WoW The War Within testing is in full swing, with each week introducing new changes to different systems, classes, and zones. Now, according to the latest Wowhead datamine, The War Within could be introducing a major change to gearing.
On May 14, Wowhead found evidence you’ll be able to upgrade your weapons in the next expansion using the Catalyst. If you’re not familiar with the system, it allows you to upgrade any regular gear piece into a tier piece. The system was first introduced as bad luck protection in Shadowlands to help players struggling to complete their tier sets. It seems like it will be called the Matrix Catalyst in The War Within, and it will be located in Dornogal, the Earthen capital city.
When you upgrade your weapon in The War Within, you’ll probably get a different weapon, and not any tier set bonuses. It means you’ll be able to convert a weapon with the wrong stats into a more useful item.
On top of all this, it seems Blizzard Entertainment is increasing the number of Catalyst charges you can hold up to eight, meaning all your alts should have access to more tier pieces. This seems very helpful, but it depends how often you get the charges. If Blizzard goes back to giving you charges every two weeks, I’d say converting your weapons won’t be worth it. But if you continue to get one charge every week, it could be quite useful. The devs are keeping the Crests gear upgrade system, and you’ll still need this currency to increase item level and stats.
I have to warn you, though, that datamines from the early stages of The War Within are prone to change.
