WoW Upgrades - The Item Upgrader
Upgrades give a guaranteed boost to certain stats. Each upgrade boosts the level of the item by +3. Each upgrade also increases a random substat.
Upgraded gear is generally more valuable, unless it has low requirements by nature (like FB sorc shields) or has a large variance in stats (like Eth Titan weapons). Upgrades are less important for the latter because of the requirement to roll an exact 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 to upgrade will be consumed for the duration of time and cannot be used again. Upgrades can also be used to create the enchantments.
The upgrader can be found in all major cities and can be visited at any time to upgrade your gear. To keep your gear up-to-date it is recommended you visit the upgrader each several weeks.
Upgrades will cost more, based on the item level, but they will always be less expensive than purchasing new gear. For instance, upgrading a Benthic chest piece to ilvl 385 will cost 20 recycle points, while purchasing the same item upgrade from another player will cost 105.
Valorstones
Upgrades are items which can be used to upgrade weapons and tools, armor and accessories. Players can purchase them from NPCs of item upgraders for a variety of currencies. They can also find them in random treasure lists. Once purchased, an upgrade is able to be used on any tool, weapon or armor. The button will display the item's next upgrade level if there are enough materials.
The cost of upgrading varies based on the slot of the item and the current level of the item. For instance weapons cost more than gloves, bracers, or bracers. Each step costs 15 Flightstones plus a certain number of crests. Some upgrades give discounts on Flightstones. Once an item is upgraded to a certain amount it is able to be downgraded and sold to the upgrader at a lower price.
Many locations have upgraders for their items which include the main island and a few outposts. The NPCs offer both an upgrade discount as well as a chance to obtain a new upgrade recipe. The discount on upgrades increases with the number of items that are being upgraded, and can be increased by having players complete specific achievements or quests.
Contrary to Cromwell in Baldur's Gate II, there is no upgrader for items available in the beginning of Icewind Dale. Instead, the NPCs that are available to help with upgrades must be acquired through several methods which is both an improvement but also a drawback.
In Season 3, a number of new features have been added to the upgrade system. Once a player obtains an upgrade to a particular item level for a particular armor slot, upgrading further items to the same level will cost less, even in the event that they are part of an entirely different set of gear.
The discount applies to all accounts. The amount of Harbinger Crests required for upgrades is reduced as well, but is only available when certain milestones are reached.
Crests
When upgrading equipment in WoW, players have a few choices. Flightstones are an item that is available to everyone who wants to upgrade. Crests are more special and are utilized during specific item level upgrade - reviews over at Bookmarkzones, level upgrades. Crests are an essential part of the Dragonflight gear progression system that was introduced in 10.1 and are available in four ranks.
The first thing to remember is that crests can only be used on equipment that is of a particular rank, and every rank has different requirements for upgrading. The simplest and most straightforward upgrade path costs 15 crests, while the more complex one requires as many as 20 crests based on the type of equipment that is being upgraded.
Players can earn crests through completing tasks at the appropriate level. This could be done by doing outdoor activities or completing dungeons and raids in all difficulty levels to obtain lower-level gear or Mythicbosses for raids, or dungeons with a heroic difficulty for gear in the endgame. The crests can later be exchanged at an upgrader NPC like Cuzolth in Dornogal, or Vaskarn in Valdrakken, for the appropriate upgrade routes and steps.
The new currency system isn't difficult to use, however it brings some modifications to the upgrade process. For example, once an item level upgrade is at the highest level of upgrade for any rank (Explorer, Adventurer, Veteran, Champion, Hero, or Mythic) it won't need Flightstones to be upgraded. This is to allow players to upgrade item their gear up to the highest possible ilvl for all their characters instead of relying only on seasonal loot.
Another significant change is that crests only have one purpose, so it's important to make use of them in a responsible manner. It's best to use your Whelpling-rank crests on the top-quality equipment you can locate and save Drake and Wyrm Crests for the next round of upgrades. This is particularly applicable to items like trinkets and rings that take up multiple slots. The account-wide discount is only applicable when all the slots on the character are filled with top-quality gear.