WoW Upgrades - The Item Upgrader
Upgrades give you boosts in specific statistics. Each upgrade increases item level by 3. Each upgrade also boosts a random substat.
The more modernized gear generally has a greater value for trade, unless it has inherently low requirements (like the FB sorc's shield) or has a high stat variation (like eth titan weapons). Upgrades are less useful for those with higher variance due to the requirement to roll an exact version.
Recycle Points
The item upgrader allows players to upgrade their gear by offering the currency to an NPC. Upgrades can be applied to any kind of weapon or armor. However, the item that is used for the upgrade will be consumed forever and cannot be used again. Upgrades can be applied to enchantments.
The upgrader is located in all major cities and can be visited at any time to upgrade your gear. To keep your gear current it is recommended that you visit the upgrader each couple of weeks.
The cost of upgrades will vary based on the current item level of the gear being upgraded however, they will always be cheaper than buying new gear from other sources. Upgrades such as upgrading a Benthic chest up to ilvl385 will cost you 20 recycle points. If you purchase a similar item, it will cost you 105.
Valorstones
Upgrades are items which can be used to level up weapons tools, armor, and other accessories. They can be purchased from NPCs of item upgraders for a variety of currencies. They can also find them in random treasure lists. Once purchased, an upgrade can be used on any weapon, tool, or armor. The button will display the preview of an item's next upgrade level, in the event that there are 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 bracers, or gloves. Each step costs 15 Flightstones and a variety of crests, with some upgrades offering discounts to reduce the cost of the Flightstones or the crests used. Once an item is upgraded to a certain amount it is able to be degraded and sold back to the upgrader for a lesser amount of the two currency types.
upgrade item of locations offer upgraders for items, including the main Island and some outposts. The NPCs offer both an upgrade coupon and a chance to obtain an entirely new recipe. The upgrade discount increases according to the number of items that are being upgraded. It is also possible to be increased by having players complete specific achievements or quests.
Contrary to Cromwell in Baldur's Gate II, there is no upgrader for items at the start of Icewind Dale. Instead, the NPCs that are available to facilitate upgrades must be acquired through various methods, which is both an improvement as well as a disadvantage.
In Season 3, the upgrade system was modified a bit, and some new features added. Once a player obtains an upgrade to a specific level of an item for a specific armor slot, upgrading additional items to that level will cost less, even if they are part of a different gear set.
The amount of Valorstones required for upgrades is reduced, and the discount is affixed to all accounts. In the same way, the amount of Harbinger Crests required for upgrades is also cut and is not available until players reach certain milestones in their achievement.
Crests
When upgrading equipment in WoW players have a couple of options. They can use Flightstones, which are a common upgrade currency available to everyone, or crests, which are more specific and consumed during upgrades at specific levels of items. Crests are a key element of the Dragonflight gear progression system introduced in 10.1, and come in four ranks.
The first thing to remember is that the crests can only be purchased for gear with a certain rank. Each rank has an upgrade path that is different. item upgrading and most straightforward upgrade costs 15 crests. The most complicated upgrade could require as much as 20 crests, depending on the kind of gear that is being upgraded.
Players can earn crests through completing content of the appropriate level, which means walking around and doing outdoor activities for lower-tier gear, raids or dungeons with any difficulty for higher-tier items or Mythic+ dungeons or heroic raid bosses to obtain endgame gear. These crests can be exchanged with an upgrader for the item like Cuzolth or Vaskarn in Valdrakken to upgrade the item in the proper steps and routes.
The use of these currencies isn't that difficult however, the system introduces some changes to the overall upgrade process. Once a piece of gear has reached the highest level of upgrade for any rank (Explorer or Adventurer) it is no longer required to purchase Flightstones. This change lets players upgrade their gear to the highest possible ilvl for all their characters, instead of relying on seasonal loot.
Another notable modification is that crests have one purpose and it's crucial to use them properly. It is best to use your Whelpling-rank Crests on the highest-quality gear that you can find, and keep Drake and Wyrm Crests to be used for the next set of upgrades. This is especially true for items such as trinkets and rings that fill multiple slots. The discount on the account is only applicable when all the slots on the character are filled with high-quality gear.