WoW Upgrades - The Item Upgrader

Upgrades provide a guaranteed boost to specific stats. Each upgrade boosts the item level by +3. Each upgrade also increases a random substat.

Upgraded gear generally sees greater value for trade regardless of whether it has low requirements (like the FB shield of the sorc) or very high stat variation (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 enables players to upgrade their gear to a higher level by supplying the appropriate currency to the NPC. Upgrades can be made on any type of weapon or armor. However, the item used to upgrade will remain in use for a long time and cannot be used again. Upgrades can also be applied to enhancements.

The upgrader can be found in every major city, and is accessible at any time to upgrade your gear. It is recommended to visit the upgrader once every couple of weeks to keep your equipment up-to-date.

Upgrades will cost more, based on the item level, but they will always be cheaper than purchasing new gear. For instance, upgrading a Benthic chest piece to ilvl 385 will cost 20 recycle points while buying a similar item from another player will cost 105.

Valorstones

Upgrades are items that can be used to purchase tools, armor, weapon and accessory upgrades. They can be purchased by players from item upgraders NPCs for various currencies. They can also find them on random treasure lists. Once purchased, an upgrade is able to be used on any weapon, tool, or armor. The button will display the item's next upgrade level when there are enough materials.

Upgrade costs differ based on the slot of the Item Level Upgrade and the current level of the item. For example weapons are more expensive than bracers, or gloves. Each upgrade costs 15 Flightstones plus a set number of crests. Some upgrades give a discount on the Flightstones. After an item level upgrade has been upgraded to a certain level it is able to be degraded and returned to the upgrader for a lesser amount of the two currency types.

Upgraders for items are available in many places including the main island, as well as a few outposts. The NPCs offer both an upgrade coupon and a chance to obtain a new recipe. The upgrade discount increases as more items are upgraded. It can also be increased by having players complete certain achievements or complete quests.

Icewind Dale does not have an item upgrader at beginning unlike Cromwell from Baldur's Gate II. Instead, the NPCs that can be used to upgrade are acquired via various methods which is both an improvement and a drawback.

In Season 3, several new features were added to the upgrade system. After a player has earned an upgrade to a certain item upgrader mod level for a particular armor slot, upgrading further items to the same level will cost less, even in the event that they are part of a different gear set.

The discount applies to all accounts. The amount of Harbinger Crests needed to upgrade is cut as well, but is only available once certain milestones have been reached.

Crests

Players have several options when it comes to upgrading their gear in WoW. Flightstones are an option that is accessible to all players for upgrading. Crests are more specific and are utilized during specific item level upgrades. Crests are a crucial part of the Dragonflight Gear Progression System, which was introduced in version 10.1. They are available in four ranks.

The first thing to remember is that the crests can only be purchased for gear of a certain rank. Each rank comes with an upgrade path that is different. The most basic and straightforward upgrade route costs 15 crests while the most complex requires as many as 20 crests based on the kind of gear that is being upgraded.

Players can obtain crests by finishing content at the appropriate level, whether that involves walking around and performing outdoor activities for lower-tier gear, raids or dungeons of all difficulties for higher-tier items, or Mythic+ heroic raid bosses or dungeons for endgame gear. These crests are then exchanged with an item upgrader like Cuzolth or Vaskarn in Valdrakken for the appropriate upgrade steps and Item Level Upgrade routes.

The use of these currencies isn't too difficult, but the system does introduce some changes to the overall upgrade process. When a piece of equipment attains the highest level of upgrade for any rank (Explorer or Adventurer) it will no longer require Flightstones. This change is intended to allow players to upgrade their equipment to the highest level possible for all their characters instead of relying only on seasonal loot.

Another notable modification is that crests have one purpose therefore it's essential to use them properly. It is best to put your Whelpling-rank Crests on the top-quality equipment you can locate, and save Drake and Wyrm Crests to be used for the next set of upgrades. This is especially relevant for items like trinkets and rings that take up multiple slots. The account-wide discount will only be applicable if all the slots on the character are filled with top-quality equipment.