WoW Upgrades - The Item Upgrader
Upgrades give you an increase in specific stats. Each upgrade increases the item level by +3. A random additional substat is also increased with each upgrade.
The upgraded gear is usually more valuable, unless it has low requirements by nature (like FB sorc shields) or a high stat variance (like Eth Titan weapons). The latter are less valuable from upgrading due to the need to roll for a perfect version.
Recycle Points
The item upgrading upgrader lets players upgrade their gear by transferring the currency to an NPC. Upgrades can be applied to any kind of armor or weapon. The item used to upgrade the item is discarded and cannot be used again. Upgrades can also be used to create enhancements.
The upgrader is located in every major city, and is accessible anytime to upgrade your gear. It is recommended to visit the upgrader once every couple of weeks to keep your equipment up to date.
The cost of upgrades will depend on the current item level Upgrade level of the equipment being upgraded, but will always be cheaper than purchasing new gear from other sources. For instance upgrading a chest piece from Benthic to 385 levels will cost 20 recycle points while buying a similar item from a different player will cost 105.
Valorstones
Upgrades are items that can be used for tools, armor, weapon and accessory upgrades. They can be purchased by players through NPCs that sell upgrades to items in exchange for different currencies, and can also be found in random treasure lists. Once purchased, an upgrade is able to be applied to any weapon, tool or armor. button, which displays an image of the item at the next upgrade level if the player has sufficient materials.
The cost of upgrades varies based on the item slot and the current item level and the weapon's price is higher than gloves or bracers, for instance. Each upgrade cost 15 Flightstones and a variety of crests, with certain upgrades offering discounts to lower the cost of Flightstones or the crests used. After an item level upgrade has been upgraded to a certain level it is able to be downgraded and sold to the upgrader for a lower price.
Upgraders for items can be found at many locations, including the main island and some outposts. The NPCs offer both an upgrade coupon as well as the possibility of getting an entirely new recipe. The discount for upgrades increases depending on the amount of items being upgraded. It can also be increased by requiring players to 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 that can assist with upgrades are only accessible via a variety of ways. This is both a benefit as well as a drawback.
In Season 3 the upgrade system was altered a bit, with several new features added. When a player has an upgrade to a specific level of an item for a specific armor slot, upgrading other items to the same level will be less expensive, even if they are part of an entirely different set of gear.
The amount of Valorstones required for upgrades is decreased, and the discount is account-wide. The amount of Harbinger Crests required to upgrade is cut also, but is only available after certain milestones have been reached.
Crests
Players have a variety of options when it comes to upgrading their equipment in WoW. Flightstones are an option that is accessible to everyone who wants to upgrade. Crests are more special and are utilized during specific item level upgrades. Crests are a crucial part of the Dragonflight Gear Progression System introduced in version 10.1. They come in four ranks.
The first thing to note is that crests can only be used to purchase gear of a specific rank, and that every rank has different requirements for its upgrade path. The easiest and most straightforward upgrade costs 15 crests. The most complex upgrade requires up to 20 crests, contingent on the type or gear being upgraded.
Players can earn crests through working through tasks at the appropriate level. This could be done by engaging in outdoor activities or doing dungeons or raids in all difficulty levels to obtain lower-tier gear or Mythicbosses for raids, or dungeons with heroic difficulty to obtain endgame gear. The crests can later be exchanged at an upgrader NPC like Cuzolth in Dornogal or Vaskarn in Valdrakken to get the appropriate upgrade routes and steps.
The new currency system isn't complicated to use, however it does bring some modifications to the upgrade process. For instance, once a piece of equipment reaches the highest level of upgrading for any rank (Explorer, Adventurer, Veteran, Champion, Hero, or Mythic), it won't require Flightstones to be upgraded. This allows players to upgrade their equipment to the highest level possible on all their characters rather than relying on seasonal loot.
Another notable change is that crests only have one purpose therefore it's essential to use them properly. For instance, it's best to use all of your Whelpling-rank crests with the best equipment available, and then save Drake and Wyrm crests for the next batch of upgrades you're planning to make. This is particularly true for items like rings and trinkets that take up multiple slots on the character which can only be eligible to benefit from the discount for all accounts when all slots are filled with high-quality equipment.