WoW Upgrades - The Item Upgrader
Upgrades can give you boost in certain statistics. Each upgrade boosts the level of an item by 3. Each upgrade also increases a random substat.
Upgraded gear is generally more useful, unless the item has a low requirement by nature (like FB sorc shields) or has a high variance in stats (like eth Titan weapons). Upgrades are not as valuable for those with higher variance due to the need to roll an exact version.
Recycle Points
The item upgrader allows players to upgrade their gear by transferring the currency to an NPC. Upgrades can be made on any kind of weapon or armor. However, the item used for the upgrade will be consumed for the duration of time and cannot be used again. Upgrades can also be used to create enchantments.
You can upgrade items your gear anytime by visiting the upgrader in any major city. It is recommended to visit the upgrader every few weeks, to keep your equipment up to date.
Upgrades can cost more based on the level of the item upgrades however they'll always be less expensive than purchasing new gear. For example, 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 items that can be used to purchase weapons, armor, tools and accessory upgrades. They can be bought by players through NPCs that sell upgrades to items in exchange for various currencies, and can be found in random treasure lists. Once an upgrade is purchased it can be applied to any weapon or tool with the help of The button will show the preview of an item's next upgrade level if there are enough materials.
The cost of upgrades varies based on the slot of the item upgrader mod and the current item level, with weapons costing more than gloves or bracers, for instance. Each step costs 15 Flightstones plus a certain number of crests. Some upgrades offer discounts on Flightstones. Once an item has been upgraded to a certain degree it can be re-downgraded and sold to the upgrader at a lower price.
Many locations have upgraders for their items in addition to the main island and a few outposts. The NPCs offer an upgrade coupon as well as the chance to obtain the latest recipe. The discount on upgrades increases with the number of items being upgraded. It can also be boosted by having players complete specific 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 through a variety of methods. This is both a positive and a disadvantage.
In Season 3, many new features have been added to the upgrade system. Once a player has upgraded to a specific level for an armor slot, upgrading other items to the same item level will cost less. This applies regardless of whether the items are from another set of gear.
The amount of Valorstones required to upgrade is reduced and the discount is account-wide. The amount of Harbinger Crests required for upgrades is also reduced and is not available until players achieve certain milestones in their achievement.
Crests
Players have a number of choices 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 specialized and are used for specific item level upgrades. 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 remember is that crests are only available for gear with a certain rank. Each rank comes with a different upgrade path. The simplest and most straightforward upgrade route costs 15 crests while the more complex one can require as much as 20 crests depending on the type of gear being upgraded.
Players can earn crests by completing content of the appropriate level, which involves walking around and performing outdoor activities to get lower-tier gear, dungeons or raids of any difficulty for higher-tier items or Mythic+ heroic raid bosses or dungeons to obtain endgame gear. The crests can then be exchanged with an item level upgrade upgrader, such as Cuzolth or Vaskarn in Valdrakken to upgrade the item upgrade in the proper steps and pathways.
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 instead of relying on seasonal loot.
It's also important to use crests with care, since they have only one purpose. For instance, it's Best item upgrader to make use of all your Whelpling-rank crests with the best equipment available and then save Drake and Wyrm crests to use for the next set of upgrades you're planning to make. This is especially relevant for items like trinkets and rings that take up several slots. The discount for the entire account will only apply when all the slots on the character are filled with high-quality gear.