WoW Upgrades - The Item Upgrader
Upgrades give you boosts in certain statistics. Each upgrade increases item level by 3. A random extra substat is also increased with 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 a very high stat variation (like Eth titan weapons). The latter are less valuable from upgrading due to the necessity 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 to any type of weapon or armor. However, the item that is used to upgrade will be consumed forever and will not be able to 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 every couple of weeks to ensure that your equipment is up-to-date.
The cost of upgrading will depend on the current level of the gear being upgraded, but will always be cheaper than purchasing new gear from other sources. Upgrades such as upgrading a Benthic chest to the level of ilvl385 will cost you 20 recycle points. If you purchase a similar item level upgrade, it will cost you 105.
Valorstones
Upgrades are items that can be used to upgrade weapons, armor, tools and accessory upgrades. They can be purchased by players from item upgraders NPCs for various currencies. They can also find them on random treasure lists. Once an upgrade is purchased, it can be applied to any weapon or tool with the help of The button will display a preview of an item Level Upgrade's next upgrade level in the event that there are enough materials.
The cost of upgrading varies based on the slot of the item and the current item level. For instance, weapons will cost more than gloves, bracers or bracers. Each upgrade costs 15 Flightstones and a number of crests, with some upgrades having a discount to reduce the cost of Flightstones or crests that are used. After an item has been upgraded to a certain level, it can be degraded and returned to the upgrader for a lower amount of the two currencies.
Item upgraders can be found in many places on the main island and some outposts. The NPCs offer both an upgrade items coupon as well as the possibility of getting a new recipe. The upgrade discount increases depending on the amount of items that are being upgraded. It can also be increased by requiring players to complete specific achievements or quests.
Unlike Cromwell in Baldur's Gate II, there is no upgrader for items in the beginning of Icewind Dale. Instead the NPCs that can be used to upgrade must be acquired through a variety of means, which is both an improvement but also a drawback.
In Season 3, the upgrade system was tweaked a bit, with some new features added. After a player has earned an upgrade to a particular level of an item for a specific armor slot, upgrading additional items to that level will be less expensive, even in the event that they are part of a different gear set.
The amount of Valorstones needed for upgrades is reduced, and the discount is available across all accounts. In the same way, the amount of Harbinger Crests needed for upgrades is also reduced and is not available until players reach certain achievement milestones.
Crests
Players have a variety of options when it comes to upgrading their gear in WoW. Flightstones are an option that is accessible to all players for upgrading. Crests are more specialized, and are used during specific item level upgrades. Crests are an important part of the Dragonflight Gear Progression System, which was introduced in version 10.1. They are available in four ranks.
First, you should know that crests are only available for equipment that is of a particular rank. Each rank comes with an upgrade path that is different. The simplest and most straightforward upgrade path costs 15 crests, while the most complex may require as many as 20 crests based on the kind of gear that is being upgraded.
Players can earn crests by working through content at the appropriate level. This could mean engaging in outdoor activities or completing dungeons and raids in any difficulty to earn lower-level gear or Mythic+ raid bosses or dungeons with a heroic difficulty for endgame gear. These crests can then be exchanged at an upgrader NPC, such as Cuzolth in Dornogal, or Vaskarn in Valdrakken to obtain the appropriate upgrade pathways and steps.
Utilizing these new currencies isn't too difficult however, the system will introduce a few changes to the overall upgrade process. For example, once an item 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 change is designed to allow players to get their equipment to the highest possible ilvl on all their characters instead of relying on seasonal loot.
It's also crucial to choose crests with care, since they have only one purpose. For instance it's best to utilize all of your Whelpling rank crests on the best equipment you have and save Drake and Wyrm crests for the next round of upgrades you're planning to make. This is especially applicable to items like rings and trinkets that occupy multiple slots. The discount on the account will only apply when all slots on the character are filled with top-quality gear.