WoW Upgrades - The Item Upgrader
Upgrades give a guaranteed boost to specific stats. Each upgrade items increases the level of an item by 3. A random substat is also increased with every upgrade item.
The upgraded gear is usually more valuable, unless it has low requirements by nature (like FB sorc shields) or a high stat variance (like eth Titan weapons). Upgrades aren't as valuable for those with lower requirements due to the requirement to roll an exact 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. The item used to upgrade the item will be consumed and can't be used again. Upgrades can also be used to create the enchantments.
The upgrader can be found in every major city, and can be visited anytime to upgrade your equipment. It is recommended that you visit the upgrader every few weeks, to ensure that your equipment is up to date.
The cost of upgrades will depend on the current item level of the gear being upgraded but they will always be cheaper than buying new equipment from other sources. Upgrades such as upgrading a Benthic chest up to 385 ilvl will cost you 20 recycle points. A similar item will cost you 105.
Valorstones
Upgrades are useful items that can be used to improve the quality of weapons, tools, armor, and accessories. They can be purchased from NPCs of item upgraders in a variety of currencies. They can also find them on random treasure lists. Once an upgrade has been purchased, it can be used on any weapon or tool using an button, which will show an item's preview at its next upgrade level when the player has enough materials.
Upgrade costs vary depending on the slot of the item and the current level of the item upgrading. For example, weapons will cost more than bracers, or gloves. Each upgrade costs 15 Flightstones plus a certain number of crests. Some upgrades offer discounts on Flightstones. Once an item Upgrader Kit is upgraded to a certain amount it can be re-downgraded and sold to the upgrader for a lower price.
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 possibility of getting the latest recipe. The upgrade discount increases as more items are upgraded. It can also be increased by having players finish certain achievements or quests.
Icewind Dale does not have an item level upgrade upgrader at the beginning, unlike Cromwell from Baldur's gate II. The NPCs who are able to facilitate upgrades are available only through a variety means. This is both a benefit as well as a drawback.
In Season 3 the upgrade system has been altered a bit, with numerous new features added. Once a player obtains an upgrade to a specific level for an item in an armor slot, upgrading other items to that same item level will cost less, even in the event that they belong to a different gear set.
The discount is available to all accounts. The amount of Harbinger Crests required for upgrades is also reduced and is not available until players have reached certain achievement milestones.
Crests
When upgrading equipment in WoW players have a couple of options. They can choose to use Flightstones that are a general upgrade currency that is accessible to all players, or crests that are more specialized and are consumed during upgrades at specific item levels. Crests are an important component of the Dragonflight Gear Progression System, which was introduced in version 10.1. They are available in four ranks.
The first thing to note is that crests are only able to be spent on equipment of a particular rank, and that every rank has different requirements for its upgrade path. The simplest and most straightforward upgrade process costs just 15 crests while the most complicated can require as much as 20 crests depending on the type of equipment that is being upgraded.
Players can earn crests by finishing tasks at the appropriate level. This could be by doing outdoor activities, or by completing dungeons and raids in all difficulties to get lower-tier gear or Mythicbosses of raids or dungeons that have a high difficulty to obtain endgame gear. The crests can then be exchanged with an item upgrader such as Cuzolth or Vaskarn, in Valdrakken for the appropriate upgrade steps and paths.
The new currency system isn't complicated to use, but it will bring some modifications to the upgrade item process. For instance, when an item is at the highest level of upgrading for any rank (Explorer, Adventurer, Veteran, Champion, Hero, or Mythic), it will no longer require Flightstones to be upgraded. This change lets players upgrade their gear to the highest possible level on all their characters rather than relying on seasonal loot.
It's also crucial to choose crests with care, since they have only one purpose. For instance, it's a good idea utilize all of your Whelpling rank crests on the best equipment you have and save Drake and Wyrm crests to use for the next set of upgrades you're planning on making. This is especially applicable to trinkets and rings that occupy multiple slots on the character, which will only be able to benefit from the account-wide discount when all of the slots are filled with high-quality equipment.