The Largest Issue That Comes With Item Upgrade, And How You Can Fix It
WoW Upgrades - The Item Upgrader
Upgrades give you boosts in certain stats. Each upgrade boosts the level of the item by +3. A random substat is also increased with every upgrade.
Upgraded gear generally sees higher trade value regardless of whether it has low requirements (like the FB sorc's shield) or very high stat variance (like Eth titan weapons). The latter see 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 giving the currency to an NPC. Upgrades can be applied to any type of weapon or armor. The item used to upgrade the item is discarded and cannot be used again. Upgrades can be applied to enchantments.
You can upgrade your equipment at any time by visiting the upgrader in any major city. To keep your gear current it is recommended you visit the upgrader each several weeks.
The cost of upgrades will be based on the current level of the item being upgraded but they will always be less expensive than buying new equipment from other sources. For instance upgrading a Benthic chest piece to ilvl 385 will cost 20 recycle points while purchasing the same item from another player will cost 105.
Valorstones
Upgrades are items that can be used to upgrade weapons, armor, tools, and accessory upgrades. Players can purchase them from item upgrader s NPCs for various currencies. They are also available on random treasure lists. Once purchased, an upgrade is able to be used on any tool, weapon, or armor. button, which will display an image of the item at the next upgrade level if the player has sufficient materials.
The cost of upgrading varies based on the slot of the item and the current item level. For example weapons cost more than bracers, or gloves. Each upgrade cost 15 Flightstones plus a specific number of crests. Certain upgrades provide a discount on the Flightstones. Once an item has been upgraded to a certain degree it is able to be downgraded and sold to the upgrader at a lower price.
Upgraders for items are available in a variety of locations including the main island, as well as a few outposts. The NPCs offer both an upgrade coupon and the possibility of obtaining the latest recipe. The upgrade discount increases as more items are upgraded. It can also be increased by having players complete certain achievements or complete quests.
Icewind Dale does not have an item upgrader at beginning, unlike Cromwell from Baldur's gate II. The NPCs who are able to facilitate upgrades are only available through a variety means. This is both a positive and a disadvantage.
In Season 3 the upgrade system was tweaked a bit, with some new features added. When a player has an upgrade to a particular item level for a particular armor slot, upgrading other items to that level will be less expensive, even when they belong to another set of gear.
The amount of Valorstones required to upgrade is reduced and the discount is affixed to all accounts. The amount of Harbinger Crests needed for upgrades is reduced also, but is only available after certain milestones are achieved.
Crests
When it comes to upgrading equipment in WoW, players have a couple of options. Flightstones are a currency that is available to all players for upgrading. Crests are more special and are utilized during specific level upgrades for items. Crests are an essential part of the Dragonflight gear progression system introduced in 10.1 and are available in 4 ranks.
The first thing to remember is that Crests are only available to gear that is of a particular rank. Each rank comes with a different upgrade path. The most basic and straightforward upgrade path costs 15 crests, while the most complicated may require as many as 20 crests based on the kind of gear that is being upgraded.
Players can obtain crests by working through content that is of the appropriate level, whether that means walking around and doing outdoor activities for lower-tier gear, raids or dungeons with all difficulty for items of higher tier, or Mythic+ heroic raid bosses and dungeons to obtain endgame gear. These crests can be exchanged with an item upgrader such as Cuzolth or Vaskarn in Valdrakken for the appropriate upgrade steps and pathways.
The new currency system isn't difficult to use, but it does bring some changes to the process of upgrading. When a piece attains the highest level of upgrade for any rank (Explorer or Adventurer) it no longer requires Flightstones. This change allows players to upgrade their equipment to the highest possible ilvl on all of their characters rather than relying on seasonal loot.
Another significant change is that crests only have one purpose and it's crucial to make use of them in a responsible manner. It's best to use your Whelpling-rank crests on the best gear that you can find and keep Drake and Wyrm Crests to be used for the next set of upgrades. This is particularly applicable to trinkets and rings that occupy multiple slots on the character that will be able to avail the discount for all accounts when all slots are filled with top-quality gear.