WoW Upgrades - The Item Upgrader
Upgrades can give you boost in specific stats. Each upgrade boosts the level of the item upgrader mod; the original source, by +3. Each upgrade also boosts an unspecified substat.
The upgraded gear typically has a more value in trade as long as it meets low requirements (like the FB shield of the sorc) or very high stat variance (like Eth titan weapons). Upgrades aren't as important for the latter due to the requirement to roll an exact version.
Recycle Points
The item upgrader lets players upgrade their gear by transferring the currency to an NPC. Upgrades can be applied to any kind of armor or weapons. The item used to upgrade the item is discarded and cannot be used again. Upgrades can be applied to the enchantments.
The upgrader can be found in all major cities, and can be visited anytime to upgrade your gear. To keep your gear up-to-date it is recommended that you visit the upgrader every few weeks.
The cost of upgrading will be based on the current level of the equipment being upgraded, but will always be less expensive than buying new equipment from other sources. For example, upgrading a chest piece from Benthic to 385 ilvl will cost 20 recycle points, while buying a similar item from another player will costs 105.
Valorstones
Upgrades are functional items which can be used to level up weapons tools, armor, and other items. Players can purchase them through NPCs who sell upgrades to item owners in a variety of currencies. They are also available on random treasure lists. Once purchased, an upgrade is able to be used on any tool, weapon, or armor. The button will show a preview of an item's next level of upgrade, if there are enough materials.
The upgrade cost depends on the slot of the item and the current item upgrading level as well as the level of the weapon, which is more than gloves or bracers for example. Each upgrade item cost 15 Flightstones plus a certain number of crests. Certain upgrades provide a discount on the 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 provide both an upgrade discount and the chance to obtain a new upgrade recipe. The discount on upgrades increases when more items are upgraded. It can also be increased by having players finish certain achievements or quests.
Icewind Dale does not have an item upgrader at the beginning unlike Cromwell from Baldur's gate II. Instead the NPCs that are available to facilitate upgrades are acquired via several methods, which is both an improvement but also a drawback.
In Season 3, the upgrade system has been altered a bit, with some new features added. After a player has upgraded to a certain level of item for an armor slot upgrading other items to the same item level, will cost less. This is even if those items come from another set of equipment.
The discount is available to all accounts. The amount of Harbinger Crests required for upgrades is reduced also, but is only available when certain milestones are achieved.
Crests
When upgrading equipment in WoW players have a variety of choices. Flightstones are an option that is accessible to everyone who wants to upgrade items. Crests are more special, and are used during specific level upgrades for items. Crests are a crucial element of the Dragonflight Gear Progression System that was introduced in version 10.1. They are available in four ranks.
First, you should know that Crests are only available to gear that is of a particular rank. Each rank comes with distinct upgrade paths. The simplest and simplest 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 through working through tasks at the appropriate level. This could be by doing outdoor activities, or by doing dungeons or raids in any difficulty to earn lower-tier gear or Mythicbosses for raids, or dungeons with heroic difficulty for endgame gear. These crests are then exchanged with an item upgrader, such as Cuzolth or Vaskarn, in Valdrakken for the appropriate upgrade steps and paths.
The new currency system isn't too difficult to use, but it will bring some modifications to the upgrade process. For instance, when a piece of equipment reaches the highest level of upgrade for any rank (Explorer, Adventurer, Veteran, Champion, Hero, or Mythic), it won't need Flightstones to be upgraded. This is to allow players to upgrade their equipment up to the highest level possible on all their characters rather than relying solely on seasonal loot.
Another significant change is that crests only have one use and it's crucial to use them wisely. For instance, it's a good idea to utilize all of your Whelpling rank crests on the Best item upgrade equipment available and then keep Drake and Wyrm crests to use for the next set of upgrades you plan on making. This is especially applicable to items like rings and trinkets that occupy multiple slots. The account-wide discount is only applicable when all the slots on the character are filled with high-quality equipment.