WoW Upgrades - The Item Upgrader
Upgrades will give you a an increase in specific stats. Each upgrade increases the level of an item by 3. A random extra substat is also added to each upgrade.
The upgraded gear typically has a more value in trade as long as it meets low requirements (like the FB sorc's shield) or very high stat variation (like eth titan weapons). The latter are less valuable from upgrading due to the requirement to roll for a perfect model.
Recycle Points
The item upgrader lets players upgrade their gear by offering the currency to an NPC. Upgrades can be applied on any kind of armor or weapons. However, the item level upgrade that is used for the upgrade will be consumed forever and can't be used again. Upgrades can also be applied to the enchantments.
The upgrader can be found in every major city, and is accessible anytime to upgrade your equipment. It is recommended that you visit the upgrader once every few weeks, to ensure that your equipment is up to date.
The cost of upgrading will vary based on the current level of the item being upgraded however, they will always be cheaper than purchasing new equipment from other sources. Upgrades such as upgrading a Benthic chest to ilvl385 will cost you 20 recycle points. Buying a similar item will cost you 105.
Valorstones
Upgrades are items that can be used for weapon, armor, tool and accessory upgrades. They can be purchased by players through NPCs who sell upgrades for items in exchange for various currencies, and can be found in random treasure lists. Once purchased, an upgrade is able to be applied to any weapon, tool, or armor. button, which displays an item upgrader mod's preview when it is upgraded if the player has sufficient materials.
The upgrade cost depends on the item slot 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 and a number of crests, with certain upgrades having a discount to reduce the cost of the Flightstones or the crests 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 price.
Item upgraders can be found at many locations on the main island and some outposts. The NPCs offer both an upgrade coupon and a possibility of obtaining an entirely new recipe. The upgrade discount increases with the number of items being upgraded. It can also be boosted by having players complete specific achievements or quests.
Unlike Cromwell in Baldur's Gate II there is no item upgrader available in the beginning of Icewind Dale. Instead, the NPCs that are available to facilitate upgrades must be acquired through several methods which is both an improvement as well as a disadvantage.
In Season 3, a number of new features were added to the upgrade system. Once a player obtains an upgrade to a specific item level for a particular armor slot, upgrading further items to that same item level will be less expensive, even if they belong to an entirely different set of gear.
The discount applies to all accounts. The amount of Harbinger Crests required to upgrade is reduced also, but is only available once certain milestones are achieved.
Crests
Players have a variety of options for upgrading their gear in WoW. Flightstones are an option that is accessible to everyone for upgrading. Crests are more specific and are used for specific item level upgrades. Crests are a key element of the Dragonflight gear progression system that was introduced in 10.1 and are available in 4 ranks.
First, you should know that Crests are only available to gear of a certain rank. Each rank comes with a different upgrade path. The simplest and easiest upgrade is 15 crests. The most complicated upgrade requires up to 20 crests, contingent on the type of gear being upgraded.
Players can earn crests by finishing content at the appropriate level. This could be done by doing outdoor activities, or by taking on dungeons and raids of all difficulty levels to obtain lower-tier gear or Mythicbosses of raids or dungeons with a heroic difficulty for gear in the endgame. These crests can be exchanged with an upgrader for the item, such as Cuzolth or Vaskarn, in Valdrakken for the appropriate upgrade steps and routes.
Using these new currencies isn't too difficult however, the system introduces some modifications to the upgrade process. When a piece of equipment attains the highest level of upgrade for any rank (Explorer or Adventurer), it will no longer require Flightstones. This change is intended to allow players to get their gear up to the highest possible ilvl for all their characters instead of relying only on seasonal loot.
Another notable change is that crests only have one use, so it's important to use them wisely. It is Best item upgrader to use your Whelpling-rank Crests on the highest-quality gear you can locate, and keep Drake and Wyrm Crests to be used for the next set of upgrades. This is particularly applicable to items like rings and trinkets that occupy several slots. The discount on the account will only apply when all the slots on the character are filled with high-quality gear.