Patch 4.1: Blizzard explains new valor point mechanics
by Mathew McCurley 
Mar 18th 2011 at 5:30PM
Blizzard has finally commented on (and explained) the incoming valor point change, which will hopefully make gearing up and gaining valor points easier for players who don't have the time or want to play each and every night to run a random for their points. Lylirra explains:
Valor Points in Patch 4.1
Nope. In fact, this is exactly what we're doing in 4.1. :)
Right now, you receive 70 VP for the first random Cataclysm Heroic dungeon you complete each day. In 4.1, you'll receive 70 VP for the first seven random Cataclysm Heroic dungeons you complete each week. Similarly, you'll receive 140 VP for the first seven random Rise of the Zandalari Heroic dungeons (the new Zul'Aman and Zul'Gurub instances) you complete in the week, too. Collectively, you'll be able to earn up to 980 VP exclusively from Heroic dungeons, which in turn will count towards your weekly 1250 VP cap.
By transitioning random Heroic dungeon rewards from a daily format to a weekly one, we'll be able to give players more control and flexibility over how they can earn VP -- which is cool! -- but this also means that we've a lot more bookkeeping to do in terms of where those points are coming from. To help with that, we're adding a "Valor Point bar" (similar to an XP bar) to the top of Dungeon Finder UI that will track your weekly cap, as well as how many Heroics you can still run for VP during the week.
We're going to be writing up a pretty big blog about that system since it's somewhat complicated, but here's what you can take away right now:
Right now, you receive 70 VP for the first random Cataclysm Heroic dungeon you complete each day. In 4.1, you'll receive 70 VP for the first seven random Cataclysm Heroic dungeons you complete each week. Similarly, you'll receive 140 VP for the first seven random Rise of the Zandalari Heroic dungeons (the new Zul'Aman and Zul'Gurub instances) you complete in the week, too. Collectively, you'll be able to earn up to 980 VP exclusively from Heroic dungeons, which in turn will count towards your weekly 1250 VP cap.
By transitioning random Heroic dungeon rewards from a daily format to a weekly one, we'll be able to give players more control and flexibility over how they can earn VP -- which is cool! -- but this also means that we've a lot more bookkeeping to do in terms of where those points are coming from. To help with that, we're adding a "Valor Point bar" (similar to an XP bar) to the top of Dungeon Finder UI that will track your weekly cap, as well as how many Heroics you can still run for VP during the week.
We're going to be writing up a pretty big blog about that system since it's somewhat complicated, but here's what you can take away right now:
- In 4.1, running random Heroic dungeons for VP is now something you can do on your own schedule. Feel like spending your entire Saturday queuing up as random? No problem!
- The first seven random Rise of the Zandalari Heroics you run for the week will award 140 VP each. This is double the VP that you'll receive from your first seven random "tier 1" Cataclysm Heroics, since the dungeons are considered a "step up" in difficulty.
- You'll be able to randomly queue for the Rise of the Zandalari Heroics separately from the tier 1 Cataclysm Heroic dungeons.
- Each week you can earn up to 980 VP just by running random Heroic dungeons. If you want to maximize your VP gains, you can still reach the overall weekly cap of 1250 by defeating raid level content.
It looks like the amount of valor points you will be able to collect weekly will be 980, but to reach the cap you'll have to do some raiding.
This is an absolutely wonderful change and it's a fantastic quality-of-life change for all of us that like to play on our own time. Plus, you'll be able to chain some heroics with a great group and not have to hope for the perfect group each and every night. I like!
WoW Patch 4.1 is on the PTR and WoW Insider has all the latest news for you. From previews of the revamped Zul'Aman and Zul'Gurub to new Valor point mechanics to the new Archaeology items.
Filed under: Cataclysm
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 6)
Durenas Mar 18th 2011 5:33PM
Not exactly. The cap is 1250. The max you can obtain through heroics is 980.
Ferani Mar 18th 2011 6:10PM
The math is incorrect. The "Tier 1" Heroics get you 70 VP per run for 7 runs, which means 70x7=490. The "Tier 2" Heroics get you 140 VP per run for 7 runs which means 140x7=980. 490+980=1470 which means you can cap for the week doing dungeons only.
I would now like to direct you to xkcd.
http://xkcd.com/386/
Finnicks Mar 18th 2011 6:30PM
With Blizzard's own post saying the maximum is 980 per week from Heroic Dungeons, and that you'll have to complete raid content, it sounds like the "7 heroics" will count both regular Heroics and the new Heroics.
So you want 980 valor points? Do nothing but Zandalari heroics. If you complete 6 Zandalari heroics and 1 regular Heroic, you'll only get 910 for the week because you spent one of your 7 on a regular Heroic.
Granted, that's not explictely stated in the post, but it -is- explicitly stated that 980 is the most you can get from Heroic Dungeons. 980 happens to be 7x140.
So this is my conclusion from the data at hand.
JoeHelfrich Mar 18th 2011 6:34PM
The implication, though, is that you can do a total of seven heroics, in any mix of the 4.0 dungeons and the 4.1 dungeons, before the rewards drop. To quote blue: "Collectively, you'll be able to earn up to 980 VP exclusively from Heroic dungeons, which in turn will count towards your weekly 1250 VP cap."
So if you do 5 Zandalari dungeons and two 4.0 heroics, you'd get 840 Justice points.
Finnicks Mar 18th 2011 6:35PM
It occurs to me after more reflection that Blizzard may just impose a hard cap on VP from Heroics of 980.
So do 7 Zandalari heroics, or do 3 Zandalari heroics and 6 regular heroics, ect.
RobertS Mar 18th 2011 7:24PM
From the blue post:
"In 4.1, you'll receive 70 VP for the first seven random Cataclysm Heroic dungeons you complete each week. Similarly, you'll receive 140 VP for the first seven random Rise of the Zandalari Heroic dungeons"
It reads to me like there's a separate counter for each type of random heroic, so you should be able to mix and match as necessary to reach 980 VP.
loop_not_defined Mar 18th 2011 8:43PM
Blizzard clarified later in the posts. There's a 980VP hard cap that applies to LFD only. Running Tier 1 and Tier 2 for VP adds up independently - you can run seven Tier 1 and then a few more Tier 2 and still hit the 980VP LFD cap. Going past 980VP can only be accomplished with raiding.
oringal Mar 18th 2011 8:52PM
hope blizz does this with random battlegrounds and conquest points :D
Angus Mar 28th 2011 7:22AM
Why were you downvoted for being right?
1250 is the max you can get.
980 is the max gain from heroics.
"Each week you can earn up to 980 VP just by running random Heroic dungeons. If you want to maximize your VP gains, you can still reach the overall weekly cap of 1250 by defeating raid level content."
Durenas Mar 28th 2011 3:05PM
I have no idea. I can only imagine someone either doesn't like me, or misread what I said.
Elmouth Mar 30th 2011 12:01AM
I predict even slower queue times after this change goes live.
podxvost Mar 18th 2011 5:36PM
this is a wonderfull change. Since we only raid 2 nights a week i can never reach my weekly cap with current system. Plus being able to chain heroics with guildys sounds great
Jack Spicer Mar 18th 2011 5:36PM
I like that they are putting the new instances in their own separate random queue.
Vivid Mar 18th 2011 6:30PM
yeah but that raises another problem. running a random T2 heroic won't be so "random" when you only have 2 of them, and after a week of 7 randoms you will be sick of it, let alone an entire raiding tier.
SamLowry Mar 19th 2011 10:22AM
...and it will encourage players with higher-level gear to stay away from the lower-level heroics, thus making them even harder.
Fish Apr 26th 2011 11:58AM
Not so Sam. Sure it will keep the higher geared players out of T1 heroics, but those are the same ones who are too often elitist pricks who criticize or even kick people who don't also have a full set of raid gear.
When I'm running a toon who's still gearing up, I say good riddance to these guys, we'll be able to run with others with similar needs and it should remove a lot of unnecessary stress for people in the old heroics.
Jim N Mar 18th 2011 5:38PM
Nice. Much needed change to a system which encourages players to be logged on everyday when some players would prefer to play less then everyday. /thumbs up blizzard
omedon666 Mar 18th 2011 5:40PM
I'm not liking the undertone that this applies to VP only. I'd love to be able to do 7 consecutives normal dungeons for "daily bonus" JP, for my alts, as well as for "catching up" guildies, for whom JP are still relevant. There is no need to keep the "daily chore" playstyle in the dungeon finder at any "tier", with this code in play, in my opinion.
Emophia Mar 18th 2011 5:44PM
Justice points are worthless, really.
My hunter hit 85 just over a week and a bit ago and hasn;t been grinding hcs outside the one a day for hcs, and he already has 4k JP and nothing to spend it on because it;s so worthless.
SINisterWyvern Mar 18th 2011 6:00PM
Why not just run random heroics for unlimited amounts of JP? If you're using it to catch up to guildies then they can help you. It's VERY easy to get the ilvl needed to enter them and get "carried" through a couple before you could just run them with whomever.