WoW Upgrades - The Item Upgrader
Upgrades will give you a boost to certain stats. Each upgrade increases the item level by +3. A random extra substat is also increased with every upgrade.
Upgraded gear generally sees more value in trade, unless it has inherently low requirements (like the FB sorc's shield) or a very high stat variance (like eth titan weapons). These types of gear get less value from upgrading due to the need to roll to get 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 for the upgrade will remain in use for a long time and will not be able to be used again. Upgrades can be used to create Enchantments.
The upgrader is located in all major cities and can be accessed at any time to upgrade your gear. It is recommended to visit the upgrader every few weeks, to keep your equipment up to date.
The cost of upgrading will depend on the current level of the gear being upgraded however, they will always be less expensive than purchasing new equipment from other sources. Upgrades like upgrading a Benthic chest up to 385 ilvl will cost you 20 recycle points. Buying a similar item will cost you 105.
Valorstones
Upgrades are items that can be used for weapon, armor, tool, and accessory upgrades. They are purchased by players through NPCs that sell upgrades to items in exchange for different currencies, and may also be found in random treasure lists. Once purchased, an upgrade can be used on any tool, weapon or armor. button, which will display an item's preview when it is upgraded in the event that the player has enough materials.
The cost of upgrades varies based on the item slot and current item level as well as the level of the weapon, which is more than bracers or gloves, for example. Each upgrade cost 15 Flightstones plus a specific number of crests. Some upgrades give discounts on Flightstones. After an item has been upgraded to a certain degree it is able to be degraded and sold back to the upgrader for a lower amount of the two currencies.
Upgraders for items can be found in many places including the main island and some outposts. The NPCs offer an upgrade coupon and the chance to obtain the latest 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 upgrader for items at the beginning, unlike Cromwell from Baldur's gate II. Instead the NPCs that can be used to upgrade require various methods, which is both an improvement as well as a disadvantage.
In item upgrading has been altered a bit, with some new features added. When a player has an upgrade to a certain item level for a particular armor slot, upgrading other items to that level will cost less even if they are part of a different gear set.
The discount applies to all accounts. The amount of Harbinger Crests needed to upgrade is reduced too, but it is only available when certain milestones are reached.
Crests
Players have a variety of options when it comes to upgrading their equipment in WoW. They can make use of Flightstones that are a common upgrade currency available to all players, or crests that are more specialized and are consumed during upgrades on specific levels of items. Crests are an integral component of the Dragonflight Gear Progression System that was introduced in version 10.1. They come in four ranks.
The first thing to be aware of is that crests can only be used to purchase gear of a specific rank, and every rank has different requirements for its upgrade path. The easiest and most straightforward upgrade costs 15 crests. The most complex upgrade could require as much as 20 crests, contingent on the kind of equipment that is being upgraded.
Players can obtain crests by working through content that is of the appropriate level, whether that involves walking around and performing outdoor activities for lower-tier gear, dungeons or raids of any difficulty for higher-tier items, or Mythic+ dungeons or heroic raid bosses for gear that is used in the endgame. The crests can later be exchanged at an item upgrader NPC, such as Cuzolth in Dornogal, or Vaskarn in Valdrakken, for the appropriate upgrade pathways and steps.
Utilizing these new currencies isn't that difficult however, the system introduces some modifications to the upgrade process. For example, once 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. item upgrades lets players upgrade their equipment to the highest possible level on all their characters, instead of relying on seasonal loot.
It's also crucial to choose crests wisely, as they have only one purpose. It's best to use your Whelpling-rank crests on the best gear you can locate and save Drake and Wyrm Crests for the next round of upgrades. This is particularly true for items like rings and trinkets that take up multiple slots on the character, which can only be eligible to avail the account-wide discount when all slots are full of high-quality gear.