WoW Upgrades - The Item Upgrader
Upgrades will give you a boost in certain stats. Each upgrade boosts the level of an item by 3. item upgrades upgrade also increases the random substatus.
The upgraded gear is usually more valuable, unless it is not required by nature (like FB sorc shields) or has a high variance in stats (like Eth Titan weapons). Upgrades are not as useful for those with lower requirements due to the requirement to roll the perfect version.
Recycle Points
The item upgrader lets players upgrade their gear by offering the currency to an NPC. Upgrades can be applied to any type of weapon or armor. The item used to upgrade the item will be consumed and cannot be used again. Upgrades can also be applied to enhancements.
The upgrader can be found in every major city, and can be accessed anytime to upgrade your equipment. To keep your gear current it is recommended that you visit the upgrader each couple of weeks.
The cost of upgrading will vary based on the current item level of the gear being upgraded, but will always be less expensive than purchasing new equipment from other sources. Upgrades such as upgrading a Benthic chest to ilvl385 will cost you 20 recycle points. If you purchase a similar item, it will cost you 105.
Valorstones
Upgrades are items which can be used to improve the quality of weapons tools, armor, and other items. They can be purchased by players from NPCs that sell upgrades to items in exchange for various currencies, and may also be found in random treasure lists. Once purchased, an upgrade is able to be used on any tool, weapon or armor. button, which displays an image of the item when it is upgraded if the player has sufficient materials.
The cost of upgrading is based on the item slot and the current level of the item and the weapon's price is higher than gloves or bracers, for instance. Each upgrade cost 15 Flightstones plus a set number of crests. Some upgrades offer a discount on the Flightstones. After an item has been upgraded to a certain degree, it can be downgraded and sold to the upgrader at a lower cost.
Upgraders for items are available at many locations including the main island and some outposts. The NPCs provide both an upgrade coupon as well as the chance to obtain the latest recipe. The discount on upgrades increases depending on the amount of items being upgraded. It is also possible to be boosted by requiring players to complete specific achievements or quests.
Icewind Dale does not have an upgrader for items at the start unlike Cromwell from Baldur's gate II. Instead the NPCs that are available to help with upgrades must be acquired through various methods that are both an improvement and a drawback.
In Season 3, a number of new features have been added to the upgrade system. Once a player has upgraded to a certain item level for an armor slot, upgrading other items to the same level will cost less. This is regardless of whether the items come from a different set of equipment.
The amount of Valorstones required for upgrades is reduced, and the discount is available across all accounts. In the same way, the amount of Harbinger Crests required to upgrade is also reduced and is not available until players reach certain milestones in their achievement.
Crests
When it comes to upgrading gear in WoW players have a variety of choices. Flightstones are a currency that is available to all players for upgrading. Crests are more specialized and are utilized during specific item level upgrades. Crests are the main component of the Dragonflight gear progression system introduced in 10.1 and are available in four ranks.
First, you should know that the crests can only be purchased for equipment that is of a particular rank. Each rank comes with an upgrade path that is different. The simplest and most straightforward upgrade route costs 15 crests while the most complex may require as many as 20 crests based on the type of gear that is being upgraded.
Players can obtain crests by completing content of the appropriate level, which means walking around and doing outdoor activities for gear of lower tiers, raids or dungeons of all difficulties for higher-tier items or Mythic+ heroic raid bosses and dungeons for gear that is used in the endgame. The crests can later be exchanged at an item upgrader NPC like Cuzolth in Dornogal, or Vaskarn in Valdrakken, for the appropriate upgrade pathways and steps.
The new currency system isn't difficult to use, but it brings some changes to the upgrade process. When a piece of equipment has reached the highest level of upgrade for any rank (Explorer or Adventurer) it will no longer require Flightstones. This change allows players to upgrade their equipment to the highest possible level on all of their characters, instead of relying on seasonal loot.
Another important change is that crests only have one use, so it's important to use them wisely. It is recommended to use your Whelpling-rank Crests on the best gear you can locate, and keep Drake and Wyrm Crests to be used for the next set of upgrades. This is especially true for items such as trinkets and rings that fill several slots. The discount on the account is only applicable when all the slots on the character are filled with high-quality equipment.