WoW Upgrades - The Item Upgrader
Upgrades will give you a boost to specific stats. Each upgrade boosts the item level by +3. A random additional substat is also increased with each upgrade.
Upgraded gear is generally more valuable, unless it has a low requirement by nature (like FB sorc shields) or a high stat variance (like the eth Titan weapons). Upgrades are not as useful for the latter due to the need to roll the perfect version.
Recycle Points
The item upgrading upgrader enables players to upgrade their gear to a higher item level by providing the appropriate currency to the NPC. Upgrades can be applied on any type of armor or weapons. However, the item used to upgrade will remain in use for a long time and cannot be used again. Upgrades can be applied to the enchantments.
The upgrader is located in all major cities and is accessible at any time to upgrade your gear. To ensure that your equipment is up-to-date it is recommended that you visit the upgrader every few weeks.
The cost of upgrades will depend on the current level of the equipment being upgraded however, they will always be less expensive than purchasing new gear from other sources. Upgrades such as upgrading a Benthic chest up to the level of ilvl385 will cost you 20 recycle points. Buying a similar item will cost you 105.
Valorstones
Upgrades are items that can be used for weapons, armor, tools, and accessory upgrades. They can be bought by players through NPCs that sell upgrades to items in exchange for different currencies, and can also be found in random treasure lists. Once an upgrade has been purchased, it can be applied to any weapon, tool, or armor with the help of The button will show the item's next level of upgrade, if there are enough materials.
Upgrade costs differ based on the item slot, and the current item level. For instance weapons are more expensive than gloves, bracers, or bracers. Each step costs 15 Flightstones and a variety of crests, with certain upgrades having a discount to reduce the cost of Flightstones or crests that are used. 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.
Many locations offer item upgraders which include the main island and a few outposts. The NPCs offer both an upgrade item discount and a chance to get a brand new upgrade recipe. The upgrade discount increases as more items are upgraded. It can be increased by having players complete certain achievements or quests.
Unlike Cromwell in Baldur's Gate II is no item upgrading upgrader available at the beginning of Icewind Dale. The NPCs who can facilitate upgrades are only available through a variety means. This is both a benefit and a drawback.
In Season 3, several new features have been added to the upgrade system. When a player has an upgrade to a certain item level for a particular armor slot, upgrading other items to the same level will be less expensive, even if they are part of another set of gear.
The amount of Valorstones needed for upgrades is decreased, and the discount is available across all accounts. The amount of Harbinger Crests needed for upgrades is also reduced and is not available until players reach certain milestones in their achievement.
Crests
Players have a variety of choices when it comes to upgrading their equipment in WoW. Flightstones are an item that is available to all players for upgrading. Crests are more specialized and are used for specific item level upgrade level upgrades. Crests are the main component of the Dragonflight gear progression system that was introduced in 10.1, and come in four ranks.
The first thing to note is that crests are only able to be spent on gear of a specific rank, and every rank has different requirements for its upgrade path. The most basic and straightforward upgrade path costs 15 crests, while the more complex one requires as many as 20 crests, based on the kind of gear being upgraded.
Players can earn crests through working through content that is of the appropriate level, which involves walking around and engaging in outdoor activities for lower-tier gear, raids or dungeons with all difficulty for items of higher tier, or Mythic+ heroic raid bosses or dungeons to obtain endgame gear. The crests can then be exchanged with an upgrader for the item, such as Cuzolth or Vaskarn, in Valdrakken for the appropriate upgrade steps and pathways.
The new currency system isn't too difficult to use, but it will bring some changes to the process of upgrading. For example, once a piece of equipment reaches the highest upgrade level of any rank (Explorer, Adventurer, Veteran, Champion, Hero, or Mythic), it won't require Flightstones to be upgraded. This change is designed to allow players to upgrade their gear up to the highest possible ilvl on all their characters rather than relying solely on seasonal loot.
It's also important to use crests with care, since they are only used for one purpose. It is best to put your Whelpling-rank Crests on the highest-quality gear that you can find, and save Drake and Wyrm Crests to be used for the next set of upgrades. This is especially relevant for trinkets and rings that occupy multiple slots on the character, which will only be able to benefit from the account-wide discount if all slots are full of high-quality gear.