Anyone know what item levels determine the catalyst tier appearance/xmogs?
I ask because I just cata’d a heroic piece and it turned into the Mythic xmog which is not what I wanted, now I’m out a cata charge…
h ttps://i.imgur.com/Cckq0hl.png
Related, here’s a chart of what I do/don’t have tier appearances for on another character:
h ttps://i.imgur.com/q4hR4Jg.png
I have a cloak and waist at Veteran level I can cata, but I heard I can make it LFR appearance AND Norm appearance if I upgrade it after I cata. Is that true?
Anyone know what’s going on here so I don’t waste more cata charges?
As a rule of thumb, you receive the transmog for the higher tier when you upgrade the item to the lowest base ilvl of the higher tier: Veteran to 454, champion to 467, heroic to 480. If the item is already at or over those breakpoints, it will only give the higher tier mog. If it’s easier to remember, rank 5 in each upgrade path will give the higher tier appearance.
So make sure you catalyze the item before they reach rank 5, then upgrade to get both appearances. In your case, the pants were already at the breakpoint for mythic mog.
On the flip side, if you’d prefer the mog of the base appearance, such as a raid lookalike, you would upgrade then catalyze.
I appreciate the comment and I’m picking up what you’re putting down
If you have any sources or links with related information, I find this sort of thing interesting.
Only part I’m fuzzy on is:
Can you maybe word this another way? I’m not sure what you mean here.
I don’t know if there is anything documented on it (I guess there is - see below), but I found out by trial and error last season and the patterns have persisted through the current season. You can look up the ilvl breakpoints online in future seasons and use that logic as a guide.
Say for example, as a warlock, you want the big goofy mage lookalike hat from the raid more than your tier set appearance. This would be wearable by any clothie, not just mages, although it is designed to look like the mage tier helm. You would need to loot it and upgrade it to the next tier to get the additional transmog before you catalyze it (I am aware this is the opposite problem you are having, sometimes you may decide you’d rather do it in this order).
I say that because you can upgrade any loot from the raid in this manner (aside from jewelry and trinkets) to get two tiers of transmog in one piece, not just catalyst/tier pieces.
The other question that often gets asked but I don’t think has been specifically answered: what are the item level breakpoints for different appearances for Season 3 tier?
Item level at the time the item is catalyzed controls the appearance. Item track controls item level, so decides what a particular piece is capable of being catalyzed to gain specific appearances.
Just for my old slow brain, you’re saying if I get that hat that I like, but I want it in the next recolour up, I would upgrade it to the breaking point and it will give me that recolour? And then from there I could catalyze it if I so choose, but if my goal was the upgraded recolour, I’ve done that with the upgrade?
Yes, that sounds correct, if the two hat appearances are your goal, you would just upgrade the item to gain the higher appearance then you can disenchant, sell, equip, catalyze, whatever you choose. If you also plan to catalyze, you would upgrade the hat first to ensure you get the two appearances of the hat, but as a result, you will only get the higher mog of your tier helm once catalyzed. The other option is you are content with just the base appearance of the hat, you can catalyze it before rank 5 and upgrade to get the two tier set appearances. But, you can upgrade these raid drops without catalyzing.
I also forgot one important note: Be sure you equip all items before upgrading if it still has a trade timer (blue text on the item). If you upgrade an item you loot from the raid to the next tier before equipping it, you will lose the lower appearance because the item was still technically not bound to you.
I shuffle these decisions all day long when hoarding random gear in my bags trying to maximize my mog collection. Even if you loot an agility dagger on a warlock (that you won on a transmog roll), you can upgrade it for the higher level appearance, too. You can save several pieces of gear to catalyze later when the charges are free next season. You can no longer upgrade them once the season is over, so they would need to be the proper ilvl in advance. I have a spreadsheet to track these for myself. I also learned that upgrading BFA gear gave multiple BFA appearances last season, so that complicated matters for my upgrade plans. I didn’t have enough data to officially figure out that pattern, though.
Sorry if I’m making it more complicated than you asked for. I’m hangry and should probably eat something haha.
