WoW Upgrades - The Item Upgrader
Upgrades provide a guaranteed boost to specific stats. Each upgrade boosts the level of the item by +3. Each upgrade also boosts an unspecified substat.
The upgraded gear is usually more useful, unless the item has low requirements by nature (like FB sorc shields) or has a high variance in stats (like the eth Titan weapons). Upgrades are not as important for the latter because of the requirement to roll a perfect version.
Recycle Points
The item upgrade r allows players to upgrade their gear to a higher level by providing the appropriate currency to the NPC. Upgrades can be applied on any type of armor or weapons. However, the item that is used to upgrade will be consumed for the duration of time and can't be used again. Upgrades can also be used to create the enchantments.
You can upgrade your equipment at any time by visiting the upgrader in any major city. To keep your gear current, it is recommended that you visit the upgrader every several weeks.
The cost of upgrades will depend on the current level of the gear being upgraded, but will always be less expensive than buying new equipment from other sources. Upgrades such as upgrading a Benthic chest to the level of ilvl385 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 purchased through NPCs who sell upgrades to item owners for a variety of currencies. They can also find them in random treasure lists. Once an upgrade is purchased, it can be applied to any weapon, tool, or armor with a button, which displays an item's preview at the next upgrade level if the player has sufficient materials.
The cost of upgrades varies based on the item slot and the current item level and the weapon's price is higher than gloves or bracers, for instance. Each step costs 15 Flightstones and a variety of crests, with some upgrades having a discount to lower the cost of Flightstones or the crests used. After an item has been upgraded to a certain degree it can be re-downgraded and sold to the upgrader for a lower price.
A lot of locations offer upgraders for items, including the main Island and a few outposts. The NPCs provide both an upgrade coupon as well as the possibility of obtaining a new recipe. The upgrade discount increases with the number of items being upgraded. It is also possible to be boosted by having players complete some specific achievements or quests.
Icewind Dale does not have an upgrader for items at the beginning, unlike Cromwell from Baldur's gate II. Instead, the NPCs that are available to help with upgrades must be acquired through a variety of means that are both an improvement but also a drawback.
In Season 3, the upgrade system was modified a bit, and several new features added. Once a player obtains an upgrade to a specific item level for a particular armor slot, upgrading further items to that level will cost less even when they are part of a different gear set.
The amount of Valorstones required for upgrades is reduced, and the discount is account-wide. The amount of Harbinger Crests needed to upgrade is cut also, but is only available after certain milestones have been reached.
Crests
Players have a number of choices when it comes to upgrading their equipment in WoW. Flightstones are an option that is accessible to all players for upgrading. Crests are more specialized, and are used during specific upgrades to the level of an item. Crests are an important part of the Dragonflight Gear Progression System that was introduced in version 10.1. They come in four ranks.
The first thing to remember is that Crests are only available to equipment of a certain rank. Each rank comes with a different upgrade path. The simplest and simplest upgrade process costs just 15 crests while the more complex one can require as much as 20 crests depending on the kind of gear that is being upgraded.
Players can earn crests through working through content at the appropriate level. This could mean engaging in outdoor activities or taking on dungeons and raids of all difficulties to get equipment of lower tier or Mythic+ raid bosses or dungeons that have a high difficulty for endgame gear. These crests can then be exchanged at an item upgrader NPC like Cuzolth in Dornogal, or Vaskarn in Valdrakken to get the appropriate upgrade routes and steps.
Utilizing these new currencies isn't too difficult, but the system does introduce some changes to the overall upgrade process. For example, once a piece of equipment reaches the highest level of upgrade for 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 equipment up to the highest ilvl possible for all their characters instead of relying only on seasonal loot.
Another notable modification is that crests have one purpose and it's crucial to use them properly. For instance it's a good idea to utilize all of your Whelpling rank crests on the best gear you have available and keep Drake and Wyrm crests for the next batch of upgrades you're planning to make. This is particularly true for items like trinkets and rings that occupy multiple slots on the character that will be able to avail the discount for all accounts when all of the slots are filled with top-quality equipment.