WoW Upgrades - The Item Upgrader
Upgrades will give you a an increase in certain statistics. Each upgrade increases the level of an item by 3. Each upgrade also increases an unspecified substat.
The upgraded gear is usually more valuable, unless it has low requirements by nature (like FB sorc shields) or has a high variance in stats (like Eth Titan weapons). Upgrades are not as important for those with lower requirements due to the requirement to roll the perfect version.
Recycle Points
The item upgrader enables players to upgrade their gear to a higher level by providing the appropriate currency to the NPC. Upgrades can be applied to any type of weapon or armor. However, the item that is used for the upgrade will remain in use for a long time and will not be able to be used again. Upgrades can be applied to the enchantments.
The upgrader is located in all major cities and is accessible at any time to upgrade your equipment. It is recommended that you visit the upgrader every few weeks, to keep your equipment up-to-date.
The cost of upgrading will be based on the current item level of the item being upgraded however, they will always be cheaper than purchasing new gear from other sources. Upgrades like upgrading a Benthic chest to the level of ilvl385 will cost you 20 recycle points. Buying a similar item will cost you 105.
Valorstones
Upgrades are items that are used to upgrade weapons and tools, armor and other accessories. They are purchased by players through item upgrader NPCs in exchange for various currencies, and can be found in random treasure lists. Once purchased, an upgrade can be used on any weapon, tool or armor. button, which will display an item's preview when it is upgraded if the player has sufficient materials.
The cost of upgrading varies based on the slot of the item and the current item level. For example weapons are more expensive than gloves, bracers or bracers. Each upgrade costs 15 Flightstones and a variety of crests, with certain upgrades having a discount to reduce the cost of the Flightstones or crests used. Once an item has been upgraded to a certain level it is able to be degraded and sold back to the upgrader for a lesser amount of the two currencies.
Item upgraders can be found at many locations on the main island as well as some outposts. The NPCs provide an upgrade discount and a chance to acquire a new upgrade recipe. The discount for upgrades increases depending on the amount of items that are being upgraded, and can be increased by having players complete specific achievements or quests.
Icewind Dale does not have an item upgrader at the start, unlike Cromwell from Baldur's Gate II. The NPCs who are able to facilitate upgrades are only available through a variety means. This is both a positive and a disadvantage.
In Season 3 the upgrade system has been tweaked a bit, with numerous new features added. After the player has upgraded to a certain level of item for an armor slot upgrading other items to the same item level, will cost less. This applies regardless of whether the items come from an entirely different set of gear.
The amount of Valorstones required to upgrade is reduced and the discount is account-wide. Similarly, the amount of Harbinger Crests required for upgrades is also reduced and is not available until players reach certain milestones in their achievement.
Crests
Players have a variety of options when it comes to upgrading their equipment in WoW. They can choose to use Flightstones which are a general upgrade currency that is available to everyone players, or crests, which are more specialized and are used to upgrade specific levels of the item. Crests are a crucial element of the Dragonflight Gear Progression System introduced in version 10.1. They are available in four ranks.
The first thing to be aware of is that crests can only be used on gear of a specific rank, and that every rank has different requirements for upgrading. The simplest and most straightforward upgrade process costs just 15 crests while the more complex one requires as many as 20 crests depending on the type of gear that is being upgraded.
Players can earn crests through working through content that is of the appropriate level, which involves walking around and engaging in outdoor activities to get lower-tier gear, raids or dungeons of all difficulty for items of higher tier or Mythic+ heroic raid bosses or dungeons for gear that is used in the endgame. These crests are then exchanged with an upgrader, such as Cuzolth or Vaskarn in Valdrakken for the appropriate upgrade steps and pathways.
Using these new currencies isn't too difficult however, the system does introduce 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 need Flightstones to be upgraded. This allows players to upgrade their gear to the highest possible level on all their characters instead of relying on seasonal loot.
our source is that crests only have one purpose therefore it's essential to use them properly. For instance it's best to use all of your Whelpling-rank crests on the top equipment available, and then save Drake and Wyrm crests for the next batch of upgrades you plan to create. This is particularly true for items such as rings and trinkets that occupy several slots. The account-wide discount will only apply when all the slots on the character are filled with high-quality gear.