgrade costs vary depending on the item slot, and the current level of the item. For example, weapons will cost more than gloves, bracers, or bracers. Each upgrade cost 15 Flightstones and a few crests, with some upgrades having a discount to lower the cost of the Flightstones or crests used. After an item has been upgraded to a certain amount it can be re-downgraded and sold to the upgrader at a lower price.
Upgraders for items can be found in many places including the main island as well as some outposts. The NPCs offer an upgrade coupon and a chance to obtain an entirely new recipe. The discount on upgrades increases when more items are upgraded. It can be increased by having players finish certain achievements or quests.
Contrary to Cromwell in Baldur's Gate II there is no item upgrader available at the beginning of Icewind Dale. Instead, the NPCs that can be used to upgrade must be acquired through various methods which is both an improvement but also a drawback.
In Season 3, a number of new features were added to the upgrade items system. Once a player has upgraded to a certain item level for an armor slot, upgrading other items to the same item level, will cost less. This applies even if those items come from a different set of gear.
The discount is available to all accounts. The amount of Harbinger Crests required to upgrade is cut too, but it is only available when certain milestones are achieved.
Crests
Players have a variety of options when it comes to upgrading their equipment in WoW. Flightstones are an option that is accessible to everyone for upgrading. Crests are more specific, and are used during specific item level upgrades. Crests are a crucial part of the Dragonflight Gear Progression System, which was introduced in version 10.1. They come in four ranks.
The first thing to remember is that crests are only able to be used on equipment of a particular rank, and each rank has different requirements for upgrading. The simplest and easiest upgrade costs 15 crests. The most complicated upgrade can require up to 20 crests, based on the kind of equipment being upgraded.
Players can earn crests through completing tasks at the appropriate level. This could mean engaging in outdoor activities or completing dungeons and raids in any difficulty to earn equipment of lower tier or Mythicbosses for raids, or dungeons that have a high difficulty to obtain endgame gear. The crests can then be exchanged with an item upgrader kit upgrader such as Cuzolth or Vaskarn, in Valdrakken to upgrade the item in the proper steps and routes.
The new currency system isn't difficult to use, but it brings some modifications to the upgrade process. For instance, when a piece of equipment reaches the highest level of upgrade for any rank (Explorer, Adventurer, Veteran, Champion, Hero, or Mythic), it won't need Flightstones to be upgraded. This change allows players to upgrade their gear to the highest level possible for all their characters, instead of relying on seasonal loot.
Another important change is that crests only have one purpose, so it's important to make use of them in a responsible manner. For instance it's a good idea make use of all your Whelpling-rank crests on the best equipment you have and then keep Drake and Wyrm crests to use for the next set of upgrades you plan on making. This is particularly applicable to trinkets and rings that occupy multiple slots on the character, that will be able to take advantage of the account-wide discount if all slots are filled with high-quality gear.