Responsible For The Item Upgrade Budget 12 Ways To Spend Your Money
WoW Upgrades - The Item Upgrader
Upgrades give a guaranteed boost to certain stats. Each upgrade boosts the level of an item by 3. A random additional substat is also boosted alongside every upgrade.
Upgraded gear is generally more valuable, unless it has low requirements by nature (like FB sorc shields) or has a high variance in stats (like eth Titan weapons). Upgrades aren't as valuable for those with lower requirements due to the requirement to roll an exact version.
Recycle Points
The item upgrader enables players to upgrade gear to a higher level by supplying the appropriate currency to the NPC. Upgrades can be applied to any type of weapon or armor. However, the item used to upgrade will be consumed for the duration of time and will not be able to be used again. Upgrades can also be used to create enhancements.
The upgrader can be found in all major cities, and can be accessed at any time to upgrade your gear. To keep your gear current, it is recommended that you visit the upgrader each several weeks.
Upgrades will cost more depending on the level of the item however, they are always cheaper than purchasing new equipment. For example upgrading a chest piece from Benthic to 385 ilvl will cost 20 recycle points while buying a similar item from a different player will cost 105.
Valorstones
Upgrades are functional items that can be used to improve the quality of weapons and tools, armor and other items. They can be bought by players through NPCs who sell upgrades for items in exchange for various currencies, and can be found in random treasure lists. Once purchased, an upgrade is able to be applied to any weapon, tool, or armor. The button will display the preview of an item's next upgrade level if there are enough materials.
Upgrade costs differ based on the slot of the item and the current item level. For example weapons are more expensive than gloves, bracers, or bracers. Each upgrade costs 15 Flightstones and a few crests, with certain upgrades offering discounts to reduce the cost of the Flightstones or crests used. Once an item has been upgraded to a certain amount it is able to be degraded and returned to the upgrader for a lesser amount of both currency types.
Many locations have upgraders for their items which include the main island and a few outposts. The NPCs offer an upgrade coupon and a chance to obtain the latest recipe. The discount on upgrades increases depending on the amount of items being upgraded. It can also be boosted by having players complete specific achievements or complete quests.
Icewind Dale does not have an upgrader for items at the start unlike Cromwell from Baldur's gate II. Instead the NPCs that are available to facilitate upgrades must be acquired through a variety of means, which is both an improvement as well as a disadvantage.
In Season 3 the upgrade system was altered a bit, with several new features added. After a player has upgraded to a certain item level for an armor slot upgrading other items to the same item level will cost less. This applies even if those items are from another set of equipment.
The amount of Valorstones needed for upgrades is decreased, and the discount is available across 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 several choices when it comes to upgrading their gear in WoW. They can make use of Flightstones, which are a common upgrade currency that is accessible to all players, or crests that are more specific and used to upgrade specific item levels. Crests are an important part of the Dragonflight Gear Progression System, which was introduced in version 10.1. They are available in four ranks.
The first thing to be aware of is that crests are only able to be used to purchase equipment of a particular rank, and every rank has different requirements for its upgrade path. The most basic and straightforward upgrade process costs just 15 crests while the more complex one can require as much as 20 crests based on the kind of gear that is being upgraded.
Players can earn crests through completing tasks at the appropriate level. This could mean doing outdoor activities or completing dungeons and raids in all difficulty levels to obtain lower-tier gear or Mythic+ raid bosses or dungeons with a heroic difficulty to obtain endgame gear. The crests can then be exchanged with an item upgrade r, such as Cuzolth or Vaskarn in Valdrakken for the appropriate upgrade steps and paths.
The use of these currencies isn't that difficult however, the system does introduce some modifications to the upgrade process. For instance, once a piece of equipment reaches the highest level of upgrading for 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 equipment to the highest ilvl possible for all their characters rather than relying solely on seasonal loot.
It's also important to use crests in a wise manner, as they have only one purpose. For instance it's a good idea to use all of your Whelpling-rank crests on the best gear you have available and save Drake and Wyrm crests for the next round of upgrades you plan to make. This is especially applicable to items like rings and trinkets that occupy several slots. The account-wide discount will only apply when all the slots on the character are filled with top-quality equipment.