What Freud Can Teach Us About Item Upgrade
WoW Upgrades - The item upgrade Upgrader
Upgrades will give you a boosts in certain statistics. Each upgrade increases the level of an item by 3. A random substat is also increased with every upgrade.
Upgraded gear generally sees greater value for trade, unless it has inherently low requirements (like the FB sorc's shield) or has a high stat variance (like the eth titan weapons). Upgrades are less useful for those with higher variance due to the need to roll the perfect version.
Recycle Points
The item upgrader allows players to upgrade their gear by transferring the currency to an NPC. Upgrades can be made on any kind of armor or weapons. The item used to upgrade the item will be consumed and can't be used again. Upgrades can be used to create Enchantments.
You can upgrade your equipment anytime by visiting the upgrader in any major city. To keep your gear current, it is recommended that you visit the upgrader every several weeks.
Upgrades can cost more based on the level of the item, however they'll always be cheaper than purchasing new gear. Upgrades like upgrading a Benthic chest to 385 ilvl will cost you 20 recycle points. A similar item will cost you 105.
Valorstones
Upgrades are functional items that can be used to upgrade weapons and tools, armor and other accessories. They can be purchased from NPCs of item upgrades upgraders in a variety of currencies. They can also find them on random treasure lists. Once purchased, an upgrade is able to be used on any weapon, tool or armor. The button will show the preview of an item's next level of upgrade, if there are enough materials.
The upgrade cost depends on the item level upgrade (official statement) slot and current item upgrader mod level and the weapon's price is higher than gloves or bracers for instance. Each upgrade costs 15 Flightstones and a number of crests, with some upgrades offering discounts to lower the cost of the Flightstones or the crests used. Once an item is upgraded to a certain level it is able to be downgraded and sold to the upgrader at a lower cost.
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 acquire a new upgrade recipe. The discount for upgrades increases with the number of items being upgraded, and can be increased by having players complete some specific achievements or complete quests.
Icewind Dale does not have an item upgrader at beginning, unlike Cromwell from Baldur's Gate II. Instead the NPCs that can be used to upgrade must be acquired through various methods that are both an improvement and a drawback.
In Season 3 the upgrade system was altered a bit, with some new features added. After an upgrade has been completed to a certain level of item for an armor slot upgrading other items to the same item level, will cost less. This applies regardless of whether the items come from another set of equipment.
The discount applies to all accounts. The amount of Harbinger Crests needed to upgrade is cut as well, but is only available when certain milestones are reached.
Crests
Players have several options when it comes to upgrading their gear in WoW. Flightstones are an option that is accessible to everyone for upgrading. Crests are more special and are utilized during specific item upgrade level upgrades. Crests are a key element of the Dragonflight gear progression system introduced in 10.1 and are available in 4 ranks.
The first thing to remember is that the crests can only be purchased for gear with a certain rank. Each rank has a different upgrade path. The simplest and easiest upgrade is 15 crests. The most complicated upgrade could require as much as 20 crests, depending on the type or equipment being upgraded.
Players can earn crests by working through content that is of the appropriate level, whether that involves walking around and performing outdoor activities for lower-tier gear, dungeons or raids of all difficulty for items of higher tier or Mythic+ dungeons or heroic raid bosses for gear that is used in the endgame. Crests can be exchanged at an item upgrader NPC like Cuzolth in Dornogal, or Vaskarn in Valdrakken, for the appropriate upgrade paths and steps.
The new currency system isn't too difficult to use, but it brings some changes to the upgrade process. For instance, once an item reaches the highest level of upgrading for any rank (Explorer, Adventurer, Veteran, Champion, Hero, or Mythic) it won't need Flightstones to be upgraded. This allows players to upgrade their equipment to the highest possible level on all of their characters rather than relying on seasonal loot.
It's also important to use crests in a wise manner, as they have only one purpose. It is recommended to put your Whelpling-rank Crests on the highest-quality gear you can find, and keep Drake and Wyrm Crests to be used for the next set of upgrades. This is particularly true for items such as trinkets and rings that take up several slots. The discount for the entire account is only applicable when all slots on the character are filled with high-quality gear.