WoW Upgrades - The Item Upgrader
Upgrades give you boosts in certain stats. Each upgrade increases the level of an item by 3. Each upgrade also increases an unspecified substat.
The more modernized gear generally has a more value in trade as long as it meets low requirements (like the FB sorc's shield) or a very high stat variance (like Eth titan weapons). The latter see less value from upgrading due to the necessity to roll for a perfect version.
Recycle Points
The item upgrader lets players upgrade their gear by offering the currency to an NPC. Upgrades can be made on any type of weapon or armor. However, the item that is used for the upgrade will be consumed for the duration of time and will not be able to be used again. Upgrades can be applied to enchantments.
The upgrader is located in every major city, and can be accessed anytime to upgrade your equipment. It is recommended to visit the upgrader once every few weeks to keep your equipment up to date.
The cost of upgrades will be based on the current level of the item being upgraded but they will always be cheaper than buying new gear from other sources. For instance upgrading a Benthic chest piece 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 for weapon, armor, tool and accessory upgrades. They can be bought by players from item upgrader NPCs in exchange for various currencies, and can also be found in random treasure lists. Once an upgrade has been purchased, it can be used on any weapon, tool, or armor with a The button will display a preview of an item's next upgrade level, in the event that there are enough materials.
The cost of upgrading is based on the slot of the item and current item level, with weapons costing more than gloves or bracers for instance. upgrade item and a number of crests, with certain upgrades having a discount to lower the cost of the Flightstones or the crests used. After an item has been upgraded to a certain degree and is degraded, it can be sold and sold back to the upgrader for a lower amount of both currencies.
Many locations offer item upgraders which include the main island and some outposts. The NPCs provide both an upgrade discount and a chance to acquire a new upgrade recipe. The discount for upgrades increases with the number of items that are being upgraded. It is also possible to be increased by having players complete some specific achievements or quests.
In contrast to Cromwell in Baldur's Gate II, there is no item upgrader available at the start of Icewind Dale. Instead, the NPCs that are available to facilitate upgrades require various methods, which is both an improvement but also a drawback.
In Season 3 the upgrade system has been altered a bit, with several new features added. After a player has earned an upgrade to a specific level of an item for a specific armor slot, upgrading additional items to that level will be less expensive, even if they are part of another set of gear.
The amount of Valorstones needed for upgrades is reduced, and the discount is available across all accounts. Similarly, the amount of Harbinger Crests required to upgrade is also reduced and is not available until players have reached certain milestones in their achievements.
Crests
When upgrading gear in WoW players have a variety of options. They can use Flightstones, which are a common upgrade currency available to everyone players, or crests that are more specialized and consumed during upgrades on specific item levels. Crests are the main component of the Dragonflight gear progression system that was introduced in 10.1, and come in four ranks.
The first thing to be aware of is that crests are only able to be used to purchase equipment of a particular rank, and that each rank has its own requirements for its upgrade path. The simplest and simplest 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 earn crests by working through content at the appropriate level. This could be by doing outdoor activities, or by completing dungeons and raids in any difficulty to earn equipment of lower tier or Mythic+ raid bosses or dungeons that have a high difficulty for gear in the endgame. Crests can be exchanged at an upgrader NPC, like Cuzolth in Dornogal, or Vaskarn in Valdrakken to get the appropriate upgrade paths and steps.
The use of these currencies isn't that difficult, but the system will introduce a few modifications to the upgrade process. When a piece reaches the highest level of upgrade for any rank (Explorer or Adventurer) it will no longer require Flightstones. This change allows players to upgrade their gear to the highest possible ilvl on all of their characters instead of relying on seasonal loot.
It's also crucial to choose crests wisely, as they have only one purpose. It's best to use your Whelpling-rank Crests on the highest-quality gear you can find, and save Drake and Wyrm Crests to be used for the next set of upgrades. This is particularly true for items like rings and trinkets that fill multiple slots on the character which will only be able to avail the discount for all accounts when all of the slots are full of high-quality equipment.