WoW Upgrades - The Item Upgrader
Upgrades provide a guaranteed boost to specific stats. Each upgrade increases the level of an item by +3. A random additional substat is also boosted alongside every upgrade.
Upgraded gear generally sees greater value for trade, unless it has inherently low requirements (like the FB shield of the sorc) or a very high stat variation (like the eth titan weapons). Upgrades are not as useful for the latter due to 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 will be consumed and cannot be used again. Upgrades can be applied to enchantments.
You can upgrade your gear anytime by visiting the upgrader in any major city. It is recommended that you visit the upgrader at least once every couple of weeks to ensure that your equipment is up to date.
The cost of upgrades will vary based on the current item upgrading level of the equipment being upgraded but they will always be cheaper than buying new gear from other sources. Upgrades like upgrading a Benthic chest up to 385 ilvl will cost you 20 recycle points. Buying a similar item upgrades will cost you 105.
Valorstones
Upgrades are items that are used to upgrade weapons, tools, armor, and other items. They can be bought by players from NPCs who sell upgrades for items in exchange for a variety of currencies, and may also be found in random treasure lists. Once purchased, an upgrade can be applied to any weapon, tool or armor. The button will show a preview of an item's next upgrade level in the event that there are enough materials.
The cost of upgrades varies based on the slot of the Item Level Upgrade and the current level of the item as well as the level of the weapon, which is more than bracers or gloves, for example. Each upgrade cost 15 Flightstones plus a set number of crests. Some upgrades give discounts on Flightstones. After an item has been upgraded to a certain level, it can be downgraded and sold to the upgrader at a lower cost.
Item upgraders can be found in a variety of locations including the main island, as well as a few outposts. The NPCs offer both an upgrade discount as well as a chance to acquire a new upgrade recipe. The discount on upgrades increases according to the number of items that are being upgraded. It is also possible to be increased by having players complete specific achievements or complete quests.
Icewind Dale does not have an item upgrade upgrader at the start unlike Cromwell from Baldur's Gate II. Instead, the NPCs that are available to help with upgrades require a variety of means that are both an improvement as well as a disadvantage.
In Season 3, many new features have been added to the upgrade system. Once a player obtains an upgrade to a specific level of an item for a specific armor slot, upgrading other items to that same item level will cost less, even in the event that they belong to another set of gear.
The discount is applicable to all accounts. Similarly, the amount of Harbinger Crests needed for upgrades is also reduced and is not available until players achieve certain achievement milestones.
Crests
When it comes to upgrading equipment in WoW, players have a few options. Flightstones are an item that is available to all players for upgrading. Crests are more specific and are utilized during specific item level upgrades. Crests are an important component of the Dragonflight Gear Progression System, which was introduced in version 10.1. They come in four ranks.
The first thing to remember is that crests can only be used to purchase gear of a specific rank, and each rank has its own requirements for its upgrade path. The easiest and most straightforward upgrade is 15 crests. The most complicated upgrade can require up to 20 crests, contingent on the type or equipment being upgraded.
Players can earn crests through working through content at the appropriate level. This could be by doing outdoor activities or taking on dungeons and raids of all difficulties to get lower-tier gear or Mythic+ raid bosses or dungeons that have a high difficulty for endgame gear. These crests can be exchanged with an upgrader such as Cuzolth or Vaskarn in Valdrakken to upgrade the item in the proper steps and routes.
Utilizing these new currencies isn't too complicated however, the system introduces some 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 allows players to upgrade their gear to the highest possible level on all their characters rather than relying on seasonal loot.
Another important change is that crests only have one purpose, so it's important to use them properly. It's best to use your Whelpling-rank Crests on the top-quality equipment you can locate, and keep Drake and Wyrm Crests for the next round of upgrades. This is especially applicable to rings and trinkets that take up multiple slots on the character, that will be able to avail the discount for all accounts when all of the slots are filled with high-quality gear.