WoW Upgrades - The Item Upgrader
Upgrades will give you a boost to certain stats. Each upgrade increases the level of the item by +3. A random additional substat is also increased with each upgrade.
The upgraded gear is usually more useful, unless the item has a low requirement by nature (like FB sorc shields) or a high stat variance (like eth Titan weapons). These types of gear get less value from upgrading due to the necessity to roll for a perfect model.
Recycle Points
The item upgrader lets players upgrade their gear by giving the currency to an NPC. Upgrades can be applied to any type of weapon or armor. However, the item that is used to upgrade will be consumed forever and will not be able to be used again. Upgrades can be used to create the enchantments.
The upgrader is located in every major city, and can be accessed anytime to upgrade your equipment. To keep your gear current, it is recommended that you visit the upgrader each few weeks.
The cost of upgrades will depend on the current level of the item being upgraded but they will always be cheaper than buying new equipment from other sources. For instance upgrading a Benthic chest to ilvl 385 will cost 20 recycle points while buying a similar item from a different player will cost 105.
Valorstones
Upgrades are items that can be used to upgrade weapons, armor, tools, and accessory upgrades. They are purchased by players from item upgrader NPCs in exchange for various currencies, and can also be found in random treasure lists. Once purchased, an upgrade can be applied to any weapon, tool or armor. The button will show the preview of an item's next upgrade level, when there are enough materials.
The upgrade cost depends on the slot of the item and the current item level as well as the level of the weapon, which is more than gloves or bracers for example. Each upgrade cost 15 Flightstones plus a certain number of crests. Certain upgrades provide a discount on the Flightstones. After an item has been upgraded to a certain level it is able to be downgraded and sold to the upgrader at a lower price.
Many locations have upgraders for their items which include the main island and a few outposts. The NPCs offer both an upgrade discount and a chance to acquire a new upgrade recipe. The upgrade discount increases when more items are upgraded. It can be increased by having players complete certain achievements or quests.
Icewind Dale does not have an upgrader for items at the start, unlike Cromwell from Baldur's gate II. The NPCs who are able to facilitate upgrades are only accessible through a variety of methods. This is both a benefit and a disadvantage.
In Season 3 the upgrade system was altered a bit, with several new features added. When a player has an upgrade to a certain level of an item for a specific armor slot, upgrading further items to that same item level will be less expensive, even when they belong to a different gear set.
The amount of Valorstones needed for upgrades is reduced, and the discount is affixed to all accounts. Related Home Page of Harbinger Crests needed to upgrade is also reduced and is not available until players reach certain milestones in their achievements.
Crests
When it comes to upgrading equipment in WoW players have a couple of options. Flightstones are an option that is accessible to everyone who wants to upgrade. Crests are more specialized, and are used during specific upgrades to the level of an item. Crests are a key element of the Dragonflight gear progression system that was introduced in 10.1, and come in four ranks.
First, you should know that crests are only available for equipment that is that is of a particular rank. Each rank has a different upgrade path. The most basic and straightforward upgrade route costs 15 crests while the most complicated may require as many as 20 crests based on the type of equipment being upgraded.
Players can earn crests by completing content of the appropriate level, whether that involves walking around and engaging in outdoor activities to get lower-tier gear, dungeons or raids of any difficulty for higher-tier items or Mythic+ heroic raid bosses and dungeons to obtain endgame gear. Crests can be exchanged at an item upgrader NPC, such as Cuzolth in Dornogal or Vaskarn in Valdrakken, for the appropriate upgrade paths and steps.
The use of these currencies isn't too complicated, but the system will introduce a few changes to the overall upgrade process. When a piece of equipment reaches the highest level of upgrade for any rank (Explorer or Adventurer), it will no longer require Flightstones. This change is intended to allow players to upgrade their equipment up to the highest level possible on all their characters rather than relying solely on seasonal loot.
Another important modification is that crests have one use, so it's important to use them wisely. It's best to use your Whelpling-rank Crests on the best gear that you can find, and save Drake and Wyrm Crests for the next round of upgrades. This is especially applicable to rings and trinkets that fill multiple slots on the character that will be able to benefit from the account-wide discount if all slots are filled with high-quality equipment.