Why You Should Focus On Enhancing Item Upgrade
WoW Upgrades - The Item Upgrader
Upgrades can give you boosts in certain statistics. Each upgrade boosts the level of an item by 3. Each upgrade also boosts an unspecified substat.
The more modernized gear generally has a more value in trade regardless of whether it has low requirements (like the FB shield of the sorc) or has a high stat variance (like Eth titan weapons). The latter see less value from upgrading due to the necessity to roll for a perfect model.
Recycle Points
The item upgrader allows players to upgrade their gear to a higher item level by supplying the appropriate currency to the NPC. Upgrades can be made on any kind of weapon or armor. However, the item that is used for the upgrade will remain in use for a long time and can't be used again. Upgrades can be applied to Enchantments.
The upgrader can be found in all major cities, and can be accessed anytime to upgrade your equipment. It is recommended to visit the upgrader at least once every couple of weeks to keep your equipment up to date.
The cost of upgrading will be based on the current Item Upgrader Kit level of the item being upgraded but they will always be cheaper than buying new equipment from other sources. 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 items that can be used to purchase weapons, armor, tools, and accessory upgrades. They can be purchased by players through NPCs that sell upgrades to items in exchange for various currencies, and may also be found in random treasure lists. Once purchased, an upgrade is able to be applied to any tool, weapon, or armor. The button will show the item's next upgrade level, if there are enough materials.
The upgrade cost depends on the slot of the item level upgrade and the current level of the item and the weapon's price is higher than gloves or bracers, for instance. Each upgrade cost 15 Flightstones and a few crests, with some upgrades offering discounts to reduce the cost of Flightstones or the crests used. Once an item has been upgraded to a certain degree and is degraded, it can be sold and sold back to the upgrader for a lower amount of both currencies.
Many locations offer Best item upgrader upgraders which include the main island and a few outposts. The NPCs offer an upgrade coupon as well as the possibility of obtaining an entirely new recipe. The discount on upgrades increases when more items are upgraded. It can also be increased by having players finish certain achievements or quests.
In contrast to Cromwell in Baldur's Gate II there is no item upgrader available at the start of Icewind Dale. Instead, the NPCs that are available to facilitate upgrades must be acquired through a variety of means which is both an improvement and a drawback.
In Season 3, many new features were added to the upgrade system. Once a player obtains an upgrade to a specific level for an item level upgrade in an armor slot, upgrading additional items to that same item upgrader kit level will be less expensive, even if they belong to an entirely different set of gear.
The discount is applicable to all accounts. The amount of Harbinger Crests required for upgrades is also cut and is not available until players reach certain achievement milestones.
Crests
When upgrading equipment in WoW players have a variety of options. They can choose to use Flightstones which are a general upgrade currency that is available to all, or crests, which are more specialized and consumed during upgrades on specific item levels. Crests are an essential part of the Dragonflight gear progression system that was introduced in 10.1, and come in 4 ranks.
The first thing to be aware of is that crests can only be used on equipment of a particular rank, and each rank has different requirements for its upgrade path. The simplest and most straightforward upgrade process costs just 15 crests while the more complex one requires as many as 20 crests, based on the kind of gear being upgraded.
Players can earn crests through finishing tasks at the appropriate level. This could be done by doing outdoor activities, or by completing dungeons and raids in any difficulty to earn lower-level gear or Mythicbosses of raids or dungeons with a heroic difficulty for endgame gear. The crests can then be exchanged with an item upgrader like Cuzolth or Vaskarn, in Valdrakken to upgrade the item in the proper steps and pathways.
Using these new currencies isn't that difficult, but the system introduces some changes to the overall upgrade process. For instance, when an item 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 lets players upgrade their equipment to the highest possible level for all their characters instead of relying on seasonal loot.
Another notable change is that crests have one usage, so it's important to use them wisely. It is recommended to use your Whelpling-rank crests on the highest-quality gear that you can find, and keep Drake and Wyrm Crests for the next set of upgrades. This is especially true for items like rings and trinkets that fill multiple slots on the character, which will only be able to take advantage of the account-wide discount if all of the slots are filled with high-quality equipment.