WoW Upgrades - The Item Upgrader
Upgrades can give you boost in specific statistics. Each upgrade increases the item level by +3. Each upgrade also boosts a random substat.
Upgraded gear generally sees higher trade value regardless of whether it has low requirements (like the FB shield of the sorc) or a very high stat variation (like Eth titan weapons). The latter see less value from upgrading due to the requirement to roll for a perfect model.
Recycle Points
The item upgrader allows players to upgrade their gear to a higher item upgrades level by supplying the appropriate currency to the NPC. Upgrades can be applied to any type of armor or weapons. The item used to upgrade the item will be consumed and can't be used again. Upgrades can be used to create Enchantments.
You can upgrade your gear at any time by visiting the upgrader in any major city. To ensure that your equipment is up-to-date it is recommended you visit the upgrader every several weeks.
Upgrades will cost more depending on the level of the item, however they'll always be cheaper than purchasing new equipment. For example, upgrading a chest piece from Benthic to 385 levels will cost 20 recycle points while purchasing the same item from a different player will cost 105.
Valorstones
Upgrades are items which can be used to upgrade weapons, tools, armor, and accessories. They can be bought by players from NPCs that sell upgrades to items in exchange for various currencies, and can also be found in random treasure lists. Once purchased, an upgrade can be used on any tool, weapon or armor. button, which will display an image of the item level upgrade when it is upgraded if the player has sufficient materials.
The cost of upgrading is based on the item slot and the current item level and the weapon's price is higher than bracers or gloves, for instance. Each upgrade costs 15 Flightstones and a number of crests, with certain upgrades having a discount to reduce the cost of the Flightstones or crests that are used. After an item has been upgraded to a certain degree, it can be downgraded and sold to the upgrader at a lower cost.
Many locations have upgraders for their items which include the main island and some outposts. The NPCs provide both an upgrade coupon and the possibility of getting an entirely new recipe. The discount on upgrades increases when more items are upgraded. It can be increased by having players complete certain achievements or quests.
Unlike Cromwell in Baldur's Gate II there is no upgrader for items available at the beginning of Icewind Dale. Instead the NPCs that can be used to upgrade must be acquired through a variety of means, which is both an improvement and a drawback.
In Season 3, many new features have been added to the upgrade system. Once an upgrade has been completed to a certain item upgrader kit level for an armor slot upgrading other items to the same item upgrade level, will cost less. This applies regardless of whether the items come from a different set of equipment.
The discount is available to all accounts. The amount of Harbinger Crests required to upgrade is cut too, but it is only available when certain milestones are reached.
Crests
Players have several choices when it comes to upgrading their gear in WoW. Flightstones are a currency that is available to everyone for upgrading. Crests are more specialized, and are used during specific item level upgrades. Crests are an essential part of the Dragonflight gear progression system that was introduced in 10.1, and come in 4 ranks.
The first thing to be aware of is that crests are only able to be used on gear of a specific rank, and that each rank has its own requirements for upgrading. The easiest and most straightforward upgrade costs 15 crests. The most complex upgrade requires up to 20 crests, based on the kind of gear that is being upgraded.
Players can earn crests through finishing content 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 that have a high difficulty to obtain endgame gear. These crests can then be exchanged at an upgrader NPC, such as Cuzolth in Dornogal or Vaskarn in Valdrakken to get the appropriate upgrade routes and steps.
The new currency system isn't too difficult to use, but it brings some changes to the upgrade process. When a piece has reached the highest level of upgrade for any rank (Explorer or Adventurer) it is no longer required to purchase Flightstones. This change is intended to allow players to upgrade their equipment to the highest ilvl possible on all their characters instead of relying only on seasonal loot.
Another significant change is that crests have one usage, so it's important to make use of them in a responsible manner. It is recommended to use your Whelpling-rank crests on the highest-quality gear you can find, and keep Drake and Wyrm Crests to be used for the next set of upgrades. This is particularly applicable to items like rings and trinkets that occupy multiple slots. The account-wide discount will only apply when all slots on the character are filled with top-quality gear.