Patch 4.3: Valor changes and ilevel clarifications
by Alex Ziebart 
Oct 4th 2011 at 9:24PM
Patch 4.3 Valor Changes- 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.
Blizzard's stated aim is to return to the days of valor points being a consolation prize rather than being central to the gearing process. You can find the full blog post on Battle.net or behind the cut below.
Patch 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:
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.
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.
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.
Brace yourselves for what could be some of most exciting updates to the game recently with patch 4.3. Review the official patch notes, and then dig into what's ahead: new item storage options, cross-realm raiding, cosmetic armor skinning and your chance to battle the mighty Deathwing -- from astride his back!
Filed under: News items
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 4)
jfofla Oct 4th 2011 9:31PM
I like this structure a lot. I hope this is the model for MoP
Mr. Crow Oct 5th 2011 12:17AM
The only universal constant is Change.
LFR is the big experiment here. If people see these numbers and think "I can get half my weekly VP income from just doing LFR?" It'll push a lot of people into LFR. Depending on the mindset of the people going into LFR, it may go over like a lead balloon -- noob players punished for not understanding mechanics, elitist players manipulating the vote-to-kick system... there's certainly the chance the community will eat itself when such a high number of precious VPs are at stake.
Of course, it may all be a mistake to have the VPs only be awarded for completing LFR instead of per-boss. I suppose that puts them in line with Heroic-5s (you only get the VP award for killing the endboss) but with the possibility that the playerbase will grow more hostile, it may not be workable.
They could decide that 25 is too many to coordinate for randoms. We could see another large shift in the raiding paradigm with MoP, and that will change how LFR functions, which in turn changes how the Valor/Justice system functions.
The most important thing here is that Blizzard will never stop iterating on the system in order to improve the accessibility and challenge of the endgame. When they stop doing that, we know that the game is over.
Harain Oct 5th 2011 12:31AM
Except that
MoP wont be an xpac
Ballmung Oct 5th 2011 2:22AM
@Mr. Crow
While it's true half the VP needed for cap can come from LFR, it doesn't mean people will feel they HAVE to go this route. The dungeons all provide the same VP, are in a casuals familiar setting of a 5man, and are frankly quicker than 4 raid bosses. Yes I myself will use the 2 LFR every week for VP but not on every 85 alt. Another thing to note is blizz in making this a 25 man run of random people who may never even play together again. They understand that's a lot to ask a group so they are actually going to tone down the mechanics and simplify fights so these 25 people can finish these 4 bosses. While LFR does open up another window to let flies in it might just end up simply a larger version of the LFD system.
Frank-potato Oct 5th 2011 7:43AM
@ Ballmung
"Another thing to note is blizz in making this a 25 man run of random people who may never even play together again."
Actually i'm thinking that LFR may very well end the 'I-dnt-know-who-these-ppl-are-but-let's-loot' era. I am a 3-night a week raider with a very organized and structured guild, however I will try this system and every time i get a superb player or players i will immediately add them to my friends list so we can group again each week, thus eventually making a "core" of random good players to tackle those VP's. Maybe I'm too optimistic, but I'm hoping this brings back that sense of community that was lost since LFD.
Literaltruth Oct 5th 2011 8:02AM
@Frank-potato
Hmm...unless Blizzard allows RealID grouping for LFR (which they haven't confirmed yet) and you're willing to give out your RealID to all those random cross-server people you meet in LFR AND they are willing to share theirs with you...I don't see how your plan is going to work...
DarkWalker Oct 5th 2011 9:07AM
I will use RealID only when Blizzard allows us to choose a name that is not our account name. I.e., only when it stops being RealID and becomes, instead, just a way to easily find other players.
Until then, thanks but no thanks. Where I'm concerned, the current RealID is worse than if it didn't exist at all.
Ice Oct 4th 2011 9:35PM
"There are nine bosses per week, counting Baradin Hold."
Confirmed to not have heroic-only boss I guess then?
Shinae Oct 5th 2011 10:38AM
They could always put one in later.
The Dewd Oct 5th 2011 11:44AM
@Shinae - Or Ghostcrawler could go all Murozond on us and go back to put the heroic-only boss in earlier, after the fact.
icepyro Oct 4th 2011 9:49PM
I don't quite understand that last point. "Valor Points cap at 1000 per week."
It's not that I don't understand English, or that I don't understand all the words present or anything; it's just that
7 runs x 150 ea = 1050
9 bosses x 115 = 1035
9 bosses x 135 = 1215
So... we aren't supposed to do all seven runs? or we aren't supposed to do all 9 bosses? or is that last bit a typo?
icepyro Oct 4th 2011 10:05PM
nm. I guess it more or less works like this now. VP is just truncated to cap. I guess 25man can skip BH or something since they will be capped with fewer bosses. *shrug*
Jeff Oct 4th 2011 10:10PM
It's unlikely that it's a typo.
Blizzard seems to like setting the cap a bit lower than what you might get if you completed absolutely everything in a week (Every boss, seven dungeons, etc.)
That way you can sort of mix and match what you want and reach the cap, instead of feeling like you need to do everything.
Bumblebee Oct 4th 2011 10:11PM
The math there seems a bit odd to me too. Could just be they we're ballparking the figure, but that's not a smart thing to do with gamers, who take things very literally and seriously. Now, what I think would be fair, is if the system was something like the following (and yes, I am ballparking the figures just to save time):
Overall VP weekly cap is 1200
of which 1000VP can be earned by Heroic Dungeons.
I still think raiders should be able to gear up faster than people who don't raid. In case you fall out of favor of the RNG Gods the incentive in gaining currency should still help people stick with it, since they would still gain something more from raiding than they would from just doing dungeons.
rapsam2003 Oct 4th 2011 10:22PM
No, you can do all. But you only get 1000 VPs. Currently, you can currently get 1,140 VPs, if you did all 8 25man bosses. However, it maxes out at 980. So, it's no different than before.
eel5pe Oct 4th 2011 10:25PM
I would like to be able to cap VP by raiding without having to step into dungeon finder plz.
Boozard Oct 5th 2011 12:29AM
unfortunately, this is blizzard's way of artificially regulating a player's progress. i'm not hardcore and even a cap of 1000 is something i'm unlikely to reach. but if people are willing to put in the time and effort, i think they should be allowed to reap the full rewards of doing all the raids and heroics. i don't know why blizz feels the need to stunt the growth of hardcore players. i think it's generally accepted that people who have more time to invest in the game get farther than people who don't.
Mr. Crow Oct 5th 2011 12:36AM
@eel5pe:
Clear the entire tier of 10/25 Normal or Heroic-mode Tier 13 content, and kill Alizabal (the new Baradin Hold boss). That will put you over the weekly limit.
Clear both sections of LFR for 500 VP total, then defeat 5 of the 10/25 Normal or Heroic-mode Tier 13 content. This will also put you over the weekly limit. (It is possible that you will only get gear drops from the first time you defeat a boss during the week, so do your non-LFR raids first.)
Clear any seven of the thirteen Heroic 5-mans using a Guild group. This will put you over the weekly limit. (Assuming the part about LFD that you hate is the fail players you're stuck with, just team up with players from your guild. On the other hand, if you just can't stand dungeons anymore, look at ALL THAT RAID CONTENT you can do for your VPs instead. You'll barely need the VPs at all with all the gear you'll get from raidbosses.)
Cricket Oct 5th 2011 2:19AM
Uhm, the cap works like it always has? Currently you can do Firelands raid bosses, t11 raid bosses or heroics to get VP. If there were no cap, you'd end up with far more than 980 VP a week. Now, they raise the cap to 1000 for Dragon Soul and adjust the amount of VP dropped by each boss, but the general principle is the same. You're supposed to be able to cap by doing the raid bosses in 10-man (because when people weren't able to do that in t12 originally, there was a big outcry) but not collect near unlimited VP by doing ALL THE THINGS. Because then you'd hover somewhere upwards of 2500 VP a week *if* you have the time to raid progression, raid old content and do heroics. And that would be unfair.
Blagaah Oct 12th 2011 12:04AM
Vp aren't the main reason for raiding with set pieces only from drops now. Think of them as garanteed loot every 1.5 weeksish.