WoW Upgrades - The Item Upgrader
Upgrades give you an increase in certain statistics. Each upgrade increases the level of an item by +3. Each upgrade also increases an unspecified substat.
Upgraded gear generally sees more value in trade, unless it has inherently low requirements (like the FB shield of the sorc) or has a high stat variance (like eth titan weapons). The latter are less valuable from upgrading due to the necessity to roll for a perfect version.
Recycle Points
The item upgrader allows players to upgrade gear to a higher item level by supplying the appropriate currency to the NPC. Upgrades can be applied to any kind of armor or weapon. The item used to upgrade the item is discarded and cannot be used again. Upgrades can be applied to enchantments.
The upgrader can be found in every major city, and can be accessed at any time to upgrade your equipment. It is recommended to visit the upgrader every few weeks to ensure that your equipment is up-to-date.
Upgrades will cost more depending on the item level, however, they are always less expensive than purchasing new equipment. For instance, upgrading a chest piece from Benthic to 385 levels will cost 20 recycle points while buying a similar item from a different player will cost 105.
Valorstones
Upgrades are useful items which can be used to upgrade weapons and tools, armor and other items. They can be purchased by players through NPCs who sell upgrades to item owners in a variety of currencies. They can also find them on random treasure lists. Once an upgrade has been purchased it can be applied to any weapon or tool with an button, which will show an item's preview at the next upgrade level if the player has sufficient materials.
The cost of upgrading is based on the item slot and the current item level as well as the level of the weapon, which is more than bracers or gloves, for example. Each upgrade cost 15 Flightstones and a number of crests, with some upgrades having a discount to lower the cost of the Flightstones or crests used. Once an item has been upgraded to a certain degree 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 and some outposts. The NPCs provide both an upgrade discount and a chance to get a brand new upgrade recipe. The upgrade discount increases according to the number of items being upgraded. It can also be increased by having players complete specific achievements or quests.
Unlike Cromwell in Baldur's Gate II, there is no upgrader for items in the beginning of Icewind Dale. Instead, the NPCs that are available to help with upgrades must be acquired through various methods, which is both an improvement but also a drawback.
In Season 3, many new features were added to the upgrade system. Once the player has upgraded to a specific level for an armor slot upgrading other items to the same level will cost less. This is true regardless of whether the items are from an entirely different set of equipment.
The amount of Valorstones needed to upgrade is reduced and the discount is affixed to all accounts. The amount of Harbinger Crests required to upgrade is reduced as well, but is only available when certain milestones are reached.
Crests
When upgrading equipment in WoW, players have a few options. Flightstones are an item that is available to everyone who wants to upgrade. Crests are more special, and are used during specific level upgrades for items. Crests are a key element of the Dragonflight gear progression system, which was introduced in 10.1, and come in 4 ranks.
First, you should know that Crests are only available to equipment that is that is of a particular rank. Each rank has a different upgrade path. The simplest and simplest upgrade route costs 15 crests while the more complex one can require as much as 20 crests based on the type of gear that is being upgraded.
Players can earn crests through finishing tasks 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 Mythicbosses for raids, or dungeons that have a high difficulty for endgame gear. Crests can be exchanged at an item upgrader NPC, such as Cuzolth in Dornogal or Vaskarn in Valdrakken to obtain the appropriate upgrade pathways and steps.
The new currency system isn't complicated to use, but it does bring some changes to the process of upgrading. When a piece of equipment has reached the highest level of upgrade for any rank (Explorer or Adventurer) it is no longer required to purchase Flightstones. This allows players to upgrade their equipment to the highest possible ilvl on all their characters instead of relying on seasonal loot.
Another important change is that crests only have one use and it's crucial to use them wisely. For instance, it's a good idea use all of your Whelpling-rank crests on the top equipment you have, and then save Drake and Wyrm crests for the next batch of upgrades you're planning to create. item upgrading is particularly true for items like rings and trinkets that fill multiple slots on the character that will be able to benefit from the account-wide discount if all of the slots are full of high-quality equipment.