14 Common Misconceptions About Item Upgrade
WoW Upgrades - The Item Upgrader
Upgrades will give you a boost to certain stats. Each upgrade increases the level of an item upgrader mod by 3. A random extra substat is also increased with every upgrade.
Upgraded gear is generally more valuable, unless the item has a low requirement by nature (like FB sorc shields) or has a large variance in stats (like Eth Titan weapons). Upgrades are not as important for the latter 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 weapon or armor. However, the item that is used for the upgrade items will be consumed for the duration of time and cannot be used again. Upgrades can also be applied to enhancements.
You can upgrade your gear anytime by visiting the upgrader in any major city. To keep your gear up-to-date it is recommended you visit the upgrader each several weeks.
The cost of upgrading will depend on the current level of the item being upgraded however, they will always be cheaper than purchasing new gear from other sources. For instance upgrading a chest piece from Benthic to 385 levels will cost 20 recycle points, while purchasing the same item from a different player will cost 105.
Valorstones
Upgrades are items that can be used for weapon, armor, tool and accessory upgrades. They can be purchased by players through NPCs that sell upgrades to items in exchange for a variety of currencies, and can also be found in random treasure lists. Once purchased, an upgrade can be applied to any weapon, tool, or armor. button, which displays an image of the item when it is upgraded in the event that the player has enough materials.
The cost of upgrades varies based on the item slot and the current level of the item, with weapons costing more than gloves or bracers for example. Each upgrade costs 15 Flightstones plus a set number of crests. Some upgrades give discounts on Flightstones. Once an item is upgraded to a certain degree it is able to be downgraded and sold to the upgrader at a lower cost.
A lot of locations offer upgraders for items which include the main island and a few outposts. The NPCs provide an upgrade discount as well as a chance to acquire a new upgrade recipe. The upgrade discount increases when more items are upgraded. It can be increased if players finish certain achievements or quests.
Icewind Dale does not have an item level upgrade (click4r.com`s statement on its official blog) upgrader at the beginning, unlike Cromwell from Baldur's Gate II. Instead the NPCs that are available to facilitate upgrades are acquired via a variety of means which is both an improvement but also a drawback.
In Season 3, a number of new features have been added to the upgrade system. After the player has upgraded to a certain level of item for an armor slot, upgrading other items to the same level will cost less. This is true even if the items come from a different set of equipment.
The amount of Valorstones needed for upgrades is reduced, and the discount is available across all accounts. Similarly, the amount of Harbinger Crests required for upgrades is also reduced and is not available until players reach certain achievement milestones.
Crests
When upgrading gear in WoW players have a variety of choices. Flightstones are a currency that is available to everyone who wants to upgrade. Crests are more special, and are used during specific item level upgrades. Crests are a crucial component of the Dragonflight Gear Progression System introduced in version 10.1. They come in four ranks.
The first thing to note is that crests are only able to be used on gear of a specific rank, and that each rank has its own requirements for upgrading. The most basic and straightforward upgrade path costs 15 crests, while the most complicated may require as many as 20 crests based on the type of equipment that is being upgraded.
Players can earn crests by finishing tasks at the appropriate level. This could be done by engaging in outdoor activities or doing dungeons or raids in any difficulty to earn lower-level gear or Mythic+ raid bosses or dungeons that have a high difficulty for gear in the endgame. The crests can later be exchanged at an upgrader NPC, such as Cuzolth in Dornogal or Vaskarn in Valdrakken to obtain the appropriate upgrade routes and steps.
Using these new currencies isn't that difficult however, the system introduces some modifications to the upgrade item process. For instance, when an item upgrading reaches the highest upgrade level of any rank (Explorer, Adventurer, Veteran, Champion, Hero, or Mythic) it will no longer require Flightstones to be upgraded. This change is designed to allow players to upgrade their gear up to the highest ilvl possible on all their characters instead of relying only on seasonal loot.
Another notable change is that crests only have one purpose therefore it's essential to use them properly. For instance it's a good idea to utilize all of your Whelpling rank crests on the top equipment available and then keep Drake and Wyrm crests for the next batch of upgrades you're planning to make. This is particularly applicable to rings and trinkets that fill multiple slots on the character which can only be eligible to benefit from the discount for all accounts when all slots are full of high-quality gear.