WoW Upgrades - The Item Upgrader
Upgrades give you an increase in specific stats. Each upgrade increases item level by 3. Each upgrade also increases a random substat.
The more modernized gear generally has a greater value for trade regardless of whether it has low requirements (like the FB sorc's shield) or has a high stat variance (like eth titan weapons). Upgrades are less important for those with higher variance due to the need to roll an exact version.
Recycle Points
The upgrader for items allows players to upgrade their gear to a higher item level by supplying the appropriate currency to the NPC. Upgrades can be applied on any type of armor or weapons. The item used to upgrade the item will be consumed and can't be used again. Upgrades can be used to create the enchantments.
The upgrader can be found in all major cities and can be visited anytime to upgrade your gear. It is recommended that you visit the upgrader at least once every couple of weeks to keep your equipment up-to-date.
The cost of upgrading will be based on the current item level of the item being upgraded, but will always be less expensive than buying new equipment from other sources. Upgrades such as upgrading a Benthic chest up to 385 ilvl will cost you 20 recycle points. Buying a similar item will cost you 105.
Valorstones
Upgrades are items that can be used to purchase weapon, armor, tool, and accessory upgrades. They are purchased by players through item upgrader NPCs in exchange for various currencies, and can be found in random treasure lists. Once purchased, an upgrade can be applied to any tool, weapon or armor. button, which will show an item's preview at the next upgrade level when the player has enough materials.
The upgrade cost depends on the slot of the item and the current level of the item, with weapons costing more than gloves or bracers for instance. Each upgrade costs 15 Flightstones and a number of crests, with some upgrades offering discounts to reduce the cost of Flightstones or crests that are used. Once an item is upgraded to a certain level it is able to be degraded and sold back to the upgrader for a lesser amount of the two currency types.
A lot of locations offer upgraders for items, including the main Island and a few outposts. The NPCs provide both an upgrade coupon and a chance to obtain an entirely new recipe. The discount on upgrades increases depending on the amount of items being upgraded, and can be increased by having players complete 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 can be used to upgrade must be acquired through a variety of means that are both an improvement but also a drawback.
In Season 3, the upgrade system was tweaked a bit, with several new features added. After an upgrade has been completed to a certain item level for an armor slot upgrading other items to the same item level, will cost less. This applies regardless of whether the items are from a different set of equipment.
The amount of Valorstones required to upgrade is reduced and the discount is account-wide. In the same way, the amount of Harbinger Crests needed for upgrades is also reduced and is not available until players have reached certain achievement milestones.
Crests
Players have a variety of options when it comes to upgrading their equipment in WoW. They can make use of Flightstones, which are a common upgrade currency that is available to all players, or crests that are more specialized and consumed during upgrades at specific levels of items. Crests are the main component of the Dragonflight gear progression system, which was introduced in 10.1, and come in four ranks.
The first thing to remember is that crests can only be spent on gear of a specific rank, and each rank has different requirements for its upgrade path. The easiest and most straightforward upgrade is 15 crests. The most complex upgrade can require up to 20 crests, based on the kind of equipment being upgraded.
Players can earn crests through finishing content at the appropriate level. This could mean engaging in outdoor activities or taking on dungeons and raids of any difficulty to earn equipment of lower tier or Mythicbosses of raids or dungeons that have a high difficulty for endgame gear. These crests can then be exchanged at an upgrader NPC, such as Cuzolth in Dornogal, or Vaskarn in Valdrakken, for the appropriate upgrade pathways and steps.
upgrade item isn't too difficult to use, but it brings some modifications to the upgrade process. For instance, once a piece of equipment reaches the highest upgrade level of any rank (Explorer, Adventurer, Veteran, Champion, Hero, or Mythic), it will no longer require Flightstones to be upgraded. This change is intended to allow players to get their gear up to the highest level possible on all their characters, instead of relying only on seasonal loot.
It's also crucial to choose crests wisely, as they are only used for one purpose. It's best to use your Whelpling-rank crests on the best gear you can locate, and keep Drake and Wyrm Crests for the next set of upgrades. This is particularly applicable to items like trinkets and rings that take up several slots. The discount for the entire account will only be applicable if all the slots on the character are filled with high-quality equipment.