15 Reasons Not To Ignore Item Upgrade
WoW Upgrades - The Item Upgrader
Upgrades give a guaranteed boost to specific stats. Each upgrade increases the level of an item by 3. A random substat is also boosted alongside each upgrade.
The upgraded gear is usually more useful, unless the item has low requirements by nature (like FB sorc shields) or has a high variance in stats (like Eth Titan weapons). Upgrades are less important for those with higher variance due to the requirement to roll a perfect version.
Recycle Points
The item upgrader lets players upgrade their gear by offering the currency to an NPC. Upgrades can be applied on any kind of armor or weapons. The item used to upgrade the item is discarded and cannot be used again. Upgrades can also be used to create enhancements.
You can upgrade your gear anytime by visiting the upgrader in any major city. It is recommended that you visit the upgrader every couple of weeks to ensure that your equipment is up to date.
Upgrades will cost more depending on the level of the item however, they are always cheaper than buying new gear. Upgrades like upgrading a Benthic chest to ilvl385 will cost you 20 recycle points. A similar item will cost you 105.
Valorstones
Upgrades are items that are used to level up weapons, tools, armor, and accessories. They can be purchased through NPCs who sell upgrades to item owners for various currencies. They are also available on random treasure lists. Once purchased, an upgrade is able to be applied to any weapon, tool or armor. The button will display the item's next upgrade level, if there are enough materials.
The cost of upgrading varies based on the slot of the item level upgrade (you could look here) and the current level of the item. For instance, weapons will cost more than gloves, bracers or bracers. Each upgrade cost 15 Flightstones and a number of crests, with certain upgrades having a discount to lower the cost of the Flightstones or crests that are used. After an item has been upgraded to a certain degree it is able to be degraded and sold back to the upgrader for a lesser amount of both currency types.
A lot of locations offer upgraders for items, including the main Island and a few outposts. The NPCs provide both an upgrade discount and a chance to get a brand new upgrade item recipe. The discount on upgrades increases as more items are upgraded. It can be increased by having players finish certain achievements or quests.
Contrary to Cromwell in Baldur's Gate II, there is no upgrader for items available at the beginning of Icewind Dale. The NPCs who can facilitate upgrades are available only through a variety means. This is both a positive and a disadvantage.
In Season 3, the upgrade system has been modified a bit, and several new features added. Once a player obtains an upgrade to a certain level of an item for a specific armor slot, upgrading further 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 for upgrades is decreased, and the discount is account-wide. The amount of Harbinger Crests needed to upgrade is cut as well, but is only available once certain milestones are reached.
Crests
When it comes to upgrading equipment in WoW, players have a few choices. Flightstones are an option that is accessible to all players for upgrading. Crests are more specialized, and are used during specific item level upgrades. Crests are the main component of the Dragonflight gear progression system, which was introduced in 10.1 and are available in 4 ranks.
First, you must be aware that crests are only available for equipment that is that is of a particular rank. Each rank has distinct upgrade paths. The simplest and simplest upgrade costs 15 crests. The most complicated upgrade can require up to 20 crests, depending on the type of gear being upgraded.
Players can obtain crests by completing content of the appropriate level, which means walking around and doing outdoor activities for gear of lower tiers, raids or dungeons with all difficulty for items of higher tier, or Mythic+ heroic raid bosses and dungeons to obtain endgame gear. The crests can then be exchanged with an upgrader for the item, such as Cuzolth or Vaskarn in Valdrakken to upgrade the item in the proper steps and routes.
Utilizing these new currencies isn't too difficult, but the system introduces some modifications to the upgrade process. Once a piece of gear has reached the highest level of upgrade for any rank (Explorer or Adventurer), it no longer requires Flightstones. This is to allow players to upgrade their equipment to the highest ilvl possible on all their characters, rather than relying solely on seasonal loot.
Another important modification is that crests have one usage and it's crucial to make use of them in a responsible manner. For instance it's Best item upgrader to utilize all of your Whelpling rank crests on the best equipment available, and then save Drake and Wyrm crests to use for the next set of upgrades you're planning on making. This is particularly relevant for items like trinkets and rings that take up several slots. The discount on the account will only be applicable if all the slots on the character are filled with top-quality gear.