Dragonflight Embers of Neltharion Upgrade System Revamp

dragonflight embers of neltharion upgrade system revamp2

So you might’ve heard by now, but 10.1 is going to bring a completely revamped way to upgrade your gear involving a couple of new currencies. With this change old currencies like Valor will be going away, though, so as not to bloat things with 100 different currencies.

The point is to have one system to upgrade gear – whether that be gear from raiding, mythic+, outdoor content, or crafting. So while it may seem overwhelming at first, and will most definitely cause some uproar with WoW players at first (We’re a sensitive bunch), I think this is going to be a long-term change for the positive.

There are two types of currencies, Flightstones and Shadowflame Crests. Flightstones are your reward for basically doing any content within the game, and are required to upgrade any level or track of gear but has no cap on spending/acquiring as long as you don’t exceed 2000 of it at any one time. The Crests, on the other hand, are broken into 4 separate categories that correspond to the difficulty of the content you’re taking on and thus the level of gear you’re trying to upgrade as well.

Come 10.1 you’ll be able to use any “item upgrade” vendor to check this new system out and upgrade any new gear you acquire. Make sure to check out the full breakdown below for the finer details!

Blizzard – (Source)

Dragonflight Season 2 introduces an all-new way to upgrade your gear with a new upgrade system. This system will replace most of the upgrade systems that are in place, including Valor and Storm Gear. You’ll be able to optimize your gear by upgrading almost any item you earn during the season, whether you earn it from a World Quest or Heroic Aberrus, the Shadowed Crucible.


New Upgrade Currencies

There are two new primary currencies you’ll gain as you make your way through the latest content available: Flightstones and Shadowflame Crests. Flightstones can be earned from doing quests, found in treasures, and many other activities. You’ll be able to have 2,000 Flightstones at a time during the season, but there’s no limit on how many you can earn (and spend!) in a week. Shadowflame Crest Fragments are available in four varieties, depending on the difficulty of the content they come from, and can be earned in a variety of ways. To create a Shadowflame Crest, you combine 15 Shadowflame Crest Fragments from the same tier to create one Shadowflame Crest.

Flightstones: Earned from completing PvE activities in raids, dungeons, and the outdoor world. Used to upgrade Dragonflight Season 2 equipment during that season. Flightstones can be found in your Currencies tab.

Shadowflame Crests

  • Whelpling’s Shadowflame Crest: Used to upgrade higher-level Adventurer and lower-level Veteran gear or to craft an optional reagent for crafted gear.
    • Earned from: Aberrus bosses in Raid Finder, Mythic + dungeons at Level 5 and below, World Quests, Treasures, and other activities. Fragments can also be purchased from the niffen vendor Spinsoa in Loamm.
  • Drake’s Shadowflame Crest: Used to upgrade higher-level Veteran and lower-level Champion gear.
    • Earned from: Aberrus bosses in Normal difficulty, Mythic dungeons between Level 6 and 10. Weekly events in Zaralek Cavern. Fragments can also be purchased from the niffen vendor Spinsoa in Loamm.
  • Wyrm’s Shadowflame Crest: Used to upgrade higher-level Champion and lower-level Hero gear or to craft an optional reagent for crafted gear.
    • Earned from: Aberrus bosses on Heroic difficulty, Dragonflight Mythic dungeons between Level 11 and Level 15.
  • Aspect’s Shadowflame Crest: Used to upgrade Hero gear to item level 441 or to craft an optional reagent for crafted gear.
    • Earned from: Aberrus bosses on Mythic difficulty, Dragonflight Mythic dungeons at Level 16 and above.

Like Flightstones, fragments can be found across the Dragon Isles. The more dangerous and challenging the activity, the more powerful the fragments. And if you need fragments, you can purchase some from Spinsoa in Loamm with the Unearthed Fragrant Coins earned from public events around Zaralek Cavern. There are six different chests he sells, each purchasable once per week:

  • Whelpling’s Small Chest: Contains 5 Whelpling’s Shadowflame Crest Fragments. Available for purchase once each week.
  • Whelpling’s Hefty Chest: Contains 10 Whelpling’s Shadowflame Crest Fragments. Available for purchase once each week.
  • Whelpling’s Bountiful Chest: Contains 15 Whelpling’s Shadowflame Crest Fragments. Available for purchase once each week.
  • Drake’s Small Chest: Contains 5 Drake’s Shadowflame Crest Fragments. Available for purchase once each week.
  • Drake’s Hefty Chest: Contains 10 Drake’s Shadowflame Crest Fragments. Available for purchase once each week.
  • Drake’s Bountiful Chest: Contains 15 Drake’s Shadowflame Crest Fragments. Available for purchase once per week.

Shadowflame Crests and Shadowflame Crest fragments are all items that you’ll hold in your reagent bag and can stack so they don’t take up too much inventory space. You will be able to earn 150 Crest Fragments (10 Crests) of each type per week, and this cap will increase as the season progresses. Whelpling’s and Drake’s Shadowflame Crests are available to collect and use as soon as 10.1 launches, but Wyrm’s and Aspect’s crests won’t be available until the following week when Season 2 launches. This means that the weekly cap for the more powerful Crests will always be a week behind.

Any Shadowflame Crest Fragments you earn as a one-time reward won’t count towards your cap. So, if you’re looking at a quest reward that gives you fragments, you don’t need to worry about whether you’re at or near the cap. And if you’re curious how close you are, you can look in the Statistics tab of the Achievements window (default hotkey “y”) to see how many fragments you’ve earned towards the cap.

To learn more about Flightstones and Shadowflame Crests, speak with Vaskarn in Loamm. She’ll have quests for you to undertake to walk you through the upgrade process. These quests will become available early in the Embers of Neltharion campaign, shortly after arriving in Loamm.

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About the Author

Shadostruct

I've been playing WoW since beta with some breaks here and there. I'm a semi-hardcore to hardcore raider that focuses on retail mainly. I'm a big fan of giant dragons and am excited for all that Dragonflight will have to offer.

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