WoW Upgrades - The Item Upgrader
Upgrades give a guaranteed boost to certain stats. Each upgrade increases the level of an item by +3. Each upgrade also boosts the random substatus.
Upgraded gear is generally more useful, unless the item is not required by nature (like FB sorc shields) or has a high variance in stats (like the eth Titan weapons). The latter are less valuable from upgrading due to the requirement to roll to get a perfect version.
Recycle Points
The item upgrader lets players upgrade their gear by offering the currency to an NPC. Upgrades can be made on any kind of armor or weapons. However, the item used for the upgrade will be consumed forever and will not be able to be used again. Upgrades can be applied to enchantments.
You can upgrade your gear anytime by visiting the upgrader in any major city. It is recommended that you visit the upgrader at least once every few weeks to ensure that your equipment is up to date.
The cost of upgrades will depend on the current level of the equipment being upgraded but they will always be less expensive than purchasing new equipment from other sources. Upgrades such as upgrading a Benthic chest to 385 ilvl will cost you 20 recycle points. Buying a similar item will cost you 105.
Valorstones
Upgrades are functional items that can be used to improve the quality of weapons tools, armor, and accessories. They can be purchased from item upgraders NPCs for various currencies. They are also available on random treasure lists. Once an upgrade has been purchased, it can be used on any weapon, tool, or armor with an The button will show a preview of an item's next upgrade level, when there are enough materials.
Upgrade costs vary depending on the slot of the item and the current item level. For instance weapons are more expensive than gloves, bracers or bracers. Each upgrade cost 15 Flightstones plus a certain number of crests. Certain upgrades provide a discount on the Flightstones. Once an item is upgraded to a certain level and is degraded, it can be sold and sold back to the upgrader for a lesser amount of both currency types.
Upgraders for items are available at many locations, including the main island, as well as a few outposts. The NPCs provide an upgrade discount and the chance to acquire a new upgrade recipe. The discount on upgrades increases depending on the amount of items that are being upgraded. It can also be boosted by having players complete some specific achievements or quests.
Contrary to Cromwell in Baldur's Gate II, there is no item upgrader available at the start of Icewind Dale. The NPCs who are able to facilitate upgrades are only accessible via a variety of ways. This is both a benefit as well as a drawback.
In Season 3, many new features have been added to the upgrade system. Once a player obtains an upgrade to a specific level for an item in an armor slot, upgrading additional items to that level will cost less, even when they are part of an entirely different set of gear.
The amount of Valorstones required for upgrades is decreased, and the discount is account-wide. Similarly, the amount of Harbinger Crests needed for upgrades is also cut and is not available until players reach certain milestones in their achievement.
Crests
When it comes to upgrading equipment in WoW, players have a few options. They can make use of Flightstones, which are a common upgrade currency that is accessible to all, or crests, which are more specialized and consumed during upgrades on specific levels of the item. Crests are a key element of the Dragonflight gear progression system, which was introduced in 10.1, and come in 4 ranks.
The first thing to remember is that the crests can only be purchased for equipment of a certain rank. Each rank has distinct upgrade paths. The easiest and most straightforward upgrade costs 15 crests. The most complex upgrade could require as much as 20 crests, contingent on the type of gear being upgraded.
Players can earn crests by working through content at the appropriate level. This could be by doing outdoor activities or completing dungeons and raids in all difficulties to get lower-tier gear or Mythic+ raid bosses or dungeons that have a high difficulty for endgame gear. The crests can later be exchanged at an item upgrader NPC like Cuzolth in Dornogal, or Vaskarn in Valdrakken to get the appropriate upgrade routes and steps.
The new currency system isn't complicated to use, but it brings some modifications to the upgrade process. For instance, when an item reaches the highest level of upgrade for any rank (Explorer, Adventurer, Veteran, Champion, Hero, or Mythic), it won't require Flightstones to be upgraded. This change is intended to allow players to get their equipment up to the highest level possible on all their characters, rather than relying solely on seasonal loot.
Another notable change is that crests have one usage, so it's important to use them wisely. For instance, it's best to make use of all your Whelpling-rank crests on the best equipment available, and then save Drake and Wyrm crests for the next round of upgrades you're planning on making. This is particularly relevant for rings and trinkets that take up multiple slots on the character, which will only be able to avail the discount for all accounts when all slots are full of high-quality equipment.