Gearing in Season 3 - Everything You Need To Know!

Foreword

We will be starting off in Season 3 at a much lower relative iLvl than we usually expect between raid tiers/patches, more akin to the start of an expansion. Mythic Raid gear from Season 2 will be equivalent to LFR Raid gear in Season 3, instead of the usual Normal Raid level.

This means that the gear you’ve farmed in Season 2 is much less impactful than usual, so if you’re only now coming back to the game after a short (or long) break, then it’s now easier than ever to get caught up and stuck into the latest patch content!

Crest Changes

Quality of Life

There are a few minor, but no less great, changes to Crests in Season 3:

• Crests are being moved to the Current Tab, meaning no more cluttering up your Reagent Bag.
• Crest Fragments are being retired, meaning you'll no longer need to continually click to turn 15 of them into 1 full Crest.
• You will now need 15 Crests per upgrade, up from 1, but this is just adopting the numbering system from Crest Fragments, which previously required 15 to make a full Crest.
• Both the Hero and Myth upgrade tracks have been extended by an additional level. This means that Hero now has 6 upgrade levels (up from 5) and Myth has 4 (up from 3).

Weekly Cap Decrease

The amount of Crests you can earn per week in Season 3 is being decreased compared with Season 2.

• You will get 90 Crests per week, down from the equivalent of 150 from last season.
• Since upgrades now cost 15 Crests, this means you'll be able to perform 6 upgrades per week per Crest type, down from 10.

Upward Crest Trading

So long as you meet certain iLvl thresholds, you'll be able to “trade up” your lower-tier Crests to higher ones. This means that doing lower-level content can still provide you with useful rewards!

• Whelpling → Drake: Reach an iLvl of 450 in every slot.
  • 90 Whelpling Crests = 15 Drake Crests
• Drake → Wyrm: Reach an iLvl of 463 in every slot.
  • 90 Drake Crests = 15 Wyrm Crests
• Wyrm → Aspect: Reach an iLvl of 476 in every slot.
  • 90 Wyrm Crests = 15 Aspect Crests

These conversions will count towards your weekly Crest caps, though, both for the lower Crests you’re trading up from and the higher Crests you’re trading up to.
This is actually good, since you won’t feel incentivised or forced to do lower-level content just for some marginal Crest gains. This system is meant for players to gradually trade up their Crests as they progress up the gear ladder, not for min-max giga gamers.

Crest Sources

With so many different types of Upgrade Currencies and Crests, it can be confusing to know which types and levels of content awards what, so here's a quick rundown.

Flightstones

• Source: Pretty Much Everything
  • Quests, Treasures, Rares, World Events, Raid, M+, you name it.
• Exclusively Upgrades: Explorer 1-8/8 & Adventurer 1-4/8
• Needed for all further Upgrade Tracks too

Whelpling’s Dreaming Crests

• Source: Many Outdoor Activities, LFR Amirdrassil & +2 to +5 Keystones
  • World Quests, Rares, Treasures
• Upgrades: Adventurer 5-8/8 & Veteran 1-4/8

Drake’s Dreaming Crests

• Source: Some Outdoor Activities, Normal Amirdrassil & +6 to +10 Keystones
  • Elite World Quests, Emerald Bounty, Superbloom, Weekly Quests
• Upgrades: Veteran 5-8/8 & Champion 1-4/8

Wyrm’s Dreaming Crests

• Source: Heroic Amirdrassil & +11 to +15 Keystones
• Upgrades: Champion 5-8/8 & Hero 1-4/6

Aspect’s Dreaming Crests

• Source: Mythic Amirdrassil & +16 and above Keystones
• Upgrades: Hero 5-6/6 & Mythic 1-4/4

Full Gear Upgrade Track

Here's the full table of all Gear Upgrade Tracks and required Currencies to upgrade at each level.

Season 3 Gear Breakdown

It can be quite hard to visualise which types and difficulties of content drops what level of gear, ranging from Outdoor World Content, to Raid and M+. Here's a table that brings together all forms of PVE content in Season 3, along with the level of gear they reward.

Great Vault Changes

The Great Vault has received some welcome changes this season. In addition to making lower-level content more relevant, the Great Vault's thresholds have also been lowered.

Heroic, Timewalking and Mythic Dungeons

In a great Quality-of-Life change for Season 3; Heroic, Mythic and Timewalking Dungeons will count towards filling your Great Vault!

• Timewalking Dungeons will be equivalent in reward level to Heroic Dungeons.
• All of these will still draw from the current Season’s M+ Loot Pool, just at a lower iLvl.

Raid Threshholds

The Raid Thresholds for the Great Vault are changing slightly for Season 3; going from 3/5/7 in Aberrus to 2/4/7 in Amirdrasil!

This will not only be very good for early progression across all difficulties during the first few weeks, but also for later progression for those doing Mythic, since you’ll be less likely to clear as many bosses at the start.

This is also great for those who swap between multiple characters for different bosses; be they filling in for absent roles one evening or providing specific utility to counter certain mechanics.

Revival Catalyst Changes

Unlike previous seasons, the Revival Catalyst will be available right from the beginning in Season 3, meaning you'll be able to start converting from Week 1!

You'll only gain Catalyst Charges every 2 weeks this season, rather than every week. This is still a very good trade-off, though, since you'll be able to complete your Tier Sets much quicker now!

Omni-Tier Tokens Return

Both of the well-received Omni-Tier Tokens from Season 2 will be returning for Season 3, requiring similar milestones.

Emerald Mark of Mastery

• Requires you to achieve either AOTC Fyrakk (Heroic Raid), KSM (2000 M+ Rating) or Challenger II (1600 PVP Rating).
• This token can be exchanged for a piece of Heroic-level Tier in a slot of your choice.

Flame-Warped Curio

• These will drop from Fyrakk each time you kill him, respective to the difficulty it was done on.
• This token can be exchanged for a piece of appropriate-level Tier in a slot of your choice.

Mythic+

Myth Track Threshold Increase

When the Myth Upgrade Track was introduced in 10.1.5, midway through Season 2, it effectively made +16s equivalent to +20s for the purpose of filling the Great Vault.

• While Great Vault loot from +20s would award 447 Myth 3/3 gear, +16s would award 441 Myth 1/3 gear, meaning you could use the then-abundant Aspect Crests to upgrade to max without ever needing to do +20s.

For Season 3, though, this is being slightly nerfed. You will now need to complete +18s to get Myth Track gear from the Great Vault. So, while it is slightly harder than Season 2, we are still benefitting from the (now-extended) Myth Track and are still not forced to do +20s for weeklies.

Mythic+ iLvl Breakdown Table

Raid

Raid iLvl Breakdown

This season, there's a total of 4 incremental iLvl tiers across the Raid, providing yet more granular progression of player power the further you get.

Tier Piece Bosses

Tier Piece Drop Changes

The ratio at which Tier Tokens drop from Raid Bosses is changing with Season 3, going from the previous 2:2 ratio down to only 1:3.

This is actually the ratio that was in effect for much of late Season 2 when Blizzard reduced the rate of tier drops from the initial 2:2, since by that point most active players had acquired all their Tier and were instead after non-Tier items.

Now, while this is indeed a decrease in Tier Tokens dropping from Raid Bosses, you will still be completing your 2- and 4-sets quicker in Season 3, due to the combination of the Revival Catalyst coming online from Week 1 and the return of the Omni-Tier Tokens.

Fyr'alath, the Dream Render - Legendary 2H Axe

We’re finally getting another Raid Legendary in Season 3, this time in the form of a 2H Strength Axe wielded by Fyrakk, called "Fyr'alath, the Dream Render".

While Blizard have stated the acquisition method will be similar to that of the Evoker Legendary "Nasz'uro, the Unbound Legacy" from Season 1, we don't yet know what this will look like or involve.

Very Rare Item Changes

The way that “Very Rare” items drop from Raid Bosses in Amirdrassil is changing this time around and for the better!

Instead of dropping as part of the total amount of loot that a boss drops, Very Rare items will now drop in addition to the standard loot, meaning it won’t replace other items!

This should also standardize Very Rare drops for each boss and make the moments when they drop feel much better.

Fyrakk drops 3 Very Rare Trinkets, which on Mythic Difficulty go all the way up to iLvl 496!

Other than these, there are also 2 other bosses with Very Rare drops:

• Volcoross with an Effect-Necklace “Ouroboreal Necklet”
• Nymue with an Effect-Staff “Dreambinder, Loom of the Great Cycle”

As usual, these drop at a higher iLvl than their standard loot (between 1-2 Upgrade Tiers).

Incandescent Essence - Head Enchant

A new Head Enchant is available in Season 3, called the "Incandescent Essence".
Once applied, it will provide a buff according to your current Specialization; Melee DPS, Ranged DPS, Healer or Tank.

To obtain this, you will need to complete a questline, starting from an item dropped by Gnarloot called "Twisted Dreaming Essence", which requires you to loot several items from different Raid Bosses throughout Amirdrassil.

• 50 Echoed Ephemera, dropping from all Bosses
• 4 Boss-specific items (Igira, Larodar, Smolderon, Tindral)

Echoed Ephemera drops at a rate of one per boss per week, regardless of difficulty, meaning it will take at least 5 full weeks to obtain, assuming you're able to defeat all 9 bosses of the raid (on any difficulty) each week.

However, Blizzard has also clarified that after the 5th week of Season 3, the progress for the unlock questline will be accelerated, making it much easier for Alts or returning players to acquire!

The intention behind this head enchant it to seemingly provide players with a spike in power and help with mid-late Raid progression.

Crafted Gear

Not too much is changing with Crafted Gear in Season 3, besides becoming slighly weaker compared with Season 2 and the required Enchanted Crests being a little more expensive to craft.

Relatively Weaker

Crafted Gear is becoming slightly weaker in Season 3 when compared with Season 2, though not by too much - only 1 Upgrade Level.

e.g. Instead of Enchanted Aspect's Crest Gear going all the way up to Myth 3/3 as in Season 2, it would only go to Myth 2/3 relative to this change.

So, for Season 3, Enchanted Aspect's Gear will cap at Myth 3/4, so one Upgrade Level short of being max Mythic iLvl.

Despite being slightly weaker, you'll still likely find yourself using Crafted hear for much, if not all, of Season 3. This will especially be the case if you aren't a Mythic Raider or if Embellished pieces are still powerful for your Class/Spec.

Enchanted Crests More Expensive

The number of Crests that are needed to craft their Enchanted equivalents has been increased for Season 3, going up by 15 Crests each. As such, you may want to think more carefully about how you're using Crests since the amount you're getting each week has also decreased.

Spark of Dreams

As with each new season in Dragonflight, there is a new Spark, this time called the Spark of Dreams, used to craft the most powerful endgame gear.

You'll be able to get 1 full Spark of Dreams every 2 weeks by completing the weekly quest "A Worthy Ally: Dream Wardens", which gives a half-Spark fragment.

The first Spark of Dreams of 10.2 is obtainable in the opening week, however, by completing the "Dreams Unified" quest given by Lady Moonberry. She will combine the first half-Spark you get from A Worthy Ally with one of her own!

Crafting iLvl Breakdown

Here's the iLvl Breakdown of all the different Tiers and Qualities of Crafted Gear this season.

Embellishment Updates

Many Embellishments have been buffed, nerfed, and tuned, in addition to a few new ones being added for Season 3.

So, be sure to check out the changes for yourself and see which are best for you before blindly upgrading/re-crafting your Season 2 BiS ones.

Class Discords and Guides on Wowhead and IcyVeins are your friends!

Outdoor Content

There's quite a bit of outdoor content to get involved with this patch, in a much more open and prettier environment than Zaralek Cavern.

Main Story Questline

There’s a total of 7 Main Story Chapters in 10.2, though they won't all be available immediately from launch, as has been the case with previous major patches. Instead, they will gradually be made available over the coming weeks.

Chapters 1 through 3 are now available, and the 4th is likely coming with the opening of the Amirdrassil raid this week.

Each of these chapters award Explorer Track Gear, ranging between iLvl 415-421, upgradable to 437 with Flightstones.

New Weekly Quests & Activities

There’s a total of 3 new weekly activities and quests in the Emerald Dream zone that reward Vetaran Track Gear, ranging between iLvl 441-447, upgradable to 463 with Whelpling and Drake Crests. This is equivalent to LFR-Normal Raid quality gear!

Weekly Quest - A Worthy Ally: Dream Wardens
The latest "A Worthy Ally" weekly quest is given by the new Major Faction in 10.2, the Dream Wardens. As usual, you'll need to earn 1500 Reputation with the Dream Wardens to complete.

Weekly Quest - Blooming Dreamseeds
This brand-new weekly quest requires you to plant 5 Dreamseeds (of any quality) in Emerald Bounty locations, scattered all across the Emerald Dream zone.

Weekly Event - Superbloom
A brand-new World Event that has you follow Spurecrown as he makes his way around the Emerald Dream, while helping critters, watering flowers, collecting mulch and pushing back Primalist invaders.

Updated Older Weekly Activities

All of the older World Events that you previously completed each week for a piece of powerful gear have become relevant again this season, with all their iLvls being increased!

The first completion of the week for each of these activities will award a piece of Adventurer Track Gear, which can be upgraded all the way to 450 with Whelpling Crests.

Activities with updated rewards include:

• Dragonbane Keep
• World Quests
• Centaur Hunts
• Fyrakk Assaults
• Researchers Under Fire
• Time Rifts*
• Dreamsurge*

*Note that for Time Rifts and Dreamsurges, you use the currencies awarded each week (Dilated Time Pods and Dreamsurge Cocoons, respectively) to purchase gear of your choice from a vendor.

New World Boss

A new World Boss called “Aurostor, the Hibernator” will become active when Season 3 starts, which drops 2 pieces of gear for each Armor Type plus a Necklace.