What Freud Can Teach Us About Item Upgrade
WoW Upgrades - The item level upgrade Upgrader
Upgrades give a guaranteed boost to specific stats. Each upgrade increases item upgrading level by +3. A random substat is also increased with every upgrade.
The upgraded gear typically has a greater value for trade as long as it meets low requirements (like the FB sorc's shield) or very high stat variation (like Eth titan weapons). Upgrades are less valuable for the latter due to the need to roll an exact version.
Recycle Points
The item upgrader allows players to upgrade their gear by offering the currency to an NPC. Upgrades can be applied to any kind of armor or weapons. However, the item used to upgrade will remain in use for a long time and will not be able to be used again. Upgrades can be used to create the enchantments.
The upgrader is located in all major cities, and is accessible at any time to upgrade your gear. To keep your gear current it is recommended that you visit the upgrader each few weeks.
The cost of upgrading will be based on the current item level of the gear being upgraded but they will always be cheaper than buying new gear from other sources. Upgrades such as upgrading a Benthic chest to 385 ilvl will cost you 20 recycle points. If you purchase a similar item, it will cost you 105.
Valorstones
Upgrades are items which can be used to improve the quality of weapons tools, armor, and other items. Players can purchase them through NPCs who sell upgrades to item owners in a variety of currencies. They can also find them on random treasure lists. Once purchased, an upgrade is able to be applied to any tool, weapon or armor. The button will show a preview of an item's next upgrade level if there are enough materials.
The cost of upgrades varies based on the slot of the item and the current level of the item upgrading, with weapons costing more than gloves or bracers, for example. Each upgrade costs 15 Flightstones and a number of crests, with some upgrades offering discounts to lower the cost of the Flightstones or crests used. Once an item has been upgraded to a certain level and is degraded, it can be sold and sold back to the upgrader for a lesser 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 both an upgrade coupon and the possibility of getting the latest recipe. The upgrade discount increases as more items are upgraded. It can be increased if players complete certain achievements or quests.
Icewind Dale does not have an item upgrader at the start unlike Cromwell from Baldur's gate II. Instead the NPCs that can be used to upgrade require several 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. When a player has an upgrade to a specific level for an item in an armor slot, upgrading other items to the same level will cost less even if they are part of an entirely different set of gear.
The amount of Valorstones required to upgrade is reduced and the discount is available across all accounts. In the same way, the amount of Harbinger Crests needed for upgrades is also reduced and is not available until players achieve certain milestones in their achievements.
Crests
When upgrading equipment in WoW, players have a couple of options. Flightstones are an option that is accessible to all players for upgrading. Crests are more specialized and are used for specific item level upgrades. Crests are an integral part of the Dragonflight Gear Progression System, which was introduced in version 10.1. They are available in four ranks.
First, you should know that crests are only available for gear that is of a particular rank. Each rank comes with an upgrade path that is different. The simplest and simplest upgrade costs 15 crests. The most complex upgrade could require as much as 20 crests, based on the type or gear being upgraded.
Players can earn crests through finishing tasks at the appropriate level. This could be done by doing outdoor activities, or by taking on dungeons and raids of any difficulty to earn equipment of lower tier or Mythicbosses for raids, or dungeons that have a high difficulty for endgame gear. The crests can later be exchanged at an upgrader NPC, such as Cuzolth in Dornogal, or Vaskarn in Valdrakken, for the appropriate upgrade pathways and steps.
Using these new currencies isn't that difficult, but the system will introduce a few changes to the overall upgrade process. For instance, once a piece of equipment 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 change is designed to allow players to upgrade their gear up to the highest ilvl possible on all their characters instead of relying only on seasonal loot.
It's also important to use crests wisely, as they only have one use. It is best to put your Whelpling-rank Crests on the Best item upgrader gear that you can find, and save Drake and Wyrm Crests for the next round of upgrades. This is particularly relevant for trinkets and rings that occupy multiple slots on the character, which can only be eligible to take advantage of the discount for all accounts when all of the slots are full of high-quality gear.