World of Warcraft update 4.2, Rage of the Firelands, will introduce the first new raid tier in Cataclysm, and with that it will also introduce the first conversion from Valor Points to Justice Points. For anyone running Heroics and raids, this is important information to ensure you spend your points wisely before release of the patch.

With the release of patch 4.2 all Valor Points will be converted down to Justice Points up to the 4000 point cap, with any points over the cap being converted to gold at a rate of 47 silver per point. In addition, all previous Tier 11 Valor items will now be purchasable with Justice from the Justice Point vendors, and new Tier 12 Valor items will be available from the Valor vendors.

For example: I have 3300 Justice Points and 1600 Valor Points. Upon logging in after 4.2 releases I’ll see that my Valor has been down-converted to Justice; I now have 4000 Justice Points and 0 Valor Points. 900 of my Valor Points were over the 4000 point cap, they converted at a rate of 47 silver per point (.47x900), and so I received 423 gold as compensation.

The maximum you can have is 4000 Justice points, and Justice will be able to buy Tier 11 gear, so it’s important to go ahead and spend Valor before 4.2 if the conversion would take you over the 4000-point Justice cap and you have no need for the gold.