14 Common Misconceptions About Item Upgrade
WoW Upgrades - The Item Upgrader
Upgrades give a guaranteed boost to certain stats. Each upgrade boosts the level of an item level upgrade by 3. A random substat is also boosted alongside each upgrade.
The upgraded gear is usually more valuable, unless it 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 important for the latter because of the requirement to roll the perfect 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 weapon or armor. The item used to upgrade the item upgrading will be consumed and can't be used again. Upgrades can also be applied to the enchantments.
The upgrader is located in all major cities, and is accessible anytime to upgrade your equipment. It is recommended to visit the upgrader at least once every few weeks, to ensure that your equipment is up-to-date.
The cost of upgrades will vary based on the current level of the item being upgraded, but will always be less expensive than buying new equipment from other sources. For instance, upgrading a chest piece from Benthic to 385 ilvl will cost 20 recycle points, purchasing a similar piece from another player will costs 105.
Valorstones
Upgrades are items that can be used to upgrade weapons, armor, tools and accessory upgrades. They can be purchased by players through NPCs that sell upgrades to items in exchange for different currencies, and can also be found in random treasure lists. Once purchased, an upgrade can be applied to any tool, weapon, or armor. button, which will display an image of the item at its next upgrade level when the player has enough materials.
Upgrade costs differ based on the slot for the item upgrade and the current level of the item. For example weapons are more expensive than gloves, bracers, or bracers. Each upgrade costs 15 Flightstones and a variety of crests, with certain upgrades having a discount to lower the cost of Flightstones or the crests used. After an item has been upgraded to a certain level it can be re-downgraded and sold to the upgrader at a lower cost.
Many locations offer item upgraders, including the main Island and a few outposts. The NPCs provide both an upgrade coupon as well as the possibility of getting an entirely new recipe. The discount for upgrades increases according to the number of items that are being upgraded. It can also be increased by having players complete some specific achievements or quests.
Icewind Dale does not have an item upgrader at beginning, unlike Cromwell from Baldur's Gate II. The NPCs that can assist with upgrades are only available through a variety of methods. This is both a benefit as well as an issue.
In Season 3, a number of new features were added to the upgrade system. After a player has earned an upgrade to a particular level of an item for a specific armor slot, upgrading additional items to the same level will be less expensive, even in the event that they belong to a different gear set.
The discount applies to all accounts. The amount of Harbinger Crests needed for upgrades is also reduced and is not available until players have reached certain milestones in their achievements.
Crests
Players have a variety of options when it comes to upgrading their equipment in WoW. Flightstones are an option that is accessible to everyone for upgrading. Crests are more specific, and are used during specific Best item upgrade level upgrades. Crests are a key element of the Dragonflight gear progression system, which was introduced in 10.1 and are available in four ranks.
The first thing to note is that crests are only able to be spent on equipment that is of a particular rank, and each rank has different requirements for its upgrade path. The simplest and easiest upgrade is 15 crests. The most complicated upgrade requires up to 20 crests, based on the type or equipment being upgraded.
Players can earn crests through finishing content at the appropriate level. This could be done by doing outdoor activities or taking on dungeons and raids of any difficulty to earn lower-level gear or Mythic+ raid bosses or dungeons that have a high difficulty for gear in the endgame. These crests can be exchanged with an upgrader for the item like Cuzolth or Vaskarn, in Valdrakken for the appropriate upgrade steps and routes.
The new currency system isn't too difficult to use, but it will bring some changes to the upgrade process. Once a piece of gear attains the highest level of upgrade for any rank (Explorer or Adventurer) it will no longer require Flightstones. This change allows players to upgrade their equipment to the highest level possible for all their characters rather than relying on seasonal loot.
Another significant change is that crests only have one purpose, so it's important to make use of them in a responsible manner. It is recommended to use your Whelpling-rank crests on the top-quality equipment you can find and keep Drake and Wyrm Crests for the next set of upgrades. This is particularly relevant for rings and trinkets that take up multiple slots on the character, which can only be eligible to benefit from the account-wide discount if all of the slots are filled with high-quality gear.