WoW Upgrades - The Item Upgrader
Upgrades provide a guaranteed boost to specific stats. Each upgrade boosts the level of an item by 3. Each upgrade also boosts an unspecified substat.
The upgraded gear is usually more useful, unless the item is not required by nature (like FB sorc shields) or has a high variance in stats (like eth Titan weapons). The latter are less valuable from upgrading due to the need to roll for a perfect version.
Recycle Points
The item upgrader allows players to upgrade their gear to a higher item level by providing the appropriate currency to the NPC. Upgrades can be made on any kind of armor or weapons. However, the item that is used for the upgrade will be consumed for the duration of time and can't be used again. Upgrades can be used to create Enchantments.
You can upgrade your gear at any time by visiting the upgrader in any major city. It is recommended to visit the upgrader every few weeks to keep your equipment up-to-date.
Upgrades will cost more, based on the level of the item, however they'll always be less expensive than purchasing new equipment. For example, upgrading a chest piece from Benthic to ilvl 385 will cost 20 recycle points purchasing a similar piece from a different player will cost 105.
Valorstones
Upgrades are useful items that are used to level up weapons, tools, armor, and other accessories. They can be purchased by players through NPCs who sell upgrades to item owners for various currencies. They can also find them in random treasure lists. Once purchased, an upgrade can be applied to any weapon, tool, or armor. button, which will display a preview of the item at its next upgrade level if the player has sufficient materials.
Upgrade costs differ based on the slot for the item and the current level of the item. For example weapons are more expensive than bracers, or gloves. Each upgrade cost 15 Flightstones plus a certain number of crests. Some upgrades offer a discount on the Flightstones. Once 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 both currency types.
Many locations have upgraders for their items in addition to the main island and a few outposts. The NPCs offer both an upgrade discount as well as a chance to acquire a new upgrade recipe. The upgrade discount 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 upgrader for items at the start, unlike Cromwell from Baldur's Gate II. Instead, the NPCs that can be used to upgrade are acquired via several methods that are both an improvement as well as a disadvantage.
In Season 3, many 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 item level, will cost less. This applies even if those items are from another set of gear.
The discount applies to all accounts. In the same way, the amount of Harbinger Crests required for upgrades is also reduced and is not available until players reach certain milestones in their achievements.
Crests
Players have several options when it comes to upgrading their equipment in WoW. They can choose to use Flightstones which are a general upgrade currency that is available to everyone, or crests, which are more specialized and consumed during upgrades at specific item levels. Crests are a key element of the Dragonflight gear progression system that was introduced in 10.1, and come in 4 ranks.
The first thing to be aware of is that crests are only able to be used to purchase equipment of a particular rank, and that each rank has different requirements for its upgrade path. The simplest and easiest upgrade is 15 crests. The most complicated upgrade can require up to 20 crests, based on the kind of equipment that is being upgraded.
Players can earn crests through working through tasks at the appropriate level. This could be done by engaging in outdoor activities or doing dungeons or raids in any difficulty to earn lower-level gear or Mythicbosses of raids or dungeons with a heroic difficulty for gear in the endgame. The crests can later be exchanged at an upgrader NPC, like Cuzolth in Dornogal or Vaskarn in Valdrakken to obtain the appropriate upgrade pathways and steps.
Using item upgrades 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 will no longer require Flightstones to be upgraded. This is to allow players to upgrade their gear up to the highest ilvl possible on all their characters rather than relying solely on seasonal loot.
Another significant modification is that crests have one purpose and it's crucial to use them properly. It's best to use your Whelpling-rank crests on the highest-quality gear you can find, and keep Drake and Wyrm Crests for the next set of upgrades. This is especially applicable to items like trinkets and rings that take up several slots. The discount for the entire account will only apply when all slots on the character are filled with high-quality gear.