reputation
Latest
Reputation changes in LotRO will make you feel more loved
Does it sometimes feel like, no matter what you do for somebody to try and impress them, it's hard to get them to notice you? Feeling unappreciated and unloved? Well dry your eyes, because Turbine hears you. Coming soon to Lord of the Rings Online is a revamp that will see reputation rewards added to many existing quests, to allow you to increase your standing with various factions more easily. This is to address the reported difficulty in achieving even the first few levels of reputation with a faction by existing means.If you've already finished a stack of quests and are worried that you'll miss out on this helpful update, this has been thought of too. There will be a once-off reputation reward for all the quests that you have completed in the past that get upgraded with the change. This means that it is safe to continue doing any quests now, knowing that if they end up being changed, you will receive your due compensation. The revamped quest reputation system is expected to be implemented in Book 12 -- until then, you may simply have to hold your head high and face the cold shoulder.
Additional Ravenholdt rep hints at more
Tipster Juro wrote in to let us know of another change that has popped up after Patch 2.3 went live. It seems that those slaying the Syndicate in Hillsbrad are receiving Raveholdt faction. Excited about the prospects of additional quests I ran on up to Ravenholdt Manor with my rogue only to find that I was out of luck.But allowing other classes access to the reputation in conjunction with the new Syndicate rep indicates that more is on the way. What could it be? I am thinking that the story of Ravenholdt will likely be continued in the months leading up to the release of WotLK. It makes sense when you think about it, since Dalaran will be lifting off, as it were, to have an update of the area much like we've recently seen in Dustwallow Marsh. I also remember Chris Metzen mentioning something at BlizzCon about Garona Halforcen and how they would like her to have a role in the next expansion, possibly as a partner for Thrall. Since she was last seen ingame during the closed beta at Ravenholdt Manor, it would therefore make sense that the mother of all assassins would usher in a continuation of the Ravenholdt mysteries. In any case, I know a couple of my characters are going to work on grinding Ravenholdt rep, just in case.[thanks Juro!]
Wintersaber rep guide
The folks over at Ten Ton Hammer have released a reputation guide focusing on getting yourself a Wintersaber. While this is nothing new to the game, I was thinking about all those new players that have joined the fold in recent years. Perhaps you haven't gotten a chance to experience some of the older rep grinds. For those of us who have been playing for a while and are fond of prestige mounts, you might remember the Wintersaber fondly. Good news is that the reputation with Wintersaber Riders is being revamped on Tuesday, so it will be easier to try your hand at getting yourself a big white (or are they purple?) kitty.At its essence the Wintersaber is another Alliance epic mount, attainable as a faction reward from doing quests for the Wintersaber Riders in Winterspring. Yes, people actually used to go to Winterspring for something other than Mountain Silversage and the Midsummer Fire Festival. The Ten Ton guide gives you nice simple tips for how to get to exalted so that you too can ride the winter(saber.)
Can you game your way to (virtual) fame?
A guide to Second Life fame was blogged on Mean Girls Guide to SL yesterday. Kitty LaLonde posted quite a few tips on how to obtain a sizable level of notoriety, while including some decidedly Not Safe For Work (NSFW) pictures. It covers such topics as naming yourself, pretending to know designers, and creating an alt to spread rumors about yourself.I have mixed feelings about this entry. While she offers some good points, such as starting a blog, attending premieres, and scouring the forums to find the hottest new releases, a lot of it reads like satire. However, I'm sure some girls will actually follow this advice to the letter.The long answer to this guide is, you can't achieve fame quickly without being born in infamy. If you want to establish a good reputation, you need to work hard at being seen and heard. If being a bad girl doesn't bother you, then by all means, spread those rumors. Just remember that people will not forget about you and it will be even longer before they consider forgiving you for your mistakes. The choice is yours!
Preparing for 2.3: Pre-patch farming, part 1
Although your time to farm before the release of the patch is quickly dwindling, hopefully everyone will be able to spend some quality time over the weekend preparing for next Tuesday. It's always difficult to accurately predict what will be big sellers, especially since the economy on one server may be radically different than another. With this in mind, I've decided to simply provide a list of all the items that will be used in new trade recipes or for obtaining the new reputation rewards.
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.
PTR Notes: Wintersaber reputation easier
Testers are reporting on the official PTR forums that the gains for Wintersaber Trainers reputation have been drastically increased. This Alliance-only grind has long been the worst in the game, with quests originally rewarding 50 reputation points at a time. Considering the fact that players start at neutral with the faction and receive their one and only reward at exalted reputation, that's about 42,000 points to earn (or about 840 quests to complete) without any motivational incentives gained along the way. It retained this infamous status even when the reputation gain was raised to 75 points in patch 2.0.1, but now it has reportedly been raised even further to 250 points for each quest completed.Befitting the grueling nature of the grind, there has been a lot of solidarity between those undertaking it, inspiring "Wintersaber Support Group" threads on the WoW forums for as long as I can remember. Understandably, a lot of the players that have already earned their "stripes" are concerned that their dearly won Winterspring Frostsaber mount will become more common, thus lowering its uniqueness and invalidating their hard work. On the other hand, many players, like myself, are relieved that this grind has finally become realistically achievable. Where do your opinions lie on this issue?
PTR Notes: New reputation ammo
MMO Champion has reported that new "Specialty Ammunition Vendors" have been discovered on the PTR in patch 2.3. These vendors, Archer Delvinar and Marksman Bova, can be found in once empty structures in the Scryer and Aldor areas, respectively, in Shattrath City. Not only do they sell the best types of normal vendor ammunition outside of Halaa, but they also stock ammunition that has reputation requirements. Instead of running over to the Cenarion Refuge in Zangarmarsh every time you need to stock up on Warden's Arrows, you can now buy the same ammo in Shattrath. The same vendors also carry ammunition that is currently only available from vendors in Honor Hold/Thrallmar and the Caverns of Time. Currently the cost of all the ammunition sold by these vendors appears to be tied to Aldor/Scryer reputation level, but still requires the specified faction requirement to actually purchase and use.Of course, the best news is that these vendors also carry a new type of ammunition. The Mysterious Arrows and Mysterious Shells require revered reputation with the Violet Eye and provide 46.5 additional damage per second. A stack of 200 costs 1 gold without any price reductions from reputation. Clearly these new items are meant to fill the gap between Adamantite and Timeless ammunition and help hunters that are tackling Magtheridon, Serpentshrine Cavern and Tempest Keep increase their damage output. With the new Adamantite Stingers also being added 2.3, hunters will have more options than ever before when choosing a type of ammunition.
77,000 goblins killed? Party time!
We really love these player-run parties (how did that AzerothCross go the other week, anyway?), so here's another one for you this weekend. This time around, your host is Kernhoof on Silver Hand (finally, the US realms get their own event), who wants to celebrate his unthinkable accomplishment-- not only did he grind up Bloodsail rep to Honored, but he then went back and killed tons of Venture Co. goblins to bring his Steamwheedle Cartel rep back to neutral. So now he can wear the Bloodsail hat with pride, and walk around Booty Bay without getting stomped on by the bruisers. Awesome.Sounds like cause for celebration to me. The party kicks off this Sunday, October 28th on Silver Hand at 1pm server in Booty Bay, and since the guards there aren't going to be drunk or anything (like they are on New Year's Eve), it probably won't turn into a bloodbath. Probably. But even if it does, should be a good time no matter what-- sounds like Kernhoof has even invited a few GMs to show up. As always, if you go and check it out, make sure to send us your screenshots!
A new online reputation calculator
There isn't much to say about this, other than to be very grateful it exists. I never saw the original web-based reputation calculator, but I'm told there were sporadic problems with US realms. Grumbles writes and says that he was waiting for the EU calculator to come back online and to support US realms again, when he decided to just write his own. I wish I had that kind of talent. Visiting wowreputationcalculator.com prompts you to enter your name, server, and whether it's a US or EU server. I presume it then reads your reputation information from the Armory and then processes it in a plain but functional way that shows you how many turn-ins and/or quests you need to reach the next level with most of the key Burning Crusade factions. Let me tell you, I'm bookmarking this puppy right now, even if I'm a little disappointed to suddenly realize how long it's going to take me to get exalted with the Kurenai. This is a very handy tool for reputation grinding. I've seen some add-ons in the past that will count quest items for you, but this is a really excellent resource. Thanks to Grumbles for making it happen for the US players!
In the reputation grinder
Reputation grinding is something of a mixed bag in the World of Warcraft-- some factions have many options for the player who wants to gain rep. Most of the new factions in Burning Crusade have quests, turn-ins, and various instances that all award rep. Others (especially those that existed pre-BC) are more difficult, requiring hours upon hours of grinding away on specific mobs that provide little return, as anyone who's ever gotten exalted with the Wintersaber Trainers will tell you.Not all factions provide rewards that everyone will need-- if you're anything like me (and, I think, most players), you'll pick and choose which factions you want to grind. For at least one person, however, the goal was to hit Exalted with all available factions. Tombom, from Cho'gall, is exalted with 36 different factions (37 if you count switching from Scryer to Aldor), including Darkmoon Faire. I'd be lying if I said that this didn't make me feel bad about neglecting some of my own reputation goals, but it does inspire me - if a Disc / Holy priest can do it, why not me?Congratulations, Tombom!Thanks, Centipede!
A guide to BC pre-raid goals and how to achieve them
I'm a little compulsive about finishing every quest in a zone. Ok, ok, I'm certifiably compulsive about it. I love exploring all the various corners of a zone and learning their dangers and rewards. Because of this, I barely got through half of the Outlands solo content before I hit L70. After thoroughly enjoying Hellfire Peninsula, Zangarmarsh, Terokkar Forest and having just a taste of Nagrand and Blade's Edge, I hit the level cap. Why should I continue?Starryknight of the Executus server has an excellent answer: completing every Outland quest and running through every dungeon will net you the 5,000 gold for your epic mount, gain the necessary reputation to access later parts of the game and get you keyed for both the Heroic dungeons and Karahzhan. Essentially, you will be ready to jump into the raiding game, if you so desire.To achieve this, he wrote up a general guide on what to do in every Outland zone with links to more specific information about the quest chains for each area. For me, this is what I needed to push on and continue exploring the wonders that Warcraft still has to offer for people already at the level cap. Even if you don't intend to raid, the goal of buying an epic mount is reward enough. Check it out, it may be what you are looking for to refocus your goals in the game if you find your motivation has flagged.
Ask WoW Insider: Do you optimize your rep grinds?
It's the end of another week, and you know what that means -- it's time for another edition of Ask WoW Insider, where we post your questions for our readers to answer. This week we have a question from Rylia, who is curious about how many people actually mesh their playstyle around World of Warcraft's reputation system:WoW is my first MMORPG, and really the first computer game I've played for a decade or more -- I used to play things like King's Quest and Hero's Quest and Police Quest. So for me, the natural way to start when I get to a new zone is to fill up on all the quests, and march off to tick them off. Only later do I start thinking about getting my faction reps up. However, basically every guide to faction rep, for every faction, says that to make the most of your efforts, you need to wait to do your quests until you've ground up to honored with instances or turn-in quests.Interesting! Of course we all know the best way to gain reputation with most factions (Outland factions in particular, because each of those has an associated dungeon) is to run through the instances first, because instances will stop providing reputation gain at some point, while quests will give reputation no matter what your current reputation is. But do you really play the best way, or do you look head straight for those exclamation points, like Rylia does?Ask WoW Insider couldn't keep posting without a delicious diet of your questions -- so send 'em in to ask AT wowinsider DOT com! Thanks for reading, and we'll be back next week with another of your questions!
Liquidor's rep calculator works for US realms, too
Ask and you shall be given-- the other day we posted about Liquidor's rep calculator, and lamented that it was EU only, and now only a few days later, he's updated it to not only include US realms, but he's completely revamped the design.Sure enough, I punched in my character from the US realms, and I got the nice readout of where I'm at for all my reputations, and one click access to what exactly I need to do to move up a level (apparently I need to keep running Shadow Labs, grrr). Seems like it pulls everything directly from the Armory (where else would he get it from?), so all the info is as up to date as it is on Blizzard's official site.There's also a checkbox now for "TBC Reputation only" that when unclicked gives a warning that says "Soon!," so apparently Liquidor is working on including Old World Azeroth rep as well. Just like we said the other day, this is a terrific tool for working on those all important rep grinds. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm LFG Shadow Labs. Anyone? Please?
Liquidor's EU Rep Calculator shows the way to Exalted
Liquidor posts on the forums about a cool little tool he's put together. His rep calculator is a one-stop shop for everything you need to know about where your character is at in terms of rep, and what you need to rep up. There's just one little catch-- since Liquidor plays on Boulderfist EU, the calculator only works for EU characters at the moment.So those of us on US realms are out of luck, but maybe if we give Liquidor a little more attention here, he'll be convinced enough to let us Americans in on the fun. As much as rep grinding is required in the game now, it's interesting that there's not a lot in terms of reputation tools out there-- WoW Wiki has those cool charts for each rep and the quests that can be done to level it, but Liquidor's guide is unmatched in terms of utility-- he even tells you mobs that can be killed for rep, and how many are needed of each type to rep up. Hopefully, especially as we move toward the next expansion (where even more factions will likely be introduced), players will get better and better tools like this to help their rep grinding.
Phat Loot Phriday: Timeless Arrow/Shell
For sheer ranged damage (anywhere in the world, not just in Tempest Keep), no other ammunition does it better. This is the only Epic ammunition in the game, and it's pretty clear why.Name: Timeless Arrow (or Shell, for firearms)Type: ProjectileDamage/Speed: N/AAbilities: Adds 53 damage per second. That's like having an increase of over 700 attack power. The next highest ammo, Adamantite Shells, are +43 DPS, so this is far and above the best ammo you can obtain and use anywhere in the game. How to Get It: And so of course it doesn't come cheap (in either gold or effort). To get these arrows or bullets, all you have to do is buy them-- they're available from Andormu or Nozari in the Caverns of Time. But the first catch is that you've got to be Honored with Scale of the Sands to do it.Just to get Friendly with Scale of the Sands, you've got to obtain Vials of Eternity, so that means that you've got to beat both Vashj and Kael in SSC and the Eye. Yup, if you just stopped reading right now, I can't say I blame you.And after that, I believe the only way to gain Scale of the Sands reputation is to run Mount Hyjal and get rep from kills in there. Work your way to Honored, and you'll be able to buy this ammo. And the last catch on this one? Each stack of 200 is a whopping 2g a piece. Unless you're overflowing with money (and then again, if you've made your way to Mount Hyjal, maybe you are), this is strictly raid boss ammo only.Getting Rid of It: Vendor will give you 25c back for them if you decide you'd rather not pour out DPS like a Hefeweizen at Oktoberfest.
I hope Apple has absolved the iPhone from their '1st gen reputation'
Plenty of potential iPhone customers - particularly ones who are familiar with Apple's less-than-ideal track record with 1st gen products - are on the fence as to whether they should wait for the 2nd version of the iPhone. In recent years, problems like the 15-inch Aluminum PowerBook's white spots (and the resulting repair program), battery recalls, and plenty of MacBook/Pro defects are all too familiar to their unfortunate victims. I personally have experienced almost every one of these, going through three RevA 12-inch PowerBook (867) before I got one with a hard drive that didn't immediately die (never-mind the fact that I could almost cook breakfast on it and save money on apartment utility bills), a 15-inch Al PowerBook with the infamous white spots issue, and even a MacBook battery recall. Looking back on all these issues and the fact that I'm planning on getting an iPhone next week (though I'm still on the fence as to whether I'm nuts enough to camp out; hopefully I won't have to), I really hope Apple has done their homework and ensured the iPhone has gone through the best mass production process it can. A large stake of their reputation is going to depend on it. Why is there more pressure for a flawless delivery on the iPhone than previous Apple products? Put simply: when a few early adopter nerds (including myself) get pissed that their $2500 PowerBooks have white spot defects in the display, that's one thing. When the unprecedented masses find some serious manufacturing flaw on a device they had to sign their life away for two years just to get - that spells hell for a company. The iPhone is enjoying a level of interest, hype and syndicated popularity that virtually no other Apple product in history has had - if something goes wrong (the displays konks out after a week of touchy-feely use, the battery life is significantly under the mark, etc.), it will undoubtedly be sung from on high by everyone from the enthusiast blogs to the big hitters like the Today Show and CNN. Apple is leaping straight from 'high school drama club' status to Broadway on June 29th, so any mistake is going to get magnified in the giant spotlight that will be shining on them in the wake of the iPhone's launch. For the sake of all the rabid iPhone hopefuls and those who are waiting to see if the 2nd gen is the way to go, I say: break a leg, Apple.
Breakfast Topic: Little Red Riding Nether Ray
I know, I know... today's breakfast topic comic seems a bit dark and gloomy -- but don't worry! Things are not what they seem! The girl's grandma is actually a professional hunter of evil grandmavores. The girl-grandma team tricks the beasts into their doom: first, little Red lures the beasts close to the cottage, and then Granny springs a woodsman-shaped target dummy on them and mutilates them from behind with her epic daggers disguised as knitting needles. Annnywaaaay, the topic for today is these scary creatures known as nether rays! Now we can ride them! But... the question is, does anyone want to? I know the nether ray in this picture looks pretty spooky, and I'll admit that there are some screenshots in which they look okay at first. But over all, aren't they really rather ugly, pudgy and too much like a fish with serious dental problems? I was over there questing in Skettis with a friend of mine today, just earning some money in a few spare minutes I had to play, when we stopped to gawk at the Sha'tari Skyguard dwarf just swooshing along on his nether ray mount, looking as pudgy and as awkward as can be. I realized, this thing doesn't look like it should be a mount at all. Your legs kind of sink through the creature's tendril hood or whatever it is, and some races apparently have their hands hanging out in thin air, holding on to reins that should be there on any normal mount, but not on this one.Do you agree that this thing is an ugly waste of your reputation grinding time? or am I totally missing the aesthetic genius of this?
LF rep for cross-racial mount
It has been a while since I worked toward getting a cross-racial mount. I wasn't even really that interested in doing it with my alts until I started leveling my priest in the human lands to group with friends. All of a sudden she was honored with Stormwind and a seed was planted in my brain. I had a picture in my mind of a Draenei on a palomino, and it was a beautiful thing. I didn't really start working on her rep until this week however, and man was I disappointed. Previous to Patch 2.1.0 people were raving about how easy it was to attain exalted reputation with any race in your faction, simply by completing all the Horde or Alliance quests in their starting areas. Eager to begin, I started out for Coldridge Valley, only to find out that I received absolutely no Stormwind reputation for doing quests for the dwarves. It wasn't until I got to Loch Modan that I received even a few points of rep. Even turning in the cloth for the other races affords me no additional faction with Stormwind. Tricky little devs changed it on me. So it's not as simple as I thought, but I think it might still be doable. I played tour guide for an orphan, which got me about 500 rep or so. I am becoming a regular hero to the Night Elves, and soon will move on to questing for my own race (how novel.) But I am not sure I will have enough rep by the time I reach 40 to get my horse. Do you have any tips on how I can get extra rep now that Patch 2.1.0 is in effect? Is anyone out there doing the cross-racial mount thing along with me? Any tips you might have would be great. My priest thanks you.
Where to start with 2.1 content
The 2.1 patch this week introduced enough new quest lines, top-end raid content, flying mounts, and L70 solo & small group content to qualify as its own game. With a three day weekend looming I didn't even know where to begin. So I scoured the web and found the where to go and what to do to get me started. THE BLACK TEMPLE: Already planning to strut around Shattrath in your T6 Raid gear? Don't bank that T5 set too quick. The Black Temple attunement quest is ... epic. And it hasn't even been fully discovered so far. What is known is that you will have to slog through a great deal of the Burning Crusade raid content that comes before it: Karazhan, Gruul's Lair, Magtheridon's Lair, Serpentshire Cavern, The Eye and The Battle of Mount Hyjal. And many of those raids require extensive attunement quests of their own. If you are still itching to begin, you can dig in with the Tablets of Baa'ri chain out of Shadowmoon Valley to start grinding that Ashtongue Deathsworn rep. NETHERDRAKE EPIC FLYING MOUNT: First, don't confuse this with the Swift Nether Drake top Arena teams are awarded with at the end of every season. That one has a speed increase of 310% and has an armored appearance. This is the normal epic nether drake with a speed increase on par with other epic flying mounts: 280%. What's special about this epic flying mount is that it can be obtained through solo and small group quests. No raid required. What is required is a great deal of dedication.The first steps on your journey is to dig yourself out of Hated reputation with the Netherwing clan and get all the way to Exalted. This is accomplished through solo, 5 man and 3 man daily quests. Head to the south east corner of Shadowmoon Valley and speak to Mordenai in the Netherwing Fields. A complete write up can be found here.
