WoW Upgrades - The Item Upgrader
Upgrades will give you a boost to certain stats. Each upgrade boosts the level of an item by +3. Each upgrade also boosts an unspecified substat.
Upgraded gear generally sees more value in trade regardless of whether it has low requirements (like the FB shield of the sorc) or has a high stat variance (like Eth titan weapons). Upgrades aren't as useful for those with lower requirements due to the requirement to roll a perfect version.
Recycle Points
The item upgrader enables players to upgrade their gear to a higher level by supplying the appropriate currency to the NPC. Upgrades can be applied on any kind of weapon or armor. The item used to upgrade the item is discarded and cannot be used again. Upgrades can also be applied to enchantments.
You can upgrade your equipment anytime by visiting the upgrader in any major city. It is recommended that you visit the upgrader every few weeks to ensure that your equipment is up-to-date.
item upgrades will cost more depending on the level of the item however they'll always be cheaper than purchasing new gear. Upgrades such as upgrading a Benthic chest up to the level of ilvl385 will cost you 20 recycle points. Buying a similar item will cost you 105.
Valorstones
Upgrades are items that are used to improve the quality of weapons tools, armor, and accessories. Players can purchase them from item upgraders NPCs in a variety of currencies. They can also find them in random treasure lists. Once an upgrade is purchased, it can be used on any weapon, tool, or armor using the help of button, which will display an image of the item at its next upgrade level when the player has enough materials.
The upgrade cost depends on the item slot and the current level of the item and the weapon's price is higher than gloves or bracers for example. Each upgrade cost 15 Flightstones and a variety of crests, with some upgrades offering discounts to reduce the cost of Flightstones or crests used. After an item has been upgraded to a certain degree and is degraded, it can be sold and returned to the upgrader for a lesser amount of the two currency types.
Many locations offer item upgraders which include the main island and some outposts. The NPCs provide both an upgrade coupon as well as the possibility of obtaining a new recipe. The discount for upgrading 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 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 various methods, which is both an improvement as well as a disadvantage.
In Season 3, the upgrade system was altered a bit, with several new features added. When a player has an upgrade to a specific item level for a particular armor slot, upgrading further items to that same item level will cost less, even if they belong to a different gear set.
The amount of Valorstones required to upgrade is reduced and the discount is affixed to all accounts. The amount of Harbinger Crests needed to upgrade is also reduced and is not available until players have reached certain achievement milestones.
Crests
When upgrading gear in WoW, players have a couple of options. They can make use of Flightstones which are a general upgrade currency that is available to all players, or crests, which are more specialized and are used to upgrade specific item levels. Crests are an integral 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 can only be spent on gear of a specific rank, and every rank has different requirements for upgrading. The easiest and most straightforward upgrade is 15 crests. The most complex upgrade requires up to 20 crests, depending on the type or equipment that is being upgraded.
Players can earn crests through completing content of the appropriate level, which involves walking around and performing outdoor activities to get lower-tier gear, raids or dungeons of any difficulty for higher-tier items, or Mythic+ heroic raid bosses and dungeons to obtain endgame gear. These crests can then be exchanged at an upgrader NPC, like Cuzolth in Dornogal, or Vaskarn in Valdrakken, for the appropriate upgrade routes and steps.
The new currency system isn't too difficult to use, however it brings some changes to the process of upgrading. When a piece of equipment attains the highest level of upgrade for any rank (Explorer or Adventurer), it will no longer require Flightstones. This change lets players upgrade their gear to the highest possible level on all their characters, instead of relying on seasonal loot.
It's also essential to use crests wisely, as they only have one use. It's best to use your Whelpling-rank Crests on the best gear you can locate, and keep Drake and Wyrm Crests to be used for the next set of upgrades. This is particularly true for items such as rings and trinkets that occupy several slots. The discount for the entire account will only be applicable if all slots on the character are filled with top-quality equipment.