What's Holding Back The Item Upgrade Industry?

WoW Upgrades - The Item Upgrader

Upgrades give a guaranteed boost to specific stats. Each upgrade boosts the item Level upgrade level by +3. Each upgrade also boosts a random substat.

Upgraded gear generally sees higher trade value regardless of whether it has low requirements (like the FB shield of the sorc) or a very high stat variance (like the eth titan weapons). These types of gear get less value from upgrading due to the necessity to roll to get a perfect version.

Recycle Points

The item upgrader lets players upgrade their gear by offering the currency to an NPC. Upgrades can be applied to any type of armor or weapon. The item used to upgrade the item will be consumed and can't be used again. Upgrades can also be applied to enchantments.

The upgrader can be found in every major city, and can be visited anytime to upgrade your equipment. It is recommended to visit the upgrader once every couple of weeks to ensure that your equipment is up-to-date.

The cost of upgrading will be based on the current item level of the equipment being upgraded, but will always be less expensive than buying new equipment from other sources. Upgrades like upgrading a Benthic chest up to ilvl385 will cost you 20 recycle points. If you purchase a similar item upgrading, it will cost you 105.

Valorstones

Upgrades are items which can be used to level up weapons tools, armor, and other items. They can be purchased by players from item upgrader NPCs in exchange for different currencies, and may also be found in random treasure lists. Once purchased, an upgrade is able to be used on any weapon, tool or armor. The button will display a preview of an item's next level of upgrade, if there are enough materials.

The cost of upgrading is based on the item upgrading slot and current item level and the weapon's price is higher than gloves or bracers, for example. Each step costs 15 Flightstones and a number of crests, with some upgrades having a discount to reduce the cost of Flightstones or crests used. After an item has been upgraded to a certain level, it can be degraded and returned to the upgrader for a lower amount of both currencies.

A lot of locations offer upgraders for items which include the main island and a few outposts. The NPCs provide both an upgrade coupon and a chance to obtain a new recipe. The upgrade discount increases depending on the amount of items that are being upgraded, and can be boosted by having players complete some specific achievements or complete quests.

Contrary to Cromwell in Baldur's Gate II is no upgrader for items available in the beginning of Icewind Dale. Instead, the NPCs that can be used to upgrade require several methods that are both an improvement but also a drawback.

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

The amount of Valorstones required for upgrades is decreased, and the discount is account-wide. The amount of Harbinger Crests required to upgrade items is also reduced and is not available until players reach certain milestones in their achievement.

Crests

When it comes to upgrading gear in WoW, players have a variety of choices. Flightstones are an item that is available to all players for upgrading. Crests are more special, and are used during specific item level upgrades. Crests are an important element of the Dragonflight Gear Progression System, which was introduced in version 10.1. They are available in four ranks.

The first thing to remember is that crests can only be used on gear of a specific rank, and each rank has its own requirements for its upgrade path. The simplest and most straightforward upgrade path costs 15 crests, while the most complicated requires as many as 20 crests depending on the type of gear being upgraded.

Players can obtain crests by working through content that is of the appropriate level, which means walking around and doing outdoor activities for gear of lower tiers, raids or dungeons of all difficulty for items of higher tier, or Mythic+ heroic raid bosses and dungeons to obtain endgame gear. These crests can then be exchanged at an item upgrader NPC, such as Cuzolth in Dornogal, or Vaskarn in Valdrakken to get the appropriate upgrade pathways and steps.

Using these new currencies isn't too difficult however, the system introduces some changes to the overall upgrade process. For instance, once an item is at the highest level of upgrade for any rank (Explorer, Adventurer, Veteran, Champion, Hero, or Mythic), it won't require Flightstones to be upgraded. This allows players to upgrade their gear to the highest possible level on all their characters instead of relying on seasonal loot.

It's also important to use crests wisely, as they only have one use. For instance, it's a good idea to make use of all your Whelpling-rank crests with the Best item upgrade gear you have available, and then save Drake and Wyrm crests to use for the next set of upgrades you're planning on making. This is especially true for items like trinkets and rings that occupy multiple slots on the character that will be able to benefit from the account-wide discount if all of the slots are full of high-quality gear.