WoW Upgrades - The Item Upgrader
Upgrades provide a guaranteed boost to specific stats. Each upgrade boosts the level of an item by 3. Each upgrade also boosts a random substat.
The more modernized gear generally has a more value in trade as long as it meets low requirements (like the FB shield of the sorc) or very high stat variation (like Eth titan weapons). The latter are less valuable from upgrading due to the necessity to roll for a perfect version.
Recycle Points
The item upgrader allows players to upgrade gear to a higher item level by supplying the appropriate currency to the NPC. Upgrades can be applied to any type of weapon or armor. The item used to upgrade the item is discarded and cannot be used again. Upgrades can be applied to enchantments.
You can upgrade your equipment at any time by visiting the upgrader in any major city. To keep your gear up-to-date it is recommended you visit the upgrader each couple of weeks.
Upgrades will cost more, based on the level of the item upgrade but they will always be cheaper than buying new gear. Upgrades such as upgrading a Benthic chest up to 385 ilvl will cost you 20 recycle points. Buying a similar item will cost you 105.
Valorstones
Upgrades are items that can be used to upgrade weapon, armor, tool and accessory upgrades. They are purchased by players through item upgrader NPCs in exchange for a variety of currencies, and can also be found in random treasure lists. Once purchased, an upgrade is able to be applied to any weapon, tool, or armor. The button will show a preview of an item's next upgrade level in the event that there are enough materials.
The cost of upgrades varies based on the item slot and the current level of the item as well as the level of the weapon, which is more than gloves or bracers for example. Each step costs 15 Flightstones and a few crests, with certain upgrades offering discounts to reduce the cost of the Flightstones or crests that are used. Once an item is upgraded to a certain degree it can be re-downgraded and sold to the upgrader at a lower price.
Item upgraders can be found in a variety of locations, including the main island, as well as a few outposts. The NPCs provide an upgrade discount and a chance to obtain a new upgrade recipe. The discount for upgrades increases depending on the amount of items that are being upgraded. It is also possible to be increased by having players complete some specific achievements or complete quests.
Contrary to Cromwell in Baldur's Gate II there is no item upgrader available at the beginning of Icewind Dale. The NPCs who can facilitate upgrades are only available through a variety of methods. This is both a positive and a disadvantage.
In Season 3 the upgrade system has been modified a bit, and numerous new features added. After an upgrade has been completed to a specific level for an armor slot upgrading other items to the same item level will cost less. This is true even if the items come from a different set of gear.
The amount of Valorstones needed for upgrades is decreased, and the discount is affixed to all accounts. The amount of Harbinger Crests required to upgrade is also reduced and is not available until players have reached certain achievement milestones.
Crests
Players have a variety of choices when it comes to upgrading their equipment in WoW. They can use Flightstones which are a common upgrade currency available to all players, or crests that are more specialized and used to upgrade specific levels of the item. Crests are the main component of the Dragonflight gear progression system that was introduced in 10.1 and are available in 4 ranks.
First, you should know that the crests can only be purchased for gear with a certain rank. Each rank comes with distinct upgrade paths. The simplest and simplest upgrade process costs just 15 crests while the most complicated may require as many as 20 crests, based on the kind of gear that is being upgraded.
Players can obtain crests by completing content of the appropriate level, whether that means walking around and doing outdoor activities to get lower-tier gear, dungeons or raids of all difficulty for items of higher tier, or Mythic+ dungeons or heroic raid bosses to obtain endgame gear. These crests can be exchanged with an item upgrading upgrader like Cuzolth or Vaskarn in Valdrakken to upgrade the item upgrader kit in the proper steps and pathways.
The new currency system isn't difficult to use, but it brings some changes 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 allows players to upgrade their equipment to the highest possible ilvl on all of their characters, instead of relying on seasonal loot.
Another notable modification is that crests have one purpose and it's crucial to make use of them in a responsible manner. It is recommended to put your Whelpling-rank Crests on the best gear you can locate and save Drake and Wyrm Crests to be used for the next set of upgrades. This is particularly relevant for items like trinkets and rings that fill multiple slots. The account-wide discount is only applicable when all slots on the character are filled with top-quality equipment.