WoW Upgrades - The Item Upgrader
Upgrades give a guaranteed boost to certain stats. Each upgrade boosts the level of an item by +3. A random extra substat is also added to each upgrade.
The more modernized gear generally has a more value in trade, unless it has inherently low requirements (like the FB shield of the sorc) or very high stat variation (like Eth titan weapons). Upgrades are less important for those with higher variance due to the need to roll the perfect version.
Recycle Points
The item upgrader allows players to upgrade gear to a higher item level by supplying the appropriate currency to the NPC. Upgrades can be applied to any kind of armor or weapon. However, the item that is used for the upgrade will remain in use for a long time and cannot be used again. Upgrades can also be applied to the enchantments.
You can upgrade your equipment at any time by visiting the upgrader in any major city. It is recommended that you visit the upgrader once every couple of weeks to keep your equipment up-to-date.
The cost of upgrading will vary based on the current item level of the equipment being upgraded however, they will always be cheaper than buying new gear from other sources. For example, upgrading a chest piece from Benthic to 385 ilvl will cost 20 recycle points, while buying a similar item from another player will cost 105.
Valorstones
Upgrades are items that can be used for tools, armor, weapon, and accessory upgrades. They can be bought by players through item upgrading upgrader - Suggested Browsing - NPCs in exchange for various currencies, and may also be found in random treasure lists. Once purchased, an upgrade is able to be applied to any weapon, tool or armor. The button will show a preview of an 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 item level. For instance weapons are more expensive than gloves, bracers or bracers. Each step costs 15 Flightstones and a variety of crests, with some upgrades offering discounts to reduce the cost of Flightstones or the crests used. Once an Best item upgrader is upgraded to a certain level, it can be degraded and returned to the upgrader for a lesser amount of both currency types.
Item upgraders can be found in many places, including the main island and 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 when more items are upgraded. It can be increased if players complete certain achievements or quests.
Contrary to Cromwell in Baldur's Gate II there is no item upgrader available at the beginning of Icewind Dale. The NPCs who can facilitate upgrades are only available through a variety of methods. This is both a benefit as well as a drawback.
In Season 3, several new features have been added to the upgrade system. After a player has earned an upgrade to a specific level of an item for a specific armor slot, upgrading other items to the same level will be less expensive, even if they belong to an entirely different set of gear.
The discount is available to 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 number of options when it comes to upgrading their gear in WoW. Flightstones are an item that is available to everyone who wants to upgrade. Crests are more special, and are used during specific upgrades to the level of an item. 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 note is that crests are only able to be spent on equipment that is of a particular rank, and that each rank has its own requirements for upgrading. The most basic and straightforward upgrade route costs 15 crests while the most complex can require as much as 20 crests, based on the type of equipment being upgraded.
Players can obtain crests by working through content that is of the appropriate level, which involves walking around and performing outdoor activities for lower-tier gear, dungeons or raids of all difficulties for higher-tier items, or Mythic+ heroic raid bosses or dungeons to obtain endgame gear. These crests are then exchanged with an item upgrader such as Cuzolth or Vaskarn, in Valdrakken to upgrade the item in the proper steps and paths.
Utilizing these new currencies isn't too complicated, but the system does introduce some modifications to the upgrade process. When a piece of equipment reaches the highest level of upgrade for any rank (Explorer or Adventurer), it will no longer require Flightstones. This change is designed to allow players to upgrade their equipment up to the highest possible ilvl on all their characters, instead of relying only on seasonal loot.
It's also essential to use crests wisely, as they only have one use. For instance it's a good idea make use of all your Whelpling-rank crests on the Best item upgrader gear you have available and then save Drake and Wyrm crests for the next batch of upgrades you're planning to make. This is especially true for items like rings and trinkets that fill multiple slots on the character which will only be able to avail the account-wide discount when all slots are full of high-quality equipment.