What Freud Can Teach Us About Item Upgrade
WoW Upgrades - The item upgrading Upgrader
Upgrades will give you a boost in specific statistics. Each upgrade boosts the level of an item by 3. A random extra substat is also boosted alongside each upgrade.
Upgraded gear generally sees greater value for trade as long as it meets low requirements (like the FB sorc's shield) or has a high stat variation (like the eth titan weapons). Upgrades are less important for the latter due to the requirement to roll the perfect version.
Recycle Points
The item upgrading upgrader lets players upgrade their gear by giving the currency to an NPC. Upgrades can be applied to any kind of weapon or armor. The item used to upgrade the item will be consumed and cannot be used again. Upgrades can also be used to create the enchantments.
The upgrader is located in all major cities, and can be visited anytime to upgrade your equipment. To ensure that your equipment is up-to-date, it is recommended that you visit the upgrader every couple of weeks.
Upgrades will cost more depending on the level of the item, however, they are always cheaper than buying new equipment. For instance upgrading a Benthic chest to ilvl 385 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 from item upgraders NPCs in a variety of currencies. They can also find them in random treasure lists. Once an upgrade is purchased it can be applied to any weapon or tool using the help of button, which will display a preview of the item at the next upgrade level in the event that the player has enough materials.
The cost of upgrading varies based on the item slot, and the current level of the item. For instance, weapons will cost more than bracers, or gloves. Each upgrade cost 15 Flightstones and a few crests, with some upgrades having a discount to lower the cost of the Flightstones or crests used. Once an item is upgraded to a certain amount and is degraded, it can be sold and returned to the upgrader for a lower amount of the two currency types.
Upgraders for items are available in a variety of locations including the main island and some outposts. The NPCs offer an upgrade coupon and the chance to obtain a new recipe. The discount on upgrades increases according to the number of items that are being upgraded, and can be boosted by having players complete specific achievements or quests.
Unlike Cromwell in Baldur's Gate II, there is no item upgrade upgrader available at the beginning of Icewind Dale. The NPCs who can facilitate upgrades are available only via a variety of ways. This is both a benefit as well as a drawback.
In Season 3, the upgrade system was tweaked a bit, with numerous new features added. After an upgrade has been completed to a certain item level for an armor slot, upgrading other items to the same level, will cost less. This applies even if those items are from an entirely different set of equipment.
The amount of Valorstones needed for upgrades is reduced, and the discount is affixed to all accounts. The amount of Harbinger Crests required to upgrade is cut as well, but is only available after certain milestones have been reached.
Crests
Players have a variety of options for upgrading their gear in WoW. Flightstones are an item that is available to everyone for upgrading. Crests are more special, and are used during specific item level upgrade level upgrades. Crests are an integral part of the Dragonflight Gear Progression System, which was introduced in version 10.1. They come in four ranks.
First, you must be aware that the crests can only be purchased for equipment of a certain rank. Each rank has an upgrade path that is different. The most basic and straightforward upgrade process costs just 15 crests while the most complex requires as many as 20 crests depending on the type of equipment being upgraded.
Players can obtain crests by finishing content at the appropriate level, which involves walking around and performing outdoor activities for gear of lower tiers, dungeons or raids of any difficulty for higher-tier items or Mythic+ heroic raid bosses and dungeons to obtain endgame gear. The crests can later be exchanged at an item upgrader NPC, such as Cuzolth in Dornogal, or Vaskarn in Valdrakken to obtain the appropriate upgrade pathways and steps.
Utilizing these new currencies isn't that difficult, but the system does introduce some modifications to the upgrade process. Once a piece of gear reaches the highest level of upgrade for any rank (Explorer or Adventurer) it will no longer require Flightstones. This change is intended to allow players to get their equipment up to the highest ilvl possible on all their characters instead of relying on seasonal loot.
Another notable modification is that crests have one use and it's crucial to use them properly. For instance it's Best item upgrade to use all of your Whelpling-rank crests with the best gear you have available, and then save Drake and Wyrm crests to use for the next set of upgrades you plan on making. This is especially true for items like rings and trinkets that take up multiple slots on the character that will be able to avail the account-wide discount when all slots are filled with top-quality gear.