WoW Upgrades - The Item Upgrader
Upgrades give you boost in certain statistics. Each upgrade increases the level of an item by +3. Each upgrade item also increases the random substatus.
Upgraded gear is generally more valuable, unless it has a low requirement 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 lets players upgrade their gear by giving 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 can't be used again. Upgrades can also be applied to enchantments.
The upgrader is located in all major cities and is accessible at any time to upgrade your equipment. It is recommended that you visit the upgrader every few weeks, to ensure that your equipment is up-to-date.
The cost of upgrades will depend on the current level of the gear being upgraded, but will always be less expensive than buying new gear from other sources. For example upgrading a chest piece from Benthic to 385 ilvl will cost 20 recycle points, purchasing a similar piece from another player will cost 105.
Valorstones
Upgrades are items that can be used to improve the quality of weapons and tools, armor and accessories. They can be purchased from NPCs of item upgrades upgraders for various currencies. They can also find them in random treasure lists. Once purchased, an upgrade can be applied to any weapon, tool, or armor. button, which will show 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 level Upgrade slot and current item level, with weapons costing more than gloves or bracers, for instance. Each step costs 15 Flightstones and a variety of crests, with certain upgrades offering discounts to lower the cost of Flightstones or the crests used. Once an item is upgraded to a certain level, it can be degraded and sold back to the upgrader for a lesser amount of both currencies.
Upgraders for items can be found in a variety of locations on the main island, as well as a few outposts. The NPCs offer an upgrade coupon and a chance to obtain an entirely new recipe. The upgrade discount increases as more items are upgraded. It can be increased if players finish certain achievements or quests.
Icewind Dale does not have an upgrader for items at the start, unlike Cromwell from Baldur's Gate II. The NPCs who can facilitate upgrades are available only through a variety of methods. This is both a benefit and a disadvantage.
In Season 3, the upgrade system has been modified a bit, and some new features added. After a player has earned an upgrade to a specific level for an item in an armor slot, upgrading further items to the same level will cost less, even when they belong to another set of gear.
The amount of Valorstones needed to upgrade is reduced and the discount is available across all accounts. 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
Players have a variety of options for upgrading their gear in WoW. Flightstones are an item that is available to everyone for upgrading. Crests are more specialized, and are used during specific item level upgrades. Crests are a crucial element of the Dragonflight Gear Progression System that was introduced in version 10.1. They are available in four ranks.
First, you should know that crests are only available for equipment that is of a certain rank. Each rank has distinct upgrade paths. The most basic and straightforward upgrade route costs 15 crests while the most complicated may require as many as 20 crests depending on the kind of gear that is being upgraded.
Players can earn crests by working through tasks at the appropriate level. This could be done by doing outdoor activities or doing dungeons or raids in all difficulty levels to obtain lower-level gear or Mythic+ raid bosses or dungeons with heroic difficulty to obtain endgame gear. Crests can be exchanged at an upgrader NPC, like Cuzolth in Dornogal or Vaskarn in Valdrakken, for the appropriate upgrade routes and steps.
Utilizing these new currencies isn't too complicated, but the system introduces some changes to the overall upgrade process. When a piece of equipment reaches the highest level of upgrade for any rank (Explorer or Adventurer) it no longer requires Flightstones. This is to allow players to upgrade their equipment up to the highest ilvl possible on all their characters, instead of relying only on seasonal loot.
Another important change is that crests only have one use therefore it's essential to use them wisely. For instance it's a good idea to use all of your Whelpling-rank crests on the top gear you have available and keep Drake and Wyrm crests for the next round of upgrades you're planning on making. This is particularly relevant for items like rings and trinkets that occupy several slots. The discount for the entire account will only apply when all the slots on the character are filled with high-quality equipment.