WoW Upgrades - The Item Upgrader
Upgrades provide a guaranteed boost to specific stats. Each upgrade boosts the level of an item by 3. Each upgrade also increases a random substat.
The upgraded gear is usually more useful, unless the item upgrader kit is not required by nature (like FB sorc shields) or has a large variance in stats (like Eth Titan weapons). Upgrades aren't as useful for those with higher variance because of the requirement to roll a perfect version.
Recycle Points
The item upgrader lets players upgrade their gear by transferring the currency to an NPC. Upgrades can be made on any kind of weapon or armor. However, the item that is used to upgrade will remain in use for a long time and will not be able to be used again. Upgrades can be used to create enchantments.
You can upgrade your gear at any time by visiting the upgrader in any major city. It is recommended that you visit the upgrader every few weeks to keep your equipment up-to-date.
The cost of upgrades will vary based on the current level of the gear being upgraded however, they will always be less expensive than purchasing new equipment from other sources. For instance upgrading a Benthic chest piece to 385 ilvl will cost 20 recycle points purchasing a similar piece 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 by players from item upgrader NPCs in exchange for a variety of currencies, and can be found in random treasure lists. Once an upgrade has been purchased, it can be applied to any weapon, tool, or armor with an button, which will show a preview of the item upgrade at its next upgrade level if the player has sufficient materials.
Upgrade costs differ based on the slot of the item level upgrade and the current item level. For instance, weapons will cost more than gloves, bracers, or bracers. Each step costs 15 Flightstones and a number of crests, with certain upgrades offering discounts to lower the cost of Flightstones or crests that are used. Once an item has been upgraded to a certain level it can be re-downgraded and sold to the upgrader for a lower price.
Upgraders for items are available at many locations on the main island and some outposts. The NPCs offer an upgrade coupon as well as the possibility of getting a new recipe. The upgrade discount increases with the number of items that are being upgraded. It is also possible to be increased by requiring players to complete specific achievements or quests.
Icewind Dale does not have an upgrader for items at the beginning 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 has been tweaked a bit, with some new features added. After an upgrade has been completed to a certain level of item upgrade for an armor slot, upgrading other items to the same level will cost less. This is regardless of whether the items are from a different set of gear.
The discount is available to all accounts. In the same way, the amount of Harbinger Crests required to upgrade is also reduced and is not available until players have reached certain achievement milestones.
Crests
When it comes to upgrading equipment in WoW, players have a variety of choices. Flightstones are an item level upgrade that is available to all players for upgrading. Crests are more specific and are utilized during specific item level upgrades. Crests are a key element of the Dragonflight gear progression system introduced in 10.1 and are available in 4 ranks.
The first thing to be aware of is that crests can only be used to purchase equipment of a particular rank, and that every rank has different requirements for upgrading. The most basic and straightforward upgrade process costs just 15 crests while the most complex requires as many as 20 crests depending on the type of gear that is being upgraded.
Players can earn crests by finishing tasks at the appropriate level. This could be by engaging in outdoor activities or doing dungeons or raids in all difficulties to get lower-level gear or Mythicbosses of raids or dungeons with heroic difficulty to obtain endgame gear. These crests are then exchanged with an upgrader, such as Cuzolth or Vaskarn, in Valdrakken for the appropriate upgrade steps and routes.
The use of these currencies isn't that difficult, but the system does introduce some modifications to the upgrade process. For example, once an item is at the highest upgrade level of any rank (Explorer, Adventurer, Veteran, Champion, Hero, or Mythic) it will no longer require Flightstones to be upgraded. This change is intended to allow players to upgrade their gear up to the highest possible ilvl for all their characters rather than relying solely on seasonal loot.
It's also crucial to choose crests in a wise manner, as they only have one use. It's best to use your Whelpling-rank Crests on the top-quality equipment you can locate and keep Drake and Wyrm Crests for the next set of upgrades. This is especially applicable to rings and trinkets that take up multiple slots on the character, that will be able to benefit from the discount for all accounts when all slots are filled with high-quality gear.