WoW Upgrades - The Item Upgrader
Upgrades give you an increase in certain stats. Each upgrade boosts the item level by +3. A random additional substat is also added to every upgrade.
Upgraded gear is generally more useful, unless the item has low requirements by nature (like FB sorc shields) or has a high variance in stats (like Eth Titan weapons). Upgrades are less useful for those with higher variance due to the need to roll an exact version.
Recycle Points
The item upgrader enables players to upgrade gear to a higher level by providing the appropriate currency to the NPC. Upgrades can be made on any kind of armor or weapons. However, the Item level Upgrade that is used for the upgrade will be consumed forever and will not be able to be used again. Upgrades can also be used to create enchantments.
You can upgrade your gear anytime by visiting the upgrader in any major city. To keep your gear up-to-date, it is recommended that you visit the upgrader every several weeks.
Upgrades will cost more, based on the item level upgrade level, but they will always be cheaper than buying new gear. For example, upgrading a Benthic chest to ilvl 385 will cost 20 recycle points purchasing a similar piece from another player will costs 105.
Valorstones
Upgrades are items that can be used for tools, armor, weapon, and accessory upgrades. They can be purchased from NPCs of item upgraders for various currencies. They can also find them on random treasure lists. Once purchased, an upgrade is able to be applied to any tool, weapon or armor. button, which will display an image of the item at the next upgrade level if the player has sufficient materials.
The cost of upgrading is based on the item slot and current item level and the weapon's price is higher than gloves or bracers, for example. Each upgrade costs 15 Flightstones plus a certain number of crests. Some upgrades offer discounts on Flightstones. Once an item is upgraded to a certain level, it can be downgraded and sold to the upgrader for a lower price.
Upgraders for items are available in many places, including the main island as well as some outposts. The NPCs offer an upgrade coupon and the possibility of obtaining an entirely new recipe. The discount on upgrades increases as more items are upgraded. It can be increased if players finish certain achievements or quests.
Icewind Dale does not have an upgrader for items at the beginning, unlike Cromwell from Baldur's gate II. Instead, the NPCs that are available to facilitate upgrades are acquired via a variety of means which is both an improvement but also a drawback.
In Season 3, several new features have been added to the upgrade system. After a player has upgraded to a specific level for an armor slot upgrading other items to the same item level, will cost less. This is regardless of whether the items come from a 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 variety of options when it comes to upgrading their gear in WoW. Flightstones are a currency 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, which was introduced in 10.1 and are available in four ranks.
First, you should know that Crests are only available to equipment that is of a certain rank. Each rank has a different upgrade path. The simplest and easiest upgrade is 15 crests. The most complex upgrade can require up to 20 crests, based on the type of gear that is being upgraded.
Players can earn crests by completing tasks at the appropriate level. This could be done by doing outdoor activities or taking on dungeons and raids of any difficulty to earn equipment of lower tier or Mythic+ raid bosses or dungeons with heroic difficulty to obtain endgame gear. The crests can then be exchanged with an upgrader for the item level upgrade like Cuzolth or Vaskarn, in Valdrakken to upgrade the item in the proper steps and paths.
Utilizing these new currencies isn't too difficult however, the system will introduce a few changes to the overall upgrade process. Once a piece of gear has reached the highest level of upgrade for any rank (Explorer or Adventurer) it no longer requires Flightstones. This change lets players upgrade their gear to the highest level possible on all of their characters, instead of relying on seasonal loot.
It's also crucial to choose crests with care, since they have only one purpose. It is best to put your Whelpling-rank Crests on the highest-quality gear you can find and save Drake and Wyrm Crests to be used for the next set of upgrades. This is especially applicable to items like rings and trinkets that occupy several slots. The discount on the account is only applicable when all slots on the character are filled with top-quality gear.