WoW Upgrades - The Item Upgrader
Upgrades will give you a an increase in specific stats. Each upgrade boosts the level of an item by +3. Each upgrade also boosts the random substatus.
Upgraded gear generally sees greater value for trade regardless of whether it has low requirements (like the FB sorc's shield) or has a high stat variation (like Eth titan weapons). Upgrades aren't as important for the latter because of the requirement to roll a perfect version.
Recycle Points
The upgrader for items allows players to upgrade gear to a higher item level by providing the appropriate currency to the NPC. Upgrades can be applied to any kind of armor or weapon. However, the item that is used for the upgrade will be consumed forever and will not be able to be used again. Upgrades can also be used to create the enchantments.
You can upgrade your equipment at any time by visiting the upgrader in any major city. To keep your gear up-to-date, it is recommended that you visit the upgrader each couple of weeks.
Upgrades will cost more depending on the item level, however they'll always be less expensive than purchasing new equipment. For instance upgrading a Benthic chest to ilvl 385 will cost 20 recycle points, purchasing a similar piece from another player will cost 105.
Valorstones
Upgrades are useful items that can be used to improve the quality of weapons and tools, armor and accessories. They can be bought by players through NPCs that sell upgrades to items in exchange for different currencies, and can also be found in random treasure lists. Once an upgrade has been purchased, it can be applied to any weapon, tool, or armor with an The button will show a preview of an item's next upgrade level if there are enough materials.
The upgrade cost depends on the slot of the item and the current level of the item and the weapon's price is higher than gloves or bracers for instance. Each step costs 15 Flightstones and a number of crests, with certain upgrades having a discount to reduce the cost of the Flightstones or crests that are used. Once an item has been upgraded to a certain level, it can be degraded and sold back to the upgrader for a lesser amount of the two currencies.
A lot of locations offer upgraders for items which include the main island and a few outposts. The NPCs provide an upgrade discount and a chance to get a brand new upgrade recipe. The discount on upgrades increases as more items are upgraded. It can also be increased by having players complete certain achievements or complete quests.
In contrast to Cromwell in Baldur's Gate II, there is no upgrader for items available at the beginning of Icewind Dale. The NPCs who can facilitate upgrades are only available through a variety of methods. This is both a benefit and a disadvantage.
In Season 3, many new features were added to the upgrade system. Once a player obtains an upgrade to a specific level of an item for a specific armor slot, upgrading additional items to that same item level will be less expensive, even if they are part of an entirely different set of gear.
The amount of Valorstones required for upgrades is reduced, and the discount is affixed to all accounts. The amount of Harbinger Crests required to upgrade is cut as well, but is only available when certain milestones have been reached.
Crests
When upgrading equipment in WoW, players have a few choices. They can use Flightstones which are a general upgrade currency that is available to everyone players, or crests that are more specialized and consumed during upgrades at specific item levels. item upgrader are a key element of the Dragonflight gear progression system that was introduced in 10.1 and are available in 4 ranks.
The first thing to note is that crests can only be used on gear of a specific rank, and that each rank has its own requirements for upgrading. The simplest and easiest upgrade costs 15 crests. The most complicated upgrade requires up to 20 crests, depending on the kind of equipment being upgraded.
Players can earn crests through working through tasks at the appropriate level. This could mean doing outdoor activities, or by doing dungeons or raids in all difficulties to get lower-level gear or Mythic+ raid bosses or dungeons that have a high difficulty for gear in the endgame. The crests can then 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.
Utilizing these new currencies isn't too complicated, but the system does introduce some changes to the overall upgrade process. Once a piece of gear reaches the highest level of upgrade for any rank (Explorer or Adventurer) it is no longer required to purchase Flightstones. This change is intended to allow players to upgrade their equipment up to the highest possible ilvl on all their characters rather than relying solely on seasonal loot.
It's also important to use crests with care, since they are only used for one purpose. For instance it's best to utilize all of your Whelpling rank crests on the top gear you have available, and then save Drake and Wyrm crests for the next batch of upgrades you plan on making. This is especially applicable to rings and trinkets that fill multiple slots on the character which will only be able to take advantage of the account-wide discount when all of the slots are filled with high-quality gear.