Buzzwords De-Buzzed: 10 Other Ways To Say Item Upgrade

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WoW Upgrades - The Item Upgrader

Upgrades provide a guaranteed boost to specific stats. Each upgrade increases the level of an item by 3. A random additional substat is also increased with every upgrade.

Upgraded gear generally sees more value in trade, unless it has inherently low requirements (like the FB sorc's shield) or very high stat variation (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 allows players to upgrade their gear by giving the currency to an NPC. Upgrades can be applied to any type of weapon or armor. However, the item that is used to upgrade will be consumed for the duration of time and cannot be used again. Upgrades can also be used to create enhancements.

The upgrader can be found in every major city, and is accessible anytime to upgrade your gear. To keep your gear up-to-date it is recommended you visit the upgrader each several weeks.

The cost of upgrades will vary based on the current item level of the item being upgraded, but will always be cheaper than buying new gear from other sources. For instance upgrading a Benthic chest piece to ilvl 385 will cost 20 recycle points purchasing a similar piece from a different player will cost 105.

Valorstones

Upgrades are useful items which can be used to level up weapons, tools, armor, and other accessories. Players can purchase them from NPCs of item upgraders in a variety of currencies. They can also find them on random treasure lists. Once an upgrade is purchased it can be used on any weapon, tool, or armor using a button, which will show an item's preview at the next upgrade level in the event that the player has enough materials.

The cost of upgrading varies based on the slot for the item and the current level of the item. For example weapons are more expensive than gloves, bracers or bracers. Each step costs 15 Flightstones and a variety of crests, with certain upgrades offering discounts to reduce the cost of the Flightstones or crests that are used. After an Item Level upgrade has been upgraded to a certain degree it can be re-downgraded and sold to the upgrader at a lower price.

A lot of locations offer upgraders for items, including the main Island and some outposts. The NPCs provide an upgrade discount as well as a chance to obtain a new upgrade recipe. The discount for upgrades increases with the number of items that are being upgraded. It can also be increased by having players complete some specific achievements or quests.

Icewind Dale does not have an item upgrader at beginning unlike Cromwell from Baldur's gate II. Instead, the NPCs that are available to help with upgrades are acquired via several methods which is both an improvement and a drawback.

In Season 3, the upgrade system was tweaked a bit, with numerous new features added. Once a player obtains an upgrade to a particular level for an item in an armor slot, upgrading additional items to that same item level will cost less even in the event that they are part of an entirely different set of gear.

The amount of Valorstones required for upgrades is decreased, and the discount is account-wide. The amount of Harbinger Crests needed to upgrade is reduced too, but it is only available when certain milestones are reached.

Crests

When upgrading equipment in WoW players have a few options. Flightstones are an item that is available to everyone for upgrading. Crests are more specific, and are used during specific item level upgrades. Crests are a crucial element of the Dragonflight Gear Progression System introduced in version 10.1. They are available in four ranks.

The first thing to be aware of is that crests can only be used on equipment of a particular rank, and each rank has different requirements for its upgrade path. The most basic and straightforward upgrade path costs 15 crests, while the most complicated requires as many as 20 crests based on the type of gear being upgraded.

Players can earn crests by completing content at the appropriate level. This could mean doing outdoor activities or doing dungeons or raids in all difficulty levels to obtain lower-tier gear or Mythicbosses for raids, or dungeons with heroic difficulty to obtain endgame gear. The crests can later be exchanged at an upgrader NPC, such as Cuzolth in Dornogal, or Vaskarn in Valdrakken to get the appropriate upgrade paths and steps.

The new currency system isn't difficult to use, but it does bring some changes to the process of upgrading. When a piece has reached the highest level of upgrade items for any rank (Explorer or Adventurer), it no longer requires Flightstones. This change is designed to allow players to get their equipment to the highest ilvl possible for all their characters instead of relying only on seasonal loot.

Another significant modification is that crests have one use, so it's important to use them wisely. For instance, it's a good idea use all of your Whelpling-rank crests on the Best item upgrader equipment you have, and then save Drake and Wyrm crests for the next round of upgrades you plan on making. This is especially applicable to rings and trinkets that take up multiple slots on the character that will be able to avail the account-wide discount when all of the slots are filled with top-quality equipment.