WoW Upgrades - The Item Upgrader
Upgrades will give you a boosts in specific stats. Each upgrade boosts the level of the item by +3. Each upgrade also boosts an unspecified substat.
The upgraded gear is usually more valuable, unless it is not required by nature (like FB sorc shields) or has a high variance in stats (like eth Titan weapons). Upgrades are not as valuable for those with higher variance because of the requirement to roll the perfect version.
Recycle Points
The item upgrade r lets players upgrade their gear by offering 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 remain in use for a long time and can't be used again. Upgrades can be used to create enchantments.
You can upgrade your gear anytime by visiting the upgrader in any major city. It is recommended that you visit the upgrader once every couple of weeks to ensure that your equipment is up-to-date.
The cost of upgrading will vary based on the current item level of the equipment being upgraded but they will always be less expensive than purchasing new equipment from other sources. For instance upgrading a Benthic chest piece to ilvl 385 will cost 20 recycle points, while buying a similar item from another player will cost 105.
Valorstones
Upgrades are items that can be used to upgrade weapon, armor, tool and accessory upgrades. They can be bought by players from NPCs who sell upgrades for items in exchange for different currencies, and may also be found in random treasure lists. Once purchased, an upgrade is able to be used on any tool, weapon or armor. The button will show the preview of an item's next level of upgrade, in the event that there are enough materials.
The upgrade cost depends on the item slot and the current item level and the weapon's price is higher than bracers or gloves, for example. Each upgrade cost 15 Flightstones plus a specific number of crests. Some upgrades give a discount on the Flightstones. Once an item has been upgraded to a certain degree it can be re-downgraded and sold to the upgrader at a lower cost.
Many locations have upgraders for their items in addition to the main island and some outposts. The NPCs provide an upgrade discount and a chance to get a brand new upgrade recipe. The discount for upgrades increases according to the number of items that are being upgraded, and can be increased by requiring players to complete specific achievements or quests.
Contrary to Cromwell in Baldur's Gate II, there is no upgrader for items at the beginning of Icewind Dale. The NPCs that can assist with upgrades are available only through a variety means. This is both a benefit and a drawback.
In Season 3, the upgrade system has been tweaked a bit, with some new features added. After a player has earned an upgrade to a certain level for an item in an armor slot, upgrading additional items to the same level will be less expensive, even when they belong to an entirely different set of gear.
The amount of Valorstones needed to upgrade is reduced and the discount is available across all accounts. The amount of Harbinger Crests required to upgrade is reduced too, but it is only available once certain milestones have been reached.
Crests
When upgrading equipment in WoW, players have a few choices. They can use Flightstones, which are a common upgrade currency that is available to everyone, or crests, which are more specialized and are consumed during upgrades on specific levels of items. Crests are a key element of the Dragonflight gear progression system that was introduced in 10.1 and are available in 4 ranks.
First, you must be aware that the crests can only be purchased for equipment that is with a certain rank. Each rank comes with an upgrade path that is different. The simplest and most straightforward upgrade route costs 15 crests while the more complex one can require as much as 20 crests depending on the type of equipment being upgraded.
Players can obtain crests by finishing content at the appropriate level, which means walking around and doing outdoor activities to get lower-tier gear, raids or dungeons with all difficulties for higher-tier items or Mythic+ heroic raid bosses or dungeons for gear that is used in the endgame. The crests can later be exchanged at an upgrader NPC, such as Cuzolth in Dornogal, or Vaskarn in Valdrakken to obtain the appropriate upgrade pathways and steps.
Using these new currencies isn't that difficult however, the system will introduce a few changes to the overall upgrade process. For example, once an item is at the highest upgrade level of any rank (Explorer, Adventurer, Veteran, Champion, Hero, or Mythic) it won't require Flightstones to be upgraded. This change allows players to upgrade their equipment to the highest possible level on all of their characters rather than relying on seasonal loot.
Another notable change is that crests have one purpose, 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 save Drake and Wyrm crests for the next batch of upgrades you plan to create. This is particularly applicable to trinkets and rings that occupy multiple slots on the character, which will only be able to take advantage of the account-wide discount when all slots are filled with top-quality gear.