Why You Should Focus On Improving Item Upgrade
WoW Upgrades - The Item Upgrader
Upgrades can give you an increase in specific stats. Each upgrade increases the level of the item by +3. A random extra substat is also increased with every upgrade.
The upgraded gear is usually more useful, unless the item upgrading has a low requirement by nature (like FB sorc shields) or a high stat variance (like 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 gear to a higher level by providing the appropriate currency to the NPC. Upgrades can be applied on any kind of weapon or armor. The item used to upgrade the item is discarded and cannot be used again. Upgrades can be applied to the 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 couple of weeks to ensure that your equipment is up-to-date.
Upgrades will cost more depending on the item level, however they'll always be cheaper than buying new gear. For instance upgrading a Benthic chest piece to 385 ilvl will cost 20 recycle points while purchasing the same item from a different player will cost 105.
Valorstones
Upgrades are useful items that are used to improve the quality of weapons and tools, armor and accessories. They can be bought by players through item upgrader NPCs in exchange for various currencies, and can be found in random treasure lists. Once purchased, an upgrade can be applied to any weapon, tool, or armor. button, which will show an image of the item at its next upgrade level in the event that the player has enough materials.
Upgrade costs vary depending on the slot for the item level Upgrade and the current level of the item. For instance weapons cost more than bracers, or gloves. Each step costs 15 Flightstones plus a certain number of crests. Certain upgrades provide discounts on Flightstones. After an item has been upgraded to a certain degree it can be re-downgraded and sold to the upgrader at a lower price.
Upgraders for items are available in many places, including the main island as well as some outposts. The NPCs provide an upgrade discount and a chance to get a brand new upgrade recipe. The discount for upgrading increases as more items are upgraded. It can also be increased by having players complete certain achievements or quests.
Contrary to Cromwell in Baldur's Gate II is no upgrader for items available in the beginning of Icewind Dale. The NPCs who are able to facilitate upgrades are only accessible via a variety of ways. This is both a positive and a disadvantage.
In Season 3 the upgrade system was tweaked a bit, with several new features added. When a player has an upgrade to a specific item level for a particular armor slot, upgrading further items to that level will cost less even in the event that they are part of an entirely different set of gear.
The amount of Valorstones required to upgrade is reduced and the discount is affixed to all accounts. The amount of Harbinger Crests required to upgrade is cut also, but is only available after certain milestones have been reached.
Crests
Players have several options for upgrading their equipment in WoW. Flightstones are a currency that is available to all players for upgrading. Crests are more specialized and are used for specific item level upgrades. Crests are an essential part of the Dragonflight gear progression system that was introduced in 10.1, and come in 4 ranks.
The first thing to note is that crests can only be used to purchase equipment that is of a particular rank, and each rank has different requirements for its upgrade path. The simplest and easiest upgrade is 15 crests. The most complicated upgrade items can require up to 20 crests, based on the type of gear that is being upgraded.
Players can earn crests by working through content at the appropriate level. This could mean doing outdoor activities or completing dungeons and raids in all difficulty levels to obtain lower-tier gear or Mythicbosses of raids or dungeons with heroic difficulty to obtain endgame gear. These crests can be exchanged with an upgrader like Cuzolth or Vaskarn, in Valdrakken to upgrade the item in the proper steps and paths.
The new currency system isn't too difficult to use, but it brings some changes to the upgrade process. For instance, once an item is at the highest level of upgrade for any rank (Explorer, Adventurer, Veteran, Champion, Hero, or Mythic), it won't need Flightstones to be upgraded. This allows players to upgrade their gear to the highest possible ilvl on all their characters instead of relying on seasonal loot.
It's also important to use crests wisely, as they only have one use. It's Best item upgrader to put your Whelpling-rank Crests on the best gear that you can find, and keep Drake and Wyrm Crests for the next round of upgrades. This is particularly relevant for trinkets and rings that occupy multiple slots on the character which can only be eligible to benefit from the account-wide discount if all of the slots are full of high-quality gear.