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The Light and How to Swing It: Gearing a new level 80 ret paladin
With the Light as his strength, Gregg Reece of The Light and How to Swing It faces down the demons of the Burning Legion, the undead of the Scourge, and soon, an entire flight of black dragons. As I said last week, I'm looking for action screenshots of retribution and protection paladins. I've gotten a lot of good shots thus far and am always looking for more (especially you retribution paladins out there, as I got a ton of protection ones). They can be any level between 1 and 80. I'll be using these for header graphics like the one above. Please send those as well as any other comments to my email at gregg@wow.com. If you've been following the column recently, you've seen the three-part series we did on gearing up a brand new level 80 protection paladin. We're going to take the same approach now to the retribution tree and work our way through the different types of items. First up, we've got craftables and reputation items. We'll be taking a look at stuff you'll be able to grab in dungeons next week and finish up the week after with a run-through of what all you can buy with the badges you got from all of that time in the random dungeon finder.
Winds of the North achievement getting fixed
When you log in the day after patch 3.0.8 goes live, odds are that if you've hit 80, you'll be picking up a relatively free achievement. Winds of the North is an achievement that's been more or less impossible to get since Wrath was released -- it requires you to get Exalted with all three of the "starter" reputations for your faction, depending on whether you're Horde or Alliance. But while it's relatively easy to get Exalted with the overall reputaiton for your faction (Horde Expedition or Alliance Vanguard), it's very tough to get Exalted with the reputations within that faction (Explorer's League, Valiance Expedition, Frostborn and the Silver Covenant for the Alliance, and Hand of Vengeance, Taunka, Warsong Offensive and the Sunreavers for the Horde -- whew). There are almost no daily quests for any of those factions, and even just doing all of the quests is designed to get you Exalted with the major faction, not the minor ones. Patch 3.0.8 will fix this, and only require you to get Exalted with the overall faction. Which you probably already are, since if you don't wear a Champion tabard during the endgame instances, you'll instead earn rep with the starter reputation for your faction. (Not to mention that even before you get there, the mini-factions all add up to the major faction, so if you get Revered with two of the mini-factions, you'll be Exalted with the overall faction.) Got all that? In short, Blizzard built an achievement into the game without realizing how hard it really was to get. And in the next patch, they're going to change it so that even if you haven't been paying attentention, you've probably already gotten it. So enjoy the free points.
Shifting Perspectives: Faction gear for Druids, part II - Argent Crusade
Every Tuesday, Shifting Perspectives explores issues affecting Druids and those who group with them. This week we continue our examination of the faction gear available for Druids in Wrath and have a serious conversation with our aesthetic conscience regarding the hideous Kirin Tor tabard: "Is the tanking staff we get at Revered worth the humiliation of wearing that purple monstrosity?" The answer, dear readers, is no.In the first part, we covered Druid gear available with the Tuskarr, the Alliance Vanguard/Horde Expedition, Wyrmrest Accord, Kirin Tor, and Oracles/Frenzyheart. This week, we're going to finish with a look at the Knights of the Ebon Blade, the Argent Crusade, and the Sons of Hodir. You're unlikely to encounter any of these three factions while leveling between 70 and 74, but all three figure prominently in mid to late '70's leveling. Read on for the last three factions, but if you want a quick set of links to each individual faction, here you go: Kalu'ak and Horde Expedition/Alliance Vanguard Guide Wyrmrest Accord and the Kirin Tor Guide The Frenzyhearts and the Oracles Guide The Argent Crusade Guide The Knights of the Ebon Blade and Sons of Hodir Guide
Shifting Perspectives: Faction gear for Druids, part I
Every Tuesday/Wednesday/some day that ends in -y, Shifting Perspectives explores issues affecting Druids and those who group with them. This week we take a look at faction rewards available to Druids in "Wrath of the Lich King" and wonder if that Mysterious Egg of ours -- the only faction reward we could truly be said to care about -- is ever going to hatch.Like most of you, I'm still running a lot of dungeons and getting acquainted with the array of drops available on both normal and heroic mode, and I'm not anywhere near as familiar with the Northrend 5-man drops as I am with Outland's after tanking them all eleventy-billion times. For the moment, my ability to compare all of the reputation gear available from Wrath factions with potential dungeon drops is fairly small and mostly confined to feral equipment, so I apologize. What I can say is that I've noticed a fairly clear trend favoring Balance if you're planning on getting a lot of your gear at 80 from faction reputations (although if you go that route there's a sizable pitfall in the form of a serious lack of +hit on most pieces). Feral is a little more hit-or-miss. Restoration seems to have the hardest time getting its best pre-raid or heroic pieces from rep grinds, and I'm not going to lie; get used to most of your best pieces being cloth.With what are essentially four different specs to cover for all the new factions available in Wrath, this got a bit long. So this week we'll discuss the rep grinds that become accessible a little earlier in the trek to 80 -- namely, the Tuskarr, the Alliance Vanguard/Horde Expedition, Wyrmrest Accord, Kirin Tor, and Oracles/Frenzyheart. Next week we'll cover the Knights of the Ebon Blade, the Argent Crusade, and Sons of Hodir, as you're not likely to see these guys as early as you'll see the others. Indeed, before a quest line that phases the lady into existence, you won't see the Knights of the Ebon Blade quartermaster at all.EDIT: Now that the faction guides are finished, here's a set of quick links in case you're looking for information on one faction in particular: Kalu'ak and Horde Expedition/Alliance Vanguard Guide Wyrmrest Accord and the Kirin Tor Guide The Frenzyhearts and the Oracles Guide The Argent Crusade Guide The Knights of the Ebon Blade and Sons of Hodir Guide
Lichborne: Reputation rewards for Death Knights in Wrath of the Lich King
Welcome to Lichborne, WoW Insider's weekly column on the Death Knight, written and named by a guy who actually doesn't have that talent. How does this keep happening, seriously? So by now, I'm sure a lot of Death Knights are, like yours truly, getting into the level 80 home stretch and trying to figure out which of the Wrath factions to grind first. If you've already read our Wrath 101 guides to reputation and to the Oracle and Frenzyheart tribes, you're off to a good start. In this week's Lichborne, we'll take it a step further by looking at the purchasable rewards for each faction with the eye of a Death Knight. As with our previous gear guide, I'm operating on the assumptions that haste and armor penetration are less desirable for Death Knights and that expertise is primarily for Death Knight tanks.
Scattered Shots: Reputation rewards for Hunters in Wrath of the Lich King
Happy Thanksgiving, everyone! You didn't think Scattered Shots was taking the day off, did you? Hopefully, there's enough of you who aren't completely zonked out on turkey, ham, or beef to read this.So by now, I figure most of you are well on your way to 80, and are probably starting to ask yourself: Which reputation should I grind first? There's tons of ways to choose, be it roleplaying who your character would align themselves with or choosing the one that's easiest to grind. One of the most popular and most effective though, is pretty simple: Asking yourself which one has the best loot. Today's Scattered Shots will center around that last one. If you're still not sure how to grind reputation in Northrend, or forgot where the quartermasters are, be sure to check out our Wrath 101 post on reputations, as well as our post on the Wolvar and Oracles of Sholozar Basin. Once you've done that, or if you remember the basics, read on!
Encrypted Text: Wrath reputation rewards for Rogues
Every Wednesday, Chase Christian of Encrypted Text invites you to enter the world of shadows, as we explore the secrets and mechanics of the Rogue class. This week, we'll be talking reputation gear available in NorthrendRogues are like butterflies. We soar between currents of air, our paths seemingly chaotic. We serve no master, no blood oaths to demons or fear of a higher power. We simply float our way through the world, focusing on preservation of self as the highest goal. Our path is truly our own.Rogues are also like Joe The Plumber. We've got bills to pay, mats to farm, and drops to grind. While driving around Azeroth in your parent's Traveler's Tundra Mammoth with your disappearing act may seem attractive, life in WoW isn't that easy for a Rogue. In order to keep up with content, we're in constant need of new leather gear to keep us at the top of our game. We've got our dues to pay, and one word describes how "The Man" requires us to fulfill these obligations: Reputation. Read on to explore exactly what juicy pieces of rep gear await in Northrend.
Arcane Brilliance: Wrath reputation rewards for Mages, part 1
Each Saturday, Arcane Brilliance conjures forth a column all about Mages. You may well wonder: what does Arcane Brilliance do the rest of the week? The answer--up until a couple of weeks ago--was travel through time, righting the wrongs of the past. It was all very heroic, lent itself handily to an episodic format, and Dean Stockwell was prominently involved. Then Wrath happened. Now? Well, now Arcane Brilliance pretty much just hangs around in , ganking Death Knight noobs. Trust us, it's just as heroic, in its own way.I trust we, as a nation of Mages, are all happily churning our way through the new content, gazing about us in wonder and amazement at the majesty of Northrend, and then nuking the crap out of that majesty. I know I am. Just about everything about the Wrath experience has been positive for me so far. The visuals are incredible, the quests are fun and rich with lore, and the music is phenomenal. I could (and have) spend hours just wandering about Dalaran, taking in the ambiance, feeling all kinds of magey. Seriously, Blizzard, I'm starting a slow-clap right now, and it's all for you.One thing you've likely noticed as you've quested your way north is that almost everything you do seems to grant you reputation with some new faction or another. If you're anything like me, your first questions were probably "where might I find the quartermasters for these factions," and "what do they sell that is made of cloth and dripping with spellpower?" For a nice overall guide to the basics of these new factions, I'd urge you to check out our own Alex Ziebart's Wrath 101 posts about the subject. They can be found here and here. After the jump, we'll be focusing on the rewards these new factions offer that are specifically valuable to Mages.
Wrath 101: Factions and reputation
Reputation in Wrath of the Lich King works a lot like it did in The Burning Crusade, except refined. Most of your reputation will come from dungeon runs and questing, and not grinding mobs off in some random corner of the world. At the same time, they've thrown in some 'extra' hooks to some of the reputations that make it pretty different from what it used to be, for better or for worse. That's what we'll be digging into here.FactionsThe Horde and the Alliance each get a set of factions: The Horde Expedition and the Alliance Vanguard. These are a bit unusual, because those two primary factions have four other secondary factions. For the most part, those secondary factions don't have any rewards of their own. As you gain reputation with the sub-factions, your overall Horde Expedition or Alliance Vanguard reputation goes up, and that determines your rewards. Why did they do it that way? I don't know, but they did!
The Queue: Reputation, daily quests, and performance in Dalaran
Welcome back to The Queue, WoW Insider's daily Q&A column where the WoW Insider team answers your questions about the World of Warcraft.Daily quests and reputation has been a really hot topic lately, not only in The Queue but across WoW in general. Some of our questions today will focus on that, but I'd also like to let you guys know that WoW Insider will overall have more information on those things coming really, really soon. Keep an eye on the site today and in the coming days for all of that good stuff.Alright, let's gets started with my2cents' question... Where, if anywhere, is the quartermaster for Valiance Expedition? I'm almost revered and I'm curious to see if there are any rewards available.
Phat Loot Phriday: Sawed-off Hand Cannon
A brand new continent, full of new loot to get. We'll start off with this rep piece -- if you're Alliance and need a ranged weapon and a rep to grind, Vanguard is a good place to start.Name: Sawed-off Hand Cannon (Wowhead, Thottbot, Allakazham)Type: Rare GunDamage/Speed: 208-386 / 3.10 (95.8 DPS)Abilities: +17 Agility, +27 Stamina. Not too shabby at all. And it even gives you +18 hit rating, which is extra nice (by 78 you've hopefully already reached your hit cap, whatever that is, but putting it on the gun and off of your other gear will allow for a little more flexibility. It's an all-round good gun on your way up to 80 -- there will certainly be better but for the rep, which you'll probably get sleepwalking through Howling Fjord, it's a new reward. How to get it and a request after the break.%Gallery-33600%
