WoW Upgrades - The Item Upgrader
Upgrades will give you a boost to certain stats. Each upgrade increases item level by 3. A random extra substat is also added to every upgrade.
The upgraded gear is usually more valuable, unless the item upgrader mod is not required by nature (like FB sorc shields) or a high stat variance (like the eth Titan weapons). Upgrades are less valuable for those with higher variance due to the requirement to roll an exact version.
Recycle Points
The item upgrader allows players to upgrade their 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 will be consumed and can't be used again. Upgrades can also be applied to enhancements.
The upgrader is located in every major city, and can be visited at any time to upgrade your gear. It is recommended that you visit the upgrader every few weeks to ensure that your equipment is up-to-date.
The cost of upgrading will depend on the current item level of the equipment being upgraded, but will always be cheaper than buying new gear from other sources. For instance, upgrading a Benthic chest to 385 levels will cost 20 recycle points, while buying a similar item from another player will cost 105.
Valorstones
Upgrades are items that can be used for tools, armor, weapon, and accessory upgrades. They are purchased by players through item upgrader NPCs in exchange for different currencies, and can also be found in random treasure lists. Once purchased, an upgrade can be applied to any weapon, tool or armor. The button will show the item's next upgrade level when there are enough materials.
The cost of upgrading varies based on the item slot, and the current item level. For instance weapons are more expensive than bracers, or gloves. Each upgrade costs 15 Flightstones plus a certain number of crests. Some upgrades offer discounts on Flightstones. Once an item has been upgraded to a certain amount, it can be downgraded and sold to the upgrader at a lower cost.
item upgrader kit upgraders can be found in a variety of locations on the main island and some outposts. The NPCs provide both an upgrade coupon as well as the possibility of obtaining the latest recipe. The discount for upgrades increases with the number of items that are being upgraded. It is also possible to be increased by requiring players to complete specific achievements or complete quests.
In contrast to Cromwell in Baldur's Gate II is no item upgrader available at the beginning of Icewind Dale. Instead, the NPCs that are available to help with upgrades require several methods that are both an improvement and a drawback.
In Season 3, many new features were added to the upgrade system. After an upgrade has been completed to a certain item level for an armor slot upgrading other items to the same level will cost less. This is true even if the items are from an entirely different set of equipment.
The amount of Valorstones required for upgrades is decreased, and the discount is account-wide. Similarly, the amount of Harbinger Crests required to upgrade is also reduced and is not available until players have reached certain milestones in their achievement.
Crests
Players have a number of options when it comes to upgrading their gear in WoW. They can use Flightstones which are a general upgrade currency available to all players, or crests, which are more specialized and used to upgrade specific levels of the item. Crests are a key element of the Dragonflight gear progression system that was introduced in 10.1 and are available in four ranks.
The first thing to note is that crests are only able to be spent on gear of a specific rank, and that each rank has its own requirements for upgrading. The simplest and most straightforward upgrade path costs 15 crests, while the most complex requires as many as 20 crests based on the type of equipment that is being upgraded.
Players can obtain crests by finishing content at the appropriate level, whether that involves walking around and performing outdoor activities for lower-tier gear, raids or dungeons of all difficulties for higher-tier items or Mythic+ heroic raid bosses or dungeons 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 routes.
Utilizing these new currencies isn't that difficult however, the system does introduce some changes to the overall upgrade process. Once a piece of gear attains the highest level of upgrade for any rank (Explorer or Adventurer), it no longer requires Flightstones. This change lets players upgrade their equipment to the highest level possible for all their characters instead of relying on seasonal loot.
Another important change is that crests have one purpose and it's crucial to make use of them in a responsible manner. For instance it's Best item upgrade to make use of all your Whelpling-rank crests on the top gear you have available and save Drake and Wyrm crests to use for the next set of upgrades you plan on making. This is especially applicable to items like trinkets and rings that take up multiple slots. The discount on the account will only apply when all slots on the character are filled with high-quality equipment.