What Freud Can Teach Us About Item Upgrade
WoW Upgrades - The item upgrade Upgrader
Upgrades give you boost in specific statistics. Each upgrade increases item level by 3. Each upgrade also increases an unspecified substat.
The upgraded gear typically has a more value in trade as long as it meets low requirements (like the FB shield of the sorc) or has a high stat variance (like Eth titan weapons). Upgrades are not as useful for the latter because of the requirement to roll the perfect version.
Recycle Points
The item upgrader allows players to upgrade their gear by offering the currency to an NPC. Upgrades can be made on any type of weapon or armor. However, the item that is used for the upgrade will be consumed forever and can't be used again. Upgrades can be applied to Enchantments.
The upgrader can be found in all major cities, and can be visited anytime to upgrade your equipment. It is recommended that you visit the upgrader at least once every few weeks, to ensure that your equipment is up-to-date.
Upgrades can cost more based on the level of the Item level upgrade (Mozillabd.science) however, they are always cheaper than purchasing new gear. For example upgrading a Benthic chest to ilvl 385 will cost 20 recycle points, while buying a similar item from another player will costs 105.
Valorstones
Upgrades are items that can be used to upgrade tools, armor, weapon, and accessory upgrades. They can be purchased by players from NPCs who sell upgrades for items in exchange for different currencies, and can also be found in random treasure lists. Once an upgrade is purchased it can be applied to any weapon or tool with an The button will display the preview of an item's next upgrade level, if there are enough materials.
The upgrade cost depends on the item slot and the current level of the item as well as the level of the weapon, which is more than gloves or bracers for example. Each upgrade costs 15 Flightstones and a few crests, with certain upgrades offering discounts to lower the cost of the Flightstones or crests that are used. Once an item has been upgraded to a certain degree it can be re-downgraded and sold to the upgrader at a lower cost.
A lot of locations offer upgraders for items which include the main island and some outposts. The NPCs offer both an upgrade coupon and the possibility of getting a new recipe. The upgrade discount increases when 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 there is no upgrader for items at the start of Icewind Dale. Instead the NPCs that are available to help with upgrades are acquired via various methods which is both an improvement as well as a disadvantage.
In Season 3, the upgrade system was tweaked a bit, with some new features added. Once a player has upgraded to a specific level for an armor slot upgrading other items to the same level, will cost less. This applies even if the items come from a different set of equipment.
The discount is applicable to all accounts. The amount of Harbinger Crests needed to upgrade is reduced as well, but is only available when certain milestones are reached.
Crests
When upgrading equipment in WoW players have a few choices. Flightstones are a currency that is available to everyone for upgrading. Crests are more specific, and are used during specific item level upgrades. Crests are an essential part of the Dragonflight gear progression system introduced in 10.1, and come in four ranks.
The first thing to note is that crests can only be used on equipment that is of a particular rank, and each rank has different requirements for its upgrade path. The simplest and most straightforward upgrade path costs 15 crests, while the most complicated requires as many as 20 crests depending on the type of gear that is being upgraded.
Players can obtain crests by completing content of the appropriate level, whether that means walking around and doing outdoor activities for lower-tier gear, raids or dungeons with any difficulty for higher-tier items, or Mythic+ dungeons or heroic raid bosses for gear that is used in the endgame. Crests can be exchanged at an item upgrader NPC, such as Cuzolth in Dornogal or Vaskarn in Valdrakken to obtain the appropriate upgrade routes and steps.
Using these new currencies isn't too difficult however, the system introduces some modifications to the upgrade process. When a piece attains the highest level of upgrade for any rank (Explorer or Adventurer), it no longer requires Flightstones. This change is designed to allow players to upgrade their equipment up to the highest ilvl possible on all their characters, instead of relying only on seasonal loot.
It's also crucial to choose crests in a wise manner, as they are only used for one purpose. For instance, it's a good idea use all of 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 on making. This is particularly applicable to rings and trinkets that take up multiple slots on the character, which can only be eligible to take advantage of the account-wide discount if all of the slots are full of high-quality gear.