WoW Upgrades - The Item Upgrader
Upgrades give you boost in specific stats. Each upgrade boosts the item level by +3. A random substat is also boosted alongside every upgrade.
Upgraded gear is generally more valuable, unless the item upgrader kit has low requirements by nature (like FB sorc shields) or a high stat variance (like eth Titan weapons). These types of gear get less value from upgrading due to the need to roll to get a perfect version.
Recycle Points
The item upgrader allows players to upgrade gear to a higher level by providing the appropriate currency to the NPC. Upgrades can be made on any type 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.
You can upgrade items your equipment anytime by visiting the upgrader in any major city. To keep your gear up-to-date, it is recommended that you visit the upgrader every several weeks.
Upgrades can cost more based on the item level, however, they are always cheaper than purchasing new equipment. For instance upgrading a Benthic chest to 385 ilvl will cost 20 recycle points while purchasing the same item from a different player will cost 105.
Valorstones
Upgrades are useful items that are used to upgrade weapons and tools, armor and accessories. They can be purchased by players from item upgrader NPCs in exchange for a variety of currencies, and may also be found in random treasure lists. Once an upgrade has been purchased, it can be used on any weapon, tool, or armor with the help of The button will display the preview of an item's next upgrade level, when there are enough materials.
Upgrade costs vary depending on the slot of the item and the current level of the item. For instance weapons cost more than gloves, bracers, or bracers. Each upgrade cost 15 Flightstones and a few crests, with certain upgrades having a discount to lower the cost of Flightstones or the crests used. Once an item has been upgraded to a certain level it can be re-downgraded and sold to the upgrader at a lower price.
Many locations have upgraders for their items which include the main island and a few outposts. The NPCs offer both an upgrade coupon and the possibility of obtaining the latest recipe. The discount on upgrades increases as more items are upgraded. It can be increased if players complete certain achievements or complete quests.
Unlike Cromwell in Baldur's Gate II, there is no upgrader for items in the beginning of Icewind Dale. The NPCs that can assist with upgrades are only accessible through a variety means. This is both a benefit and an issue.
In Season 3, several new features have been added to the upgrade system. When a player has an upgrade to a specific level of an item level upgrade (Yxhsm.net) for a specific armor slot, upgrading other items to that level will cost less, even if they are part of an entirely different set of gear.
The amount of Valorstones needed for upgrades is decreased, and the discount is account-wide. The amount of Harbinger Crests required to upgrade is reduced too, but it is only available when certain milestones are achieved.
Crests
Players have several options when it comes to upgrading their gear in WoW. Flightstones are an item that is available to everyone who wants to upgrade. Crests are more special, and are used during specific item upgrades level upgrades. Crests are an integral part of the Dragonflight Gear Progression System introduced in version 10.1. They are available in four ranks.
The first thing to remember is that the crests can only be purchased for equipment with a certain rank. Each rank comes with a different upgrade path. The most basic and straightforward upgrade path costs 15 crests, while the most complicated requires as many as 20 crests based on the type of equipment being upgraded.
Players can earn crests by completing content of the appropriate level, which involves walking around and engaging in outdoor activities for gear of lower tiers, raids or dungeons of all difficulty for items of higher tier, or Mythic+ heroic raid bosses and dungeons to obtain endgame gear. These crests can then be exchanged at an item upgrader kit upgrader NPC like Cuzolth in Dornogal or Vaskarn in Valdrakken to obtain the appropriate upgrade routes and steps.
The use of these currencies isn't that difficult, but the system does introduce some changes to the overall upgrade process. Once a piece of gear attains the highest level of upgrade for any rank (Explorer or Adventurer), it is no longer required to purchase Flightstones. This change is designed to allow players to get their equipment up to the highest ilvl possible on all their characters, rather than relying solely on seasonal loot.
It's also important to use crests in a wise manner, as they are only used for one purpose. It's best to put your Whelpling-rank Crests on the highest-quality gear you can find, and save Drake and Wyrm Crests for the next set of upgrades. This is especially true for items like rings and trinkets that take up multiple slots on the character, which will only be able to benefit from the account-wide discount when all of the slots are full of high-quality gear.