Five Killer Quora Answers To Item Upgrade
WoW Upgrades - The Item Upgrader
Upgrades give you boosts in certain statistics. Each upgrade items boosts the level of an item by +3. A random additional substat is also added to every 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 a very high stat variance (like the eth titan weapons). These types of gear get 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 level by supplying the appropriate currency to the NPC. Upgrades can be applied to any kind of armor or weapon. However, the item that is used for the upgrade will be consumed for the duration of time and can't be used again. Upgrades can also be used to create enchantments.
The upgrader can be found in all major cities and is accessible anytime to upgrade your equipment. To keep your gear up-to-date it is recommended you visit the upgrader each several weeks.
The cost of upgrading will depend on the current item upgrade level of the equipment being upgraded, but will always be less expensive than buying new gear from other sources. Upgrades such as upgrading a Benthic chest up to 385 ilvl will cost you 20 recycle points. A similar item upgrades will cost you 105.
Valorstones
Upgrades are items that can be used to upgrade weapon, armor, tool, and accessory upgrades. They can be purchased by players from item upgrader NPCs in exchange for various currencies, and can also be found in random treasure lists. Once an upgrade has been purchased it can be used on any weapon, tool, or armor with the help of button, which displays a preview of the item at its next upgrade level if the player has sufficient materials.
The cost of upgrading is based on the slot of the item and the current level of the item level upgrade as well as the level of the weapon, which is more than gloves or bracers, for instance. Each step costs 15 Flightstones and a number of crests, with certain upgrades having a discount to lower the cost of Flightstones or crests that are used. After an item has been upgraded to a certain level, it can be downgraded and sold to the upgrader for a lower price.
Many locations have upgraders for their items in addition to the main island and a few outposts. The NPCs provide an upgrade discount and a chance to obtain a new upgrade recipe. The discount on upgrades increases with the number of items being upgraded. It is also possible to be increased by having players complete specific 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 facilitate upgrades must be acquired through various methods which is both an improvement as well as a disadvantage.
In Season 3 the upgrade system has been modified a bit, and numerous new features added. When a player has an upgrade to a particular level for an item in an armor slot, upgrading further items to that same item level will be less expensive, even if they belong to another set of gear.
The amount of Valorstones needed to upgrade is reduced and the discount is account-wide. Similarly, the amount of Harbinger Crests required for upgrades is also cut and is not available until players reach certain milestones in their achievements.
Crests
Players have a number of options for upgrading their equipment in WoW. Flightstones are an item level upgrade that is available to everyone for upgrading. Crests are more specialized and are utilized during 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 crests are only available for equipment that is with a certain rank. Each rank has an upgrade path that is different. The simplest and simplest upgrade process costs just 15 crests while the most complex can require as much as 20 crests depending on the kind of gear that is being upgraded.
Players can earn crests through working through content that is of the appropriate level, whether that involves walking around and engaging in outdoor activities for gear of lower tiers, raids or dungeons with all difficulties for higher-tier items, or Mythic+ heroic raid bosses and dungeons 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 however, the system will introduce a few changes to the overall upgrade process. For instance, when an item is at 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 is designed to allow players to upgrade their gear up to the highest ilvl possible for all their characters instead of relying only on seasonal loot.
It's also crucial to choose crests wisely, as they are only used for one purpose. For instance, it's a good idea make use of all your Whelpling-rank crests on the top gear you have available and then keep Drake and Wyrm crests for the next batch of upgrades you plan to create. This is particularly applicable to trinkets and rings that occupy multiple slots on the character which will only be able to take advantage of the account-wide discount when all slots are full of high-quality equipment.