Zarhym
After reading your feedback and locking ourselves in dim, florescent-lit rooms for much deliberation, we have decided that we are NOT going to convert
Valor Points to Justice and Justice to gold when 5.2 ships. Current Valor items will continue to require
Valor Points in 5.2, and will be offered at a discount as listed in the
PTR patch notes. Given that PvE and PvP currencies function quite a bit differently, Conquest will still convert to Honor and Honor to gold as previously discussed.
We’re making the Valor change for a couple of reasons, but primarily because we think a down-conversion under the new Mists endgame progression model just feels mean. We traditionally viewed this conversion process with each patch as a necessary evil to discourage hoarding—it’s not fun to feel like you can’t spend your Valor in the weeks before a new patch because you have to be ready to buy everything up. However, we have a Valor cap now to prevent excessive hoarding, many of the
Valor Points rewards in 5.2 require raiding to acquire (for example, many of the ilevel 522 rewards are tied to
Shado-Pan Assault reputation, which you’ll only gain rep with by raiding in the
Throne of Thunder), and the LFR version has an ilvl-480 requirement, meaning you can’t hoard
Valor Points on a brand new 90 and jump straight to the best stuff. All of these factors being considered, it doesn’t make good sense to take
Valor Points away from players in this context. Down-conversions may occur for future patch releases depending on the circumstances, but for 5.2 it’s safe and snuggly where it is.
In addition, we’re making a change to ensure that there are some gear rewards available via the
Kirin Tor Offensive and Sunreaver Onslaught, the two new factions with which players can earn reputation in 5.2 without raiding. The patch was shaping up to be a real challenge for players who don’t like raiding (including LFR), as our original design meant that no new Valor rewards would be available to them without needing to run
Throne of Thunder. You can expect to see the
Valor Points rewards on the
Kirin Tor Offensive and
Sunreaver Onslaught quartermasters updated on the 5.2 public test realms in the near future. These rewards are ilevel 496 and will only accommodate a few slots, as they aren’t intended to be very attractive to raiders (including those running LFR), but should give non-raiders something to shoot for in 5.2.
If you’ve already made plans and sank your
Valor Points, don’t fret! As of this announcement, and even if you have 0
Valor Points currently, you still have enough time to cap out at 3000
Valor Points before patch 5.2 goes live. (It’s math!)
We’d love to hear your feedback about this change, and how you’re planning to earn, save, and spend
Valor Points before the patch releases.