What Freud Can Teach Us About Item Upgrade
WoW Upgrades - The item upgrading Upgrader
Upgrades will give you a boost to specific stats. Each upgrade increases the level of an item upgrades by +3. A random substat is also added to each upgrade.
The more modernized gear generally has a 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). The latter see less value from upgrading due to the requirement to roll to get a perfect version.
Recycle Points
The item upgrader lets players upgrade their gear by offering the currency to an NPC. Upgrades can be applied to any type of armor or weapon. However, the item that is used to upgrade will remain in use for a long time and cannot be used again. Upgrades can be used to create Enchantments.
The upgrader can be found in all major cities, and can be accessed anytime to upgrade your equipment. It is recommended that you visit the upgrader once every few weeks, to ensure that your equipment is up to date.
Upgrades can cost more based on the level of the item, however they'll always be cheaper than purchasing new gear. For instance, upgrading a Benthic chest to 385 ilvl will cost 20 recycle points, while purchasing the same item from another player will cost 105.
Valorstones
Upgrades are functional items that can be used to improve the quality of weapons and tools, armor and other accessories. They can be bought by players from NPCs who sell upgrades for items in exchange for various currencies, and can be found in random treasure lists. Once an upgrade is purchased it can be applied to any weapon, tool, or armor with a The button will display the Item Level Upgrade's next level of upgrade, when there are enough materials.
Upgrade costs differ based on the slot of the item upgrades and the current level of the item. For example, weapons will cost more than gloves, bracers or bracers. Each upgrade costs 15 Flightstones and a variety of crests, with some upgrades having a discount to lower the cost of the Flightstones or the crests used. Once an item is upgraded to a certain degree, it can be downgraded and sold to the upgrader at a lower price.
Many locations offer item upgraders in addition to the main island and a few outposts. The NPCs offer an upgrade coupon and a possibility of getting the latest recipe. The upgrade discount increases when more items are upgraded. It can be increased if players complete certain achievements or quests.
Unlike Cromwell in Baldur's Gate II there is no upgrader for items at the beginning of Icewind Dale. Instead the NPCs that are available to facilitate upgrades must be acquired through various methods which is both an improvement but also a drawback.
In Season 3, the upgrade system has been tweaked a bit, with numerous new features added. After a player has upgraded to a specific level for an armor slot upgrading other items to the same item level will cost less. This is even if the items come from an entirely different set of equipment.
The discount is available to all accounts. Similarly, the amount of Harbinger Crests needed to upgrade is also reduced and is not available until players reach certain achievement milestones.
Crests
When upgrading equipment in WoW, players have a few choices. Flightstones are an option that is accessible to everyone for upgrading. Crests are more special, and are used during specific item level upgrades. Crests are the main component of the Dragonflight gear progression system introduced in 10.1 and are available in 4 ranks.
The first thing to remember is that Crests are only available to equipment that is of a certain rank. Each rank has a different upgrade path. The simplest and simplest upgrade route costs 15 crests while the most complicated can require as much as 20 crests based on the type of gear being upgraded.
Players can earn crests by finishing content at the appropriate level, which means walking around and doing outdoor activities to get lower-tier gear, raids or dungeons of all difficulties for higher-tier items or Mythic+ heroic raid bosses or dungeons for endgame gear. The crests can later be exchanged at an item upgrader NPC, like Cuzolth in Dornogal, or Vaskarn in Valdrakken to obtain the appropriate upgrade pathways and steps.
The new currency system isn't too difficult to use, however it does bring some changes to the upgrade process. For instance, once an item is at the highest level of upgrading for any rank (Explorer, Adventurer, Veteran, Champion, Hero, or Mythic) it won't require Flightstones to be upgraded. This is to allow players to upgrade their gear up to the highest ilvl possible on all their characters instead of relying on seasonal loot.
It's also essential to use crests wisely, as they only have one use. For instance it's best to utilize all of your Whelpling rank crests with the Best item upgrader gear you have available, and then save Drake and Wyrm crests for the next batch of upgrades you're planning to make. This is particularly applicable to trinkets and rings that occupy multiple slots on the character that will be able to avail the account-wide discount if all slots are filled with high-quality equipment.