WoW Upgrades - The Item Upgrader
Upgrades give a guaranteed boost to certain stats. Each upgrade increases item level by 3. A random substat is also boosted alongside every upgrade.
Upgraded gear is generally more valuable, unless it has low requirements by nature (like FB sorc shields) or a high stat variance (like the eth Titan weapons). These types of gear get less value from upgrading due to the need to roll to get a perfect version.
Recycle Points
The item upgrader enables players to upgrade item gear to a higher level by supplying the appropriate currency to the NPC. Upgrades can be applied to any type of weapon or armor. However, the item used for the upgrade will be consumed forever and will not be able to be used again. Upgrades can be applied to enchantments.
You can upgrade your gear anytime by visiting the upgrader in any major city. It is recommended that you visit the upgrader every couple of weeks to ensure that your equipment is up to date.
Upgrades will cost more depending on the level of the item, however they'll always be cheaper than buying new gear. Upgrades such as upgrading a Benthic chest up to 385 ilvl will cost you 20 recycle points. A similar item will cost you 105.
Valorstones
Upgrades are items which can be used to upgrade weapons, tools, armor, and other items. They can be bought by players from NPCs that sell upgrades to items in exchange for different currencies, and may also be found in random treasure lists. Once purchased, an upgrade is able to be used on any tool, weapon or armor. button, which displays an image of the item at the next upgrade level when the player has enough materials.
Upgrade costs differ based on the item upgrading slot, and the current item level. For example weapons are more expensive than gloves, bracers or bracers. Each step costs 15 Flightstones and a few crests, with certain upgrades offering discounts to reduce the cost of Flightstones or the crests used. After an item has been upgraded to a certain amount, it can be downgraded and sold to the upgrader at a lower cost.
Many locations have upgraders for their items, including the main Island and some outposts. The NPCs offer an upgrade coupon and a possibility of obtaining the latest recipe. The discount on upgrades increases depending on the amount of items being upgraded. It can also be boosted by having players complete some specific achievements or complete quests.
Icewind Dale does not have an upgrader for items at the beginning unlike Cromwell from Baldur's gate II. Instead the NPCs that can be used to upgrade are acquired via several methods which is both an improvement as well as a disadvantage.
In Season 3 the upgrade system has been modified a bit, and numerous new features added. After a player has earned an upgrade to a particular level of an item for a specific armor slot, upgrading additional items to the same level will cost less, even when they belong to an entirely different set of gear.
The amount of Valorstones needed to upgrade is reduced and the discount is available across all accounts. The amount of Harbinger Crests needed to upgrade is cut also, but is only available after certain milestones have been reached.
Crests
Players have a variety of choices when it comes to upgrading their gear in WoW. Flightstones are an option that is accessible to all players for upgrading. Crests are more specific and are utilized during specific item level upgrades. Crests are an important part of the Dragonflight Gear Progression System that was introduced in version 10.1. They come in four ranks.
The first thing to remember is that the crests can only be purchased for gear of a certain rank. Each rank has an upgrade path that is different. The most basic and straightforward upgrade process costs just 15 crests while the most complicated can require as much as 20 crests depending on the type of gear that is being upgraded.
Players can obtain crests by working through content that is of the appropriate level, whether that involves walking around and performing outdoor activities for gear of lower tiers, dungeons or raids of any difficulty for higher-tier items, or Mythic+ heroic raid bosses and dungeons for gear that is used in the endgame. These crests are then exchanged with an item upgrade level upgrade (prev) upgrader such as Cuzolth or Vaskarn, in Valdrakken to upgrade the item in the proper steps and paths.
Utilizing these new currencies isn't too complicated, but 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 allows players to upgrade item their equipment to the highest level possible on all of their characters rather than relying on seasonal loot.
Another important change is that crests only have one purpose, so it's important to use them properly. For instance it's Best item upgrade to utilize all of your Whelpling rank crests on the best equipment available and then keep Drake and Wyrm crests for the next batch of upgrades you plan to make. This is especially true for items like trinkets and rings that occupy multiple slots on the character which can only be eligible to take advantage of the discount for all accounts when all slots are filled with high-quality gear.