15 Reasons Not To Ignore Item Upgrade
WoW Upgrades - The Item Upgrader
Upgrades will give you a boost to specific stats. Each upgrade increases the level of an item by +3. Each upgrade also increases the random substatus.
Upgraded gear is generally more useful, unless the item has low requirements by nature (like FB sorc shields) or has a high variance in stats (like the eth Titan weapons). These types of gear get less value from upgrading due to the need to roll for a perfect version.
Recycle Points
The item upgrader allows players to upgrade their gear by giving the currency to an NPC. Upgrades can be applied on any type of armor or weapons. The item used to upgrade the item is discarded and cannot be used again. Upgrades can be applied to the enchantments.
The upgrader can be found in all major cities, and can be accessed at any time to upgrade your gear. To keep your gear up-to-date it is recommended you visit the upgrader every few weeks.
The cost of upgrades will vary based on the current item level of the equipment being upgraded but they will always be less expensive than buying new equipment from other sources. For example upgrading a chest piece from Benthic to ilvl 385 will cost 20 recycle points, while purchasing the same item from a different player will cost 105.
Valorstones
Upgrades are functional items which can be used to improve the quality of weapons, tools, armor, and other items. They can be purchased from item upgrade upgraders NPCs for a variety of currencies. They are also available on random treasure lists. Once purchased, an upgrade item is able to be used on any tool, weapon, or armor. The button will display a preview of an item's next upgrade level, if there are enough materials.
The upgrade cost depends on the slot of the item and the current level of the item and the weapon's price is higher than bracers or gloves, for instance. Each step costs 15 Flightstones plus a certain number of crests. Some upgrades give a discount on the Flightstones. Once an item upgrader kit is upgraded to a certain level, it can be degraded and sold back to the upgrader for a lesser amount of both currency types.
Upgraders for items are available in a variety of locations including the main island as well as some outposts. The NPCs offer both an upgrade coupon as well as the chance to obtain an entirely new recipe. The upgrade discount increases with the number of items being upgraded, and can be boosted 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 several methods, which is both an improvement but also a drawback.
In Season 3, the upgrade system was modified a bit, and numerous new features added. Once a player obtains an upgrade to a certain item level Upgrade (opensourcebridge.science) level for a particular armor slot, upgrading other items to that same item level will cost less even when they belong to an entirely different set of gear.
The amount of Valorstones needed for upgrades is reduced, and the discount is affixed to all accounts. In the same way, the amount of Harbinger Crests required to upgrade is also reduced and is not available until players have reached certain milestones in their achievements.
Crests
When upgrading equipment in WoW, players have a few choices. Flightstones are an item that is available to all players for upgrading. Crests are more specific 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 come in 4 ranks.
The first thing to note is that crests are only able to be used on equipment of a particular rank, and each rank has different requirements for upgrading. The easiest and most straightforward upgrade is 15 crests. The most complex upgrade can require up to 20 crests, depending on the type of gear being upgraded.
Players can earn crests through completing content of the appropriate level, which involves walking around and engaging in outdoor activities to get lower-tier gear, dungeons or raids of any difficulty for higher-tier items, or Mythic+ heroic raid bosses or dungeons for gear that is used in the endgame. These crests can then be exchanged at an upgrader NPC, like Cuzolth in Dornogal or Vaskarn in Valdrakken, for the appropriate upgrade paths and steps.
The new currency system isn't difficult to use, but it does bring some changes to the upgrade process. For instance, once an item reaches the highest upgrade level of any rank (Explorer, Adventurer, Veteran, Champion, Hero, or Mythic), it won't need Flightstones to be upgraded. This change lets players upgrade their equipment to the highest possible level on all of their characters rather than relying on seasonal loot.
It's also important to use crests with care, since they have only one purpose. It's Best item upgrade to use your Whelpling-rank Crests on the highest-quality gear that you can find and save Drake and Wyrm Crests for the next set of upgrades. This is particularly relevant for items like trinkets and rings that take up multiple slots. The discount for the entire account will only be applicable if all the slots on the character are filled with high-quality gear.