WoW Upgrades - The Item Upgrader
Upgrades give you an increase in specific stats. Each upgrade boosts the level of an item by 3. A random substat is also increased with each upgrade.
The upgraded gear typically has a higher trade value regardless of whether it has low requirements (like the FB shield of the sorc) or a very high stat variance (like Eth titan weapons). Upgrades are less useful for those with lower requirements due to the requirement to roll an exact version.
Recycle Points
The upgrader for items allows players to upgrade their gear to a higher item level by providing the appropriate currency to the NPC. Upgrades can be applied to any kind of armor or weapon. However, the item used to upgrade will be consumed forever and will not be able to be used again. Upgrades can also be used to create enhancements.
You can upgrade your equipment anytime by visiting the upgrader in any major city. To keep your gear current it is recommended you visit the upgrader each couple of weeks.
The cost of upgrades will be based on the current item level of the equipment being upgraded but they will always be cheaper than buying new gear from other sources. For example upgrading a chest piece from Benthic to 385 levels will cost 20 recycle points while buying a similar item from another player will costs 105.
Valorstones
Upgrades are items that can be used to level up weapons, tools, armor, and other accessories. They are purchased by players from NPCs that sell upgrades to items in exchange for different currencies, and may also be found in random treasure lists. Once purchased, an upgrade can be applied to any tool, weapon, or armor. button, which will show an image of the item when it is upgraded when the player has enough materials.
Upgrade costs differ based on the slot for the item and the current item level. For instance, weapons will cost more than bracers, or gloves. Each step costs 15 Flightstones and a number of crests, with some upgrades offering discounts to reduce the cost of Flightstones or the crests used. Once an item has been upgraded to a certain level it is able to be downgraded and sold to the upgrader at a lower cost.
A lot of locations offer upgraders for items, including the main Island and a few outposts. The NPCs provide both an upgrade discount and a chance to get a brand new upgrade recipe. The upgrade discount increases when more items are upgraded. It can be increased by having players complete certain achievements or quests.
In contrast to Cromwell in Baldur's Gate II is no upgrader for items available in the beginning of Icewind Dale. The NPCs who are able to facilitate upgrades are available only via a variety of ways. This is both a positive and a drawback.
In Season 3 the upgrade system was tweaked a bit, with numerous new features added. When a player has an upgrade to a particular level of an item for a specific armor slot, upgrading further items to the same level will cost less even when they are part of another set of gear.
The discount is applicable to all accounts. The amount of Harbinger Crests required for upgrades 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 couple of options. They can make use of Flightstones which are a common upgrade currency that is available to all players, or crests, which are more specific and consumed during upgrades on specific levels of the item. Crests are an essential part of the Dragonflight gear progression system introduced in 10.1, and come in four ranks.
First, you should know that crests are only available for equipment that is of a particular rank. Each rank has distinct upgrade paths. The simplest and most straightforward upgrade process costs just 15 crests while the most complicated requires as many as 20 crests depending on the type of equipment that is being upgraded.
Players can obtain crests by working through content that is of the appropriate level, which means walking around and doing outdoor activities for lower-tier gear, dungeons or raids of all difficulties for higher-tier items or Mythic+ dungeons or heroic raid bosses for gear that is used in the endgame. Crests can be exchanged at an item upgrader NPC, like Cuzolth in Dornogal or Vaskarn in Valdrakken to get the appropriate upgrade routes and steps.
The new currency system isn't complicated to use, but it brings some modifications to the upgrade process. When a piece has reached the highest level of upgrade for any rank (Explorer or Adventurer) it will no longer require Flightstones. This change lets players upgrade their gear to the highest possible level for all their characters rather than relying on seasonal loot.
It's also essential to use crests in a wise manner, as they are only used for one purpose. It is recommended to use your Whelpling-rank crests on the highest-quality gear that you can find, and save Drake and Wyrm Crests to be used for the next set of upgrades. This is especially applicable to rings and trinkets that fill multiple slots on the character which will only be able to take advantage of the account-wide discount if all of the slots are filled with top-quality gear.