Most of the Cataclysm changes lined up so far are pretty huge mechanic changes, class spells or even zone overhauls. But yesterday, fans were treated to a glimpse of some change to the infrastructure of both PvP and PvE.

Instead of the mass of different badge types that are currently available, they will be reduced to two if the current plan goes live. "Hero Points" will be similar to emblems of triumph in the current game - easy to obtain and granting a foundation level of gear. "Valour Points" will be the Cataclysm equivalent of frost badges.

But more interestingly, PvP points will also be split into categories. Honour points will still be granted as normal from most PvP activities. But arenas and rated battlegrounds will give out "Valour points,” which Blizzard likened to the current arena points. This implies that the gear rewards from arena will be the same as those from rated battlegrounds. Indeed, Blizzard confirmed that later in the post. But they re-assured arena fans that “more powerful armour and weapons will of course require more Conquest points, so players who win their matches more often will still gear up faster.”

However, the new system does mean that personal ratings will be removed from most, if not all, gear. “They're definitely removed for weapons,” said a Blizzard poster, underlining the push towards competitive battlegrounds. “We might offer a few items to the absolute best players based on personal rating, largely as cosmetic […] items.”

A final nugget of information also revealed that the lower tier of honour and badges will be swap-able. According to the official post “the conversions will be possible, but it won't be a 1:1 rate, and you'll have fewer points after the conversion process.”

Source: MMO Champion