WoW Upgrades - The Item Upgrader

Upgrades can give you boosts in certain statistics. Each upgrade increases the level of the item by +3. A random extra substat is also boosted alongside each upgrade.

The upgraded gear is usually more useful, unless the item has low requirements by nature (like FB sorc shields) or has a high variance in stats (like eth Titan weapons). Upgrades are less valuable for the latter due to the requirement to roll the perfect version.

Recycle Points

The item upgrader lets players upgrade their gear by giving the currency to an NPC. Upgrades can be applied to any kind of armor or weapon. However, the item that is used for the upgrade item will be consumed forever and cannot be used again. Upgrades can also be used to create enhancements.

You can upgrade your equipment at any time 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.

The cost of upgrades will be based on the current item level of the gear being upgraded but they will always be cheaper than purchasing new gear from other sources. For instance, upgrading a Benthic chest piece to 385 ilvl will cost 20 recycle points purchasing a similar piece from another player will cost 105.

Valorstones

Upgrades are functional items that are used to level up weapons, tools, armor, and other accessories. Players can purchase them from item level Upgrade upgraders NPCs for various currencies. They are also available on random treasure lists. Once purchased, an upgrade can be applied to any tool, weapon or armor. The button will display the item's next level of upgrade, when there are enough materials.

Upgrade costs vary depending on the slot for the item and the current level of the item. For instance, weapons will cost more than bracers, or gloves. Each step costs 15 Flightstones and a number of crests, with certain upgrades having a discount to reduce the cost of Flightstones or the crests used. Once an item has been upgraded to a certain level, it can be downgraded and sold to the upgrader at a lower price.

A lot of locations offer upgraders for items, including the main Island and a few outposts. The NPCs provide both an upgrade discount and a chance to get a brand new upgrade recipe. The discount on upgrades 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 are available to facilitate upgrades are acquired via various methods, which is both an improvement as well as a disadvantage.

In Season 3, the upgrade system was altered a bit, with some new features added. After a player has earned an upgrade to a specific item upgrade level for a particular armor slot, upgrading additional items to that same item level will be less expensive, even when they are part of an entirely different set of gear.

The amount of Valorstones needed for upgrades is decreased, and the discount is available across all accounts. The amount of Harbinger Crests required to upgrade is cut also, but is only available after certain milestones have been reached.

Crests

Players have several choices when it comes to upgrading their gear in WoW. Flightstones are a currency that is available to all players for upgrading. Crests are more special and are used for specific item level upgrades. Crests are an essential part of the Dragonflight gear progression system introduced in 10.1 and are available in 4 ranks.

The first thing to be aware of is that crests can only be used to purchase equipment that is of a particular rank, and that every rank has different requirements for its upgrade item path. The most basic and straightforward upgrade process costs just 15 crests while the more complex one can require as much as 20 crests based on the kind of gear that is being upgraded.

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

Utilizing these new currencies isn't too difficult, but the system will introduce a few 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 designed to allow players to upgrade their equipment up to the highest possible ilvl for all their characters instead of relying only on seasonal loot.

It's also important to use crests with care, since they are only used for one purpose. For instance, it's a good idea use all of your Whelpling-rank crests on the best gear you have available and save Drake and Wyrm crests to use for the next set of upgrades you're planning to make. This is particularly applicable to trinkets and rings that occupy multiple slots on the character, which will only be able to avail the account-wide discount if all slots are filled with high-quality gear.