Heirlooms give World of Warcraft players a helping hand during the leveling process, providing set bonuses and scalable, upgradeable gear. While they have been beloved in the past—especially by altoholics with long lists of characters—some feel that the upgrade system needs a rework.
The topic of drastically changing the heirloom upgrade system popped up in a fan discussion, with a player posting a screenshot of a vendor tab and detailing how they thought it should be refreshed to benefit the community.
The player described the heirloom upgrade system as “obsolete” and “outdated,” pointing to Timewalking dungeons as the optimal route for getting a new character into adequate gear instead of keeping up with heirloom upgrades.
They shared how it simply did not feel worth it, considering the cost and effort of grabbing heirlooms for a new toon. They finished with the suggestion that Blizzard should “Increase the cost, but remove the upgrade system and make heirlooms scale permanently to max level, like they did before.”
Others were inclined to agree with the original poster, with one person declaring that the upgrade cost for heirlooms should be removed entirely and that the additional slot items should be easily accessible.
Another chimed in, saying that they were put off by the number of upgrades that heirlooms required, saying, “The hoops you have to go through to upgrade every piece to max is ridiculous.”
Many players in the thread reminisced on how much they used to enjoy using heirlooms, saying that keeping them up to date just wasn’t worth their time anymore. A user summed this up perfectly by calling the entire heirloom system a “Relic of the past.”
One even confessed that they’d forgotten that heirlooms existed, while others questioned the point of using them if the flat experience boost was gone. If you missed it, patch 9.0.1 removed the experience bonus associated with heirlooms, replacing it with a set bonus. Despite offering perks like rested experience consumption boosts, this decision remains divisive to this day.
While many shared their frustrations about the gold cost or system overall, a few players jumped in to disagree with the premise that the system needed a rework or that heirlooms were worthless in The War Within.
One player asked the others to “be real,” saying that heirlooms were still better than dungeon drops even with the upgrade system, saying that dropped gear loses relevance a lot quicker than heirlooms and that the real problem was that “There’s not really a place for heirloom gear any more.”
Another added, “I don’t agree that they’re use/worthless, they’re convenient while leveling even if it’s at a premium,” but admitted that the system was convoluted and needed a makeover.
The process of upgrading your heirlooms can be expensive, but some players get a lot of value out of them, especially transmog enthusiasts who prefer not to switch gear frequently. If you’re unfamiliar with the process of upgrading, make sure to check out our guide here for a full breakdown and see whether it’s a system that could suit your playstyle.
Published: Feb 16, 2025 10:29 am