14 Questions You Might Be Afraid To Ask About Item Upgrade
WoW Upgrades - The Item Upgrader
Upgrades give you boost in certain statistics. Each upgrade increases item upgrades level by +3. A random substat is also increased with each upgrade.
The upgraded gear typically has a greater value for trade regardless of whether it has low requirements (like the FB sorc's shield) or very high stat variance (like the eth titan weapons). These types of gear get less value from upgrading due to the requirement 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 armor or weapons. However, the item that is used for the upgrade will remain in use for a long time and will not be able to be used again. Upgrades can also be applied to enhancements.
You can upgrade your equipment anytime by visiting the upgrader in any major city. It is recommended that you visit the upgrader once every few weeks, to keep your equipment up-to-date.
Upgrades can cost more based on the level of the item upgrades, however they'll always be cheaper than buying new gear. For instance upgrading a chest piece from Benthic to 385 levels will cost 20 recycle points while buying a similar item from a different player will cost 105.
Valorstones
Upgrades are items that can be used to upgrade tools, armor, weapon and accessory upgrades. They are purchased by players from NPCs that sell upgrades to items in exchange for a variety of currencies, and can also be found in random treasure lists. Once an upgrade is purchased it can be used on any weapon, tool, or armor using a button, which displays an image of the item when it is upgraded when the player has enough materials.
The upgrade cost depends on the item slot and the current item level, with weapons costing more than gloves or bracers for example. Each upgrade cost 15 Flightstones and a few crests, with certain upgrades offering discounts to lower the cost of Flightstones or crests that are used. After an item has been upgraded to a certain level it is able to be downgraded and sold to the upgrader at a lower cost.
Item upgraders can be found at many locations, including the main island and some outposts. The NPCs offer both an upgrade coupon as well as the chance to obtain an entirely new recipe. The discount for upgrades increases depending on the amount of items being upgraded. It can also be boosted by having players complete specific achievements or quests.
Icewind Dale does not have an item upgrader at beginning unlike Cromwell from Baldur's Gate II. The NPCs who can facilitate upgrades are available only via a variety of ways. This is both a positive and a drawback.
In Season 3, the upgrade system was tweaked a bit, with numerous new features added. Once a player has upgraded to a specific level for an armor slot, upgrading other items to the same item level upgrade - Read Hebian, level, will cost less. This is true even if those items are from a different set of gear.
The amount of Valorstones required for upgrades is decreased, and the discount is account-wide. The amount of Harbinger Crests required for upgrades is reduced also, but is only available once certain milestones have been reached.
Crests
Players have a variety of choices when it comes to upgrading their gear in WoW. Flightstones are an option that is accessible to everyone who wants to upgrade. Crests are more special and are used for specific item level upgrades. Crests are an integral part of the Dragonflight Gear Progression System that was introduced in version 10.1. They come in four ranks.
The first thing to note is that crests are only able to be spent on gear of a specific rank, and that each rank has different requirements for its upgrade path. The easiest and most straightforward upgrade costs 15 crests. The most complicated upgrade can require up to 20 crests, based on the kind of equipment being upgraded.
Players can obtain crests by working through content that is of the appropriate level, which involves walking around and performing outdoor activities to get lower-tier gear, raids or dungeons of all difficulties for higher-tier items, or Mythic+ dungeons or heroic raid bosses for gear that is used in the endgame. 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 routes.
The new currency system isn't too difficult to use, but it brings some changes to the process of upgrading. For example, once an item reaches the highest level of upgrade for any rank (Explorer, Adventurer, Veteran, Champion, Hero, or Mythic), it won't require Flightstones to be upgraded. This allows players to upgrade their equipment to the highest possible level on all of their characters rather than relying on seasonal loot.
It's also crucial to choose crests with care, since they have only one purpose. For instance, it's a good idea use all of your Whelpling-rank crests on the Best item upgrader equipment available and save Drake and Wyrm crests for the next batch of upgrades you're planning on making. This is particularly true for items like rings and trinkets that take up multiple slots on the character, that will be able to benefit from the discount for all accounts when all of the slots are full of high-quality equipment.