WoW Upgrades - The Item Upgrader
Upgrades give you boosts in specific stats. Each upgrade boosts the level of an item by 3. Each upgrade also increases a random substat.
Upgraded gear is generally more valuable, unless the item level upgrade items - www.buzzbii.com wrote in a blog post - has low requirements by nature (like FB sorc shields) or has a large variance in stats (like Eth Titan weapons). The latter are less valuable from upgrading due to the requirement to roll for a perfect model.
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 armor or weapons. The item used to upgrade the item will be consumed and can't be used again. Upgrades can also be applied to enhancements.
The upgrader can be found in every major city, and is accessible anytime to upgrade your gear. To ensure that your equipment is up-to-date, it is recommended that you visit the upgrader every several weeks.
Upgrades can cost more based on the level of the item, however, they are always cheaper than purchasing new equipment. Upgrades like upgrading a Benthic chest to ilvl385 will cost you 20 recycle points. If you purchase a similar item, it will cost you 105.
Valorstones
Upgrades are useful items which can be used to improve the quality of weapons and tools, armor and other accessories. They can be purchased through NPCs who sell upgrades to item upgrader kit owners for various currencies. They can also find them on random treasure lists. Once an upgrade is purchased, it can be applied to any weapon, tool, or armor using the help of button, which displays an image of the item at the next upgrade level if the player has sufficient materials.
The cost of upgrades varies based on the item slot and the current item level as well as the level of the weapon, which is more than gloves or bracers for instance. Each upgrade cost 15 Flightstones plus a certain number of crests. Some upgrades offer a discount on the Flightstones. After an item has been upgraded to a certain level and is degraded, it can be sold and returned to the upgrader for a lesser amount of both currency types.
Many locations have upgraders for their items, including the main Island and a few outposts. The NPCs provide both an upgrade coupon and the chance to obtain a new recipe. The discount on upgrades increases as more items are upgraded. It can be increased if players finish certain achievements or quests.
Contrary to Cromwell in Baldur's Gate II there is no upgrader for items at the start of Icewind Dale. Instead, the NPCs that can be used to upgrade require various methods, which is both an improvement but also a drawback.
In Season 3, many new features were added to the upgrade system. Once a player obtains an upgrade to a particular level of an item for a specific armor slot, upgrading other items to that same item level will cost less, even in the event that they are part of a different gear set.
The discount applies to all accounts. The amount of Harbinger Crests needed to upgrade is reduced as well, but is only available when certain milestones have been reached.
Crests
Players have several options for upgrading their equipment in WoW. Flightstones are an option that is accessible to all players for upgrading. Crests are more special and are used for specific item level upgrades. Crests are a key element of the Dragonflight gear progression system introduced in 10.1, and come in 4 ranks.
The first thing to remember is that crests are only able to be spent on equipment that is of a particular rank, and each rank has its own requirements for its upgrade path. The simplest and easiest upgrade costs 15 crests. The most complex upgrade can require up to 20 crests, depending on the kind of gear that is being upgraded.
Players can earn crests by completing content of the appropriate level, which involves walking around and performing outdoor activities for gear of lower tiers, raids or dungeons with all difficulty for items of higher tier or Mythic+ heroic raid bosses or dungeons for gear that is used in the endgame. The crests can later be exchanged at an item upgrades upgrader NPC, such as Cuzolth in Dornogal, or Vaskarn in Valdrakken, for the appropriate upgrade routes and steps.
Using these new currencies isn't that difficult however, the system will introduce a few changes to the overall upgrade process. When a piece of equipment attains the highest level of upgrade for any rank (Explorer or Adventurer) it will no longer require Flightstones. This is to allow players to get their equipment up to the highest level possible for all their characters instead of relying on seasonal loot.
Another important modification is that crests have one use therefore it's essential to make use of them in a responsible manner. It is recommended to use your Whelpling-rank Crests on the top-quality equipment you can locate, and keep Drake and Wyrm Crests for the next round of upgrades. This is particularly relevant for rings and trinkets that take up multiple slots on the character which can only be eligible to benefit from the account-wide discount when all slots are filled with high-quality equipment.