WoW Upgrades - The Item Upgrader
Upgrades will give you a boosts in specific statistics. Each upgrade increases the item level by +3. Each upgrade also boosts the random substatus.
The upgraded gear is usually more valuable, unless the item is not required by nature (like FB sorc shields) or has a high variance in stats (like eth Titan weapons). These types of gear get 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 transferring the currency to an NPC. Upgrades can be applied to any kind of armor or weapon. However, the item that is used to upgrade will remain in use for a long time and can't be used again. Upgrades can also be applied to enchantments.
The upgrader can be found in all major cities and can be accessed at any time to upgrade your equipment. To keep your gear current, it is recommended that you visit the upgrader each several weeks.
The cost of upgrades will vary based on the current item level of the item being upgraded, but will always be cheaper than purchasing new equipment from other sources. item upgrading like upgrading a Benthic chest up to ilvl385 will cost you 20 recycle points. Buying a similar item will cost you 105.
Valorstones
Upgrades are items that can be used to upgrade weapons, armor, tools, and accessory upgrades. They can be purchased by players from NPCs of item upgraders for various currencies. They are also available on random treasure lists. Once purchased, an upgrade is able to be used on any tool, weapon or armor. The button will display the preview of an item's next upgrade level, in the event that there are enough materials.
Upgrade costs vary depending on the slot of 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 having a discount to reduce the cost of Flightstones or the crests used. After an item has been upgraded to a certain level and is degraded, it can be sold and sold back to the upgrader for a lesser amount of the two currencies.
Many locations offer item upgraders, 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 discount on upgrades increases depending on the amount of items being upgraded. It is also possible to be increased by requiring players to complete specific achievements or quests.
Icewind Dale does not have an item upgrader at start, unlike Cromwell from Baldur's gate II. Instead, the NPCs that are available to help with upgrades require various methods that are both an improvement and a drawback.
In Season 3, a number of new features were added to the upgrade system. Once an upgrade has been completed to a specific level for an armor slot, upgrading other items to the same level will cost less. This is true even if the items are from another set of equipment.
The amount of Valorstones required for upgrades is decreased, and the discount is available across all accounts. In the same way, the amount of Harbinger Crests required to upgrade is also reduced and is not available until players reach certain milestones in their achievements.
Crests
When upgrading gear in WoW players have a few choices. They can use Flightstones which are a common upgrade currency available to everyone players, or crests, which are more specialized and used to upgrade specific item levels. Crests are the main component of the Dragonflight gear progression system, which was introduced in 10.1, and come in 4 ranks.
The first thing to note is that crests can only be used on equipment of a particular rank, and that each rank has its own requirements for its upgrade path. The easiest and most straightforward upgrade costs 15 crests. The most complicated upgrade can require up to 20 crests, based on the kind of equipment being upgraded.
Players can earn crests through working through tasks at the appropriate level. This could be by engaging in outdoor activities or doing dungeons or raids in all difficulties to get equipment of lower tier or Mythicbosses for raids, or dungeons with a heroic difficulty for endgame gear. The crests can later be exchanged at an item upgrader NPC like Cuzolth in Dornogal or Vaskarn in Valdrakken to get the appropriate upgrade paths and steps.
The new currency system isn't too difficult to use, however it will bring some changes to the upgrade process. For instance, when 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 allows players to upgrade their gear to the highest level possible on all their characters rather than relying on seasonal loot.
Another significant change is that crests have one usage, so it's important to make use of them in a responsible manner. For instance, it's a good idea utilize all of your Whelpling rank crests on the top gear you have available and then keep Drake and Wyrm crests to use for the next set of upgrades you plan to create. This is particularly true for items like trinkets and rings that occupy multiple slots on the character which can only be eligible to take advantage of the discount for all accounts when all of the slots are filled with high-quality equipment.