Technology Is Making Item Upgrade Better Or Worse

WoW Upgrades - The Item Upgrader

Upgrades give a guaranteed boost to certain stats. Each upgrade increases the level of an item upgrades by 3. Each upgrade also boosts a random substat.

Upgraded gear is generally more useful, unless the item upgrading has a low requirement by nature (like FB sorc shields) or has a high variance in stats (like the eth Titan weapons). Upgrades are less useful for those with higher variance due to the requirement to roll an exact version.

Recycle Points

The item upgrader allows players to upgrade their gear by offering the currency to an NPC. Upgrades can be applied to any type of armor or weapons. However, the item used for the upgrade will be consumed forever and can't be used again. Upgrades can be applied to the enchantments.

The upgrader is located in all major cities and can be visited anytime to upgrade your equipment. To keep your gear up-to-date, it is recommended that you visit the upgrader each few weeks.

Upgrades can cost more based on the level of the item however they'll always be cheaper than buying new equipment. For example, upgrading a chest piece from Benthic to 385 ilvl will cost 20 recycle points purchasing a similar piece from another player will cost 105.

Valorstones

Upgrades are useful items that are used to level up weapons, tools, armor, and other items. They can be bought by players through NPCs that sell upgrades to items in exchange for a variety of currencies, and may also be found in random treasure lists. Once an upgrade has been purchased it can be applied to any weapon, tool, or armor with an button, which displays a preview of the item at the next upgrade level in the event that the player has enough materials.

The cost of upgrades varies based on the slot of the item upgrader kit and current item level and the weapon's price is higher than bracers or gloves, for instance. Each step costs 15 Flightstones plus a specific number of crests. Some upgrades offer discounts on Flightstones. Once an item has been upgraded to a certain level, it can be downgraded and sold to the upgrader at a lower price.

Upgraders for items can be found in a variety of locations including the main island and some outposts. The NPCs provide both an upgrade discount and the chance to acquire a new upgrade recipe. The upgrade discount increases as more items are upgraded. It can be increased by having players complete certain achievements or quests.

Icewind Dale does not have an item upgrader at beginning unlike Cromwell from Baldur's gate II. The NPCs who can facilitate upgrades are only available through a variety of methods. This is both a benefit as well as a disadvantage.

In Season 3, several new features have been added to the upgrade system. After an upgrade has been completed to a specific level for an armor slot, upgrading other items to the same level will cost less. This is even if the items are from a different set of gear.

The discount applies to all accounts. The amount of Harbinger Crests needed to upgrade is reduced also, but is only available after certain milestones are achieved.

Crests

When upgrading equipment in WoW, players have a couple of choices. Flightstones are an Item Level upgrade that is available to all players for upgrading. Crests are more specific, and are used during specific item level upgrades. Crests are an integral element of the Dragonflight Gear Progression System, which was introduced in version 10.1. They come in four ranks.

The first thing to remember is that crests are only able to be used to purchase equipment of a particular rank, and that each rank has different requirements for its upgrade path. The simplest and easiest upgrade costs 15 crests. The most complex upgrade can require up to 20 crests, depending on the type or equipment being upgraded.

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

Using these new currencies isn't too complicated, but the system introduces some modifications to the upgrade process. For instance, once a piece of equipment reaches the highest level of upgrading for any rank (Explorer, Adventurer, Veteran, Champion, Hero, or Mythic), it won't require Flightstones to be upgraded. This is to allow players to upgrade their equipment to the highest possible ilvl on all their characters, instead of relying only on seasonal loot.

It's also important to use crests with care, since they only have one use. It is best to use your Whelpling-rank Crests on the best gear that you can find, and save Drake and Wyrm Crests for the next set of upgrades. This is particularly applicable to rings and trinkets that fill multiple slots on the character which will only be able to avail the discount for all accounts when all of the slots are filled with high-quality equipment.