Puzzling Cartel Chip Update for Turbo Boost Event in The War Within

We’ve been closely following your feedback on our recent announcement of the upcoming Turbo Boost event. We understand that while most of the benefits of the event – such as double drop rate on Warbound-Until-Equipped gear from dungeons, or extra upgrade tiers available on all existing items – will be available immediately, the prospect of waiting three additional weeks to purchase select Liberation of Undermine items from Consultant Wrexxle is a frustrating one.

In light of that, we’re changing the structure of the quests for Puzzling Cartel Chips, so that the first week’s quest will now reward 3 Chips, enough to purchase one item immediately. The 6-quest progression will continue as planned after that, allowing each character to earn up to 9 Chips (up from 6) and purchase up to three Liberation of Undermine items.

We also want to take a moment to offer some context on the goals of the Cartel Chip currency, and how they compare to past experiments such as the Dinar system in Shadowlands Season 4, a natural point of comparison for many players.

In Shadowlands and Dragonflight Season 4, there was a very compressed season timetable that rotated through multiple raids, making it extremely unlikely for any player to get a particular raid drop. We introduced the Dinar system as a primary means of acquiring specific chase items that would otherwise be unobtainable for most players. Those seasons also weren’t about progression, but rather “farm from the start,” letting players re-experience familiar content from earlier in the expansion with updated rewards. And of course, they came at the very end of their respective expansion, with a full power reset just on the horizon, and little need to worry about the long-term implications of giving players access to gear with a power level several tiers above their normal rewards.

The middle of The War Within Season 2, however, presents a very different situation. Puzzling Cartel Chips were designed primarily as bad luck protection, allowing players who’ve been chasing specific raid items without success to have a guaranteed path to earning them. They also provide a path for players who have only done the Normal version of the raid to get a few guaranteed Hero items, without undermining a core motivation for the challenge and coordination required in Mythic raid progression. We also need to be mindful of how we will transition into the next season. Giving players who don’t normally engage in high-end content access to Item Level 680+ trinkets would essentially obsolete those slots for Season 3.

We understand that players who don’t raid, or who have no interest in Mythic raiding, are disappointed that they can’t get Myth versions of these desirable items. The Puzzling Cartel Chips system will still allow someone who only does Normal mode of Liberation of Undermine to earn, for example, a House of Cards trinket at Item Level 672 once it is fully upgraded. We hope that will be an exciting prospect for many players.

This event is an experiment on our part, aimed at giving a wide range of players a boost towards achieving their progression, collection, or power goals as we move into the second half of the season. Your feedback is deeply appreciated, and we’ll be listening and watching closely to inform any future plans.

–The WoW Development Team