WoW Upgrades - The Item Upgrader
Upgrades will give you a boost to specific stats. Each upgrade increases the level of an item by +3. A random additional substat is also added to every upgrade.
The upgraded gear is usually more valuable, unless it has low requirements by nature (like FB sorc shields) or has a high variance in stats (like the eth Titan weapons). Upgrades aren't as useful for those with lower requirements due to the requirement to roll a perfect version.
Recycle Points
The upgrader for items allows players to upgrade gear to a higher level by supplying the appropriate currency to the NPC. Upgrades can be applied to any kind of armor or weapons. The item used to upgrade the item upgrader mod will be consumed and can't be used again. Upgrades can also be applied to enchantments.
The upgrader can be found in all major cities, and can be visited anytime to upgrade your gear. To keep your gear current, it is recommended that you visit the upgrader every few weeks.
The cost of upgrading will vary based on the current item level Upgrade level of the gear being upgraded however, they will always be cheaper than buying new gear from other sources. For instance, upgrading a chest piece from Benthic to ilvl 385 will cost 20 recycle points, while buying a similar item from a different player will cost 105.
Valorstones
Upgrades are useful items that can be used to level up weapons, tools, armor, and other accessories. They are purchased by players from NPCs that sell upgrades to items in exchange for different currencies, and can be found in random treasure lists. Once purchased, an upgrade is able to be applied to any weapon, tool or armor. button, which will show an item's preview at its next upgrade level if the player has sufficient materials.
The cost of upgrading varies based on the slot for the Best item upgrade and the current item level. For example weapons are more expensive than gloves, bracers, or bracers. Each step costs 15 Flightstones plus a certain number of crests. Certain upgrades provide discounts on Flightstones. Once an item upgrader mod is upgraded to a certain level, it can be degraded and returned to the upgrader for a lower amount of the two currency types.
Upgraders for items can be found in many places on the main island, as well as a few outposts. The NPCs provide both an upgrade discount as well as a chance to get a brand new upgrade recipe. The discount on upgrades increases with the number of items that are being upgraded. It can also be increased by having players complete specific achievements or complete quests.
Icewind Dale does not have an upgrader for items at the beginning unlike Cromwell from Baldur's Gate II. Instead, the NPCs that can be used to upgrade require various methods, which is both an improvement and a drawback.
In Season 3, a number of new features were added to the upgrade system. After a player has upgraded to a specific level for an armor slot upgrading other items to the same item level, will cost less. This applies regardless of whether the items come from another set of gear.
The discount is applicable to all accounts. In the same way, the amount of Harbinger Crests needed for upgrades is also cut and is not available until players achieve certain milestones in their achievements.
Crests
Players have a number of choices when it comes to upgrading their gear in WoW. Flightstones are a currency that is available to all players for upgrading. Crests are more specific and are utilized during specific item upgrader mod level upgrades. Crests are the main component of the Dragonflight gear progression system that was introduced in 10.1, and come in four ranks.
The first thing to note is that crests are only able to be used on equipment of a particular rank, and that each rank has its own requirements for upgrading. The most basic and straightforward upgrade process costs just 15 crests while the most complex may require as many as 20 crests based on the type of equipment that is being upgraded.
Players can obtain crests by working through content that is of the appropriate level, whether that involves walking around and engaging in outdoor activities for lower-tier gear, raids or dungeons of all difficulties for higher-tier items or Mythic+ heroic raid bosses or dungeons for endgame gear. These crests can then be exchanged at an upgrader NPC, like Cuzolth in Dornogal, or Vaskarn in Valdrakken to get the appropriate upgrade paths and steps.
The new currency system isn't too difficult to use, however it brings some changes to the upgrade process. For example, once a piece of equipment reaches the highest upgrade level of any rank (Explorer, Adventurer, Veteran, Champion, Hero, or Mythic), it won't need Flightstones to be upgraded. This change allows players to upgrade their equipment to the highest level possible on all of their characters rather than relying on seasonal loot.
Another important modification is that crests have one use, so it's important to make use of them in a responsible manner. For instance, it's a good idea to use all of your Whelpling-rank crests on the Best item upgrade equipment you have and then save Drake and Wyrm crests for the next batch of upgrades you're planning to make. This is especially applicable to trinkets and rings that occupy multiple slots on the character which can only be eligible to benefit from the account-wide discount when all of the slots are filled with top-quality gear.