What Freud Can Teach Us About Item Upgrade

WoW Upgrades - The Item Upgrader

Upgrades provide a guaranteed boost to specific stats. Each upgrade increases the level of the item by +3. A random extra substat is also added to each upgrade.

Upgraded gear generally sees higher trade value, unless it has inherently low requirements (like the FB shield of the sorc) or very high stat variation (like the eth titan weapons). Upgrades aren't as valuable for those with lower requirements due to the requirement to roll an exact version.

Recycle Points

The item upgrader lets players 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 cannot be used again. Upgrades can also be applied to enhancements.

The upgrader is located in all major cities, and is accessible anytime to upgrade your equipment. To keep your gear current, it is recommended that you visit the upgrader each couple of weeks.

Upgrades can cost more based on the item level, however they'll always be cheaper than buying new gear. Upgrades like upgrading a Benthic chest to the level of ilvl385 will cost you 20 recycle points. Buying a similar item upgrader mod will cost you 105.

Valorstones

Upgrades are items that can be used to upgrade weapons, armor, tools and accessory upgrades. They can be bought by players from NPCs that sell upgrades to items in exchange for various currencies, and can be found in random treasure lists. Once an upgrade is purchased it can be used on any weapon, tool, or armor with the help of button, which displays an item level Upgrade's preview at the next upgrade level if the player has sufficient materials.

Upgrade costs differ based on the item slot, and the current item level. For instance weapons are more expensive than gloves, bracers, or bracers. Each upgrade cost 15 Flightstones plus a certain number of crests. Certain upgrades provide a discount on the Flightstones. Once an item is upgraded to a certain amount it can be re-downgraded and sold to the upgrader at a lower price.

Item upgraders can be found at many locations including the main island as well as some outposts. The NPCs offer both an upgrade discount as well as a chance to acquire a new upgrade recipe. The upgrade discount increases depending on the amount of items that are being upgraded. It is also possible to be increased by requiring players to complete specific achievements or complete quests.

Icewind Dale does not have an item upgrader at start, unlike Cromwell from Baldur's gate II. Instead the NPCs that are available to help with upgrades require various methods that are both an improvement as well as a disadvantage.

In Season 3 the upgrade system has been altered a bit, with some new features added. After the player has upgraded to a specific level for an armor slot upgrading other items to the same level, will cost less. This is even if those items are from an entirely different set of gear.

The amount of Valorstones required to upgrade is reduced and the discount is account-wide. The amount of Harbinger Crests needed to upgrade items is cut too, but it is only available after certain milestones have been reached.

Crests

When it comes to upgrading equipment in WoW, players have a few choices. Flightstones are a currency that is available to everyone who wants to upgrade. Crests are more special, and are used during specific item level upgrades. Crests are an important component of the Dragonflight Gear Progression System that was introduced in version 10.1. They come in four ranks.

First, you should know that the crests can only be purchased for gear with a certain rank. Each rank comes with an upgrade path that is different. The easiest and most straightforward upgrade is 15 crests. The most complicated upgrade could require as much as 20 crests, contingent on the type of gear being upgraded.

Players can obtain crests by working through content that is of the appropriate level, whether that means walking around and doing outdoor activities for gear of lower tiers, raids or dungeons with all difficulties for higher-tier items or Mythic+ heroic raid bosses and dungeons for endgame gear. The crests can then be exchanged with an upgrader such as Cuzolth or Vaskarn, in Valdrakken to upgrade the item in the proper steps and paths.

The new currency system isn't too difficult to use, but it will bring some changes to the process of upgrading. When a piece attains the highest level of upgrade for any rank (Explorer or Adventurer), it is no longer required to purchase Flightstones. This change lets players upgrade their gear to the highest possible ilvl on all of their characters instead of relying on seasonal loot.

Another notable change is that crests have one usage and it's crucial to use them wisely. For instance it's a good idea utilize all of your Whelpling rank crests on the top gear you have available and then keep Drake and Wyrm crests to use for the next set of upgrades you plan on making. This is especially relevant for items like trinkets and rings that take up several slots. The discount for the entire account will only apply when all slots on the character are filled with top-quality equipment.