4.3 Valor Changes

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 -- 100 VP. There are nine bosses per week, counting Baradin Hold.
   
• 25 player raid boss -- 100 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.