Instead of simply having Valor currency used for upgrades, gearing in World of Warcraft Dragonflight Patch 10.1 is more complex with players having to collect four different types of Shadowflame Crests, their fragments, and Flightstones. But that's just the beginning-players explained the true reason why the system is flawed.
For days, the WoW community has been arguing that Shadowflame Crests and Flightstones are a poor solution to gearing upgrades in Dragonflight, and on May 18, one player pinpointed what exactly is wrong in a post on WoW's subreddit. According to this player, the core problem is that Wyrm Crests drop only in Mythic+ dungeons from level 11 to 15.
"Well, it's a bit counterintuitive when 17+ give higher ilvl items but you need crests from < 16+ to upgrade them," one player said.
Wyrm Shadowflame Crests are in reality the main currency you'll use to upgrade your gear since it is used to upgrade almost any piece of gear, especially Veteran and Hero gear. Precisely because of this, high-end players are forced to practically boost low to mid-tier players just to get Shadowflame Crests. As a direct consequence of this, average players struggle to find a spot in dungeons ranging from level 11 to 15 since everyone prefers an overgeared Balance Druid with a 2,100 score over an Arcane Mage applying for keys more to their level.
Further in the post, one player proposed a new system that would automatically start dropping lesser Shadowflame Crests once you cap the highest possible currency.
Related: Dragonflight Patch 10.1.5 gives us a glimpse of how different WoW could have looked
Although you can always exchange higher Shadowflame Crests for the lesser ones in Loamm, the tradeoff is simply not worth it since the ratio is one-to-one. For example, if you want Wyrm's Shadowflame Crest, you can only exchange it for one Shadowflame Aspect Crest. Bu, Aspect's Shadowflame Crest drops in more demanding content and it's more difficult to come by.
WoW streamer Caroline "Naguura" Forer spoke up about this problem on May 14, explaining that running lower Mythic+ dungeons feels like a waste of time, low-end players won't learn much from these runs, and this will only lead to even more toxicity and mismatch in goals.
Blizzard hasn't addressed this critical problem in any of its Blue Posts of hotfixes. Luckily, the devs have been more and more responsive to player feedback and there's a chance they'll eventually surprise us with a magical hotfix that tweaks the new currency and upgrade system and solves all of our problems.