WoW Upgrades - The Item Upgrader
Upgrades will give you a boost to specific stats. Each upgrade boosts the level of the item by +3. A random additional substat is also increased with every upgrade.
The upgraded gear is usually more valuable, unless it is not required by nature (like FB sorc shields) or has a high variance in stats (like Eth Titan weapons). The latter see less value from upgrading due to the requirement to roll to get a perfect version.
Recycle Points
The item upgrader enables players to upgrade gear to a higher item level by supplying the appropriate currency to the NPC. Upgrades can be applied to any kind of weapon or armor. The item used to upgrade the item is discarded and cannot be used again. Upgrades can be used to create Enchantments.
The upgrader is located in all major cities and can be accessed at any time to upgrade your gear. It is recommended to visit the upgrader once every few weeks to ensure that your equipment is up-to-date.
Upgrades will cost more, based on the item upgrader mod [look at more info] level, but they will always be cheaper than purchasing new equipment. For instance upgrading a Benthic chest piece to 385 ilvl will cost 20 recycle points, while purchasing the same item from a different player will cost 105.
Valorstones
Upgrades are functional items that can be used to upgrade weapons tools, armor, and other items. They can be bought by players through NPCs that sell upgrades to items in exchange for a variety of currencies, and can be found in random treasure lists. Once purchased, an upgrade is able to be used on any weapon, tool or armor. The button will show a preview of an item's next level of upgrade, when there are enough materials.
The upgrade item cost depends on the item slot and the current level of the item level upgrade, with weapons costing more than bracers or gloves, for example. Each upgrade cost 15 Flightstones and a number of crests, with certain upgrades having a discount to reduce the cost of the Flightstones or the crests used. Once an item has been upgraded to a certain degree and is degraded, it can be sold and returned to the upgrader for a lesser amount of both currencies.
Many locations offer item upgraders, including the main Island and a few outposts. The NPCs offer both an upgrade coupon and the chance to obtain an entirely new recipe. The discount for upgrading increases when more items are upgraded. It can be increased if players complete certain achievements or quests.
Icewind Dale does not have an upgrader for items at the beginning, unlike Cromwell from Baldur's Gate II. The NPCs who are able to facilitate upgrades are only available via a variety of ways. This is both a benefit and a disadvantage.
In Season 3 the upgrade system has been altered a bit, with numerous new features added. After a player has upgraded to a specific level for an armor slot upgrading other items to the same level, will cost less. This is true even if those items come from another set of equipment.
The amount of Valorstones required for upgrades is reduced, and the discount is affixed to all accounts. The amount of Harbinger Crests needed for upgrades is also reduced and is not available until players reach certain milestones in their achievements.
Crests
Players have a variety of options for upgrading their gear in WoW. They can make use of Flightstones, which are a common upgrade currency available to all players, or crests that are more specific and consumed during upgrades on specific item level upgrade levels. Crests are a key element of the Dragonflight gear progression system, which was introduced in 10.1 and are available in 4 ranks.
The first thing to note is that crests are only able to be used on equipment of a particular rank, and each rank has different requirements for upgrading. The simplest and most straightforward upgrade process costs just 15 crests while the most complex may require as many as 20 crests, based on the kind of gear being upgraded.
Players can obtain crests by finishing content at the appropriate level, whether that means walking around and doing outdoor activities for lower-tier gear, raids or dungeons of any difficulty for higher-tier items or Mythic+ heroic raid bosses or dungeons for endgame gear. The crests can later be exchanged at an upgrader NPC, like Cuzolth in Dornogal or Vaskarn in Valdrakken to get the appropriate upgrade pathways and steps.
Utilizing these new currencies isn't too complicated however, the system will introduce a few changes to the overall upgrade process. When a piece attains the highest level of upgrade for any rank (Explorer or Adventurer), it will no longer require Flightstones. This change is intended to allow players to get their equipment to the highest possible ilvl on all their characters, instead of relying only on seasonal loot.
Another significant change is that crests have one use and it's crucial to use them properly. For instance it's best to use all of your Whelpling-rank crests with the Best item upgrade gear you have available and save Drake and Wyrm crests to use for the next set of upgrades you plan to make. This is especially true for items such as trinkets and rings that fill several slots. The discount on the account is only applicable when all the slots on the character are filled with high-quality equipment.