New Gear Upgrade System Coming in Patch 10.1: Embers of Neltharion

Live Posted 2023/03/08 at 10:35 AM by Squishei

New Upgrade System in Patch 10.1Interview TranscriptsGroup interviewgroup interviewActually this is not completely related but I think it’s really cool so I’m going to talk about it anyway. There’s a new item upgrade revamp coming with the Embers of Neltharion. One of the things we identified with Dragonflight was that we really like this idea of upgradable items and feeling like you can make progression even if it’s a couple of time levels at a time. You feel like you can earn some progression on your character, and really work towards that end goal of yours. And what we found was there was a lot of different types of item upgrade systems. We have Valor, we have the ones in the outdoor world, we have Storms gear…and they all work in slightly different ways, and it felt like a lot of complexity and a lot of stuff the player had to wrap their head around that worked differently, even though they felt very similar with their end goal.

So we’re looking at introducing new currencies called Flight Stones, and then Shadowflame Crests, which is a currency that acts as your high watermark, that will allow you to upgrade certain items to be even higher tiers. That’s a pretty exciting update that people will see. I don’t know if it will be in the very first PTR build, but it will be pretty early cause we’ve recognized that that’s a big change and want to get that into players hands as early as possible to get as much feedback as we can and allow time for iteration. Dratnos InterviewDratnos' interviewMorgan: We're essentially revamping the item upgrade system. Something we identified was there are a lot of discrete item upgrade systems, like Storms have their own path to progression for upgrading, Valor has its own path. There's all these discrete things that are all essentially achieving the same goals but you have to go about them in different ways which can cause some confusion for the players, so we're looking to unify that, the one currency to rule them all. There will be a new currency called Flightstones that will be the currency... I kind of compare it to like XP. Are you doing a thing? You're going to get some Flightstones and we're going to make sure that you're getting a good mix of that. And then there are crests that have different names like Shadowflame Crest and Dragon Crest, I don't know the names off the top of my head, that are more of the currency that is essentially testing your high watermark -- what Mythic+ number have you done, you'll get this one which will allow you to break into a new tier of item upgrade, or okay you've killed a Heroic boss, you'll get this other type of Crest that will allow you to unlock that item's potential for upgrading. Very much trying to create one system that a lot of different elements of the game can tie into, rather than it feeling like "I have all these different currencies and this is for these items and this is for these items. What's going on here?" Trying to simplify that significantly was a major goal and add some clarity and some really awesome rework hooks for people. The PTR will be later this week, is the goal, and the item upgrade system is something that we want to make sure if it's not on the very first PTR, it's not long after. We know we want to get that in to player's hands as soon as possible to be able to play around with that, give us feedback and give us time to iterate on that.

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Comment by Xernathnooooo current mythic+ valor system is so good and makes m+ rating good and satisfying to increase....
just make the system you had in shadowlands s4 for updating raid gear and keep the current good one m+ systemComment by anistamWOD style gearing in pvp was good while it lasted...Comment by ScrotaciousI feel like "Flightstones" and "Crests" is a bit...Dragonflight centric. Are they going to redo the name, or the system, for every new expansion...as the current name doesn't sound long-term.Comment by VinniI gave PVP a shot again since mop this season... Feeling the need to have separate characters for pvp and pve for GV optimization felt really bad. I hope they look into that aswell. Like, getting the gear is fine. But having to build set bonuses on top of 2 sets and having to pick between content felt really, really bad. Tier bonus pieces(helmet, shoulders, chest, gloves and legs) should just be "enchanted" onto the item slot, not the item itself. Maybe this "new upgrade currency" could build towards such an upgrade in a way.

Just a quick thought.Comment by rhapt0rnOMG Please, leave alone PvP from this upgrade system. Honor and Conquest points are fine, dont make it universal it's stupid
Do it only for pveComment by sweetdandeliePlease, Blizzard, for the Love of Thrall....PLEASE...don't make this currency land in your bags. Or give us bigger bags. We are getting full here! TONS of stuff in our bags. Reagents are taking over.Comment by EisleybandPerhaps I don't fully understand the system they're trying to implement, but I hope there won't be the prospect of someone that only PvPs and dumping that into PvE gear for a higher ilvl to make them see more skillful than they are in M+. There's already enough of that going around by allowing boosts. I wish there was some number to track as a contribution to the completion of the dungeon that would determine your eligibility for loot. Boosts can be for cosmetics, not gear to deceive players.Comment by dokeefe1986if they do this right, this could be amazing. they are right in the fact that the sectors of game are kind of unnecessarily segregated.Comment by CaliidanFantastic change/revamp. Sounds promising, can't really see the negatives since, it makes it much simpler for people to gear.Comment by TheRabbitmore systems yayComment by Raeana1652Great, it will probably be capped like conquest and valor, which means if you PVE and PVP, you're going to get screwed.Comment by Ximuthe cursed "system" wordComment by CrusherixWhat was wrong with Valor(Can upgrade current season) and Justice(upgrade non-current season items)?Comment by Somethingnewi can be wrong but from what they say it looks like you will be able to upgrade your items for example from just doing raids without any m+ score but then again i dont think you will be able to upgrade ur item from heroic raid into mythic piece so you will need items from m+ anywayComment by AmalioThis sounds interesting, but I sure hope this doesn't turn into a super grindy system where you are forced to farm certain types of content in order to get enough of those "Flightstones" to upgrade your gear. One thing a lot of people liked about DF is that it lacked any kind of forced grind / weekly/daily chore system and I hope it stays that way.Comment by Setsuna665Wowwww dejavu. Almost like a badge system was in place a decade ago and worked perfectly that was like this.Comment by qaccyI don't like there still being different 'crests' from different difficulties of content. Why not just have one currency that comes from everything in varying amounts depending on how difficult it is?Comment by Dharkuulmore systems yayComment by PlaidiatorInstead of "solving" the problem of too many currencies and siystems by adding more currencies and systems, they should just convert all of the currencies were currently have into one and then just use that one currency to upgrade things. This just adds another thing you have to get.Comment by AetheriteI'm so happy that the developers don't listen to the Wowhead comments lmfao. Did any of you actually read this or just read the headline and thought "ooo more systems >:("

Who would have thought that streamlining 2/3 systems and unifying them would equate to "more".

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