WoW Upgrades - The Item Upgrader
Upgrades provide a guaranteed boost to certain stats. Each upgrade boosts the level of the item by +3. A random extra substat is also increased with every upgrade.
Upgraded gear is generally more valuable, unless it has low requirements by nature (like FB sorc shields) or has a high variance in stats (like eth Titan weapons). The latter are less valuable from upgrading due to the necessity to roll to get a perfect version.
Recycle Points
The item upgrader allows players to upgrade their gear by giving the currency to an NPC. Upgrades can be applied to any type of weapon or armor. However, the item that is used for the upgrade will be consumed forever and will not be able to be used again. Upgrades can be applied to Enchantments.
You can upgrade your equipment anytime by visiting the upgrader in any major city. It is recommended to visit the upgrader every few weeks, to keep your equipment up to date.
The cost of upgrades will depend on the current item level of the gear being upgraded, but will always be less expensive than purchasing new equipment from other sources. Upgrades like upgrading a Benthic chest to 385 ilvl will cost you 20 recycle points. Buying a similar item will cost you 105.
Valorstones
Upgrades are useful items that are used to upgrade item weapons and tools, armor and other accessories. They can be purchased by players through NPCs that sell upgrades to items in exchange for a variety of currencies, and can also be found in random treasure lists. Once an upgrade has been purchased, it can be applied to any weapon, tool, or armor with a The button will display the preview of an item's next upgrade level when there are enough materials.
Upgrade costs differ based on the Best item upgrader slot, and the current level of the item. For instance, weapons will cost more than gloves, bracers, or bracers. Each upgrade items cost 15 Flightstones and a variety of crests, with certain upgrades offering discounts to lower the cost of Flightstones or crests that are used. After an item upgrader kit has been upgraded to a certain degree, it can be degraded and sold back to the upgrader for a lower amount of the two currencies.
Upgraders for items can be found in many places including the main island, as well as a few outposts. The NPCs provide an upgrade discount and a chance to get a brand new upgrade recipe. The discount for upgrading increases when more items are upgraded. It can be increased if players finish certain achievements or quests.
Icewind Dale does not have an upgrader for items at the start, unlike Cromwell from Baldur's gate II. Instead, the NPCs that can be used to upgrade are acquired via several methods that are both an improvement as well as a disadvantage.
In Season 3, the upgrade system was altered a bit, with numerous new features added. When a player has an upgrade to a certain item level for a particular armor slot, upgrading additional items to the same level will cost less even if they belong to a different gear set.
The amount of Valorstones needed for upgrades is reduced, and the discount is affixed to all accounts. The amount of Harbinger Crests needed for upgrades is also cut and is not available until players have reached certain achievement milestones.
Crests
Players have a variety of options when it comes to upgrading their equipment in WoW. Flightstones are an Item Level Upgrade that is available to everyone for upgrading. Crests are more specific and are used for specific item level upgrades. Crests are an important part of the Dragonflight Gear Progression System, which was introduced in version 10.1. They come in four ranks.
First, you must be aware that the crests can only be purchased for equipment that is that is of a particular rank. Each rank comes with an upgrade path that is different. The simplest and most straightforward upgrade route costs 15 crests while the most complex can require as much as 20 crests depending on the kind of gear being upgraded.
Players can earn crests through finishing content at the appropriate level, whether that means walking around and doing outdoor activities for lower-tier gear, raids or dungeons of all difficulty for items of higher tier or Mythic+ dungeons or heroic raid bosses to obtain endgame gear. These crests can be exchanged with an upgrader for the item like Cuzolth or Vaskarn, in Valdrakken to upgrade the item in the proper steps and routes.
The new currency system isn't too difficult to use, but it does bring some modifications to the upgrade process. When a piece of equipment attains the highest level of upgrade for any rank (Explorer or Adventurer), it no longer requires Flightstones. This allows players to upgrade their equipment to the highest possible ilvl on all of their characters rather than relying on seasonal loot.
Another notable modification is that crests have one use, so it's important to make use of them in a responsible manner. It is recommended to use your Whelpling-rank Crests on the top-quality equipment you can locate, and save Drake and Wyrm Crests to be used for the next set of upgrades. This is particularly relevant for trinkets and rings that occupy multiple slots on the character which can only be eligible to take advantage of the discount for all accounts when all slots are filled with high-quality gear.