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WoW Upgrades - The Item Upgrader
Upgrades will give you a boost to certain stats. Each upgrade boosts the item level by +3. A random additional substat is also increased with every upgrade.
The upgraded gear is usually more valuable, unless it is not required by nature (like FB sorc shields) or has a large variance in stats (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 Level Upgrade upgrader allows players to upgrade their gear by transferring the currency to an NPC. Upgrades can be applied to any kind of armor or weapon. However, the item that is used to upgrade will be consumed for the duration of time and will not be able to be used again. Upgrades can be used to create enchantments.
You can upgrade your gear anytime by visiting the upgrader in any major city. To keep your gear current, it is recommended that you visit the upgrader each several weeks.
The cost of upgrades will be based on the current item level of the gear being upgraded, but will always be cheaper than buying new equipment from other sources. Upgrades like upgrading a Benthic chest up to 385 ilvl will cost you 20 recycle points. Buying a similar item upgrading will cost you 105.
Valorstones
Upgrades are useful items that are used to upgrade weapons and tools, armor and other accessories. They can be purchased by players from NPCs of item upgraders in a variety of 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 show the preview of an item's next upgrade level in the event that there are enough materials.
The cost of upgrading is based on the slot of the item upgrade and current item level, with weapons costing more than gloves or bracers for example. Each step costs 15 Flightstones and a variety of crests, with some upgrades having a discount to reduce the cost of the Flightstones or crests used. After an item has been upgraded to a certain degree it can be re-downgraded and sold to the upgrader at a lower price.
Item upgraders can be found in many places including the main island and some outposts. The NPCs offer both an upgrade discount as well as a chance to obtain a new upgrade recipe. The discount on upgrades increases according to 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 upgrader for items at the beginning, unlike Cromwell from Baldur's gate II. Instead, the NPCs that can be used to upgrade must be acquired through various methods that are both an improvement and a drawback.
In Season 3, many new features were added to the upgrade system. After the player has upgraded to a certain item level for an armor slot, upgrading other items to the same level, will cost less. This applies regardless of whether the items are from an entirely different set of equipment.
The discount is applicable to all accounts. The amount of Harbinger Crests required for upgrades is also reduced and is not available until players have reached certain milestones in their achievements.
Crests
Players have several choices when it comes to upgrading their gear in WoW. Flightstones are an item that is available to everyone for upgrading. 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 are available in four ranks.
The first thing to remember is that Crests are only available to equipment that is of a particular rank. Each rank comes with an upgrade path that is different. The simplest and simplest upgrade path costs 15 crests, while the more complex one can require as much as 20 crests depending on the type of equipment that is being upgraded.
Players can earn crests through finishing content at the appropriate level, whether that means walking around and doing outdoor activities for lower-tier gear, raids or dungeons of all difficulty for items of higher tier, or Mythic+ heroic raid bosses or dungeons for gear that is used in the endgame. These crests are then exchanged with an upgrader for the item like Cuzolth or Vaskarn in Valdrakken for the appropriate upgrade steps and pathways.
The new currency system isn't too difficult to use, but it will bring some modifications to the upgrade process. For instance, once an item is at the highest level of upgrade for any rank (Explorer, Adventurer, Veteran, Champion, Hero, or Mythic) it won't require Flightstones to be upgraded. This is to allow players to get their gear up to the highest possible ilvl on all their characters instead of relying only on seasonal loot.
Another notable change is that crests only have one use, so it's important to make use of them in a responsible manner. It's best to use your Whelpling-rank crests on the Best item upgrader gear you can find, and save Drake and Wyrm Crests to be used for the next set of upgrades. This is especially true for items like trinkets and rings that occupy multiple slots on the character, that will be able to benefit from the account-wide discount if all slots are filled with top-quality equipment.