What Freud Can Teach Us About Item Upgrade

WoW Upgrades - The Item Upgrader

Upgrades give you an increase in certain stats. Each upgrade increases the level of an Item Level Upgrade by +3. A random extra substat is also added to each upgrade.

Upgraded gear generally sees more value in trade, unless it has inherently low requirements (like the FB shield of the sorc) or has a high stat variance (like eth titan weapons). Upgrades aren't as useful for the latter due to the requirement to roll the perfect version.

Recycle Points

The item upgrader allows players to upgrade their gear by giving the currency to an NPC. Upgrades can be applied to any kind of armor or weapon. However, the item level upgrade used for the upgrade will be consumed for the duration of time and will not be able to be used again. Upgrades can be applied to enchantments.

You can upgrade your gear anytime by visiting the upgrader in any major city. It is recommended that you visit the upgrader once every few weeks to ensure that your equipment is up to date.

The cost of upgrading will depend on the current level of the gear being upgraded but they will always be less expensive than purchasing new equipment from other sources. Upgrades such as upgrading a Benthic chest to the level of ilvl385 will cost you 20 recycle points. If you purchase a similar item upgrade, it will cost you 105.

Valorstones

Upgrades are items which can be used to upgrade weapons, tools, armor, and other accessories. Players can purchase them through NPCs who sell upgrades to item owners for various currencies. They can also find them on random treasure lists. Once purchased, an upgrade can be applied to any tool, weapon, or armor. button, which will display an image of the item at the next upgrade level if the player has sufficient materials.

Upgrade costs differ based on the slot of the item level upgrade and the current level of the item. For instance, weapons will cost more than bracers, or gloves. Each step costs 15 Flightstones and a few crests, with certain upgrades offering discounts to reduce the cost of the Flightstones or crests used. Once an item has been upgraded to a certain amount it can be re-downgraded and sold to the upgrader at a lower cost.

Item upgraders can be found at many locations on the main island and some outposts. The NPCs offer both an upgrade discount and a chance to obtain a new upgrade recipe. The discount on upgrades increases as more items are upgraded. It can be increased by having players complete certain achievements or complete quests.

Contrary to Cromwell in Baldur's Gate II, there is no upgrader for items available in the beginning of Icewind Dale. Instead the NPCs that can be used to upgrade are acquired via various methods, which is both an improvement but also a drawback.

In Season 3, a number of new features were added to the upgrade system. 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 true even if those items are from a different set of gear.

The amount of Valorstones needed to upgrade is reduced and the discount is account-wide. Similarly, the amount of Harbinger Crests required to upgrade is also reduced and is not available until players achieve certain achievement milestones.

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 element of the Dragonflight Gear Progression System, which was introduced in version 10.1. They come in four ranks.

The first thing to note is that crests are only able to be spent on equipment that is of a particular rank, and that every rank has different requirements for upgrading. The simplest and easiest upgrade is 15 crests. The most complicated upgrade could require as much as 20 crests, based on the type or gear that is being upgraded.

Players can earn crests by working through content that is of the appropriate level, which involves walking around and performing outdoor activities for lower-tier gear, dungeons or raids of all difficulties for higher-tier items, or Mythic+ heroic raid bosses or dungeons to obtain endgame gear. These crests are then exchanged with an upgrader for the item like Cuzolth or Vaskarn, in Valdrakken for the appropriate upgrade steps and paths.

The use of these currencies isn't too complicated, but the system does introduce some modifications to the upgrade process. When a piece reaches 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 level possible for all their characters rather than relying on seasonal loot.

It's also important to use crests wisely, as they are only used for one purpose. It's best to use your Whelpling-rank Crests on the highest-quality gear that you can find and save Drake and Wyrm Crests to be used for the next set of upgrades. This is particularly relevant for items like rings and trinkets that occupy several slots. The account-wide discount will only apply when all slots on the character are filled with top-quality gear.