The Care and Feeding of Warriors: Mists of Pandaria Reputation gear

I owe you all the reputation gear guide I promised weeks ago, and so, here it is. Never let it be said that I completely procrastinate on stuff I said I would do for weeks on end. I mean, it's true but you don't have to say it. The various quartermasters for the factions can be found here, if you're trying to figure out where to spend your precious points. They are precious, aren't they? Much like your torso. While there's ilevel 458 justice point gear, I'm going to be focusing on the epics, as those will last you longer overall. By the time you earn enough JP's to buy anything, you often have better gear from the dungeons you're running anyway.

Each faction has different items - some helms, others bracers, etc - and so, ultimately, it's most rewarding to work on Golden Lotus first in order to unlock the August Celestials and Shado-Pan, since that will get you access to the most items. The Klaxxi are a good faction to work alongside the Golden Lotus until you get the Shado-Pan and August Celestials unlocked, since you'll probably unlock revered with them before you finish getting Golden Lotus to revered, and can then focus on Shado-Pan and August Celestials. We'll cover Golden Lotus and Klaxxi rewards first, since you'll have access to them first, and then the other two.

It should be pointed out that if you are raiding 10 or 25 man normal Mogu'shan Vaults, you may already have access to gear on par with these rewards. That's intentional - Blizzard wants raiders to gear up from raiding, with valor points more serving the role of consolation prize if you just can't get that drop you need. But if you primarily run heroic dungeons or LFR, then these reputation rewards will be upgrades. Of Lotus Gold and Klaxxi Amber

First up we have the Golden Lotus. Like most reputations, there are now decent epic items at honored reputation (this wasn't the case at launch) which are worth your time. Specifically the Golden Lotus have two rings available for purchase at honored, Alani's Inflexible Ring (a tanking ring with double avoidance itemization) and the Ring of the Golden Stair, a DPS ring with crit and expertise.

At revered, the Golden Lotus has shoulder and chest armor available. The chest armor is interesting because it has the exact same socketing options, a blue and yellow socket, and while the Cuirass of the Twin Monoliths is definitely a tank chest, the Dawnblade's Chestguard could serve as either a DPS or tanking chest depending on if you gear for hit and expertise as a tank or not. (There are currently two schools of thought on that, the Mastery/Dodge and Parry tanks vs. the Hit and Expertise/Mastery tanks. Either can be viable, depending on how you tank.) For shoulders, we have a much more definitive difference between the two.

The Stonetoe Spaulders are DPS shoulders. They have crit and hit and a yellow socket. The Shoulders of Autumnlight are tanking shoulders with dodge and expertise and a yellow socket.

The Klaxxi are the most straightforward faction in terms of gear acquisition - you don't have to unlock them via another faction's quests, you don't have to use them to unlock someone else, and you get a lot of Klaxxi rep from the zone's questing before you even start the dailies. In terms of rep gear, you get everything you need from the Klaxxi by revered, with the Exalted weapons being of the exact same quality and iLevel as heroic dungeon drops (iLevel 463). Still, they exist, and if you don't have better by the time you have exalted you can buy them, so I will mention them here. The Klaxxi also reward blacksmithing patterns, so if you're a smith you'll be interested in getting to honored with them for the various blacksmithing patterns, which can make iLevel 476 breastplates and gloves and iLevel 463 weapons, as well as this expansion's belt buckle. Many of these recipes requiring Living Steel as well as Spirits of Harmony, making them terribly expensive on some servers.

There are two necklaces available at honored for warriors - the Bloodseeker's Solitaire for DPS, and the Paragon's Pale Pendant for tanks. At revered, the Klaxxi offer belts and legs, with warriors being interested in the DPS and tanking options since we still don't have that healing spec. When do I get to yell people back to life, Blizzard? The belts are the Klaxxi Lash of the Consumer (tank all the way) and the DPS oriented Klaxxi Lash of the Rescinder. Considering that the LFR belt Star-Stealer Waistguard has two sockets I'm not knocked out by the Klaxxi tank belt. (The normal mode Star Stealer has the extra socket and equivalent stats to the Klaxxi belt, making it superior.) But like I said, reputation gear isn't meant to be as good as drops from raids.

The leg options are the Kovok's Riven Legguards (dodge/exp tanking legs that I love just for the name, cause Kovok is awesome) and the Legguards of the Unscathed, which sound like tanking legs but which in fact are DPS legs. And as I said before, at exalted you can get weapons, two of which you can even use if you don't have better yet, the Amber Espada of Klaxxi'vess for SMF and prot warriors and the Amber Flammard of Klaxxi'vess for TG fury and arms warriors (and my long dreamed of arms tanking spec that I'm trying to make work.)

The starry heavens and the guardians who never rest

Now that we've covered the revered rewards for these two factions, what about the Shado-Pan and August Celestials? I'm neither glad nor upset that you asked, since either way I'm going to tell you. It's the whole point of the post.

Like all factions, the Shado-Pan award various items at honored. In their case it's capes. I know, who doesn't love a good cape? The Cloak of the Dark Disciple is your DPS option with crit and mastery and it sounds like Doctor Strange would fight the dude wearing it. Or, optionally, like you could credibly tell people that you are the terror that flaps in the night when you wear it. Yi's Cloak of Courage is a tank cape with parry and mastery, but it has no such duck related potency.

The Shado-Pan are unique in that they offer trinkets. At revered, we have access to the Iron Belly Wok for DPS and Lao-Chin's Liquid Courage for tanks. Also available at revered are helms, the Voice-Amplifying Greathelm for DPS and Yi's Least Favorite Helmet for tanks, who should probably feel mildly insulted right about now.

Finally, the August Celestials and their offerings on display. At honored, the Celestials offer a variety of bracers. Warriors will be interested in Braided Black and White Bracer for DPS, itemized for crit and expertise, while the Battle Shadow Bracers are your parry/hit option for tanks. At revered, the Celestials offer boots and gloves. For DPS, the Tankiss Warstompers baffle and confuse me with their name. Why would you put tank in the name of the DPS boots? The tanking boots, the Yu'lon Guardian Boots, should be named the Yu'lon Armsmaster Boots just to confuse people more.

For DPS, the Streetfighter's Iron Knuckles are your crit/haste glove option. I admit I kind of wish these had a cosmetic effect where they yelled hadouken occasionally when you hit people. The Gloves of the Overwhelming Swarm, tanking gloves, sound like we're getting them from the wrong faction, frankly.

That covers the rewards from the various factions. Next week, either TG vs SMF vs Arms in terms of DPS, or the hit and expertise debate for protection.

At the center of the fury of battle stand the warriors: protection, arms and fury. Check out more strategies and tips especially for warriors, from hot issues for today's warriors to Cataclysm 101 for DPS warriors and our guide to reputation gear for warriors. Tags: August-Celestials, featured, Golden-Lotus, guide-to-warriors, Klaxxi, mists-of-pandaria, Shado-Pan, warrior-guide, warrior-info, warrior-talents, wow-warrior, wow-warrior-info, wow-warriors

Filed under: Warrior, Analysis / Opinion, (Warrior) The Care and Feeding of Warriors, Mists of Pandaria

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Reputation in review: The Tillers

I may have taken leave of my sanity. I'm currently in the midst of a massive reputation grind in an effort to get everything to exalted. Part of this is because I like seeing green bars fill up on my screen, but part of it was intense curiosity towards the new daily system. Despite a somewhat compelling story, the daily quests in the Firelands just didn't quite work for me. Partially because the story just didn't seem all that compelling, but mostly due to the fact that the majority of the quests took place in a zone that was red on red.

I hate red zones.

Regardless, as a result of the experience I've seen what these rep grinds look like, and surprisingly, they're all different. You're not going to get the same experience doing each, and the quests aren't really very similar between each, either. Some of the reputation grinds are fantastic, and some ... well let's just say they could use some work. But let's take a look at what was hands-down my favorite rep grind and exactly what made it so fantastic to grind out.

The Tillers are a faction of farmers located throughout the Valley of the Four Winds. Most of them have their own farms and locations in the fields, but they will all take turns hanging out at Halfhill Market, which is also where the majority of the Tillers daily quests come from. Right next door to the market is Farmer Yoon and the little piece of farmland that will eventually become your own.

Story and layout

This is the most logical, easily laid out reputation grind in Mists of Pandaria. There is a story reason for you to gain favor with the Tillers, and there's also a really good game mechanic reason, too. Having the ability to grow your own resources is one of those magical things I wish they'd introduced a long time ago. It certainly would have made the days of endless consumables in vanilla a lot easier on raiders! You can grow plants for cooking, or plant special seeds to get materials for any of the other professions out there.

As far as the story goes, poor Farmer Yoon inherited a farm, but he's got little to no idea how to be a farmer. He really wants to succeed, but the Tillers aren't going to make it easy on him. He's going to have to gain favor with several different members of the Tillers organization, and this is something that happens naturally over the course of the reputation grind. Eventually, even grumpy old Haohan Mudclaw comes around, and Yoon gets to be a proper Tiller.

The logic and layout of this reputation grind is flawless. You start out with a small farm that only has four plots of land. You gain reputation in two ways; by completing daily quests for the various Tillers, and by harvesting crops from your farm. When you hit exalted, your farm will have a full 16 plots for you to grow plants in, whether it's crops for cooking, or resources for professions. You can even grow Motes of Harmony if you'd like to!

In addition, each level of reputation will grant you access to tools for your farm. You'll be able to water your plants without having to use a watering can, get rid of bugs with sprayers that will hit your whole field, and when you're exalted, you'll gain access to a plow that will till a whole row of soil at a time. This reputation grind doesn't just have fun rewards, it's also got rewards that are useful. They help with the farming you'll be doing even after you're exalted.

Linked in with the farm are the various characters around Halfhill. Each person has gifts that they like, whether it's food or little trinkets you can find scattered all over Pandaria. Once you're best friends with an individual, they'll send you additional stuff to help with your farm -- and additional trinkets and fun items for you.

The good

Having a farm is incredibly useful for people that want to grow their own food, or get materials for professions without spending hours grinding various mobs for cloth or leather. 16 plots of land isn't going to have you swimming in resources, but it'll give you enough to make items over time. For players that don't have the time to spend grinding mobs, this is a good alternative to hours of grinding -- pick your plants once a day, plant new crops, and come back the next to pick some more. It only takes a few minutes to do.

The dailies are fun, and they rotate often enough that they don't get incredibly boring. All dailies are located in and around Halfhill and the surrounding fields, so travel time is minimal to complete quests. In addition to the dailies, you'll occasionally get other quests to complete, like finding a lost dog who will eventually come live on your farm. It's not necessary to complete the quest, but doing so will give you more reputation, and a new pal for your farm on top of it.

Reputation gain is based on your relationship with people, and the farming you do. The more people like you, the more quests for reputation you get. The more crops you harvest, the more reputation you get. It is interlocked in such a way that as you gain reputation, the rep grind actually seems to get easier -- and that is a welcome relief to anyone that has ever done a rep grind.

But I think my favorite part about this grind is the vivid array of characters you'll encounter as you're leveling your reputation. Each person at Halfhill has a distinct personality. They're all friendly as all get out. And they enjoy seeing you every day, and celebrate your farm's growth right along with you. The character writing for this particular set of reputation was spot on; it really feels like everyone in Halfhill knows each other, like they've been living there for years.

It's that authenticity that really makes the whole thing so charming. It's fun to have a farm, but it was also genuinely fun to help out all of these people. It was fun to gradually make friends with everyone, and it was fun to see my farm get bigger and better over time. I was not expecting to like farming at all. It wasn't even anything I was interested in when it was introduced. But it quickly became my favorite set of dailies to complete, just because the atmosphere was so darn charming.

The not-so-good

The only minor complaint about this faction is the best friends system. It's a neat new feature, but it's never really clearly defined as far as what it gets you in the end. If you don't know the rewards are there from becoming best friends, you'll gloss right over making that journey. And the varied amounts of gifts and people that like them can be downright confusing to new players. Efforts were made to clarify the system, but these efforts were just as muddled as the system itself.

Gina Mudclaw will happily tell you where people live, if you ask her about it. Some people will tell you what kind of gifts they like, if you ask. But there are some, like Ella, who are really vague about what it is they like the most, which leaves you guessing and giving gifts that aren't quite what they'd like. It's frustrating, because you aren't getting the full amount of reputation that you could be getting, and you don't know it because they won't pipe up and just tell you what they want.

You can make food that people will like for more reputation, but you won't ever really know what it is they're after unless you're flying around looking for people to feed. Little Andi does his best to point people in the right direction by offering gift quests, but there's just never really a clear line made from point A to point B. And the sad thing is that you have a shrine on your farm which should be the perfect opportunity to point out who likes what, but all it will tell you is how friendly you happen to be with everyone -- which you can find just as easily by checking your reputation tab.

Why do it?

I really recommend this particular grind to people for a variety of reasons. Having your own farm is incredibly useful. It's a time saver for those that don't have loads of time to spend playing -- and a gold maker for those that just want to sell the fruits of their labor to people that can't be bothered to farm.

But more importantly, the story of Farmer Yoon and his gradual rise to official Tiller is just the sort of lighthearted, heartwarming little tale that this game needed. Every reputation grind we've had to date has been surrounded by some degree of urgency, or some degree of danger. There's no real danger to the Tillers other than a group of obnoxious hozen, and there's no real life-threatening urgency to getting your farm complete.

There's just a nice pandaren guy who'd like to continue his family's legacy and make a living off of a farm, and a community of pandaren who have been farming the land for generations. The Tillers, much like the rest of Mists, are a breath of fresh air in the face of what has been a fairly bleak and oppressing world of gameplay. And while they may not be the most important people in the world, they love their farms, and they love where they live. And I loved helping them out.

Mists of Pandaria is here! The level cap has been raised to 90, many players have returned to Azeroth, and pet battles are taking the world by storm. Keep an eye out for all of the latest news, and check out our comprehensive guide to Mists of Pandaria for everything you'll ever need to know.
Tags: chee-chee, cooking, daily-quest, ella, farm, farm-upgrades, farming, fish-fellreed, gina-mudclaw, halfhill-market, haohan-mudclaw, jogu-the-drunk, lost-dog, mists-of-pandaria, old-hillpaw, reputation, reputation-grind, reputation-rewards, sho, the-tillers, tillers, tina-mudclaw, wow-farming

Filed under: Mists of Pandaria

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