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15 Minutes of Fame: A guild of achievers
15 Minutes of Fame is our look at World of Warcraft players of all shapes and sizes – from the renowned to the relatively anonymous, the remarkable to the player next door. Tip us off to players you'd like to hear more about.So – achievements. They're a pretty neat concept for casual players as well as ... well, over-achievers. Fans of the upcoming new feature have already begun setting up for various achievements, farming rep, running old-school content and collecting gear and quest completions in preparation for the expansion's launch.Among the high achievers is <Hells Fury> of Eonar-EU. "Unlike most guilds," writes officer Nerfs in a news tip to 15 Minutes of Fame, "it is not focused on raiding or PvP. We are instead focusing on the achievements that will be released with the pre-expansion patch and the expansion itself." Pretty cool idea for a bunch of folks with mixed-up schedules and piled-on work and school responsibilities! We visited with Nerfs yesterday to see how the guild is pulling it all together – and we have to admit, this sounds like a fun new way to play as a group.
Breakfast Topic: Last minute preparations
When Wrath comes, I'm pretty much abandoning my Druid. He's served me well through Battlegrounds, Arenas, and 10,20, and 40 man raiding, but be it burn out on Druids in general or just the need for the change of pace, he's fallen by the wayside. My Hunter is my main now, and my Death Knight will be a co-main come Wrath of the Lich King. Despite this, I'm actually playing my Druid quite a lot these days. Why? Because I just have to get the Guardian of Cenarius title for him, and I'm still a few thousand points shy of Exalted with Cenarion Circle reputation. It may seem to weird to be putting so much work into a character I'm not going to play for quite a while once Wrath comes out, but I feel like I owe it to him. He still has a rich, ongoing roleplaying backstory, and he's still been through a lot with me. So getting him to the pinnacle of Druidism is easily the best tribute I can think of. So he's in Silithus, slaughtering Twilight Cultists by the bucketload, looking for those Encrypted Twilight Texts.In addition, of course, I'm preparing for the 3.0.2 patch and Wrath in other ways. I already have enough Bog Lord Tendrils and Unidentified Plant Parts for my Death Knight to get a foothold in Zangarmarsh, and I'm gathering Arrakoa Feathers as well. If I have time, I may also gather a bunch of herbs and let my DK powerlevel inscription. Now that we're probably about 10 days away from 3.0.2, how are your preparations coming? I know a lot of you probably chimed in with your goals for pre-Wrath a few weeks back.. Are you making any progress on them, or are you like me, scrambling for those last few points of Cenarion Circle reputation before next Tuesday?
Reputation roundup for new players & new level 70s
Some of the best rewards in WoW can only be achieved if you have the appropriate level of reputation with a specific faction. Whether you're a brand new WoW player or a freshly-minted level 70 dipping your first toe into the endgame, you need to educate yourself about reputation (or "rep" as it's usually called). Fortunately, here at WoW Insider, we have a lot of tools that can help you find your way through the rep maze to the piece of loot you desire.For new playersWoW Rookie: Introduction to ReputationNew players should start with this article to learn what all the terminology means and how rep affects your gameplay. WoW Rookie: Azeroth ReputationsThis article is the next step in understanding rep and how it works for the world of Azeroth. Since you should start worrying about rep long before you hit level 40, this article shows you how to start preparing for getting your first mount -- especially if the one you hunger for is not your toon's racial mount. Breakfast Topic: Reputation grindingHere you can see what your fellow players have to say about what it's like to grind rep after level 60.For new level 70sAsk WoW Insider: Do you optimize your rep grinds?Advice from us and other readers on how to streamline your rep grinds in Outland.Faction frustrations eased in WrathA preview of how rep may change in the Wrath of the Lich King expansion.Rep calculatorsHere are a couple of rep calculators we've reviewed. Liquidor's rep calculator WoW Reputation Calculator For extra credit WoW Rookie: Pre-Burning Crusade engame reputationsThis is a good primer on how rep worked prior to the release of The Burning Crusade expansion. Rep grinding in Azeroth after level 60 is not overly relevant now, but you may still be curious as to how it worked.
Disclaimer: Faction grinding is not actually fun
Faction grinding may be a bore, but it is a necessary evil in games like World of Warcraft. As much as you may not like sitting around an area and killing the same creatures over, and over, and over again for items, you may be doing just that once you hit the level cap and have nothing better to do. All of a sudden, that faction grind is looking mighty tempting.Kaliope heard through the grapevine that Blizzard might be considering a new method of achieving faction points. One of the possible ideas mentioned: letting faction unlocks occur on an server level rather than on a per-character basis. Instead of doing the grind with every single one of your characters on a server, only your main would have to grind all the way up to exalted. Then, all of your characters on that server could claim the benefits of having the exalted level.Obviously this would mean some angry customers and more high-end items hitting the market, so the idea isn't perfect. But there's an interesting discussion going on at Kaliope's blog about how to ease the grind so it actually can become fun, rather than a slow and painful gameplay element.
[1.Local]: Readers have their say on this week's posts
[1.Local] serves up a smattering of reader comments from the past week, from the sublime to the ridiculous.WoW Insider readers both looked back and leaped forward this week, with reminiscences about the old days of Azeroth peppering a week rife with speculation about the upcoming Wrath of the Lich King expansion. Readers strolled down Memory Lane with a look at our most fond old-school memories, and they eagerly clambered aboard our newest regular column, Ask a Lore Nerd. Commenters squabbled over Blizzard's handling of Glider bannings and WotLK alpha information leaks. The flame-throwers came out in force over politics in a post reporting on The9's decision to close up shop for three days of mourning following the recent natural disasters in Asia. Also this week, readers shared their experiences dealing with rep grinds and wrapped up with a philosophical look at violence and honor in an armed world.Be sure to dive into the comments area of each thread (not this one!) and add your own thoughts – unlike your mama, we like us some hot, fresh backtalk.
WoW Rookie: Pre-Burning Crusade endgame reputations
WoW Rookie is brought to our readers to help our newest players get acclimated to the game. Make sure you send a note to WoW Insider if you have suggestions for what new players need to know. For the last couple of week's we've been discussing reputations here on WoW Rookie. By leveling up reputation with factions you will open yourself up to special content, rewards, and discounts. Last week we examined some of the factions encountered while leveling from 1 to 60 in Azeroth. Some people still rep up with these factions, but for the most part these NPCs have been pretty lonely since the expansion. When the level cap was at 60, prior to the Burning Crusade, players spent a most of their time at level 60 repping up with PvP and raid factions. Many players gain reputation with these factions for the right to purchase crafting patterns from their vendors.
WoW Rookie: Introduction to Reputation
WoW Rookie is brought to our readers to help our newest players get acclimated to the game. Make sure you send a note to WoW Insider if you have suggestions for what new players need to know. As a social game, it's fun to make friends in an MMORPG environment. In World of Warcraft, you must also make friends (and sometimes enemies) with members of various faction groups. Reputation (rep) is gained through killing a faction's enemies and completing quests to assist a particular group. Obviously, killing member's of a particular faction reduces rep. For example, killing Bloodsail Pirates increases rep with Booty Bay (Steamwheedle Cartel), while decreasing rep with the Bloodsail Buccaneers. There are many reasons why we may increase or decrease reputations. You may be asked to do so to as a quest objective or to gain particular rewards. By gaining exalted reputation with the major cities you have access to purchase their racial mounts (provided your they may be scaled to your racial model) and their guild tabards. Higher levels of rep also allow discounts on goods and repair services from vendors, and higher prices for selling useless items. For the next couple of weeks, we'll be taking a look at the ins and outs of reputation on WoW Rookie.
Addon Spotlight: Fizzwidget's FactionFriend
Many of you may already be familiar with the wondrous little gadgets coming from the secret factory of Gazmik Fizzwidget. For those of you who are not, I would recommend you visit the Fizzwidget showroom and browse the wares. I'll profile them in the coming months, starting with a handy one for newly crowned level 70's. Fizzwidget's FactionFriend will automatically change the default Blizzard reputation bar based on your current zone or the faction you've most recently gained reputation with. You can also right click the reputation bar to select another faction, open an options pane or open the Reputation window. I find this a nice "information speedometer odometer" for my paladin, who recently hit 70 and is beginning the reputation grind. Although I wouldn't call this addon a must-have, I embrace the fact that it helps me obsess about gaining reputation. With the shiny, new Shattered Sun Offensive faction, it's nice to know just how close I am to the the next level of reputation while doing the Sunwell dailies. Read on for some of the other intuitive features of FactionFriend.
Get exalted with Sporeggar
If you fancy the new Tiny Spore Bat pet, then Sporeggar is the faction for you. While the reputation grind can be daunting and mind-numbing, becoming exalted with the Sporelings is one of the easiest and quickest rep grinds out there. Mooire of Ferocious Bite, a drood blog, has recently posted a guide to gaining Sporeggar rep, just in time for all the non-combat fans to make a quick grind. After all, if you need one, you simply need it to be had on patch day. How will we co-ordinate with our flying mounts otherwise? The "Bring me a(nother) shrubbery!" quest is undoubtedly the easiest way to gain reputation, provided you can get into a group for Underbog. Mooire found that each run can yield 20-30 sanguine hibiscus, and at 750 rep per 5 turned in, that's up to 4 500 reputation per dungeon run. If you have the herbalism skill, Mooire points out that many of the mobs will shed sanguine hibiscus. For rogues and droods, some of the plants can be gained without the aid of a group by stealthing through the dungeon. Reaching exalted with Sporeggar may bring fashionable benefits as well. After all, what blood elf male doesn't secretly long for the pinky-purple mushroom tabard?For those of you who are still leveling, or who have seriously neglected this particular faction, then there are other quests and turnins to be done before locking into an Underbog group.
Rep grinds: Too much, too little, or just right?
We all knew the day would come when people ran out of valid things to complain about on the WoW Forums. Finally, it has arrived, with a level 21 draenei arguing that reputation grinds are too easy post-Burning Crusade, particularly the grind to get exalted with another race to get their mount. I can honestly say that the idea that the reputation grinds are too EASY has never crossed my mind -- and after doing the Cenarion Circle grind to revered, I know full well that the time when I complain about the ease of reputation gains will be the time when I call for the men in white coats to come take me away. However, I have noticed that reputation is significantly easier to get in the Outlands. Killing mobs in dungeons will get you a good amount of reputation with someone, somewhere, and I've hit honored with Sporeggar, Cenarion Expedition, and Thrallmar without doing most of the repeatable quests. I think they've made reputation grinds easier because of the fiasco of Cenarion Circle rep, and what a giant pain that was for everyone. Plus, according to the oft-quoted Raid Attunement Chart, you're going to need to be revered with five factions and friendly with another to even step into the Battle of Mount Hyjal. If each of those grinds was as bad as Cenarion Circle or Timbermaw Hold, people would give up halfway through and go PVP. Heck, I'm feeling like giving up and going to PVP just looking at it, and I hate PVP. And if you really feel like doing an old-school rep grind, there will probably be some Outlands version of the Wintersaber mount to slowly suck out your soul and leave you a hollow shell of a human being. What do you think about the new reputation grinds? Are you just getting what you can as you go along and plan to go back later for the Hyjal attunement, or are you putting everything into getting revered now so you can forget about it later? (Image from Worldofwar.net.)
