WoW Upgrades - The Item Upgrader
Upgrades can give you boost in specific statistics. Each upgrade increases the level of an item by 3. Each upgrade also boosts an unspecified substat.
The more modernized gear generally has a greater value for trade, unless it has inherently low requirements (like the FB sorc's shield) or has a high stat variation (like the eth titan weapons). Upgrades are less valuable for the latter due to the need 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 made on any kind of armor or weapons. However, the item used to upgrade will remain in use for a long time and will not be able to be used again. Upgrades can also be used to create the enchantments.
You can upgrade your gear at any time by visiting the upgrader in any major city. It is recommended to visit the upgrader at least once every few weeks to keep your equipment up to date.
The cost of upgrading will vary based on the current item level of the gear 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 purchasing a similar piece from another player will cost 105.
Valorstones
Upgrades are items that can be used for weapons, armor, tools and accessory upgrades. Players can purchase them through NPCs who sell upgrades to item upgrades owners for a variety of currencies. They can also find them on random treasure lists. Once an upgrade has been purchased, it can be applied to any weapon, tool, or armor with an button, which displays an image of the item at its next upgrade level in the event that the player has enough materials.
The cost of upgrading is based on the slot of the item and the current level of the item and the weapon's price is higher than gloves or bracers for instance. Each step costs 15 Flightstones plus a set number of crests. Certain upgrades provide discounts on Flightstones. Once an item is upgraded to a certain amount, it can be downgraded and sold to the upgrader for a lower price.
Upgraders for items can be found in a variety of locations including the main island, as well as a few outposts. The NPCs offer an upgrade coupon as well as the possibility of getting a new recipe. The discount for upgrading increases when more items are upgraded. It can be increased by having players finish certain achievements or quests.
Unlike Cromwell in Baldur's Gate II is no item upgrader available in the beginning of Icewind Dale. The NPCs that can assist with upgrades are available only via a variety of ways. This is both a benefit as well as an issue.
In Season 3, many new features were added to the upgrade system. After an upgrade has been completed 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 an entirely different set of gear.
The amount of Valorstones required for upgrades is reduced, and the discount is account-wide. In the same way, the amount of Harbinger Crests needed to upgrade is also reduced and is not available until players achieve certain achievement milestones.
Crests
When it comes to upgrading gear in WoW, players have a couple of options. Flightstones are an item level upgrade items; Dananxun blog post, that is available to everyone who wants to upgrade. Crests are more specialized, and are used during specific item level upgrades. Crests are a crucial part of the Dragonflight Gear Progression System introduced in version 10.1. They come in four ranks.
The first thing to remember is that crests are only able to be used to purchase gear of a specific rank, and every rank has different requirements for its upgrade path. The most basic and straightforward upgrade path costs 15 crests, while the most complex can require as much as 20 crests based on the type of equipment being upgraded.
Players can obtain crests by working through content that is of the appropriate level, which means walking around and doing outdoor activities to get lower-tier gear, raids or dungeons of all difficulty for items of higher tier or Mythic+ dungeons or heroic raid bosses for gear that is used in the endgame. These crests are then exchanged with an upgrader for the Best item upgrade, such as Cuzolth or Vaskarn, in Valdrakken for the appropriate upgrade steps and pathways.
The new currency system isn't complicated to use, but it does bring some changes to the process of upgrading. For example, once a piece of equipment reaches the highest level of upgrade for any rank (Explorer, Adventurer, Veteran, Champion, Hero, or Mythic) it won't need Flightstones to be upgraded. This change lets players upgrade their gear to the highest possible level for all their characters instead of relying on seasonal loot.
It's also important to use crests in a wise manner, as they only have one use. For instance it's Best item upgrade to utilize all of your Whelpling rank crests on the top equipment available, and then keep Drake and Wyrm crests for the next batch of upgrades you're planning to create. This is especially true for items such as trinkets and rings that take up several slots. The account-wide discount will only apply when all slots on the character are filled with high-quality gear.