Patch 4.3 Valor Changes
Originally Posted by Blizzard (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)
With the 4.3 patch we'll be introducing some changes to the way Valor Points (VP) are obtained, as well as the items that they can purchase.

Changes coming in 4.3:


  • Looking for Dungeon — 150 VP per run, with a cap of seven runs per week. All Cataclysm heroic dungeons introduced in 4.0, 4.1, and 4.3, will provide 150 Valor per run.
  • Looking for Raid — 250 VP per run, with a cap of 500 per week. The 4.3 raid, Dragon Soul, will be split into two separate raids for the Raid Finder. While individual bosses do not drop Valor when using the Raid Finder, you will receive 250 Valor for completing each Dragon Soul raid. Each boss will only drop loot for you once per week, but you will continue to get the 250 Valor for completing each Raid Finder raid, up to the 500 cap.
  • 10 player raid boss — 115 VP. There are nine bosses per week, counting Baradin Hold.
  • 25 player raid boss — 135 VP. There are nine bosses per week, counting Baradin Hold.
  • Valor Points cap at 1000 per week.

As you acquire Valor you'll want to spend it, and vendors will be offering a wide range of items to equip you to take on the Dragon Soul raid encounters, including cloaks, rings, ranged weapons, necklaces, trinkets, chest pieces, helms, gloves, bracers, boots, and belts, all of which are ilvl 397.

Our goal with these changes is to move Valor back to the original intent of currency rewards as a consolation prize, for two main reasons: to make it less frustrating when you keep having bad luck getting an item you want from a particular boss, and to help encourage you to keep fighting bosses (and helping out the rest of your group) even if that particular boss didn’t drop anything for your character in particular. Over time we have also offered Valor as a reward for doing other activities (such as participating in Heroic 5-player dungeons) to provide players something to do on an off night or when they couldn’t raid.

In the past we have offered some tier pieces on the Valor vendor for players that just couldn’t justify the time or logistics necessary to participate in raids, but we’re hoping that the introduction of the Raid Finder tool helps remove that barrier. We think most players would agree that killing a giant monster and looting its corpse is more exciting than slowly farming a currency to purchase a reward. Currencies have their place, but we want them to be a secondary avenue of progression to boss killing.

While the Raid Finder will provide a lower difficulty for the Dragon Soul raids, and thus a lower ilvl of gear, the normal 10 and 25 raids will drop ilvl 397, with the final Deathwing encounters dropping ilvl 403. For the Heroic version, 10 and 25 will drop ilvl 410, and the Heroic Deathwing encounters will drop ilvl 416 loot.

As we near the release of 4.3 we’ll be posting everything you need to know about the Valor to Justice down-conversion process, so stay tuned.
This article was originally published in forum thread: Patch 4.3 Valor Changes started by Boubouille View original post
Comments 194 Comments
  1. Azragarn's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Gerenad View Post
    So this means the only way to get tier 13 is through raid drops? There won't be any on vendors?
    That is correct. You want teir you have to raid. taking it back to old way
  1. xskarma's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by VanishO2 View Post
    •10 player raid boss — 115 VP. There are nine bosses per week, counting Baradin Hold.
    •25 player raid boss — 135 VP. There are nine bosses per week, counting Baradin Hold.

    He said 10man raid.
    Ah kk my bad then yes 10 man will have to make up that 80 valor by running 1 dungeon. Though if you are able to clear Dragon Soul, my guess is that you won't need the valor anymore anyway, though you could possibly sell bracers again, I saw 397 level ones that were BoE in the files.
  1. mmocfb4f9a44f0's Avatar
    So Heroic Deadmines nets you the same ilvl as H Ragnaros? That's just brilliant!
  1. VanishO2's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Tybudd33 View Post
    Why would they post this without letting us know the iLvL for gear drops in the new 5 mans, and in the Raid finder version of Dragon Souls, if they have the top tier ilvl's figured out, anything lower should be easy to smooth out.
    They alread posted the ilvl gear drop for the new 5mans. 378.

    And if they're releasing it as is in PTR... they're way easier than ZA/ZG... or even original heroics.

    The bad move in the new valor changes are pushing old, nerfed and overgeared content back to give top valor points. No reason for 4.0 and Zandalari to give 150 VP.

    Also the same mistake as before. Doing heroics or raids will give the same valor points in the end, except that now they think that removing the Tier pieces solves the problem. The way they're saying we have even more gear to buy with valor points. Wich goes against what they "discovered" about raids not offering enough unique gear over valor/heroic farm. If they're giving every single slot a valor option of the same ilvl, the problem remains.
  1. xskarma's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Soeroah View Post
    Yup. Vendors get replacement gear, but if you want a set bonus you have to raid. There will still be chest, shoulder, helm, gloves and pants on the new vendors.
    That's not what they said in the briefing, quote:

    As you acquire Valor you'll want to spend it, and vendors will be offering a wide range of items to equip you to take on the Dragon Soul raid encounters, including cloaks, rings, ranged weapons, necklaces, trinkets, chest pieces, helms, gloves, bracers, boots, and belts, all of which are ilvl 397.

    No pants, or shoulders in there I'm afraid
  1. The Last DJ's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by markdall View Post
    Shoulders damn you!

    So much this. I always get cockblocked with getting shoulders. I was hoping they were going to throw us a bone this time 'round with some craftable shoulders to help smooth the gap given the disparity between the JP shoulders and the RNG luck of tokens/drops, but I guess not. More bracers and pants, wooooooh. At least I'll only have once a week to appease the RNG gods for shoulders from LFR.
  1. Frostycakes008's Avatar
    I wonder with the incoming t12 dropping to Justice Points (assuming from past changes) if they will finally make t11 shoulders and helm available for Jp? I see alot of people lacking in the shoulder and helm department lol.
  1. kolz4ever's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Crawler24 View Post
    So Heroic Deadmines nets you the same ilvl as H Ragnaros? That's just brilliant!
    Yeah old bean, old chap, bloke... just brilliant.
  1. mmoca79f018270's Avatar
    Why the complaints about the cap on VP? Does it really matter all to much?I have a feeling Blizzard are experimenting with loot availability for the next expansion!
  1. Durandro's Avatar
    Hmm. Okay, so no-one is ever running Zandalaris ever again then. And being Valour capped from 7 random 5 mans? Excessive. Would have hoped they'd give some gear incentive to raid, or at least do the harder 5 mans. Also this will make nearly every item drop worthless. Only weapons, trinkets and tier tokens from Dragon's Soul? Okay, swell. The Valour cap should be 1500. It just should be. And you could only be able to do it if you raid and do 5 mans.
  1. Vulryth's Avatar
    for the people saying they really need shoulders, i decided to grind a few weeks of arena points in the beginning of 4.2 because the pvp head and shoulders were an upgrade for my characters with 353 head and shoulder peices. i know its pvp gear but it is better then the za/zg stuff if you reforge and gem properly. with 4.3 youll be able to do that for shoulders and fill in the rest with proper pve gear. not that bad of a thing to use while waiting to replace with the better stuff if you ask me.
  1. Azragarn's Avatar
    I am suspecting some nice craftable legs and shoulders. See here for crafted items http://www.mmo-champion.com/content/...tch-4.3-on-PTR
  1. spAnser's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by The Last DJ View Post
    So much this. I always get cockblocked with getting shoulders. I was hoping they were going to throw us a bone this time 'round with some craftable shoulders to help smooth the gap given the disparity between the JP shoulders and the RNG luck of tokens/drops, but I guess not. More bracers and pants, wooooooh. At least I'll only have once a week to appease the RNG gods for shoulders from LFR.
    Was surprised not to see shoulders on the list myself but I think the new 5 mans can drop shoulders if i remember right I saw some while playing on the PTR.
  1. Garrikk's Avatar
    10 Points to Gryffindor.... I mean Blizzard. Love the new Raid Finder, I have no time for raid schedules as a freshmen pledge in college.
  1. ChildeRoland's Avatar
    With 4.3 coming "soon", will 10 man guilds even be able to get the Legendary staff before it hits? I mean, my friend, that have done most of Firelands and Firelands heroic since the last patch launched, is still missing at least 5 or 6 weeks to get the staff, doing 10 mans each week.
  1. Baphomette's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Frostycakes008 View Post
    I wonder with the incoming t12 dropping to Justice Points (assuming from past changes) if they will finally make t11 shoulders and helm available for Jp? I see alot of people lacking in the shoulder and helm department lol.
    Probably not; they deliberately left them on tokens as incentive for people to do old raids if they want to complete their sets, and T11 raids aren't going anywhere.

    I know there are 378 plate DPS shoulders in the new 5-mans, which aren't great but better than 359. Not sure off the top of my head but I think there are 378s for most slots of most specs... shoulders are all I'm waiting for (damn you itemization team and your two offset tank shoulders but zero offset DPS shoulders).
  1. ZeroEdgeir's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Daegalus View Post
    I agree, no more caps, and whats with the "lower difficulty" raid finder. I want it just the same as normal or heroic. Just because I can't necessarily make a solid time window for a Guild to run with, doesn't mean I am any less skilled (or unskilled) than a guild raider.
    Simple answer here: LFR will be pulling total randoms. Expect low skill quotient. Hence the lower difficulty. Don't like it, find a guild that DOES meet your play schedule. All you can do.

    ---------- Post added 2011-10-04 at 11:02 PM ----------

    Quote Originally Posted by Baphomette View Post
    Probably not; they deliberately left them on tokens as incentive for people to do old raids if they want to complete their sets, and T11 raids aren't going anywhere.

    I know there are 378 plate DPS shoulders in the new 5-mans, which aren't great but better than 359. Not sure off the top of my head but I think there are 378s for most slots of most specs... shoulders are all I'm waiting for (damn you itemization team and your two offset tank shoulders but zero offset DPS shoulders).
    Almost without fail the 3 new 5-mans will give a full gear set for each spec and armor type. There is a full tank plate, DPS plate, and healing plate set, for example. Every major slot nailed. Same goes for the rest. And yeah, being 378 is awesome. Mix in some of the 397 VP gear, 2pcT12 (maybe 13 if they put T13 Legs/Gloves on our new BH Loot Pinata), and go from there.
  1. Maester's Avatar
    In my opinion, getting Tier gear wasn't as "spectacular" when trading in Valor for it. I'm happy to see that T13 will only be available from actually downing the bosses because then you get a larger sense of accomplishment.Of course, doing the Dragon Soul (not with RF, which I'm barely going to use) may not be an option for a lot of people (including me), but this makes it even more rewarding to finally get a Tier piece.
  1. tuesday the paladin's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by VanishO2 View Post
    The bad move in the new valor changes are pushing old, nerfed and overgeared content back to give top valor points. No reason for 4.0 and Zandalari to give 150 VP.
    It could potentially be a good move, returning dungeons to what they should have been in the first place. Everyone that just wants vp will queue for the fastest one while people who actually need gear from the others will queue for them. By indirectly forcing people to run something that they have no use for isn't fun and is quite frustrating.


    Making badge gear a consolation prize rather than a primary gearing method is a very good change as well.

    Quote Originally Posted by Durandro View Post
    Hmm. Okay, so no-one is ever running Zandalaris ever again then. And being Valour capped from 7 random 5 mans? Excessive. Would have hoped they'd give some gear incentive to raid, or at least do the harder 5 mans. Also this will make nearly every item drop worthless. Only weapons, trinkets and tier tokens from Dragon's Soul? Okay, swell. The Valour cap should be 1500. It just should be. And you could only be able to do it if you raid and do 5 mans.
    People that need za/zg gear to meet the queue reqs for the 4.3 five mans will still run them for a while. Additionally in the previous post or the one before that there was the mention of shortening troll dungeons so you only had to kill two animal avatars before hexlord in za and only two priests in zg before the last boss. So that might make things faster.
  1. Kulzan's Avatar
    I can't see why they always have to change this. I'd say it worked out best back in wotlk, you had a daily dungeon and a weekly raid where you got it from. and rest from raiding. and i don't see why casuals who doesn't raid should earn the same amout as those who clear a raid every week. from my meaning i don't see this fair.

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