WoW Upgrades - The Item Upgrader
Upgrades give a guaranteed boost to specific stats. Each upgrade increases item level by +3. A random additional substat is also added to every upgrade.
Upgraded gear generally sees greater value for trade, unless it has inherently low requirements (like the FB shield of the sorc) or very high stat variation (like eth titan weapons). Upgrades are not as important for the latter due to the requirement to roll a perfect version.
Recycle Points
The upgrader for items allows players to upgrade their gear to a higher level by providing the appropriate currency to the NPC. Upgrades can be applied on any kind of weapon or armor. However, the item used for the upgrade will be consumed for the duration of time and will not be able to be used again. Upgrades can also be applied to enchantments.
The upgrader can be found in every major city, and is accessible anytime to upgrade your gear. To keep your gear current, it is recommended that you visit the upgrader every several weeks.
The cost of upgrading will vary based on the current level of the item being upgraded but they will always be cheaper than purchasing new equipment from other sources. For instance, upgrading a chest piece from Benthic to 385 ilvl will cost 20 recycle points, while purchasing the same item from another player will costs 105.
Valorstones
Upgrades are useful items that can be used to upgrade weapons and tools, armor and other accessories. Players can purchase them from item upgraders NPCs for various currencies. They can also find them on random treasure lists. Once purchased, an upgrade is able to be applied to any weapon, tool, or armor. The button will display a preview of an item level upgrade item (official Sciencewiki blog)'s next level of upgrade, in the event that there are enough materials.
Upgrade costs vary depending on the slot of the item and the current item level. For example weapons are more expensive than gloves, bracers or bracers. Each step costs 15 Flightstones plus a set number of crests. Certain upgrades provide a discount on the Flightstones. Once an item has been upgraded to a certain degree it is able to be downgraded and sold to the upgrader at a lower cost.
A lot of locations offer upgraders for items in addition to the main island and some outposts. The NPCs provide both an upgrade items discount as well as a chance to acquire a new upgrade recipe. The upgrade discount increases with the number of items that are being upgraded. It is also possible to be increased by having players complete specific achievements or quests.
Icewind Dale does not have an item upgrader at the start, 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 an issue.
In Season 3 the upgrade system has been modified a bit, and several new features added. After an upgrade has been completed to a certain level of item for an armor slot upgrading other items to the same item level, will cost less. This is true even if the items come from an entirely different set of equipment.
The amount of Valorstones required to upgrade is reduced and the discount is affixed to all accounts. The amount of Harbinger Crests needed for upgrades is reduced as well, but is only available when certain milestones are reached.
Crests
When upgrading gear in WoW players have a few options. Flightstones are an item that is available to everyone for upgrading. Crests are more special, and are used during specific item level upgrades. Crests are the main component of the Dragonflight gear progression system that was introduced in 10.1, and come in 4 ranks.
The first thing to remember is that the crests can only be purchased for gear with a certain rank. Each rank comes with distinct upgrade item paths. The simplest and easiest upgrade costs 15 crests. The most complicated upgrade can require up to 20 crests, contingent on the type of equipment being upgraded.
Players can earn crests by finishing content at the appropriate level, which involves walking around and performing outdoor activities to get lower-tier gear, dungeons or raids of any difficulty for higher-tier items, or Mythic+ heroic raid bosses or dungeons for gear that is used in the endgame. The crests can later be exchanged at an item upgrader NPC like Cuzolth in Dornogal, or Vaskarn in Valdrakken to obtain the appropriate upgrade item routes and steps.
The new currency system isn't complicated to use, but it will bring some changes 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 is designed to allow players to upgrade their equipment up to the highest level possible on all their characters instead of relying only on seasonal loot.
It's also important to use crests wisely, as they only have one use. It is recommended to put your Whelpling-rank Crests on the top-quality equipment that you can find, and keep Drake and Wyrm Crests for the next set of upgrades. This is particularly true for items like trinkets and rings that occupy multiple slots on the character which can only be eligible to avail the account-wide discount if all of the slots are filled with high-quality gear.