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Update 10.1 in World of Warcraft: Dragonflight substantially changes the gear system. In it, players will use a set of new currencies to upgrade gear, making it more powerful. By participating in activities throughout the game, players will unlock these currencies to power up the various gear drops you pick up throughout your gameplay experience.
According to the Blizzard developers, World of Warcraft: Dragonflight’s new gear system in 10.1 will replace several existing upgrade systems - such as Valor and Storm Gear. Many players can feel overwhelmed and frustrated by the game's many upgrade systems.
What is changing in World of Warcraft: Dragonflight’s gear system in 10.1?
World of Warcraft: Dragonflight developer Chimes revealed that a new upgrade system is coming in the Embers of Neltharion update for the hit MMO. The new gear system will last for the entirety of Season 2, and the developers will monitor it and see how it is performing and what the overall response is to it.
It’s pretty simple as a system. In patch 10.1, Players will farm Flightstones from any activity they do in the game. Completing World Quests, killing named creatures, completing Mythic Keystone dungeons, defeating raid bosses, and so much more.
Other currency players will farm in World of Warcraft: Dragonflight, which comes in four varieties, depending on the difficulty of the content you’re doing, called Shadowflame Crests.
How do Shadowflame Crests work?
These Shadowflame Crests will drop from outdoor content, Mythic+ dungeons, and perhaps more. The full list of places these will drop has not been revealed. They will come in Whelping, Drake, Wyrm, and Aspect varieties.
Nearly every piece of gear can be upgraded to some degree or another. However, there are some notable exclusions that players ought to know about.
Exceptions to this system
- Crafted Gear
- PVP Gear
- High-end Mythic Gear
Crafted gear already has the “recrafting system” in World of Warcraft: Dragonflight, PVP gear will use the same system it currently does, and then there’s the highest tier of gear in the game.
That Mythic Raid gear is already wildly powerful and doesn’t need further improvement. You can also get fragments of these crests - both the fragments and crests stack in your Resource Bag.
The restrictions that exist for this system aren’t lengthy either. Completing your regular in-game tasks will give you the above currency pieces, and you can use those currencies to add some item levels to gear that drops for you while you play. Depending on the item levels of this gear will determine how far you can upgrade it.
Using this upcoming gear system in World of Warcraft: Dragonflight, upgrading gear that increases your character’s power will cost Flightstones and Shadowflame Crests. However, if the item in question is lower than your highest item level in that slot, you’ll get a discount. The game will keep track of your gear across your characters, making upgrading weaker characters easier to upgrade.
For Shadowflame Crests, depending on what content difficulty you receive the drop, it changes which crest you will need. Thankfully, each piece of gear needs one.
The Shadowflame Crests
- Whelpling’s Crest: Raid Finder
- Drake’s Crest: Normal Raid
- Wyrm’s Crest: Heroic Raid
- Aspect’s Crest: Mythic Raid
Upon completing the content of those difficulty levels, you’ll also find the crests. You’ll also receive Whelping and Drake Crests in non-instanced gameplay - so outdoor content.
Upgrading weaker gear, and the costs
One of the best things about this World of Warcraft: Dragonflight gear system is that weaker gear has a discount applied to it. For example, if you have a 418 weapon equipped and want to use a 415 weapon, you can upgrade that weaker one without using a Shadowflame Crest.
However, if you want to upgrade it beyond 418, use a crest. In addition, that weaker piece of gear will cost half the normal Flightstones. Below is the chart of all item levels and how far they can be upgraded.
Most pieces of gear can be upgraded between 4 and 7 times. That means you can't get a Raid Finder piece of gear and improve it until it's a 450 Mythic piece. Each gear has its limits, which also promotes players trying to do harder content, and then upgrading those items with World of Warcraft: Dragonflight's new gear system.
It will be easy enough to get Flightstones, and while the Crests will be harder to unlock, players should get them frequently enough during their adventures.
Only time will tell how popular and useful this system is, but World of Warcraft: Dragonflight's new gear system, if nothing else, sounds interesting and flexible. This feature will be added in the 10.1 updates. For now, though, currencies like Valor Points will go away.
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