What Freud Can Teach Us About Item Upgrade
WoW Upgrades - The Item Upgrader
Upgrades give you boosts in certain stats. Each upgrade increases item level by +3. Each upgrade also increases a random substat.
Upgraded gear generally sees higher trade value regardless of whether it has low requirements (like the FB sorc's shield) or has a high stat variation (like the eth titan weapons). Upgrades are not as valuable for those with lower requirements due to the requirement to roll an exact version.
Recycle Points
The item upgrader allows players to upgrade their gear by transferring the currency to an NPC. Upgrades can be applied to any type of weapon or armor. The item used to upgrade the item will be consumed and cannot be used again. Upgrades can also be applied to enhancements.
The upgrader is located in all major cities and can be visited anytime to upgrade your equipment. It is recommended that you visit the upgrader every few weeks, to keep your equipment up to date.
Upgrades will cost more, based on the level of the item, but they will always be less expensive than purchasing new gear. For instance upgrading a Benthic chest to 385 levels will cost 20 recycle points while purchasing the same item upgrading from a different player will cost 105.
Valorstones
Upgrades are items that can be used to purchase tools, armor, weapon and accessory upgrades. Players can purchase them through NPCs who sell upgrades to item owners for a variety of currencies. They are also available on random treasure lists. Once purchased, an upgrade is able to be used on any weapon, tool or armor. button, which displays an item's preview at the next upgrade level when the player has enough materials.
Upgrade costs vary depending on the slot of the item upgrades and the current item level. For instance weapons cost more than bracers, or gloves. Each upgrade cost 15 Flightstones and a variety of crests, with certain upgrades having a discount to lower the cost of the Flightstones or crests that are used. Once an item has been upgraded to a certain degree and is degraded, it can be sold and sold back to the upgrader for a lesser amount of both currencies.
A lot of locations offer upgraders for items which include the main island and a few outposts. The NPCs provide both an upgrade coupon as well as the chance to obtain the latest recipe. The upgrade discount increases with the number of items being upgraded. It can also be increased by having players complete specific achievements or quests.
Icewind Dale does not have an item upgrader at the beginning, unlike Cromwell from Baldur's gate II. Instead, the NPCs that are available to facilitate upgrades require a variety of means which is both an improvement as well as a disadvantage.
In Season 3, the upgrade system has been tweaked a bit, with some new features added. Once a player obtains an upgrade to a specific level of an item for a specific armor slot, upgrading further items to that same item level will be less expensive, even in the event that they are part of an entirely different set of gear.
The amount of Valorstones needed for upgrades is reduced, and the discount is account-wide. The amount of Harbinger Crests required for upgrades is reduced also, but is only available when certain milestones are achieved.
Crests
When upgrading gear in WoW, players have a few choices. Flightstones are an item that is available to everyone who wants to upgrade. Crests are more specialized and are utilized during specific item level upgrade (the original source) level upgrades. Crests are an essential part of the Dragonflight gear progression system that was introduced in 10.1 and are available in four ranks.
The first thing to remember is that Crests are only available to equipment with a certain rank. Each rank has an upgrade path that is different. The simplest and simplest upgrade process costs just 15 crests while the more complex one can require as much as 20 crests based on the type of equipment that is being upgraded.
Players can earn crests by working through tasks at the appropriate level. This could be done by engaging in outdoor activities or doing dungeons or raids in all difficulties to get lower-tier gear or Mythicbosses for raids, or dungeons with a heroic difficulty for endgame gear. The crests can later be exchanged at an item upgrader NPC, like Cuzolth in Dornogal, or Vaskarn in Valdrakken to get the appropriate upgrade pathways and steps.
The new currency system isn't difficult to use, but it does bring some modifications to the upgrade process. For example, once a piece of equipment reaches the highest level of upgrade for any rank (Explorer, Adventurer, Veteran, Champion, Hero, or Mythic) it won't need Flightstones to be upgraded. This is to allow players to get their equipment up to the highest level possible on all their characters instead of relying on seasonal loot.
Another important modification is that crests have one usage and it's crucial to use them wisely. It is recommended to put your Whelpling-rank Crests on the top-quality equipment you can locate and keep Drake and Wyrm Crests for the next round of upgrades. This is particularly true for items such as trinkets and rings that take up multiple slots. The discount on the account will only apply when all the slots on the character are filled with top-quality equipment.