Update - Added today's Blue posts.

Cataclysm Currency Changes Explained
In a nutshell:
  • Emblems of Triumph and Emblems of Frost will be converted into Justice Points.
  • All PvE emblems and badges below Frost and Triumph will be converted into gold. This even includes legacy badges, like Badges of Justice.
  • Arena Points, Honor Points, any leftover Battleground Marks of Honor, Stone Keeper's Shards, Venture Coins, and Spirit Shards will be converted into the new Honor Points.
  • Rated Arenas and Rated Battlegrounds won't be available again until Season 9 (shortly after the release of Cataclysm), when they can be entered to win the higher-tier PvP Conquest Points.

Originally Posted by Bashiok (Blue Tracker)
As we discussed in our previous announcement (http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/th...Id=24401796793), we're refining the currency systems used for purchasing PvE and PvP items in World of Warcraft: Cataclysm, and the transition to this new system will take place in two stages. Today, we're going into more detail on how these changes will be rolled out, so if you haven't yet, make sure to check out the prior article to get up to speed on the currency names.

One change of note since that original announcement is that we've changed the name of the low-tier PvE currency from Hero Points to Justice Points. The original announcement post has been updated to reflect this.

Out With the Old

In the upcoming 4.0 patch we'll begin the first stage of the conversion to the new currencies. Emblems of Triumph and Emblems of Frost will be converted into Justice Points. For this initial conversion there will be a soft cap of points you can have, with a hard cap enforced later as detailed below. All PvE emblems and badges below Frost and Triumph will be converted into gold. This even includes legacy badges, like Badges of Justice. If any of these older currencies are converted into gold, the player will receive it through an in-game letter.

At this time any bosses a player defeats that are level-appropriate to them (and previously awarded badges or emblems upon defeat) will award them with the new Justice Points. Similarly, any items that previously cost emblems or badges of any type will now cost Justice Points instead.

On the PvP side, Season 8 will end with the release of patch 4.0, and all Arena Points, Honor Points, any leftover Battleground Marks of Honor, Stone Keeper's Shards, Venture Coins, and Spirit Shards will be converted into the new Honor Points. The new Honor Point pool will also have a soft cap for these conversions, but a hard cap will be enforced later. At the time of conversion, items that previously cost Honor or Arena Points will be sold in exchange for the new Honor Points. Rated Arenas and Rated Battlegrounds won't be available again until Season 9 (shortly after the release of Cataclysm), when they can be entered to win the higher-tier PvP Conquest Points.

In addition, purchasing any item with these secondary currencies (Honor Points and Justice Points) will now require that the purchaser meet the item's minimum level requirement.

It's important to note that these conversions are not 1:1, but are indicative of the level and relative worth of each before the conversion to the new point systems. For example, Stone Keeper's Shards will convert into more Honor Points than Spirit Shards.

Tip of the Cap

While we previously announced that there's a limit to the amount of these new currencies you can stockpile, we're providing a grace period in the form of a soft cap. This soft cap will allow the initial conversion to push the amount owned over the cap, but will not allow any further points to be earned (or returned through item refunds) until enough points are spent to put you below the hard cap.

For instance, a player has 3000 Emblems of Triumph, and 1200 Emblems of Frost; at the time of conversion they'll be given 4200 Justice Points. The hard cap for Justice Points is 4000, so that player won't be able to earn any more Justice Points until he or she spends enough points to reduce the total to under 4000. This also applies to the new PvP Honor Points, which also have a cap of 4000.

Shortly before Cataclysm is released, another patch will enforce the hard cap, marking the second stage of the currency conversion. Any Justice or Honor Points above the hard cap will be converted to gold, and just like in the first stage of the conversion, the player will receive an in-game letter explaining that some of their currencies were converted into gold as well as delivering the gold itself.

Blue Posts
Originally Posted by Blizzard Entertainment

Cataclysm Dungeons Difficulty
We want dungeons to be challenging. Not brutal, but challenging. Yes, trying to get us to change our minds on that is going to take some pretty spectacular debate skills on your part given just how much feedback we've received on it over the past year or so. But you can try to explain to us what it is about more challenging 5-player dungeons that threatens you, or what you dislike, and we can try to accommodate you. For example, the dungeons aren't going to be four hour trash-clearing fests like Heroic Shadow Labyrinth. Likewise, we're not going to ask healers to sit on their hands for long stretches of time for fear of wasting mana, because everyone has an efficient spell they can use when nobody is in imminent danger. On the other hand, if you just hate the idea of healers having a resource at all, well that goes against the design of the game. (Source)

Archaeology
There is definitely a large component of Archaeology which should be very attractive to completionists. It's quite awesome though. I think it'll add a lot of flavor to the game without necessarily being one of those "must have X" professions/skills/abilities.

Allowing you to explore some ruins in Azeroth you may have otherwise overlooked and learn more about this world's rich history is something we're very excited about. It has elements that feel a bit like questing, but you have much more freedom to choose how and when you want to explore the world for new artifacts. It's been set up to allow for a fairly simple expansion of content over time as well, so we look forward to giving digging deeper into Archaeology in the future. (Source)

PvP Balancing in 4.0.1 and Arena Season
When the class changes go live, damage is going to be very high relative to health for level 80 characters. We are spending most our PvP balancing effort at level 85, since that by far is what matters most to players. The health pools at 85, decaying combat ratings (because you'll be going from tier 3 gear to tier 0 gear), extra talent points and the 3 new abilities make a huge difference overall.

Since the current PvP season will end when these changes go live, they shouldn't have a lasting impact on ratings, titles and the like. We are prepared to just drop a temporary player damage nerf on all BGs and Arenas if necessary just so things don't feel too silly until everyone can level up to 85.

How things feel at 85 is of far more importance to us. We fully expect to see a lot of posts from freaked out players who imagine 85 will feel just like 80, but it won't. The gain in survivability is substantial. (Source)

Resilience Rating in 4.0.1
20% less damage taken overall by players, pets, minions.
For now, just imagine that it's N less damage taken. The salient point is that resilience will no longer affect crit chance. We don't like the crit (and talents based on crits, etc.) are devalued in high resilience environments.

Health pools grow enormously going from level 80 to 85. Resilience needs to be strong enough that it's still an attractive stat for PvP gear, but you won't blow up in one or two globals* even with low resilience.

* - If you let someone build up towards one of their very powerful attacks, then you deserve what you get. But you shouldn't need to worry about dying the second combat starts unless you're decently outnumbered. (Source)

Shaman (Forums / 3.3.5 Talent Calculator / Cataclysm Talent Calculator / Beta Skills/Talents)
Enhancement Changes
In our current Cataclysm build, we have cut the Primal Wisdom talent (and give it as part of the Enhancement passive) and reduced Unleashed Rage from 3 to 2 ranks, but with the same overall effect. That should take care of the extra talent points that the tree seemed to have.

We are still working on making the Searing Totem a little smarter. (Source)
This article was originally published in forum thread: Cataclysm Currency Changes Explained started by Boubouille View original post
Comments 202 Comments
  1. coltrain's Avatar
    Well this is going to be really interesting. I have about 1000 old badges kicking around in my bag from running SW + BT over and over for vanity gear. If the conversion is as low as 1g per then it is really in your best interest to cash them out for either cool vanity gear stuff you can sell on the AH.

    On a second part, they still have yet to answer the one question that EVERY serious PVP player has!

    Blizzard, what are you going to do about Wintergrasp Commendations?

    These can be used to grant 2000 honor to any toon you wish, and are BoA (if you did not know).

    I have a pretty active PVP server, and I have a stockpile of 243 of them! (cap is 250). At 2000 honor a pop I am sitting on almost 500,000 honor! I was planning to use this to get my main a nice starter set of PVP gear when Cat hits, as it has already been stated that the basic honor points will not be changing.

    Everything they have said talks about the tokens, but still nothing about the Wintergrasp Commendations!!!

    Just to be sure! I would HIGHLY recommend moving your stockpile to your main toon or the toon you were planning to use these on. I keep mine on my bank alt, and it would be a shame to have a level 1 with 500,000 honor :P

    If anyone has anymore information please let me know, and if this has already been answered somewhere please let me know!
  1. frostyflakes's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by ItachiZaku View Post
    Time to turn in emblems for BoA gear, cuz soon we won't have the currency to buy them.
    Yes you will. Will they cost the same is another question.

    any items that previously cost emblems or badges of any type will now cost Justice Points instead.
  1. Anium's Avatar
    So you're telling me the 520 frost badges I just converted into primos and the 920 emblems of triumph of converted into gems would have been better served as justice points?! Sigh, is this the first time we are getting this info, or have I seriously missed out on some important blue post a while back...
    (and yes they are real numbers)
  1. Alraml's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Shadowdream View Post
    Why is no one talking about the best change there:

    "In addition, purchasing any item with these secondary currencies (Honor Points and Justice Points) will now require that the purchaser meet the item's minimum level requirement."

    YES YES YES!
    I'm not quite sure what this will mean. Care to explain.

    I think I get the idea but it may turn out not as good as we think
  1. luckygac's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Anium View Post
    So you're telling me the 520 frost badges I just converted into primos and the 920 emblems of triumph of converted into gems would have been better served as justice points?! Sigh, is this the first time we are getting this info, or have I seriously missed out on some important blue post a while back...
    (and yes they are real numbers)
    Negative. Tbe conversion rate is pretty terrible. For example, on the PTR, with my warrior that I have played about 2000 instances on and raided since release with a crap ton of other currencies as well, I got about 800g from the low level currencies and a minimal amount of Justice points. I would actually recommend you spend any points you can before 4.01.
  1. Kuhal's Avatar
    Hang on, does this mean the equivalent of frost emblems will start dropping in heroics in 4.0?
  1. Conbot's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by luckygac View Post
    Negative. Tbe conversion rate is pretty terrible. For example, on the PTR, with my warrior that I have played about 2000 instances on and raided since release with a crap ton of other currencies as well, I got about 800g from the low level currencies and a minimal amount of Justice points. I would actually recommend you spend any points you can before 4.01.
    "For instance, a player has 3000 Emblems of Triumph, and 1200 Emblems of Frost; at the time of conversion they'll be given 4200 Justice Points. "

    Doesn't this Blue Post seem to say that it's a 1:1 conversion for triumph and frost?
  1. He-man's Avatar
    biggest question here is what WIntergrasp Marks of Conquest turn into.

    or if they will change at all..

    if they change to /use to create justice points.. people who have stockpiled thousands of them could have unlimited honor for years of wow to come lol.


    strange they didnt clarify that one specifically .. because its the only real important one..
  1. Sonee's Avatar
    so for example t10 shoulders cost 60 frosts today, will they cost 60 justice in 4.0? or have the prices been raised?
  1. Anium's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by luckygac View Post
    Negative. Tbe conversion rate is pretty terrible. For example, on the PTR, with my warrior that I have played about 2000 instances on and raided since release with a crap ton of other currencies as well, I got about 800g from the low level currencies and a minimal amount of Justice points. I would actually recommend you spend any points you can before 4.01.
    Thank you for the clarification You have just made my evening that little bit brighter ^^
  1. Conbot's Avatar
    Does anyone think champion seals are going to be included in this?
  1. Calaba's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Kuhal View Post
    Hang on, does this mean the equivalent of frost emblems will start dropping in heroics in 4.0?
    Sort of, similar to how triumph badges started dropping there when ICC came out. They'll be useful for about 2, maybe even 3 or 4 weeks, before being replaced by lvl80 greens.
  1. Yazus's Avatar
    Can anyone give feedback on how the Badge=> Gold conversion is?

    Because you know, if its high it could be easily exploited by running all TBC raids in a week for one month and earning like 500 badges
  1. Conbot's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Sonee View Post
    so for example t10 shoulders cost 60 frosts today, will they cost 60 justice in 4.0? or have the prices been raised?
    If 1 Frost = 1 Justice Point i would be shocked if they raised the cost, but then again if 1 Triumph also = 1 Justice point I guess i could understand the price going up.
  1. Sonee's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Conbot View Post
    If 1 Frost = 1 Justice Point i would be shocked if they raised the cost, but then again if 1 Triumph also = 1 Justice point I guess i could understand the price going up.
    yeah that's my concern lol, can't copy a char to the PTR to test it because the queue is full
  1. mmocd689e38951's Avatar
    guys...i am repeating myself,but pretty much everyone ignored the big question...

    Does this change means that someone can get full tier 2 arena gear with farming BG's since rated arenas will close?Or arena gear purchases lock down with patch 4.0?
  1. Jeck11's Avatar
    Can anyone give an example of an item that can be purchased with Justice Points from the Cataclysm PTR? I'd like to know the cost comparisons. Thanks in advance.
  1. mmoc5406d4cdb6's Avatar
    This change makes increadibly much sense. Definitly one of the better changes in Cataclysm.

    I wonder though, how will level 70 "Badge of Justice" gear be bought? Gold? Justice Points?
  1. Mendol's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by idpersona View Post
    guys...i am repeating myself,but pretty much everyone ignored the big question...

    Does this change means that someone can get full tier 2 arena gear with farming BG's since rated arenas will close?Or arena gear purchases lock down with patch 4.0?
    Nobody knows, so they're not answering you.

    As for costs of items, the (old frost) vendor items were all in the multi-hundreds of points. 400 or more, i think, for the 264 belt/cloak, if I remember correctly.

    I know that I couldn't buy anything with the points I had from 100 frost and 80 triumph badges that got converted.
  1. Vasti's Avatar
    So does this mean, that if INSTEAD of trying to find ICC pugs (yeh I am guildless) full of ppl that can't even finish the second wing (yesh my server is that pathetic, ppl need "to go" after 1st wing or 1/2 bosses later)

    So instead of pugging to get frost emblems, to buy offspec gear for cata.
    I can just, farm heroics and then wait till patch 4.0 to buy Tier10 with justice points?

    sounds goo, jsut wondering how much emblems of triumph equal 1 emblem of frost, justice point-wise

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