WoW Upgrades - The Item Upgrader
Upgrades give a guaranteed boost to specific stats. Each upgrade boosts the level of an item by 3. A random substat is also boosted alongside every upgrade.
The upgraded gear typically has a greater value for trade regardless of whether it has low requirements (like the FB shield of the sorc) or has a high stat variation (like Eth titan weapons). Upgrades aren't as useful for those with higher variance because of the requirement to roll a perfect version.
Recycle Points
The item upgrader enables players to upgrade their gear to a higher level by supplying the appropriate currency to the NPC. Upgrades can be applied to any type of weapon or armor. The item used to upgrade the item upgrading will be consumed and cannot be used again. Upgrades can be used to create the enchantments.
You can upgrade your equipment anytime by visiting the upgrader in any major city. It is recommended that you visit the upgrader once every few weeks to keep your equipment up to date.
The cost of upgrades will depend on the current item level of the equipment being upgraded but they will always be cheaper than buying new equipment from other sources. Upgrades such as upgrading a Benthic chest to ilvl385 will cost you 20 recycle points. A similar item will cost you 105.
Valorstones
Upgrades are items that can be used to purchase 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 can be applied to any tool, weapon or armor. The button will show a preview of an item upgrading's next upgrade level if there are enough materials.
The cost of upgrades varies based on the slot of the item and the current level of the item upgrader kit as well as the level of the weapon, which is more than bracers or gloves, for instance. Each upgrade costs 15 Flightstones plus a certain number of crests. Certain upgrades provide a discount on the Flightstones. Once an item level Upgrade has been upgraded to a certain degree, it can be downgraded and sold to the upgrader at a lower cost.
Upgraders for items are available at many locations on the main island, as well as a few outposts. The NPCs provide both an upgrade discount and the chance to get a brand new upgrade recipe. The upgrade discount increases when more items are upgraded. It can be increased by having players finish certain achievements or quests.
Unlike Cromwell in Baldur's Gate II, there is no item upgrader available at the beginning of Icewind Dale. The NPCs who are able to facilitate upgrades are available only through a variety of methods. This is both a benefit as well as a drawback.
In Season 3, several new features were added to the upgrade system. Once the player has upgraded to a certain item level for an armor slot upgrading other items to the same level, will cost less. This applies regardless of whether the items come from a different set of equipment.
The discount is applicable to all accounts. The amount of Harbinger Crests needed to upgrade is cut as well, but is only available when certain milestones are achieved.
Crests
When upgrading gear in WoW players have a variety of options. Flightstones are a currency that is available to all players for upgrading. Crests are more specialized and are utilized during specific item level upgrades. Crests are a key element of the Dragonflight gear progression system, which was introduced in 10.1 and are available in 4 ranks.
First, you must be aware that the crests can only be purchased for gear that is of a particular rank. Each rank has a different upgrade path. The most basic and straightforward upgrade route costs 15 crests while the most complicated can require as much as 20 crests, based on the kind of gear that is being upgraded.
Players can earn crests by completing content at the appropriate level. This could be by doing outdoor activities, or by completing dungeons and raids in all difficulties to get lower-level gear or Mythic+ raid bosses or dungeons that have a high difficulty for gear in the endgame. The crests can then be exchanged with an upgrader such as Cuzolth or Vaskarn in Valdrakken to upgrade the item in the proper steps and paths.
The use of these currencies isn't that difficult, but the system introduces some changes to the overall upgrade process. For example, once an item reaches the highest level of upgrade for any rank (Explorer, Adventurer, Veteran, Champion, Hero, or Mythic), it won't require Flightstones to be upgraded. This change is intended to allow players to get their equipment up to the highest level possible on all their characters, instead of relying only on seasonal loot.
Another notable modification is that crests have one purpose, so it's important to make use of them in a responsible manner. For instance, it's a good idea to utilize all of your Whelpling rank crests on the best gear you have available and then save Drake and Wyrm crests to use for the next set of upgrades you're planning on making. This is especially applicable to rings and trinkets that take up multiple slots on the character, which will only be able to take advantage of the account-wide discount when all slots are full of high-quality equipment.