What You Should Be Focusing On Improving Item Upgrade
WoW Upgrades - The item level upgrade (click to find out more) Upgrader
Upgrades give a guaranteed boost to certain stats. Each upgrade increases item upgrader kit level by +3. A random substat is also boosted alongside every upgrade.
The upgraded gear is usually more valuable, unless it has low requirements 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 need to roll for a perfect model.
Recycle Points
The item upgrader lets players upgrade their gear by giving the currency to an NPC. Upgrades can be applied to any type of weapon or armor. The item upgrading used to upgrade the item is discarded and cannot be used again. Upgrades can also be used to create enchantments.
The upgrader can be found in all major cities and can be accessed anytime to upgrade your gear. To keep your gear current it is recommended that you visit the upgrader each few weeks.
Upgrades will cost more, based on the level of the item but they will always be cheaper than buying new equipment. For instance upgrading a chest piece from Benthic to 385 ilvl will cost 20 recycle points while purchasing the same item from another player will costs 105.
Valorstones
Upgrades are items which can be used to upgrade weapons and tools, armor and other items. They can be bought by players from Best item upgrade upgrader NPCs in exchange for various currencies, and can also be found in random treasure lists. Once an upgrade is purchased it can be applied to any weapon, tool, or armor using the help of button, which displays an item's preview when it is upgraded if the player has sufficient materials.
The upgrade cost depends on the slot of the Best item upgrade and current item level as well as the level of the weapon, which is more than bracers or gloves, for instance. Each step costs 15 Flightstones and a variety of crests, with certain upgrades having a discount to lower the cost of the Flightstones or crests used. Once an item is upgraded to a certain level it is able to be degraded and sold back to the upgrader for a lesser amount of both currencies.
Many locations have upgraders for their items in addition to the main island and some outposts. The NPCs provide both an upgrade coupon and the chance to obtain a new recipe. The upgrade discount increases with the number of items being upgraded. It is also possible to be boosted by having players complete specific achievements or quests.
Icewind Dale does not have an item upgrader at start, unlike Cromwell from Baldur's gate II. Instead, the NPCs that are available to help with upgrades must be acquired through various methods which is both an improvement and a drawback.
In Season 3 the upgrade system was altered a bit, with several new features added. Once the player has upgraded to a specific level for an armor slot, upgrading other items to the same item level will cost less. This is true even if those items come from an entirely different set of gear.
The amount of Valorstones required for upgrades is decreased, and the discount is account-wide. The amount of Harbinger Crests needed for upgrades is reduced also, but is only available when certain milestones have been reached.
Crests
When it comes to upgrading gear in WoW players have a few options. Flightstones are an option that is accessible to everyone for upgrading. Crests are more specialized, and are used during specific item level upgrades. Crests are the main component of the Dragonflight gear progression system that was introduced in 10.1, and come in 4 ranks.
The first thing to remember is that the crests can only be purchased for gear that is of a particular rank. Each rank comes with distinct upgrade paths. The simplest and simplest upgrade is 15 crests. The most complicated upgrade items requires up to 20 crests, based on the kind of equipment being upgraded.
Players can earn crests by completing content of the appropriate level, whether that involves walking around and engaging in outdoor activities to get lower-tier gear, raids or dungeons with all difficulties for higher-tier items or Mythic+ dungeons or heroic raid bosses for endgame gear. Crests can be exchanged at an item upgrader NPC, such as Cuzolth in Dornogal or Vaskarn in Valdrakken to get the appropriate upgrade routes and steps.
Using these new currencies isn't too complicated however, the system introduces some modifications to the upgrade process. When a piece reaches the highest level of upgrade for any rank (Explorer or Adventurer) it no longer requires Flightstones. This change is intended to allow players to upgrade their equipment to the highest level possible on all their characters rather than relying solely on seasonal loot.
It's also important to use crests in a wise manner, as they have only one purpose. For instance, it's a good idea to make use of all your Whelpling-rank crests on the top equipment you have and then keep Drake and Wyrm crests for the next batch of upgrades you're planning to make. This is especially applicable to items like trinkets and rings that fill several slots. The discount on the account is only applicable when all the slots on the character are filled with top-quality gear.