WoW Upgrades - The Item Upgrader
Upgrades will give you a boosts in certain statistics. Each upgrade boosts the level of an item upgrader kit by +3. Each upgrade also increases an unspecified substat.
Upgraded gear is generally more valuable, unless it has a low requirement by nature (like FB sorc shields) or has a high variance in stats (like eth Titan weapons). Upgrades are less useful for the latter because of the requirement to roll a perfect version.
Recycle Points
The item upgrader lets players upgrade their gear by transferring the currency to an NPC. Upgrades can be applied to any type of armor or weapon. The item used to upgrade the item level Upgrade will be consumed and can't be used again. Upgrades can be applied to enchantments.
The upgrader can be found in all major cities and is accessible at any time to upgrade your equipment. To ensure that your equipment is up-to-date it is recommended you visit the upgrader every few weeks.
Upgrades can cost more based on the item level, 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. Buying a similar item will cost you 105.
Valorstones
Upgrades are items that can be used to level up weapons and tools, armor and other accessories. Players can purchase them through NPCs who sell upgrades to item owners for various currencies. They can also find them on random treasure lists. Once purchased, an upgrade can be applied to any weapon, tool or armor. button, which displays a preview of the item when it is upgraded when the player has enough materials.
The cost of upgrades varies based on the slot of the item and the current item upgrades level and the weapon's price is higher than gloves or bracers for instance. Each upgrade cost 15 Flightstones plus a certain number of crests. Certain upgrades provide discounts on Flightstones. After an item level upgrade has been upgraded to a certain level, it can be degraded and sold back to the upgrader for a lesser amount of both currencies.
A lot of locations offer upgraders for items in addition to the main island and some outposts. The NPCs provide an upgrade discount and a chance to obtain a new upgrade recipe. The discount for upgrading increases as more items are upgraded. It can also be increased by having players complete certain achievements or complete quests.
Unlike Cromwell in Baldur's Gate II, there is no upgrader for items in the beginning of Icewind Dale. Instead the NPCs that can be used to upgrade require several methods that are both an improvement and a drawback.
In Season 3, the upgrade system has been tweaked a bit, with numerous new features added. Once a player has upgraded to a certain level of item for an armor slot upgrading other items to the same level, will cost less. This is true even if those items are from a different set of equipment.
The discount is applicable to all accounts. The amount of Harbinger Crests required to upgrade is cut as well, but is only available after certain milestones have been reached.
Crests
When it comes to upgrading gear in WoW players have a few choices. Flightstones are a currency that is available to all players for upgrading. Crests are more specialized and are utilized during specific item upgrader kit level upgrades. Crests are a key element of the Dragonflight gear progression system introduced in 10.1, and come in four ranks.
The first thing to remember is that crests are only available for gear with a certain rank. Each rank comes with an upgrade path that is different. The simplest and simplest upgrade is 15 crests. The most complex upgrade could require as much as 20 crests, depending on the type of gear that is being upgraded.
Players can earn crests by working through tasks at the appropriate level. This could be by doing outdoor activities or taking on dungeons and raids of all difficulty levels to obtain lower-tier gear or Mythicbosses of raids or dungeons with a heroic difficulty to obtain endgame gear. Crests can be exchanged at an upgrader NPC like Cuzolth in Dornogal or Vaskarn in Valdrakken, for the appropriate upgrade routes and steps.
Utilizing these new currencies isn't too difficult however, the system does introduce some changes to the overall upgrade process. For instance, once 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 change allows players to upgrade their equipment to the highest possible ilvl on all of their characters rather than relying on seasonal loot.
Another important modification is that crests have one usage, so it's important to use them wisely. For instance, it's a good idea use all of your Whelpling-rank crests on the top equipment available and then keep Drake and Wyrm crests for the next round of upgrades you plan to create. This is especially true for items such as rings and trinkets that occupy multiple slots. The discount for the entire account is only applicable when all slots on the character are filled with top-quality gear.