WoW Upgrades - The Item Upgrader
Upgrades can give you boost in specific stats. Each upgrade increases the item level by +3. A random extra substat is also boosted alongside every upgrade.
Upgraded gear is generally more valuable, unless it 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 upgrader for items allows players to upgrade their gear to a higher item level by providing the appropriate currency to the NPC. Upgrades can be applied to any type of armor or weapon. The item used to upgrade the item is discarded and cannot be used again. Upgrades can be applied to Enchantments.
The upgrader is located in every major city, and can be accessed anytime to upgrade your gear. To ensure that your equipment is up-to-date it is recommended you visit the upgrader each few weeks.
Upgrades will cost more, based on the level of the item, however they'll always be cheaper than purchasing new gear. For example, upgrading a Benthic chest piece to 385 ilvl will cost 20 recycle points, while purchasing the same item from another player will cost 105.
Valorstones
Upgrades are items that can be used to purchase weapon, armor, tool and accessory upgrades. Players can purchase them through NPCs who sell upgrades to item owners for a variety of currencies. They can also find them in random treasure lists. Once purchased, an upgrade can be applied to any weapon, tool or armor. The button will display the preview of an item's next upgrade level, when there are enough materials.
The upgrade cost depends on the item slot and the current level of the item, with weapons costing more than gloves or bracers for instance. Each upgrade cost 15 Flightstones and a variety of crests, with certain upgrades having a discount to reduce the cost of the Flightstones or crests used. Once an item is upgraded to a certain amount, it can be downgraded and sold to the upgrader at a lower price.
Many locations have upgraders for their items which include the main island and some outposts. The NPCs provide both an upgrade coupon and the chance to obtain an entirely new recipe. The discount on upgrades increases when more items are upgraded. It can also be increased by having players complete certain achievements or quests.
Icewind Dale does not have an item upgrader at beginning unlike Cromwell from Baldur's Gate II. The NPCs that can assist with upgrades are only available through a variety of methods. This is both a benefit as well as a drawback.
In Season 3, several new features have been added to the upgrade system. Once a player obtains an upgrade to a particular item level for a particular armor slot, upgrading other items to that level will be less expensive, even when they are part of a different gear set.
The discount applies to all accounts. The amount of Harbinger Crests needed to upgrade is cut also, but is only available after certain milestones are reached.
Crests
Players have a number of options for upgrading their equipment in WoW. Flightstones are a currency that is available to everyone for upgrading. Crests are more specific and are used for specific item level upgrades. Crests are a key element of the Dragonflight gear progression system, which was introduced in 10.1, and come in 4 ranks.
The first thing to be aware of is that crests can only be spent on equipment of a particular rank, and that every rank has different requirements for upgrading. The most basic and straightforward upgrade path costs 15 crests, while the more complex one can require as much as 20 crests depending on the type of gear that is being upgraded.
Players can obtain crests by completing content of the appropriate level, which means walking around and doing outdoor activities for gear of lower tiers, dungeons or raids of all difficulties for higher-tier items, or Mythic+ dungeons or heroic raid bosses to obtain endgame gear. upgrade item can then be exchanged at an upgrader NPC, like Cuzolth in Dornogal, or Vaskarn in Valdrakken to obtain the appropriate upgrade pathways and steps.
The new currency system isn't complicated to use, however it brings some changes to the upgrade process. When a piece of equipment has reached the highest level of upgrade for any rank (Explorer or Adventurer) it will no longer require Flightstones. This is to allow players to get their equipment up to the highest ilvl possible on all their characters rather than relying solely on seasonal loot.
It's also important to use crests wisely, as they are only used for one purpose. It is best to use your Whelpling-rank crests on the top-quality equipment you can locate and save 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 account-wide discount will only apply when all the slots on the character are filled with top-quality gear.