WoW Upgrades - The Item Upgrader
Upgrades give a guaranteed boost to specific stats. Each upgrade boosts the level of an item by 3. A random extra substat is also boosted alongside each upgrade.
Upgraded gear is generally more valuable, unless the item has a low requirement by nature (like FB sorc shields) or has a high variance in stats (like eth Titan weapons). Upgrades are not as valuable for the latter due to the need to roll the perfect version.
Recycle Points
The item upgrader lets players upgrade their gear by giving the currency to an NPC. Upgrades can be made on any type of weapon or armor. The item used to upgrade the item is discarded and cannot be used again. Upgrades can be used to create Enchantments.
The upgrader can be found in all major cities and can be accessed anytime to upgrade your equipment. It is recommended to visit the upgrader once every few weeks, to keep your equipment up-to-date.
Upgrades will cost more depending on the level of the item, but they will always be cheaper than buying new equipment. For example, upgrading a chest piece from Benthic to 385 levels will cost 20 recycle points, while buying a similar item from another player will costs 105.
Valorstones
Upgrades are items that can be used for tools, armor, weapon and accessory upgrades. Players can purchase them from NPCs of item upgraders in a variety of currencies. They can also find them in random treasure lists. Once purchased, an upgrade is able to be applied to any tool, weapon or armor. button, which will show a preview of the item at the next upgrade level in the event that the player has enough materials.
The cost of upgrading varies based on the slot for the item and the current item level. For instance weapons are more expensive than gloves, bracers, or bracers. Each upgrade costs 15 Flightstones plus a set number of crests. Certain upgrades provide discounts on Flightstones. Once an item is upgraded to a certain degree, it can be degraded and returned to the upgrader for a lower amount of both currency types.
Upgraders for items are available in a variety of locations including the main island and some outposts. The NPCs offer both an upgrade coupon and a chance to obtain a new recipe. item upgrades on upgrades increases as more items are upgraded. It can be increased if players complete certain 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 help with upgrades require various methods which is both an improvement as well as a disadvantage.
In Season 3 the upgrade system has been tweaked a bit, with several new features added. When a player has an upgrade to a certain level for an item in an armor slot, upgrading additional items to the same level will cost less, even if they are part of an entirely different set of gear.
The discount is available to all accounts. Similarly, the amount of Harbinger Crests required for upgrades is also cut and is not available until players achieve certain milestones in their achievements.
Crests
Players have a number of choices when it comes to upgrading their equipment in WoW. Flightstones are a currency that is available to everyone for upgrading. Crests are more specialized and are used for specific item level upgrades. Crests are an essential part of the Dragonflight gear progression system introduced in 10.1 and are available in four ranks.
First, you must be aware that Crests are only available to equipment that is with a certain rank. Each rank comes with a different upgrade path. The simplest and easiest upgrade is 15 crests. The most complex upgrade requires up to 20 crests, depending on the kind of gear being upgraded.
Players can earn crests by completing content of the appropriate level, which involves walking around and engaging in outdoor activities for gear of lower tiers, raids or dungeons with all difficulty for items of higher tier or Mythic+ heroic raid bosses and dungeons for endgame gear. These crests can be exchanged with an upgrader such as Cuzolth or Vaskarn in Valdrakken for the appropriate upgrade steps and pathways.
The use of these currencies isn't that difficult however, the system will introduce a few modifications to the upgrade process. When a piece has reached the highest level of upgrade for any rank (Explorer or Adventurer), it no longer requires Flightstones. This change is designed to allow players to upgrade their equipment up to the highest ilvl possible for all their characters rather than relying solely on seasonal loot.
Another important change is that crests only have one usage and it's crucial to use them properly. For instance it's best to use all of your Whelpling-rank crests with the best equipment available, and then save Drake and Wyrm crests to use for the next set of upgrades you plan to create. This is especially relevant for rings and trinkets that fill multiple slots on the character that will be able to benefit from the account-wide discount when all of the slots are full of high-quality equipment.