WoW Upgrades - The Item Upgrader
Upgrades will give you a an increase in certain statistics. Each upgrade increases the level of the item by +3. A random substat is also added to every upgrade.
The upgraded gear typically has a higher trade value, unless it has inherently low requirements (like the FB sorc's shield) or very high stat variance (like the eth titan weapons). The latter are less valuable from upgrading due to the requirement to roll to get a perfect version.
Recycle Points
The item upgrader allows players to upgrade their gear by offering the currency to an NPC. item upgrading can be made on any type of weapon or armor. However, the item used for the upgrade will be consumed forever and can't be used again. Upgrades can also be applied to enchantments.
You can upgrade your gear anytime by visiting the upgrader in any major city. To keep your gear up-to-date, it is recommended that you visit the upgrader every couple of weeks.
Upgrades will cost more, based on the level of the item, however, they are always cheaper than buying new gear. For example, upgrading a Benthic chest piece to 385 levels will cost 20 recycle points, purchasing a similar piece from another player will costs 105.
Valorstones
Upgrades are items that can be used to purchase weapon, armor, tool, and accessory upgrades. They are purchased by players from item upgrader NPCs in exchange for a variety of currencies, and may also be found in random treasure lists. Once purchased, an upgrade is able to be used on any weapon, tool or armor. button, which will show an image of the item at its next upgrade level when the player has enough materials.
Upgrade costs vary depending on the item slot, and the current item level. For example weapons are more expensive than bracers, or gloves. Each upgrade costs 15 Flightstones and a variety of crests, with some upgrades offering discounts to reduce the cost of Flightstones or crests used. Once an item has been upgraded to a certain amount and is degraded, it can be sold and sold back to the upgrader for a lesser amount of the two currency types.
Many locations have upgraders for their items in addition to the main island and some outposts. The NPCs offer both an upgrade discount as well as a chance to acquire a new upgrade recipe. The discount on upgrades increases when more items are upgraded. It can be increased if players finish certain achievements or quests.
Icewind Dale does not have an item upgrader at the beginning, unlike Cromwell from Baldur's Gate II. Instead the NPCs that are available to facilitate upgrades must be acquired through various methods that are both an improvement as well as a disadvantage.
In Season 3, many new features have been added to the upgrade system. Once the player has upgraded to a certain item level for an armor slot upgrading other items to the same item level, will cost less. This is even if those items come from a different set of gear.
The discount applies to all accounts. The amount of Harbinger Crests needed for upgrades is also cut and is not available until players have reached certain milestones in their achievements.
Crests
When upgrading equipment in WoW, players have a variety of options. They can choose to use Flightstones which are a common upgrade currency available to everyone, or crests, which are more specialized and are used to upgrade specific levels of the item. Crests are an important component of the Dragonflight Gear Progression System that was introduced in version 10.1. They come in four ranks.
The first thing to remember is that crests are only available for gear of a certain rank. Each rank has an upgrade path that is different. The simplest and simplest upgrade route costs 15 crests while the most complex requires as many as 20 crests based on the type of gear that is being upgraded.
Players can earn crests through completing tasks at the appropriate level. This could be by engaging in outdoor activities or completing dungeons and raids in all difficulty levels to obtain lower-level gear or Mythic+ raid bosses or dungeons with heroic difficulty to obtain endgame gear. The crests can later be exchanged at an upgrader NPC, such as Cuzolth in Dornogal, or Vaskarn in Valdrakken to get the appropriate upgrade paths and steps.
Using these new currencies isn't too complicated, but the system does introduce some changes to the overall upgrade process. For instance, when an item reaches the highest upgrade level of any rank (Explorer, Adventurer, Veteran, Champion, Hero, or Mythic), it won't need Flightstones to be upgraded. This allows players to upgrade their equipment to the highest possible ilvl on all their characters, instead of relying on seasonal loot.
Another important change is that crests only have one purpose, so it's important to use them wisely. For instance it's a good idea make use of all your Whelpling-rank crests with the best equipment available and then save Drake and Wyrm crests for the next round of upgrades you're planning to create. This is particularly applicable to items like trinkets and rings that take up several slots. The account-wide discount is only applicable when all the slots on the character are filled with top-quality gear.