WoW Upgrades - The item upgrading Upgrader
Upgrades give you an increase in specific stats. Each upgrade increases the level of an item by 3. Each upgrade also boosts the random substatus.
Upgraded gear is generally more useful, unless the item has low requirements by nature (like FB sorc shields) or a high stat variance (like the eth Titan weapons). Upgrades are less valuable for those with lower requirements due to the requirement to roll an exact version.
Recycle Points
The item upgrader lets players upgrade their gear by transferring the currency to an NPC. Upgrades can be applied to any type of weapon or armor. The item used to upgrade the item will be consumed and cannot be used again. Upgrades can also be used to create the enchantments.
You can upgrade your gear anytime by visiting the upgrader in any major city. To keep your gear up-to-date, it is recommended that you visit the upgrader every couple of weeks.
Upgrades can cost more based on the level of the item however, they are always cheaper than purchasing new equipment. For example, upgrading a Benthic chest piece to 385 ilvl will cost 20 recycle points while purchasing the same item from another player will costs 105.
Valorstones
Upgrades are useful items that are used to level up weapons and tools, armor and other items. They can be purchased by players from item upgraders NPCs in a variety of currencies. They are also available on 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, in the event that there are enough materials.
The cost of upgrades varies based on the item level upgrade (Ongoing) slot and current item upgrade level, with weapons costing more than gloves or bracers, for instance. Each upgrade cost 15 Flightstones and a variety of crests, with certain upgrades offering discounts to lower the cost of the Flightstones or crests used. After an item has been upgraded to a certain degree and is degraded, it can be sold and returned to the upgrader for a lower amount of the two currency types.
Many locations offer item upgraders which include the main island and some outposts. The NPCs provide both an upgrade item discount and the chance to obtain a new upgrade recipe. The discount for upgrading increases when more items are upgraded. It can also be increased by having players complete certain achievements or complete quests.
Unlike Cromwell in Baldur's Gate II is no upgrader for items in the beginning of Icewind Dale. Instead the NPCs that can be used to upgrade require a variety of means that are both an improvement as well as a disadvantage.
In Season 3, several new features were added to the upgrade system. After a player has earned an upgrade to a certain item level for a particular armor slot, upgrading additional items to that same item level upgrade level will be less expensive, even when they belong to a different gear set.
The discount applies to all accounts. The amount of Harbinger Crests needed to upgrade is also reduced and is not available until players have reached certain achievement milestones.
Crests
Players have several options when it comes to upgrading their gear in WoW. Flightstones are a currency that is available to everyone for upgrading. Crests are more specific, and are used during specific item level upgrades. Crests are the main component of the Dragonflight gear progression system that was introduced in 10.1 and are available in four ranks.
The first thing to remember is that crests are only available for gear of a certain rank. Each rank has a different upgrade path. The simplest and simplest upgrade route costs 15 crests while the more complex one requires as many as 20 crests, based on the type of gear that is being upgraded.
Players can earn crests by working through tasks at the appropriate level. This could mean engaging in outdoor activities or taking on dungeons and raids of all difficulty levels to obtain equipment of lower tier or Mythic+ raid bosses or dungeons with heroic difficulty for gear in the endgame. These crests can then be exchanged at an item upgrader NPC, such as Cuzolth in Dornogal, or Vaskarn in Valdrakken, for the appropriate upgrade pathways and steps.
The new currency system isn't complicated to use, but it does bring some modifications to the upgrade process. Once a piece of gear attains the highest level of upgrade for any rank (Explorer or Adventurer), it no longer requires Flightstones. This change is intended to allow players to upgrade their equipment up to the highest level possible on all their characters, rather than relying solely on seasonal loot.
Another notable change is that crests only 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 to be used for the next set of upgrades. This is especially true for items like rings and trinkets that fill multiple slots on the character, which will only be able to benefit from the account-wide discount if all slots are filled with top-quality gear.