WoW Upgrades - The Item Upgrader

Upgrades will give you a boosts in specific statistics. Each upgrade increases item level by +3. A random extra substat is also increased with each upgrade.

Upgraded gear generally sees greater value for trade regardless of whether it has low requirements (like the FB sorc's shield) or a very high stat variance (like Eth titan weapons). Upgrades are not as valuable for those with higher variance due to the requirement to roll an exact version.

Recycle Points

The item upgrader allows players to upgrade their gear by transferring the currency to an NPC. Upgrades can be applied to any type of armor or weapons. However, the item upgrading used to upgrade will be consumed for the duration of time and can't be used again. Upgrades can be used to create enchantments.

The upgrader can be found in all major cities and can be accessed anytime to upgrade your gear. It is recommended to visit the upgrader every few weeks to keep your equipment up to date.

Upgrades can cost more based on the level of the item however, they are always cheaper than purchasing new gear. Upgrades such as upgrading a Benthic chest up to the level of ilvl385 will cost you 20 recycle points. If you purchase a similar item, it will cost you 105.

Valorstones

Upgrades are useful items that can be used to level up weapons tools, armor, and other accessories. They are purchased by players from NPCs who sell upgrades for items in exchange for a variety of currencies, and can be found in random treasure lists. Once purchased, an upgrade is able to be applied to any weapon, tool, or armor. The button will show the item upgrades's next upgrade level, in the event that there are enough materials.

The upgrade cost depends on the slot of the item and current item level as well as the level of the weapon, which is more than gloves or bracers, for instance. Each upgrade cost 15 Flightstones plus a certain number of crests. Certain upgrades provide a discount on the Flightstones. Once an item level upgrade (web page) has been upgraded to a certain level, it can be downgraded and sold to the upgrader at a lower cost.

Many locations have upgraders for their items in addition to the main island and a few outposts. The NPCs offer both an upgrade coupon and a possibility of getting the latest recipe. The upgrade discount increases according to the number of items being upgraded, and can be increased by having players complete some specific achievements or quests.

Icewind Dale does not have an upgrader for items at the beginning unlike Cromwell from Baldur's gate II. The NPCs who are able to facilitate upgrades are only accessible through a variety means. This is both a benefit as well as an issue.

In Season 3 the upgrade system has been modified a bit, and some new features added. After a player has upgraded to a certain level of item for an armor slot upgrading other items to the same level, will cost less. This applies regardless of whether the items come from a different set of equipment.

The discount applies to all accounts. In the same way, the amount of Harbinger Crests needed to upgrade is also reduced and is not available until players reach certain achievement milestones.

Crests

When upgrading equipment in WoW, players have a couple of options. Flightstones are an option that is accessible to all players for upgrading. Crests are more special, and are used during specific item upgrading level upgrades. 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 spent on equipment that is of a particular rank, and that each rank has its own requirements for its upgrade path. The simplest and most straightforward upgrade path costs 15 crests, while the more complex one may require as many as 20 crests, based on the kind of gear that is being upgraded.

Players can earn crests by finishing content at the appropriate level, whether that means walking around and doing outdoor activities to get lower-tier gear, raids or dungeons of all difficulties for higher-tier items, or Mythic+ heroic raid bosses and dungeons for gear that is used in the endgame. Crests can be exchanged at an upgrader NPC, such as Cuzolth in Dornogal, or Vaskarn in Valdrakken to get the appropriate upgrade pathways and steps.

The new currency system isn't complicated to use, however it does bring some modifications to the upgrade process. Once a piece of gear has reached the highest level of upgrade for any rank (Explorer or Adventurer) it will no longer require Flightstones. This change lets players upgrade their gear to the highest possible ilvl on all their characters rather than relying on seasonal loot.

Another significant modification is that crests have one usage, so it's important to use them wisely. For instance, it's best to utilize all of your Whelpling rank crests on the best equipment available and keep Drake and Wyrm crests to use for the next set of upgrades you're planning to make. This is especially relevant for trinkets and rings that occupy multiple slots on the character which will only be able to take advantage of the account-wide discount if all slots are full of high-quality equipment.