WoW Upgrades - The Item Upgrader
Upgrades give you an increase in certain statistics. Each upgrade increases the level of an item by +3. A random additional substat is also increased with each upgrade.
Upgraded gear is generally more valuable, unless the item is not required by nature (like FB sorc shields) or a high stat variance (like eth Titan weapons). Upgrades aren't as valuable for those with higher variance because of the requirement to roll a perfect version.
Recycle Points
The item upgrade (try these guys) upgrader allows players to upgrade gear to a higher item level by providing the appropriate currency to the NPC. Upgrades can be applied to any kind of weapon or armor. The item used to upgrade the item will be consumed and cannot be used again. Upgrades can be used to create enchantments.
The upgrader is located in all major cities, and is accessible at any time to upgrade your gear. It is recommended to visit the upgrader every few weeks to keep your equipment up to date.
The cost of upgrading will be based on the current level of the gear being upgraded, but will always be less expensive than purchasing new gear from other sources. For instance upgrading a Benthic chest 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 accessories. They can be bought by players through item upgrader NPCs in exchange for different currencies, and can be found in random treasure lists. Once purchased, an upgrade can be applied to any weapon, tool or armor. The button will show a preview of an item's next upgrade level, when there are enough materials.
The cost of upgrading is based on the slot of the item and current item level, with weapons costing more than gloves or bracers for instance. Each upgrade cost 15 Flightstones and a number of crests, with some upgrades offering discounts to reduce the cost of the Flightstones or crests that are used. After an item has been upgraded to a certain amount it can be re-downgraded and sold to the upgrader at a lower cost.
Item upgraders can be found in many places, including the main island, as well as a few outposts. The NPCs provide both an upgrade discount and the chance to acquire a new upgrade recipe. The discount for upgrades increases according to the number of items being upgraded. It is also possible to be increased by having players complete some specific achievements or quests.
Unlike Cromwell in Baldur's Gate II is no item upgrader available in the beginning of Icewind Dale. Instead, the NPCs that can be used to upgrade must be acquired through several methods which is both an improvement as well as a disadvantage.
In Season 3, several new features were added to the upgrade system. After the player has upgraded to a certain level of item for an armor slot upgrading other items to the same level, will cost less. This is even if those items are from an entirely different set of equipment.
The amount of Valorstones needed to upgrade is reduced and the discount is account-wide. The amount of Harbinger Crests required for upgrades is also cut and is not available until players reach certain achievement milestones.
Crests
Players have a number of choices when it comes to upgrading their equipment in WoW. They can use Flightstones that are a general upgrade currency that is available to everyone players, or crests, which are more specialized and consumed during upgrades at specific levels of items. Crests are a crucial element of the Dragonflight Gear Progression System, which was introduced in version 10.1. They are available in four ranks.
The first thing to be aware of is that crests are only able to be spent on gear of a specific rank, and that each rank has different requirements for upgrading. The simplest and easiest upgrade costs 15 crests. The most complex upgrade requires up to 20 crests, based on the type of equipment that is being upgraded.
Players can earn crests through working through tasks at the appropriate level. This could mean doing outdoor activities or completing dungeons and raids in all difficulty levels to obtain equipment of lower tier or Mythic+ raid bosses or dungeons that have a high difficulty for endgame gear. The crests can then be exchanged with an item upgrader such as Cuzolth or Vaskarn, in Valdrakken to upgrade the item upgrading in the proper steps and routes.
The use of these currencies isn't too difficult however, the system does introduce some changes to the overall upgrade items process. For instance, when a piece of equipment reaches the highest upgrade level of any rank (Explorer, Adventurer, Veteran, Champion, Hero, or Mythic) it won't require Flightstones to be upgraded. This change lets players upgrade their gear to the highest level possible for all their characters rather than relying on seasonal loot.
Another notable modification is that crests have one use therefore it's essential to make use of them in a responsible manner. For instance it's a good idea to utilize all of your Whelpling rank crests with the Best item upgrade equipment you have and then save Drake and Wyrm crests for the next round of upgrades you're planning to make. This is particularly applicable to items like trinkets and rings that fill several slots. The discount for the entire account is only applicable when all the slots on the character are filled with high-quality gear.