15 Shocking Facts About Item Upgrade
WoW Upgrades - The item level upgrade Upgrader
Upgrades will give you a boost to certain stats. Each upgrade increases 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 as long as it meets low requirements (like the FB sorc's shield) or has a high stat variance (like the eth titan weapons). Upgrades aren't as important for those with lower requirements due to the requirement to roll the perfect version.
Recycle Points
The upgrader for items allows players to upgrade their gear to a higher item level by supplying the appropriate currency to the NPC. Upgrades can be applied on any kind of weapon or armor. However, the item used to upgrade will be consumed forever and will not be able to 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 to visit the upgrader once every few weeks to keep your equipment up-to-date.
The cost of upgrades will depend on the current item level upgrade level of the gear being upgraded, but will always be cheaper than purchasing new equipment from other sources. For example, upgrading a Benthic chest piece to ilvl 385 will cost 20 recycle points purchasing a similar piece from another player will cost 105.
Valorstones
Upgrades are functional items that can be used to upgrade weapons, tools, armor, and other items. They are purchased by players through NPCs who sell upgrades for items in exchange for different currencies, and can be found in random treasure lists. Once an upgrade is purchased, it can be applied to any weapon or tool using a button, which will display an item's preview when it is upgraded when the player has enough materials.
Upgrade costs differ based on the slot for the item and the current item level. For instance weapons cost more than gloves, bracers or bracers. Each upgrade costs 15 Flightstones plus a set number of crests. Certain upgrades provide discounts on Flightstones. Once an item upgrades is upgraded to a certain amount, it can be degraded and sold back to the upgrader for a lesser amount of both currency types.
Upgraders for items can be found in many places, including the main island, as well as a few outposts. The NPCs offer both an upgrade coupon and the possibility of getting an entirely new recipe. The discount on upgrades increases when more items are upgraded. It can also be increased by having players finish certain 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, a number of new features have been added to the upgrade system. After a player has earned an upgrade to a certain level of an item level upgrade for a specific armor slot, upgrading other items to that level will cost less even in the event that they are part of a different gear set.
The amount of Valorstones needed to upgrade is reduced and the discount is affixed to all accounts. The amount of Harbinger Crests required to upgrade is cut as well, but is only available once certain milestones have been reached.
Crests
When upgrading gear in WoW players have a variety of options. Flightstones are a currency 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 that was introduced in 10.1 and are available in 4 ranks.
The first thing to note is that crests are only able to be used to purchase gear of a specific rank, and that each rank has different requirements for its upgrade path. The most basic and straightforward upgrade process costs just 15 crests while the more complex one requires as many as 20 crests based on the type of equipment being upgraded.
Players can earn crests by working through content at the appropriate level. This could be done by doing outdoor activities, or by completing dungeons and raids in all difficulty levels to obtain equipment of lower tier or Mythicbosses for raids, or dungeons with heroic difficulty for gear in the endgame. Crests can be exchanged at an upgrader NPC like Cuzolth in Dornogal or Vaskarn in Valdrakken to obtain the appropriate upgrade paths and steps.
The new currency system isn't too difficult to use, but it does bring some changes to the upgrade process. For instance, once an item is at the highest level of upgrading for any rank (Explorer, Adventurer, Veteran, Champion, Hero, or Mythic), it won't need Flightstones to be upgraded. This change is intended to allow players to get their equipment up to the highest ilvl possible for all their characters rather than relying solely on seasonal loot.
Another notable modification is that crests have one use therefore it's essential to make use of them in a responsible manner. For instance it's a good idea utilize all of your Whelpling rank crests with the best equipment available and keep Drake and Wyrm crests to use for the next set of upgrades you plan to create. This is especially true for items such as trinkets and rings that take up several slots. The discount on the account is only applicable when all slots on the character are filled with top-quality equipment.