WoW Upgrades - The Item Upgrader
Upgrades will give you a boost in certain stats. Each upgrade boosts the level of an item by 3. A random substat is also increased with each upgrade.
Upgraded gear generally sees higher trade value, unless it has inherently low requirements (like the FB sorc's shield) or has a high stat variation (like eth titan weapons). Upgrades are not as useful for those with higher variance due to the requirement to roll an exact version.
Recycle Points
The item upgrader lets players upgrade their gear by giving the currency to an NPC. Upgrades can be applied to any kind of armor or weapon. However, the item used for the 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 equipment anytime by visiting the upgrader in any major city. To ensure that your equipment is up-to-date it is recommended you visit the upgrader each couple of weeks.
Upgrades can cost more based on the item level, however they'll always be less expensive than purchasing new equipment. Upgrades such as upgrading a Benthic chest up to ilvl385 will cost you 20 recycle points. A similar item will cost you 105.
Valorstones
Upgrades are items that are used to upgrade weapons, tools, armor, and accessories. They can be purchased by players from NPCs who sell upgrades for items in exchange for different currencies, and can also be found in random treasure lists. Once purchased, an upgrade is able to be used on any tool, weapon or armor. button, which will show an image of the item at its next upgrade level in the event that the player has enough materials.
Upgrade costs vary depending on the slot of the item and the current item level. For example weapons cost more than gloves, bracers, or bracers. Each upgrade cost 15 Flightstones plus a set number of crests. Some upgrades offer a discount on the Flightstones. After an item has been upgraded to a certain level it can be re-downgraded and sold to the upgrader at a lower cost.
Item upgraders can be found at many locations including the main island as well as some outposts. The NPCs offer an upgrade coupon and the possibility of getting an entirely new recipe. The upgrade discount increases depending on the amount of items that are being upgraded, and can be boosted 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 are available to facilitate upgrades are acquired via several methods which is both an improvement as well as a disadvantage.
In Season 3, the upgrade system has been modified a bit, and some new features added. Once an upgrade has been completed to a certain level of item for an armor slot, upgrading other items to the same level, will cost less. This is regardless of whether the items are from another set of equipment.
The discount is applicable to all accounts. The amount of Harbinger Crests needed to upgrade is cut as well, but is only available when certain milestones have been reached.
Crests
Players have a number of options for upgrading their gear in WoW. They can use Flightstones which are a general upgrade currency available to all players, or crests that are more specialized and are used to upgrade specific levels of items. Crests are an integral element of the Dragonflight Gear Progression System, which was introduced in version 10.1. They come in four ranks.
The first thing to remember 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 its upgrade path. The simplest and simplest upgrade process costs just 15 crests while the more complex one can require as much as 20 crests depending on the kind of gear that is being upgraded.
Players can earn crests through finishing tasks at the appropriate level. This could mean engaging in outdoor activities or completing dungeons and raids in all difficulties to get equipment of lower tier or Mythicbosses for raids, or dungeons that have a high difficulty for endgame gear. These crests can be exchanged with an upgrader for the item such as 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 will bring some changes to the process of upgrading. Once a piece of gear has reached the highest level of upgrade for any rank (Explorer or Adventurer) it will no longer require Flightstones. This is to allow players to get their equipment up to the highest ilvl possible on all their characters instead of relying only on seasonal loot.
Another notable change is that crests only have one use therefore it's essential to use them properly. It is best to use your Whelpling-rank crests on the best gear that you can find, and keep Drake and Wyrm Crests for the next set of upgrades. This is especially applicable to items like rings and trinkets that occupy multiple slots. The discount for the entire account is only applicable when all the slots on the character are filled with high-quality gear.