WoW Upgrades - The Item Upgrader
Upgrades will give you a boost in specific stats. Each upgrade increases the level of an item by 3. A random additional substat is also boosted alongside every upgrade.
Upgraded gear is generally more valuable, unless it is not required by nature (like FB sorc shields) or has a high variance in stats (like Eth Titan weapons). Upgrades aren't as important for those with higher variance because of the requirement to roll an exact version.
Recycle Points
The item upgrader allows players to upgrade their gear by giving the currency to an NPC. Upgrades can be applied to any kind of weapon or armor. The item level upgrade used to upgrade the item is discarded and cannot be used again. Upgrades can also be used to create the 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 at least once every couple of 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 however, they will always be less expensive than buying new equipment from other sources. Upgrades such as upgrading a Benthic chest up to 385 ilvl will cost you 20 recycle points. A similar item will cost you 105.
Valorstones
Upgrades are items that can be used to purchase weapons, armor, tools, and accessory upgrades. They can be purchased by players from item upgraders NPCs for a variety of currencies. They can also find them on random treasure lists. Once purchased, an upgrade is able to be applied to any weapon, tool or armor. The button will show the item upgrader mod's next upgrade level, if there are enough materials.
The cost of upgrading is based on the item upgrader kit slot and current item level and the weapon's price is higher than bracers or gloves, for instance. Each upgrade costs 15 Flightstones plus a certain number of crests. Certain upgrades provide a discount on the Flightstones. Once an item has been upgraded to a certain level it is able to be degraded and returned to the upgrader for a lesser amount of the two currencies.
Upgraders for items can be found in many places, including the main island, as well as a few outposts. The NPCs offer both an upgrade coupon and a possibility of obtaining an entirely new recipe. The discount on upgrades increases according to the number of items being upgraded. It can also be increased by requiring players to complete specific achievements or complete quests.
In contrast to Cromwell in Baldur's Gate II is no upgrader for items available at the beginning of Icewind Dale. Instead the NPCs that are available to facilitate upgrades require various methods that are both an improvement but also a drawback.
In Season 3, the upgrade system has been modified a bit, and several new features added. Once a player obtains an upgrade to a particular level of an item level Upgrade for a specific armor slot, upgrading other items to that level will cost less even if they belong to another set of gear.
The discount is applicable to all accounts. The amount of Harbinger Crests required to upgrade is reduced as well, but is only available once certain milestones are reached.
Crests
When upgrading equipment in WoW players have a variety of choices. Flightstones are an option that is accessible to everyone for upgrading. Crests are more specialized and are used for specific item level upgrades. Crests are an important element of the Dragonflight Gear Progression System that was introduced in version 10.1. They come in four ranks.
The first thing to be aware of is that crests can only be used on equipment of a particular rank, and that each rank has different requirements for its upgrade path. The easiest and most straightforward upgrade is 15 crests. The most complex upgrade requires up to 20 crests, contingent on the kind of equipment being upgraded.
Players can obtain crests by completing content of the appropriate level, whether that involves walking around and performing outdoor activities for gear of lower tiers, raids or dungeons with all difficulties for higher-tier items, or Mythic+ dungeons or heroic raid bosses for gear that is used in the endgame. The crests can later be exchanged at an item upgrader NPC, like Cuzolth in Dornogal, or Vaskarn in Valdrakken, for the appropriate upgrade paths and steps.
The new currency system isn't complicated to use, but it brings some modifications to the upgrade process. Once a piece of gear reaches the highest level of upgrade for any rank (Explorer or Adventurer), it is no longer required to purchase Flightstones. This change lets players upgrade their equipment to the highest possible ilvl on all their characters rather than relying on seasonal loot.
Another important modification is that crests have one usage and it's crucial to use them properly. For instance it's best to utilize all of your Whelpling rank crests on the top equipment available and save Drake and Wyrm crests for the next round of upgrades you're planning to create. This is especially applicable to items like trinkets and rings that fill multiple slots. The account-wide discount will only apply when all the slots on the character are filled with high-quality equipment.