Rep: Sha'tari Skyguard

Finishing up the Last of the Shattrah City Reputations this week we look at the Sha'tari Skyguard. Again like the Shattered Sun Offensive while the Skyguard is CONNECTED to Shattrah City their major base of operations is not located WITHIN the city. Some consider the Sha'tari Skyguard as the "Air Defense" of Shattrah City as they are really just the winged portion of the Sha'tar. However that is not entirely accurate in that the Skyguard really focuses on totally different threats to the city.

Their main base of operations is located in Blackwind Landing just north of Skettis, a mountain valley located in the south east of Terokkar Forrest just above the Alliance outpost of Allerian Stronghold. You will first be sent here via a quest located near the flight path in Shattrah City. One of the major requirements for this reputation is that your character MUST have both the 225 flying skill AND a mount, there is no other access to the quests otherwise.

Once you have completed the introduction quest and are sent to Blackwing landing a few repeatable daily quests will open up to you as well as some grinding repeatable quests and a limited number of lore based quests that will explain a little more of what is going on with the Arakkoa. In addition to this if you happen to have completed certain quests in Ogri'la (The Crystals and Our Boy Wants To Be A Skyguard Ranger) then you will also have access to additional daily quests in the Blade's Edge Mountains area.

This is what makes how quickly you can gain Skyguard reputation so tricky. What daily quests will be available to you will depend on what other reputations and quests you have also completed. So it will take a little research to get things done.

So why go to all this bother with these guys ANYWAY? Pet collectors are after the pet. Mount collectors are after the FIVE epic level flying mounts. And of course those who like reputations enjoy the fact that this is one that can be gained without having to enter a raid or dungeon. While it may take a little more time the cash pay outs over all are not bad.

In the end there are 4 daily quests, 2 that you can pick up at in Terokkar  Escape from Skettis and Fires over Skettis with the other 2 in Blades Edge Bomb them again and Wrangle More Aether Rays. If doing Daily quests just takes to long for you there is also the option of the repeatable More Shadow Dust and if you can get some friends to help you do some of the group quests. As a level 80 you may be able to solo many of them.

Happy Grinding!

Rep: Shattered Sun Offensive

The Shattered Sun Offensive (or SSO) is a group that was added later in the Burning Crusade (patch 2.4.0) as the result of Prince Kael'thas resurrection after his defeat in The Eye. Specifically its is the combined forces of both the Scryers and the Aldor under the direction of the Naaru to deal with Kael's ministrations at the Sunwell Plateau. While this is considered a Shattrah City Reputation due to its forces make up the Offensive's Main base is not located in the city at all.

Instead, the SSO makes its home on the Isle of Quel'Danas, ground zero for its main objective, countering Prince Kael'thas. Getting to the Isle is easy, just take the one way portal from Shattrah located near all the other faction portals. When it was first introduced players had to assist in capturing the various sections of the Island, it is only by gaining complete control by a server that players will gain access to every reputation granting daily.

There are a total of 41 rep giving quests but you will want to concentrate on the 19 different daily ones. Reputation can also be gained by doing dungeon runs in Magisters Terrace, even now it is not difficult to find individuals willing to run the instance on both normal AND heroic modes because of the pet and mount drops. Unlike other factions which require you to reach honored in order to be able to do Heroic mode, Magister's Terrace is unique in that you only need to complete a QUEST chain first. Once that is done you are ATTUNED. No key or reputation level required.

Of all of the Outland reputations this is by far one of the easiest ones to gain quickly. There is even a title you can purchase once you reach exalted if you are truly so inclined. For someone who is leveling a Death Knight and wishing to make cash quickly before heading to Northrend, I would not pass this faction up. One of the nice things about them was they were the introduction of a new method of daily quest concept for Blizzard, the idea of a LARGE HUB of daily quests with a fairly good cash pay out. Not only that, their Tabard was one of the more attractive ones in the game.

Happy Grinding!

Rep: The Sha'tar

One of the most IMPORTANT factions lore wise in Shattrah City is The Sha'tar which means "Born of Light". The Sha'tar are none other than the Naaru who assisted the Draenai from escaping the Burning legion and later the Orcs, now they have helped to rebuild the city and turn it into a place of refuge for many displaced peoples, most notably the Bloodelves who arrived with Voren'thal.

However building reputation with them is no easy feat, even now, both Alliance and Horde players will start out as Neutral with the Sha'tar and can easily get themselves to honored by doing nothing more than gaining reputation with either The Aldor or The Scryer factions via their repeatable signet and mark turn ins. Once you reach this point however your options become much more limited so be sure to pick up your heroic key.

There are only 41 quests total that will give you Sha'tar rep and of those 41, 4 are Horde only and 6 are daily dungeon/heroics. This means that the MAJORITY of your rep can only be gained within the dungeons of  Tempest Keep and Tempest Keep can only be reached via a flying mount. The nice thing is that you can gain reputation in both normal AND heroic modes so a well geared level 80 could conceivably solo an instance like Botanica or Mechanar with little difficulty. Arcatraz on the other hand DOES require a key to enter (or it can be lock picked) which comes at the end of a rather long and involved quest chain. The chain begins with the quest Consortium Crystal Collection and will require completing both Bot and Mec as part of the process.

Happy Grinding!

Rep: Lower City

Last week I mentioned how Shattrah City is the home of the Refugees of Outlands...well Lower City is the REPUTATION of those refugees. Located in the lower most portion of Shattrah , Lower City is actually the outer band and it is here where players will locate the majority of the trainers, vendors, battlemasters, etc.

The largest population of these refugees visually in this area is made up by the Arakkoa or "Bird People". If you are serious about getting this reputation to exalted the best thing you can do before doing ANY other quests that give Lower City Rep is pick up The Outcast's Plight from Vekax. (He is one of the Bird men who that pats up and down the ramps in the Tree house located at the North End of Shattrah.) This will open up a repeatable quest for 30 Arakkoa Feathers which can be done until you reach Honored. These feathers are NOT soul bound so they CAN be purchased off the Auction house or easily farmed.

Once you have reached Honored pick up your heroic key from Nakodu because there are only two options available to you. Quests and Dungeons. While you will find quests for Lower City, there are not many (only 59) and some are seasonal. Others are only occasionally available, and some are faction specific. This means that the MAJORITY of your reputation will have to be obtained in dungeons. Specifically within the Auchenai Crypts, Sethekk Halls and Shadow Labyrinth. Crypts will only give you rep while on Heroic mode after you are honored but Sethekk and Shadow Lab will give rep on both normal AND heroic. Your BEST bet will actually be finding runs for Heroic Sethekk Halls with individuals who are farming Anzu for the mount if you are not level 80 yet.

For those who ARE level 80 and reasonably geared out (with the new system something that is VERY easy to do.) I doubt you would find it difficult to solo Sethekk Halls, even Shadow Labyrinth should be doable if for nothing more than all the trash mobs.

Happy Grinding~

Rep: The Aldor and The Scryers

In the Northwest Corner of Terokkar Forest lays the City of Shattrah. Once the capital city of the Draenai on Draenor it is now a city divided. Many factions call it home and players can spend a great deal of time working to learn all of its nooks and crannies. However two main factions stand at polar opposites in this city and no one can be friendly with both. The Aldor and The Scryers.

With the introduction of the Wrath of the Lich King the importance of these two factions has been greatly diminished. At one point players often agonized over which faction to support based upon shoulder enchants, trade recipes, as well as quest rewards. Today, the major factor which seems to impact individuals is the height of the rises and character race. I want to bring one more element in to the mix: ease of reputation grinding. Now until you have completed the quest City of Light and determined which faction you wish to support you can wander at will on both rises.

The Aldor - Located on the highest tier in Shattrah are the Aldor, an order of Draenai who serve the Naaru. If you are a Draenai player you will start out automatically friendly with this faction. All others (save Bloodelves who are hated) will begin at neutral. The rise is rather spread out so it may take you a bit to locate everything.
Adyen the Lightwarden located almost in the center of Aldor rise has two repeatable quests which can be done until Honored, at level 68 two more will open up, for a total of four. The first two quests involve turning in Marks of Kil'jaeden which drop off the low level demons found in Negrand and Terokkar Forest. These can be turned in groups of 10 for 250 rep or or individually for 25. (If you are a human do it individually to take advantage of the human racial, all others do the by 10.) It will take you about 240 Marks to get you to Honored. At Level 68 you can begin turning in Marks of Sargeras which come from the higher level demons, some great places to farm these are Death's Door and the Forge Camps in Blade's Edge Mountains or Near the gate on the Isle of Quel'Danas.

Once you have reached Honored if you haven't also reached level 68 you may want to start turning in any Fel Armaments you have gotten to Ishanah the High Priestess of the Aldor located just inside the main temple. These can actually be turned in at any time and will give you Holy Dust which is used to purchase the various shoulder enchants. Fel Armaments give 350 Rep per turn in. A nice place to farm Armaments is Twilight Ridge in Nagrand.

The Scryers - Located on the opposite side of Shattrath on a lower rise are the Scryers. This is the direction that most individuals will go when it comes to choosing between the two of these factions. Why? If you miss the elevator the fall GENERALLY won't kill you. In addition to that, it is just a MUCH easier faction to grind and, well lets be honest here...their rise is just a whole lot more attractive.

So who are these skinny guys anyway? The Scryers are a bunch of Bloodelves who USE to work for Illidan and Kael'thas but who realized that their leaders were just plain crazy and when they were sent to attack Shattrath instead defected to the Naaru. Understandably The Aldor don't trust them a bit and the Scryers really don't have any use for the Aldor either. But they both play nice because the Naaru say they have to.

Just as the Aldor, the Scryers have a similar reputation building system. Bloodelf players automatically will start off friendly, Draeni players hated, all others neutral. Magistrix Fyalenn will take Firewing Signets until players hit honored, these can be easily farmed in either Terokkar Forest or Netherstorm off of the low level Firewings. Once you reach level 68 you can start turning in Sunfury Signets. These drop off the Sunfurys which can be located in Netherstorm, Shadowmoon Valley, or my personal favorite the Isle of Quel'Danas. What makes this easier than Aldor is that the Firewings and Sunfurys ALSO drop the Arcane Tomes which can be turned in at any time for reputation to Voren'thal the Seer.

Of course you can always purchase these items on the Auction House if wish but why waste the money?

Now all I have mentioned so far is the turn in repeatable quests, there are also faction SPECIFIC quests you can do that will gain you reputation as well. Most find it best if reputation grinding is the goal to focus on getting to honored FIRST before working on these quests. Again the Scryers come out ahead in this area in that they have 49 faction specific quests verse Aldor's 46. Just to reiterate, there is no right or wrong faction here, it all comes down to personal preference but you can not have both on the same character though you CAN change factions, at this point in time it really is not worth the bother.

Happy Grinding!