WoW Upgrades - The Item Upgrader
Upgrades will give you a boosts in certain statistics. Each upgrade boosts the item level 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 large variance in stats (like eth Titan weapons). Upgrades are less important for the latter due to the need to roll the 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 on any type of weapon or armor. The item used to upgrade the item will be consumed and cannot be used again. Upgrades can be applied to enchantments.
You can upgrade your equipment anytime by visiting the upgrader in any major city. To ensure that your equipment is up-to-date it is recommended that you visit the upgrader each few weeks.
The cost of upgrades will depend on the current item level of the equipment being upgraded however, they will always be cheaper than buying new equipment from other sources. For instance, upgrading a Benthic chest to 385 levels will cost 20 recycle points while buying a similar item from another player will cost 105.
Valorstones
Upgrades are items that can be used to upgrade tools, armor, weapon, and accessory upgrades. They can be purchased from NPCs of item upgrade rs for various currencies. They can also find them on random treasure lists. Once purchased, an upgrade is able to be applied to any weapon, tool, or armor. The button will show the item's next level of upgrade, in the event that there are enough materials.
Upgrade costs vary depending on the slot for the item and the current level of the item. For instance weapons cost more than gloves, bracers or bracers. Each upgrade cost 15 Flightstones plus a certain number of crests. Certain upgrades provide a discount on the Flightstones. After an item has been upgraded to a certain level it is able to be degraded and sold back to the upgrader for a lower amount of the two currencies.
A lot of locations offer upgraders for items which include the main island and some outposts. The NPCs provide both an upgrade coupon as well as the possibility of getting the latest recipe. The discount for upgrades increases depending on the amount of items that are being upgraded. It can also be boosted by having players complete specific achievements or complete quests.
Icewind Dale does not have an item upgrader at start unlike Cromwell from Baldur's gate II. Instead, the NPCs that can be used to upgrade are acquired via several methods which is both an improvement but also a drawback.
In Season 3, several new features have been added to the upgrade system. Once a player obtains an upgrade to a certain level for an item in an armor slot, upgrading further items to that level will cost less, even when they are part of another set of gear.
The amount of Valorstones needed for upgrades is reduced, and the discount is account-wide. 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 several choices when it comes to upgrading their gear in WoW. Flightstones are an item that is available to everyone who wants to upgrade. Crests are more specific and are used for specific item level upgrades. Crests are a key element of the Dragonflight gear progression system that was introduced in 10.1 and are available in four ranks.
First, you should know that crests are only available for equipment of a certain rank. Each rank comes with an upgrade path that is different. The most basic and straightforward upgrade process costs just 15 crests while the more complex one may require as many as 20 crests depending on the type of gear being upgraded.
Players can earn crests by completing content of the appropriate level, which means walking around and doing outdoor activities for lower-tier gear, dungeons or raids of any difficulty for higher-tier items or Mythic+ heroic raid bosses or dungeons for gear that is used in the endgame. Crests can be exchanged at an upgrader NPC, like Cuzolth in Dornogal, or Vaskarn in Valdrakken, for the appropriate upgrade routes and steps.
The use of these currencies isn't too complicated, but the system does introduce some modifications to the upgrade process. For example, once a piece of equipment reaches the highest level of upgrading for any rank (Explorer, Adventurer, Veteran, Champion, Hero, or Mythic) it won't require Flightstones to be upgraded. This change lets players upgrade their gear to the highest possible level on all of their characters instead of relying on seasonal loot.
Another important modification is that crests have one purpose, so it's important to make use of them in a responsible manner. For instance it's best to utilize all of your Whelpling rank crests on the top gear you have available and then keep Drake and Wyrm crests to use for the next set of upgrades you plan to make. This is especially true for items such as rings and trinkets that occupy multiple slots. The discount on the account is only applicable when all the slots on the character are filled with top-quality equipment.