WoW Upgrades - The Item Upgrader
Upgrades give you an increase in specific statistics. Each upgrade increases the level of an item by 3. Each upgrade also increases the random substatus.
Upgraded gear is generally more valuable, unless it is not required by nature (like FB sorc shields) or has a high variance in stats (like eth Titan weapons). These types of gear get less value from upgrading due to the need to roll for a perfect version.
Recycle Points
The item level upgrade upgrader allows players to upgrade their gear by offering the currency to an NPC. Upgrades can be applied to any kind of weapon or armor. However, the item upgrader mod 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 all major cities and is accessible at any time to upgrade your gear. To ensure that your equipment is up-to-date it is recommended that you visit the upgrader each few weeks.
Upgrades will cost more, based on the level of the item, however they'll always be cheaper than purchasing new equipment. Upgrades such as upgrading a Benthic chest to 385 ilvl will cost you 20 recycle points. Buying a similar item upgrading will cost you 105.
Valorstones
Upgrades are functional items that are used to level up weapons and tools, armor and other items. They can be purchased by players through NPCs who sell upgrades to item owners for various currencies. They are also available on random treasure lists. Once purchased, an upgrade can be used on any weapon, tool, or armor. The button will display the preview of an item's next upgrade level if there are enough materials.
The cost of upgrading is based on the slot of the item and the current level of the item, with weapons costing more than gloves or bracers, for instance. Each step costs 15 Flightstones and a number of crests, with some upgrades offering discounts to lower the cost of the Flightstones or crests that are used. Once an item has been upgraded to a certain amount, it can be downgraded and sold to the upgrader for a lower price.
Upgraders for items are available in a variety of locations including the main island as well as some outposts. The NPCs provide both an upgrade discount as well as a chance to acquire a new upgrade recipe. The discount on upgrades increases as more items are upgraded. It can also be increased by having players complete certain achievements or quests.
Icewind Dale does not have an item upgrader at start, unlike Cromwell from Baldur's gate II. Instead, the NPCs that are available to help with upgrades are acquired via a variety of means which is both an improvement but also a drawback.
In Season 3, several new features have been added to the upgrade system. After a player has earned an upgrade to a particular item level for a particular armor slot, upgrading further items to the same level will cost less even if they are part of another set of gear.
The discount is applicable to all accounts. Similarly, the amount of Harbinger Crests needed for upgrades is also cut and is not available until players reach certain milestones in their achievement.
Crests
When it comes to upgrading gear in WoW, players have a couple of options. Flightstones are an item that is available to everyone for upgrading. Crests are more special and are utilized during specific item upgrading level upgrades. Crests are a crucial element of the Dragonflight Gear Progression System that was introduced in version 10.1. They are available in four ranks.
The first thing to note is that crests are only able to be spent on gear of a specific rank, and each rank has different requirements for its upgrade path. The most basic and straightforward upgrade route costs 15 crests while the more complex one can require as much as 20 crests, based on the type of gear being upgraded.
Players can earn crests through finishing content at the appropriate level. This could mean doing outdoor activities or doing dungeons or raids in any difficulty to earn equipment of lower tier or Mythicbosses of raids or dungeons with a heroic difficulty for endgame gear. These crests are then exchanged with an item upgrader such as Cuzolth or Vaskarn in Valdrakken to upgrade the item Level upgrade in the proper steps and paths.
The use of these currencies isn't too complicated, but the system does introduce some modifications to the upgrade process. For instance, when an item is at the highest level of upgrading for any rank (Explorer, Adventurer, Veteran, Champion, Hero, or Mythic) it won't require Flightstones to be upgraded. This is to allow players to upgrade their equipment up to the highest ilvl possible for all their characters rather than relying solely on seasonal loot.
Another important modification is that crests have one use therefore it's essential to make use of them in a responsible manner. For instance it's best to utilize all of your Whelpling rank crests on the Best item upgrader gear you have available, and then keep Drake and Wyrm crests to use for the next set of upgrades you're planning to make. This is especially relevant for rings and trinkets that take up multiple slots on the character, which can only be eligible to avail the account-wide discount when all slots are filled with high-quality equipment.