Valor Points Are Coming Back To World Of Warcraft, Now Live On The PTR
Blizzard Entertainment has just rolled out Patch 9.0.5 on the World of Warcraft Public Test Realm featuring the return of Valor Points to upgrade Mythic+ dungeon gear. The latest PTR patch also tweaks Legendary Items and Covenant Abilities and adds a map marker that lets players know when they have Great Vault loot waiting to be collected.
According to the team, the upcoming patch is different from the usual patches in that it focuses entirely on fine-tuning gameplay and rewards systems based on player feedback. The team also says that the upcoming patch will fix bugs that are beyond the scope of a simple hotfix.
On the return of Valor Points, the developers explained that they wanted to provide players with an alternative path to end-game gear and make Mythic Keystone gear more relevant in the process. “After a rewarding first few weeks, we know that many dungeon-focused players reached a point where the only relevant rewards from the system come from the Great Vault,” they said.
“While the Vault should represent a major goal and the source of the best rewards the endgame has to offer, we want to find a way for the loot from the chest at the end of a challenging Mythic Keystone run to feel relevant, without bringing back random upgrade systems such as Warforging, which partially solved this problem in the past. We also want to provide a more consistent reward for the effort for players who do not receive an item at all.”
The developers also said that they’ve kept the changes to Legendary Items and Covenant Abilities to a minimum, considering the amount of resources that player have invested in them. Rolling out the patch on the PTR, however, will allow the community to try out the changes and provide feedback before the patch goes live.
“A patch allows for ample notice for the community and a testing and feedback loop that should help ensure that we don’t unintentionally undermine your investment in your covenant or legendary items,” said the devs. “Our goal with these changes is to provide more gameplay options for crafting and utilizing Legendary items in specific situations, and to make sure that more players feel that the Covenant that suits their aesthetic, narrative, or other preferences for their character also feels more viable for their preferred playstyle.”
More information can be found on the World of Warcraft official forums.
