WoW Upgrades - The Item Upgrader
Upgrades give a guaranteed boost to certain stats. Each upgrade boosts the level of an item by 3. Each upgrade also increases an unspecified substat.
Upgraded gear is generally more valuable, unless it has a low requirement by nature (like FB sorc shields) or has a high variance in stats (like Eth Titan weapons). The latter are less valuable from upgrading due to the need to roll for a perfect version.
Recycle Points
The item upgrader allows players to upgrade their gear by giving the currency to an NPC. Upgrades can be applied to any type of weapon or armor. The item used to upgrade the item upgrader mod will be consumed and cannot be used again. Upgrades can be used to create Enchantments.
The upgrader can be found in every major city, and can be accessed anytime to upgrade your gear. It is recommended to visit the upgrader at least once every few weeks, to keep your equipment up-to-date.
The cost of upgrading will depend on the current level of the gear being upgraded however, they will always be less expensive than purchasing new gear from other sources. Upgrades such as upgrading a Benthic chest up to 385 ilvl will cost you 20 recycle points. If you purchase a similar item, it will cost you 105.
Valorstones
Upgrades are items that can be used to purchase weapons, armor, tools and accessory upgrades. They can be bought by players from NPCs that sell upgrades to items in exchange for a variety of currencies, and can be found in random treasure lists. Once an upgrade is purchased, it can be used on any weapon or tool with the help of The button will show the preview of an Item Level Upgrade's next upgrade level, if there are enough materials.
upgrade item costs vary depending on the slot for the item upgrader mod and the current item level. For example weapons are more expensive than bracers, or gloves. Each step costs 15 Flightstones and a few crests, with some upgrades having a discount to reduce the cost of the Flightstones or the crests used. Once an item has been upgraded to a certain amount, it can be degraded and returned 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 both an upgrade discount as well as a chance to get a brand new upgrade recipe. The upgrade discount increases when more items are upgraded. It can also be increased by having players complete certain achievements or quests.
In contrast to Cromwell in Baldur's Gate II there is no upgrader for items at the start of Icewind Dale. Instead the NPCs that can be used to upgrade item are acquired via various methods which is both an improvement as well as a disadvantage.
In Season 3, a number of new features have been added to the upgrade system. When a player has an upgrade to a certain item level for a particular armor slot, upgrading additional items to that level will be less expensive, even if they are part of a different gear set.
The amount of Valorstones needed for upgrades is reduced, and the discount is available across all accounts. Similarly, the amount of Harbinger Crests needed to upgrade is also reduced and is not available until players have reached certain achievement milestones.
Crests
When upgrading gear in WoW players have a couple of choices. Flightstones are a currency that is available to all players for upgrading. Crests are more special and are used for specific item level upgrades. Crests are an integral component of the Dragonflight Gear Progression System introduced in version 10.1. They are available in four ranks.
First, you must be aware that the crests can only be purchased for gear that is of a particular rank. Each rank comes with a different upgrade path. The most basic and straightforward upgrade process costs just 15 crests while the most complex can require as much as 20 crests depending on the type of equipment being upgraded.
Players can earn crests by working through tasks at the appropriate level. This could mean engaging in outdoor activities or taking on dungeons and raids of all difficulty levels to obtain lower-level gear or Mythicbosses for raids, or dungeons that have a high difficulty for gear in the endgame. The crests can then be exchanged with an item upgrader such as Cuzolth or Vaskarn, in Valdrakken to upgrade the item upgrades in the proper steps and paths.
The use of these currencies isn't that difficult, but the system does introduce some modifications to the upgrade process. For example, once an item reaches the highest upgrade level of any rank (Explorer, Adventurer, Veteran, Champion, Hero, or Mythic), it won't require Flightstones to be upgraded. This is to allow players to get their gear up to the highest ilvl possible on all their characters, rather than relying solely on seasonal loot.
It's also crucial to choose crests wisely, as they have only one purpose. It's best to use your Whelpling-rank crests on the best gear you can locate and save Drake and Wyrm Crests for the next set of upgrades. This is particularly true for items like trinkets and rings that occupy multiple slots on the character, which can only be eligible to avail the discount for all accounts when all slots are filled with high-quality equipment.