Rising to exalted with the Order of the Cloud Serpent
If you've hit level 90, it's likely you've already seen the sheer amount of dailies and other activities to do in Mists. Along with the grind for gear, there's a grind for the beautiful cloud serpent mounts that can be found flying all over the Jade Forest. If you love the cloud serpents, you'll need to learn how to ride them. And in order to ride them, you need to get exalted with the Order of the Cloud Serpent.
To begin, head to the Arboretum and speak to Elder Anli the Serpent Master, who will send you to Windward Isle to the northwest. Upon finishing the opening chain, you'll be roughly honored with the Order of the Cloud Serpent, and you'll have picked a cloud serpent of your very own to raise. A series of dailies will let you play and interact with your cloud serpent hatchling, and as time goes on, your reputation with the Order will rise.
If you're saying this sounds an awful lot like the Netherwing grind in Burning Crusade, you'd be absolutely right. But reputation and dailies aren't the only things shared between the two factions.
You'll notice you will be sent to Windward Isle a lot over the course of your dailies. Windward Isle isn't just a quest location -- it's also the home of the Cloud Serpent Matriarchs of all colors. And just like the Netherwing reputation had plenty of players hunting for eggs, the Windward Isle hides eggs to find as well, eggs that will boost your reputation by a healthy amount with each turn in, all the way up to exalted.
While you're on Windward Isle, you'll want to look for Onyx Eggs. These eggs are by and large not
located on the ground where the saurok can get to them. Instead, they dot the five major hills that surround Windward Isle. Some can be found along the bases of the hills as well. And don't forget to check the tops of stone spires as well -- those Matriarchs leave their eggs in the strangest places sometimes.
If you have all appropriate reputation boosts with your guild, you'll net 550 reputation per turn in. For those collecting eggs, that's roughly 60 or so eggs to go from honored with the opening quests, all the way through exalted.
But the journey doesn't stop there -- you must learn how to fly your cloud serpent through a tutorial quest and a jaunt around the area once you've learned the ropes. You will not automatically learn Cloud Serpent Riding until you have completed these quests and proved your mettle.
Once you've completed the racing, you'll get to keep your hatchling for good, and for absolutely no cost. But if you're dying to have the other colors of cloud serpents, there's good news for you -- you can purchase them from the vendor in the area for 2700g each once you're exalted. Obviously, egg hunting is going to be fierce for the first few months, so if you're level 90, you may want to head to Windward Isle and get started. Good luck, and enjoy your new companion!
It's open warfare between Alliance and Horde in Mists of Pandaria, World of Warcraft's next expansion. Jump into five new levels with new talents and class mechanics, try the new monk class, and create a pandaren character to ally with either Horde or Alliance. Look for expansion basics in our Mists FAQ, or dig into our spring press event coverage for more details!
