WoW Upgrades - The Item level Upgrade Upgrader
Upgrades provide a guaranteed boost to specific stats. Each upgrade item increases the level of an item upgrader kit by +3. A random additional substat is also added to every upgrade.
The upgraded gear is usually more valuable, unless it has a low requirement by nature (like FB sorc shields) or a high stat variance (like Eth Titan weapons). The latter see less value from upgrading due to the need to roll for a perfect version.
Recycle Points
The item upgrader lets players upgrade their gear by giving the currency to an NPC. Upgrades can be applied to any type 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 be used to create Enchantments.
The upgrader is located in all major cities, and can be visited anytime to upgrade your equipment. It is recommended that you visit the upgrader every couple of weeks to keep your equipment up to date.
The cost of upgrades will depend on the current level of the equipment being upgraded but they will always be cheaper than buying new equipment from other sources. For example upgrading a Benthic chest piece to 385 ilvl will cost 20 recycle points, purchasing a similar piece from another player will costs 105.
Valorstones
Upgrades are items that can be used for weapon, armor, tool, and accessory upgrades. They can be bought by players from 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 used on any weapon, tool, or armor using the help of The button will show the item's next upgrade level, in the event that there are enough materials.
The upgrade cost depends on the slot of the item and current item level, with weapons costing more than gloves or bracers, for instance. Each upgrade cost 15 Flightstones and a variety of crests, with certain upgrades offering discounts to reduce the cost of Flightstones or crests used. After an item upgrader kit has been upgraded to a certain degree it can be re-downgraded and sold to the upgrader at a lower cost.
A lot of locations offer upgraders for items, including the main Island and some outposts. The NPCs provide both an upgrade coupon and a chance to obtain a new recipe. The upgrade discount increases when more items are upgraded. It can be increased if players complete certain achievements or quests.
Icewind Dale does not have an item upgrader at the beginning unlike Cromwell from Baldur's Gate II. Instead the NPCs that are available to facilitate upgrades are acquired via several methods, which is both an improvement but also a drawback.
In Season 3, a number of new features were added to the upgrade system. 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 cost less, even in the event that 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 for upgrades is reduced too, but it is only available when certain milestones have been reached.
Crests
Players have several choices when it comes to upgrading their equipment in WoW. Flightstones are an item upgrader mod that is available to everyone who wants to upgrade. Crests are more specialized and are used for specific item level upgrades. Crests are a key element of the Dragonflight gear progression system introduced in 10.1 and are available in four ranks.
First, you must be aware that Crests are only available to equipment of a certain rank. Each rank has distinct upgrade paths. The easiest and most straightforward upgrade costs 15 crests. The most complicated upgrade could require as much as 20 crests, depending on the type or equipment being upgraded.
Players can earn crests by working through content that is of the appropriate level, which involves walking around and performing outdoor activities for gear of lower tiers, dungeons or raids of any difficulty for higher-tier items or Mythic+ heroic raid bosses and dungeons for gear that is used in the endgame. The crests can then be exchanged with an upgrader like Cuzolth or Vaskarn, in Valdrakken for the appropriate upgrade steps and paths.
Using these new currencies isn't that difficult however, the system introduces some changes to the overall upgrade process. For instance, when an item upgrader kit reaches the highest upgrade level of any rank (Explorer, Adventurer, Veteran, Champion, Hero, or Mythic), it will no longer require Flightstones to be upgraded. This change lets players upgrade their equipment to the highest possible level on all their characters instead of relying on seasonal loot.
Another notable modification is that crests have one purpose, so it's important to use them wisely. For instance, it's best to utilize all of your Whelpling rank crests on the top gear you have available and then save Drake and Wyrm crests to use for the next set of upgrades you plan to make. This is particularly applicable to items like trinkets and rings that fill multiple slots. The account-wide discount will only apply when all slots on the character are filled with top-quality equipment.