WoW Upgrades - The Item Upgrader
Upgrades will give you a boost in certain stats. Each upgrade increases the level of the item by +3. A random additional substat is also boosted alongside each upgrade.
Upgraded gear generally sees greater value for trade, unless it has inherently low requirements (like the FB sorc's shield) or very high stat variation (like Eth titan weapons). Upgrades are less important for those with higher variance due to the requirement to roll an exact version.
Recycle Points
The item upgrader allows players to upgrade their gear by transferring the currency to an NPC. Upgrades can be applied to any kind of armor or weapons. However, the item used to upgrade will be consumed forever and will not be able to be used again. Upgrades can be used to create Enchantments.
You can upgrade your equipment at any time by visiting the upgrader in any major city. It is recommended to visit the upgrader at least once every few weeks, to keep your equipment up to date.
The cost of upgrading will be based on the current level of the gear being upgraded but they will always be cheaper than buying new gear from other sources. For instance upgrading a Benthic chest to ilvl 385 will cost 20 recycle points, while purchasing the same item upgrades from another player will costs 105.
Valorstones
Upgrades are items that can be used to purchase tools, armor, weapon, and accessory upgrades. They can be purchased from item upgrader kit upgraders NPCs in a variety of currencies. They are also available on random treasure lists. Once an upgrade has been purchased it can be applied to any weapon, tool, or armor using a The button will show the preview of an item's next level of upgrade, when there are enough materials.
Upgrade costs differ based on the slot of the item and the current level of the item. For instance weapons cost more than bracers, or gloves. Each upgrade cost 15 Flightstones plus a specific number of crests. Some upgrades give discounts on Flightstones. Once an item has been upgraded to a certain degree it can be re-downgraded and sold to the upgrader at a lower cost.
Upgraders for items can be found in many places on the main island, as well as a few outposts. The NPCs provide an upgrade discount and the chance to acquire a new upgrade recipe. The discount on upgrades increases as more items are upgraded. It can be increased if players finish certain achievements or quests.
Contrary to Cromwell in Baldur's Gate II, there is no upgrader for items at the start 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, many new features have been added to the upgrade system. Once a player obtains an upgrade to a certain level of an item level upgrade for a specific armor slot, upgrading other items to the same level will be less expensive, even in the event that they belong to an entirely different set of gear.
The amount of Valorstones needed for upgrades is decreased, and the discount is affixed to all accounts. In the same way, the amount of Harbinger Crests required for upgrades is also reduced and is not available until players reach certain milestones in their achievements.
Crests
When upgrading equipment in WoW, players have a couple of options. Flightstones are an item that is available to everyone who wants to upgrade. Crests are more specific, and are used during specific item level upgrades. Crests are an essential part of the Dragonflight gear progression system, which was introduced in 10.1 and are available in 4 ranks.
The first thing to remember is that crests can only be spent on equipment of a particular rank, and that every rank has different requirements for its upgrade path. The simplest and simplest upgrade route costs 15 crests while the more complex one can require as much as 20 crests based on the type of equipment being upgraded.
Players can earn crests by working through tasks 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-level gear or Mythic+ raid bosses or dungeons with heroic difficulty for endgame gear. These crests are then exchanged with an upgrader for the item such as Cuzolth or Vaskarn in Valdrakken to upgrade the item upgrader kit in the proper steps and pathways.
The use of these currencies isn't that 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 is no longer required to purchase Flightstones. This change is intended to allow players to upgrade their gear up to the highest possible ilvl on all their characters instead of relying only on seasonal loot.
Another significant change is that crests only have one purpose and it's crucial to make use of them in a responsible manner. For instance, it's best to use all of your Whelpling-rank crests on the best gear you have available and then keep Drake and Wyrm crests for the next batch of upgrades you plan to make. This is particularly applicable to rings and trinkets that fill multiple slots on the character, that will be able to avail the discount for all accounts when all slots are filled with high-quality equipment.