Archive for November 20th, 2008:
Welcome to my 100th blog post! As always, thanks for reading, and for this great occasion, I’ve done some extra legwork. 
WotLK has brought us many factions, offering rewards. I’ll try to take a look at rewards to help me decide what reputation to grind first, and hopefully that’ll help you readers too. I can’t really make any weighted decision yet as I don’t know what else is available per crafting and drops yet, so take this as what it is: an overview of faction rewards.
Update:
Horde Expedition/Alliance Vanguard:
I neglected to post the rewards in my first version, so here we go, added!
The faction reputation has a bit of a twist to it. You have four different factions per side, and every quest you do for one of the four factions scores you half the rep towards Horde Expedition or Alliance Vanguard. You poison some stuff for the Hand of Vengeance for 250 rep, and your reputation with the Horde Expedition rises by 125. Interesting mechanism.
Anyway, what does that all gain us as tank?
Bulwark of the Warchief / Shield of the Lion-hearted
Same stats, different name, and a lazy model alliance-side. Horde clearly wins again. 
For this shield you need to be Revered, which should be easily attainable just from questing. I really like the expertise of the shield.
Argent Crusade:
The Argent Crusade has its quartermaster at the Argent Vanguard in Icecrown. Once you’re friendly with them, you can pick up their tabard to start the reputation grind via championing in level 80 instances.
- Special Issue Legplates - Available at Honored. Very solid piece with boatloads of def and hit. Reaching the new defcap of 540 won’t be quite that easy, so this will help.
- Arcanum of the Stalwart Protector - Available at Revered. This is going to be the head enchant of choice to get us capped, methinks.
And that’s it, so our target goal for Argent Crusade is a minimum of Revered.
Frenzyheart Tribe vs The Oracles:
This is WotLK’s version of Aldor and Scryers, on a smaller scale, I guess. Both factions live in Sholazar Basin, either you side with the wolvar or the gorlocs. If you go with cuddly widdle wolvar, Frenzyheart rewards is what you’re looking for.
- Giant-Sized Gauntlets - available at Revered. Dodge and hit, so avoidance and threat stats, but no defense. Still, not a bad choice.
- Stolen Vrykul Harpoon - available at Revered. While we get Heroic Throw at 80, it’ll still have a cooldown, and besides we need nice stats to fill that slot for us anyway. This thrown weapon seems to be catering to rogues primarily, but I also wouldn’t say no to it.
What do the toothy gorlocs of the Oracles have to offer, in comparison?
Absolutely nothing. None of the faction rewards does anything for protection warriors.
The Kalu’ak:
Our roly-poly Tuskarr friends are mostly known for their fishing pole of OP-ness and their penguin pet, but do they also have tanky goodness?
- Ivory-Reinforced Chestguard - available at Honored. This is available at level 76, so this might give you a jumpstart when it comes to the def-race. Not bad at all, and very easy to get.
Kirin Tor:
Does this faction of mages have anything to offer for us? Their quartermaster is Archmage Alvareaux in Dalaran.
- Fireproven Gauntlets - Pretty nice stuff. Worth the grind to Exalted? I can’t tell you for sure yet.
And that’s it, so don’t expect too much from guys in purple dresses.
Knights of the Ebon Blade:
Renegade death knights with a hold in Icecrown sounds a bit more promising than guys in purple dresses, so let’s see.
- Toxin-Tempered Sabatons - available at Honored. Promising start, very nice boots, I dig. (Update: not sure why I made a booboo here and typed shoulders. It’s because I have this weird thing about shoulders. Thanks Adraxis and Pyroshen for pointing me towards it!)
However, that’s all that’s notable for me as protection warrior, which is a bit of a let-down.
The Sons of Hodir:
Based in Stormpeaks, this faction of giants looks like it’s going to be everyone’s ticket to shoulder enchants.
- Lesser Inscription of the Pinnacle - available at Honored. This is the same shoulder enchant you were able to buy at Exalted from the Aldor, so not a bad start.
- Greater Inscription of the Pinnacle - available at Exalted.
Again, that’s it, aside from two mammoth mounts. I want a mammoth.
Wyrmrest Accord:
- Cloak of Peaceful Resolutions - available at Honored. Very ironic name, fancy cloak to wear when you smack things with your shield.
- Breastplate of the Solemn Council - available at Revered. That’s what I am talking about.
- Sabatons of Draconic Vigor - available at Revered. Again, great stats, tons of defense, pushing us to the cap.
And that’s it for the neutral factions. I personally will go for Wyrmrest Accord first, followed by Argent Crusade and chasing it with Sons of Hodir.
See also:
