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Tuesday, December 7, 2010

Random Thoughts

          Every once in a while, I'll write a post with all of the ideas I've had for the past few days but have been too small for their own post. This one in particular will cover the new SFK, new Hillsbrad and Desolace impressions, low level mana issues, and Wild Mushroom.

Wednesday, December 1, 2010

Cataclysm- The Death of Rep Grinds?


         We all know the long, rewarding rep grinds of Vanilla, Wrath and BC- Wintersaber Trainers, Kurenai, Skyguard, Zandalar, Oracles and more- Sure, most of the time they weren't integral to progression, but for many they supplied must-have mounts, pets, and 'fun' items, or even just status symbols like Timbermaw or Hydraxxian grinds. After weeks or even months of daily and turnin farming, it was a great achievement to finally get to the end of Exalted. It took a special breed of person to dedicate so many hours to farming, but in Wrath, it all changed.

         WotLK saw the introduction of Rep Tabards. These tabards allowed us to build up reputation towards a faction by killing- well, anything. As soon as you got to Friendly, you popped the tabard into your slot and essentially forgot about it until you saw the green sparklies pop up around your character. While it wasn't a huge blow to rep farmers, as we still had the new Tuskarr, Sons and Oracles/Frenzyheart reps to do, it did make every other faction of the expansion a joke- While-you-wait rep trickles that built up as every player did what they always did. Motivation and dedication was a thing of the past.

        With the introduction of Cataclysm, I had hoped that there would be several things; reps worth grinding, not for gear but for fun stuff like interesting recipes, pets, trinkets, and mounts, and I wanted something difficult. I wanted something to do that would give me the ol' rush like Sha'tari Skyguard or Netherwing did. When the Ramkahen and Guardians of Hyjal were released, I was incredibly excited- but now we know that not only a few, but every single solitary reputation in Cataclysm has a rep tabard, and what's more is that only one awards a vanity item in the form of the Riding Camel. I'm excited for the Camels, but... They're the only non-gear rep reward in the expansion. Not to mention they're so easy to get everyone will have them. Even past the new factions, even the old City factions now have rep Tabards. So yet another achievement (Ambassador) that means nothing anymore. I have also noticed there isn't a single recipie for sale, so I'm left wondering how we are going to get rare recipies.

           Perhaps the most interesting development in all of this is that Blizzard seems to make up for this in terms of PvP rewards, which isn't exactly my idea of a farmable reputation. I don't generally PvP myself, it's not really my thing, so... While it's all fine and good that the PvPers get some (very) cool goodies, it begs the question why rep farmers have been left in the dust. Blizzard also seems to be making up for this in terms of Guild rewards, a system, while cool, can be clunky for the average player and once again doesn't count as factions.

Let's see the rundown of rewards per faction after the jump, shall we?