14 Misconceptions Commonly Held About Item Upgrade
WoW Upgrades - The Item Upgrader
Upgrades will give you a an increase in certain statistics. Each upgrade increases the level of an item by +3. A random additional substat is also increased with each upgrade.
The upgraded gear is usually more useful, unless the item is not required by nature (like FB sorc shields) or has a large variance in stats (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 enables players to upgrade 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. The item used to upgrade the item will be consumed and cannot 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. To keep your gear current it is recommended that you visit the upgrader every few weeks.
The cost of upgrading will vary based on the current level of the gear being upgraded however, they will always be cheaper than purchasing new equipment from other sources. For instance upgrading a Benthic chest to 385 ilvl will cost 20 recycle points while purchasing the same item from a different player will cost 105.
Valorstones
Upgrades are items that can be used for weapon, armor, tool, and accessory upgrades. They can be purchased by players through item upgrader NPCs in exchange for different currencies, and can also be found in random treasure lists. Once purchased, an upgrade is able to be applied to any weapon, tool or armor. button, which will display an image of the item at the next upgrade level if the player has sufficient materials.
Upgrade costs vary depending on the item slot, and the current item level. For example weapons are more expensive than gloves, bracers or bracers. Each upgrade costs 15 Flightstones plus a specific number of crests. Certain upgrades provide a discount on the Flightstones. After an item has been upgraded to a certain degree it can be re-downgraded and sold to the upgrader for a lower price.
Upgraders for items can be found in many places on the main island and some outposts. The NPCs provide an upgrade discount as well as a chance to get a brand new upgrade recipe. The upgrade discount increases when more items are upgraded. It can be increased by having players complete certain achievements or quests.
Contrary to Cromwell in Baldur's Gate II there is no upgrader for items available at the start of Icewind Dale. Instead the NPCs that can be used to upgrade are acquired via several methods, which is both an improvement but also a drawback.
In Season 3, the upgrade system has been altered a bit, with numerous new features added. Once a player obtains an upgrade to a specific item level for a particular armor slot, upgrading additional items to that same item level will cost less even if they are part of a different gear set.
The amount of Valorstones required for upgrades is reduced, and the discount is account-wide. The amount of Harbinger Crests required for upgrades is reduced also, but is only available once certain milestones are reached.
Crests
When it comes to upgrading equipment in WoW, players have a few options. They can make use of Flightstones, which are a general upgrade currency that is accessible to everyone players, or crests, which are more specialized and consumed during upgrades at specific levels of items. Crests are a crucial element of the Dragonflight Gear Progression System introduced in version 10.1. They come in four ranks.
The first thing to remember is that the crests can only be purchased for equipment that is that is of a particular rank. Each rank has distinct upgrade paths. item upgrades and most straightforward upgrade route costs 15 crests while the most complicated may require as many as 20 crests, based on the kind of gear that is being upgraded.
Players can earn crests by completing content of the appropriate level, which means walking around and doing outdoor activities to get lower-tier gear, dungeons or raids of all difficulty for items of higher tier or Mythic+ heroic raid bosses and dungeons for endgame gear. Crests can be exchanged at an item upgrader NPC, like Cuzolth in Dornogal, or Vaskarn in Valdrakken to get the appropriate upgrade paths and steps.
Utilizing these new currencies isn't too complicated, but the system introduces some changes to the overall upgrade process. When a piece of equipment reaches the highest level of upgrade for any rank (Explorer or Adventurer) it no longer requires Flightstones. This change lets players upgrade their equipment to the highest possible ilvl on all their characters instead of relying on seasonal loot.

Another important change is that crests only have one purpose and it's crucial to use them properly. For instance it's best to utilize all of your Whelpling rank crests with the best equipment you have and save Drake and Wyrm crests for the next batch of upgrades you plan on making. This is particularly relevant for items like trinkets and rings that take up multiple slots. The discount for the entire account will only be applicable if all slots on the character are filled with high-quality gear.