Why do we get punished for doing our best?

The cap should not really be seen as punishment to people for being able to reach the maximum amount of Valor points every week. The idea behind the cap is to give people a choice on how they reach the cap without having them feel obliged to do everything.

Valor points should also not be considered the primary way of gearing your character. The idea behind Valor in MoP is for them to be a supplement to the gearing process. i.e. you gear up normally through dungeons and raids. As it is normal to have streaks of bad luck, and thus having weeks when you are obtaining no or only few upgrades, you can get a little gear on the side by using Valor points and by doing a little crafting/trading.

02/01/2013 13:17Posted by Moonleg

Please explain how I upgrade my armor twice for a total of 8 itemlevels without VP?

Just as the method of acquiring Valor points is a choice, so it is a choice how you decide to spend your Valor points.

The cap means that you cannot have everything at once, or even very quickly(as that would render the normal gearing process irrelevant), and this means that you will have to prioritise and make a choice when spending your points... one that actually matters. You must choose what is most beneficial to your character - decide if it is better in the long run to upgrade a piece or replace that piece with something else. If you feel the best way to spend your Valor Points is to upgrade your armor, well then that is what you spend your Valor Points on when you are able to do so.

The primary means of acquiring new gear is through defeating content like for an example raids, whereas Valor Points is a supplemental means of getting new gear. For an example, if you have acquired the best possible gear you can get from one tier of content, then you should be well equipped to face the next tier of content above it, which will reward you with even better gear if you succeed. The Valor Points system serves as a supplement to that process, helping you with a new piece of gear or an upgrade here or there, but it is not meant as an alternate gearing process.

There are several reasons behind the Valor cap btw., none of which are to serve as a punishment for people with a lot of time on their hands. Just in case you would like to know the reasons behind the Valor cap, they are as follows:

• To make sure that the normal gearing process through facing and defeating different tiers of content is not circumvented or rendered irrelevant.
• To make your choices matter. We want there to be choice and decision-making involved when building and playing your character.
• To ensure that as many people as possible can use their time in-game on something they think is fun and that they enjoy doing, and not make people feel like they have to spend massive amounts of time every day just to reach a theoretical maximum weekly limit of Valor Points.

Whether or not the cap is too low is of course a different matter, and this kind of thing is of course something the developers are keeping an eye on continuously as the game evolves and progresses :-)

Im confused? You dont want people to feel like they have to cap every week?
Why a cap then?

There will unfortunately always be people who feel like they have to reach the cap every week, and if there is no cap, then these people will make their own cap which is typically the maximum possible.

If we had set no cap, then the theoretical maximum of Valor Points possible to acquire in one week would serve as the cap instead... and reaching the theoretical maximum of Valor Points possible to acquire in one week would require a lot of time to play every single day. If that was the case, how do you think that would impact the people who are feeling that they are "forced" to reach the cap every week in order to maximise their gearing process? How do you think that would impact the people who are trying to gear up their alts? How would it impact the new player levelling a new character trying to catch up with his friends who invited him to the game? How would it impact the progress in guilds with a combination of members with a lot of free time to play and members with precious little time to play?

The cap is both a blessing and a curse. Some are glad it is there, some absolutely despise it and want it gone, some just want it lower, and some want it higher. We are trying to find the best spot for the cap to accommodate as many people as possible, but we cannot please everyone, and that is why the cap is always under constant evaluation. Community feedback on this topic is therefore also super important, as that will help the developers in their evaluations on whether or not the cap is in a good spot :-)

So in essence, the cap helps people that is driven by doing their best with the limited time on their hand, actually do other stuff thatnfarming valor.

Raising the cap would most likely just having people like me only do stuft that awards valor and then miss other aspects of the game entirely.

This is indeed one of the reasons why there is a cap, and why it is where it is currently. :-)

If we are to lower or raise the cap, we will always need to consider if the people who will be pleased will outnumber the people who will be disappointed... it is not always an easy nor obvious call to make.

03/01/2013 11:19Posted by Matarack

People trying to gear alts would welcome a limitless amount of valor per reset (No cap), essentially they'd be in total control of the character progress, one week they might not have as much time as the next, win / win.

03/01/2013 11:19Posted by Matarack

A new player would also welcome limitless VP gain, he / she could gain ground in hours where friends aren't around, with the current system the new player is locked in whatever stage the person is behind those he's trying to catch up to.

03/01/2013 11:19Posted by Matarack

If the overall goal with the VP was to accommodate as many as possible, then not having a cap would surely be the better option?

These are all very good points, and I would personally agree with you that limitless Valor Points would be a nice thing if it wasn't for the fact that they are intended as a supplement to the normal gearing process. We should not forget that there are more than one reason behind the cap. :-)

If the acquisition of Valor Points became limitless as you suggest, then we would quickly find the situation to be one where gearing up through Valor Points no longer serves as a supplement to the normal gearing process through facing and defeating different tiers of content. If the acquisition of Valor Points became limitless, it would serve as the primary method of gearing up for a very large group of players (if not almost every player), thus the normal gearing process (through raiding for an example) would be circumvented. Also, limitless Valor Points would likely render everything but the latest content tiers mostly irrelevant, as the game would become all about farming Valor Points for gear through dailies.