WoW Upgrades - The Item Upgrader
Upgrades will give you a boost to certain 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, unless it has inherently low requirements (like the FB shield of the sorc) or a very high stat variance (like the eth titan weapons). Upgrades are not as useful for those with higher variance due to the requirement to roll the perfect version.
Recycle Points
The item upgrader allows players to upgrade their gear by giving the currency to an NPC. Upgrades can be applied on any type of weapon or armor. However, the item used to upgrade will be consumed forever and will not be able to be used again. Upgrades can be used to create the enchantments.
The upgrader is located in every major city, and can be visited anytime to upgrade your gear. To ensure that your equipment is up-to-date it is recommended that you visit the upgrader each several weeks.
Upgrades will cost more, based on the level of the item however, they are always cheaper than purchasing new gear. For example upgrading a Benthic chest to ilvl 385 will cost 20 recycle points while buying a similar item from another player will costs 105.
Valorstones
Upgrades are useful items which can be used to improve the quality of weapons and tools, armor and other accessories. They can be purchased 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 used on any weapon, tool or armor. button, which will display an image of the item at the next upgrade level in the event that the player has enough materials.
Upgrade costs vary depending on the item upgrader kit slot, and the current Item Level Upgrade level. For instance weapons cost more than gloves, bracers or bracers. Each upgrade cost 15 Flightstones plus a set number of crests. Some upgrades give discounts on Flightstones. Once an item upgrade has been upgraded to a certain degree it is able to be downgraded and sold to the upgrader at a lower cost.
Upgraders for items can be found in many places on the main island as well as some outposts. The NPCs offer both an upgrade coupon and the chance to obtain an entirely new recipe. The discount on upgrades increases with the number of items that are being upgraded. It is also possible to be boosted by having players complete specific achievements or complete quests.
Unlike Cromwell in Baldur's Gate II there is no upgrader for items available in the beginning of Icewind Dale. Instead, the NPCs that are available to help with upgrades must be acquired through a variety of means, which is both an improvement but also a drawback.
In Season 3 the upgrade system was altered a bit, with several new features added. After a player has earned an upgrade to a specific level for an item in an armor slot, upgrading other items to that same item level will cost less even in the event that they are part of another set of gear.
The discount applies to all accounts. The amount of Harbinger Crests needed for upgrades is reduced as well, but is only available once certain milestones have been reached.
Crests
Players have a number of options for upgrading their gear in WoW. Flightstones are a currency that is available to all players for upgrading. Crests are more special and are used for specific item level upgrades. Crests are a crucial component of the Dragonflight Gear Progression System, which was introduced in version 10.1. They come in four ranks.
First, you should know that Crests are only available to equipment of a certain rank. Each rank comes with a different upgrade item path. The most basic and straightforward upgrade path costs 15 crests, while the more complex one can require as much as 20 crests depending on the kind of gear that is being upgraded.
Players can earn crests by working through tasks at the appropriate level. This could mean engaging in outdoor activities or doing dungeons or raids in all difficulty levels to obtain lower-tier gear or Mythicbosses of raids or dungeons that have a high difficulty to obtain endgame gear. The crests can then be exchanged with an item upgrader such as Cuzolth or Vaskarn in Valdrakken to upgrade the item in the proper steps and paths.
Using these new currencies isn't too complicated however, the system introduces some modifications 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 lets players upgrade their gear to the highest level possible on all of their characters, instead of relying on seasonal loot.
It's also important to use crests wisely, as they only have one use. It is best to put your Whelpling-rank Crests on the highest-quality gear you can locate and save Drake and Wyrm Crests for the next set of upgrades. This is especially true for items like rings and trinkets that fill multiple slots on the character, which can only be eligible to avail the account-wide discount when all of the slots are full of high-quality gear.