alt="" src="http://www.tentonhammer.com/image/view/234298">

The Tillers are one of the factions that were introduced in Mists of Pandaria, the newest World of Warcraft expansion. Heading up Pandaria's agricultural faction, the Tillers make their home in the most fertile portion of the Valley of the Four Winds in a town called Halfhill. Currently there are three distinct activities that players can participate in regarding the Tillers:

Farming

The Tillers are a very unique faction in that they allow the player to farm a plot of land (Sunsong Ranch). Here players can plant their own crops, improve the farm, and even eventually earn the right to call the farm their own. Farming Sunsong ranch is not about earning reputation with the Tillers, although some quests related to the farm do earn favor, Sunsong Ranch is all about the joy of farming. Farming on the ranch requires the player to at least reach level 85.

Friendship

style="padding: 5px; float: right; width: 250px; text-align: center;"> href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/234299" target="_blank"> src="http://www.tentonhammer.com/image/view/234299/preview"
width="245">Tilling
Untilled Soil is the first step in the
farming process.

The Tillers sports 10
individual members that players will need to interact with and earn
friendship with. This friendship is tracked separately from the faction
as a whole. Gaining friendship with each member can be done by digging
up gifts and delivering them, bringing the member his or her favorite
dish (limited to once a day), or completing a quest given to you by
that member. Most duties that earn friendship do not reward Tillers
reputation. Requires level 90.

Daily
Quests

Daily Quests for the Tillers
faction take place in Halfhill. These Daily Quests reward reputation
for the entire faction as well as the member of the faction that the
quest ends at. Daily Quests for the Tillers require level 90.

Cultivating Sunsong Ranch

To begin your farming adventures you will need to first seek out Farmer Yoon who can be found in Halfhill at a tiny farm known as Sunsong Ranch. If you are level 85 or higher, Farmer Yoon will offer you a quest that will begin your initiation into the world of farming. A breadcrumb quest leading to Farmer Yoon can be found in the Vale of Eternal Blossoms at your character's faction hub. Both the initial quest from Farmer Yoon and the breadcrumb quest require the player to have reached level 85. No matter how you start it, the quests from Farmer Yoon will provide you with the basics of farming; tilling, planting, tending, and harvesting.

Buying Seeds

Seeds of the vegetable, Blossom Tree, and special variety can be purchased from Merchant Greenfield who is located in Halfhill Market. Seeds can be purchased for a few silver or gold a piece. As more reputation is earned with the Tillers, more seed types will become available. Seeds can stack up to 50 in your bags making transporting them easier than ever. As you earn Friendship and reach Best Friends rank with some of the Tiller's, they may send you gifts of free seeds that will show up in your mailbox. Seeds can also sometimes be harvested from grown crops.

style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-weight: bold;">Seed Bags

Also available from Merchant Greenfield are two types of Seed Bags. While not a necessary investment, Seed Bags are useful if you are planning on planting large amounts of crops (30 or more). Not only do they make planting faster, but they can actually be cheaper than buying the equivalent volume of seeds. Instead of paying cash to Merchant Greenfield, you can also choose to purchase Seed Bags from his assistant, Milly Greenfield, for the price of 30 of the seed type which the bag will plant.

style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-weight: bold;">Unusual
Seeds

  • style="font-style: italic;">Ominous Seed
    – These seeds are very
    uncommon and can only be occasionally harvested alongside a vegetable
    crop. These seeds can be replanted and will produce a Terrible Turnip
    minipet.
  • style="font-style: italic;">Unstable Portal Shard
    – Introduced in
    Patch 5.1, these seeds are sold by Barnaby Fletcher who can sometimes
    be found at the Halfill Market. Costing 3 gold each, these seeds
    require you first complete a short quest chain from Merchant
    Greenfield that is only available to those Revered with the Tiller
    faction. Portal Shards should be planted like
    normal seeds, however, tending the newly planted Shard can be
    hazardous as it causes a level 90 Rift Stalker to appear. After
    defeating the Rift Stalker, Portal Shards grow just like any other
    plant. Harvesting the plant will grant a city-specfic portal shard
    according to your faction. Which city your shard is attuned to is
    totally random. Shards can only be used once and can only be used on
    Sunsong Ranch.


Tilling the
Earth
style="padding: 5px; float: right; width: 250px; text-align: center;"> href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/234297" target="_blank"> src="http://www.tentonhammer.com/image/view/234297/preview"
width="245">Parched
crops require you
to water them.

To till you will need to return
to Sunsong Ranch and till one of the Untilled Soil patches. To do this
simply click the soil. Your farm will start out with 4 such patches,
each of which can grow one crop per day.

Planting Seeds

To plant a seed you must target
one of the soil patches you have tilled. Once targeted you must use
(click) a seed in your inventory, thus planting it.

Tending Crops

You can’t expect your
newly planted crops to just grow…they are going to need some
TLC. How you tend each crop will depend on the type it is. Crops can
either be Alluring, Infested, Parched, Runty, Smothered, Tangled,
Wiggling, or Wild. Below you will find a brief description on what each
of these labels requires:

  • style="font-style: italic;">Alluring
    - Defend your crop against angry Planshawk that will appear when the
    crop is interacted with.
  • style="font-style: italic;">Infested
    - Use the Vintage Bug Sprayer that can be found on the ground near the
    hut on the crop.
  • style="font-style: italic;">Parched
    - Use the Rusty Water Can gained from the initial quests on the crop.
  • style="font-style: italic;">Runty -
    Interact with the crop and then jump using the spacebar.
  • style="font-style: italic;">Smothered
    - Use the “Pull” ability that is gained once the
    player interacts with the crop.
  • style="font-style: italic;">Tangled
    - Grab hold of the tangle vines that have appeard and run at least 15
    yards away from the crop.
  • style="font-style: italic;">Wiggling -
    Defend the crop against angry Virmen that appear when the crop is
    interacted with.
  • style="font-style: italic;">Wild
    - Build up fifty stacks of Dominance using the
    “Flex” ability. Use Gnaw to interrupt attacks. Both
    abilities are gained when interacting with the crop.

Each of these actions is either a super quick mini-game or requires the use of one of the various tools found lying about the farm. Can't find a tool? If you cannot find a tool on the ground, it is most likely already in your inventory.

Harvesting
Crops
style="padding: 5px; float: right; width: 250px; text-align: center;"> href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/234296" target="_blank"> src="http://www.tentonhammer.com/image/view/234296/preview"
width="245">Merchent
Greenpaw sells all the seeds you need
to have a thriving farm.

Crops will typically take about
1 full day to change from Growing to Ripe. Different soil patches may
grow at different rates and times. Don't worry about not knowing when
your
plants will be ready to harvest, as of Patch 5.1 the duration is
displayed for every plant. Once the crop has reached maturity
you may harvest it by clicking on it. Sometimes , there is an extra
step needed after harvesting as the soil can take on two varied states
that will prevent you from tilling until they are remedied. The two
states are:

  • Occupied - Kill all Virmen
    living in the ground.
  • Stubborn - Use the
    “Pull” ability.

You are now ready to begin the
process anew.

Upgrading Sunsong Ranch

As you grow more fond of
farming, you may decide that you want to upgrade your farm. Thankfully
Blizzard foresaw this want and offers up three methods to do it:

Tillers
Union Quests

Taking on the Tillers Union
Quests will lead you on a long questing journey to convince various
members of the Tillers to let you farm. As you convince each member you
will increase the size of your farm, adding extra patches of soil that
can then be used to grow additional crops. Players may have up to 16
soil patches. Tillers Union Quests unlock as you earn reputation with
the faction. All of these quests will begin with Farmer Yoon and will
require the player to be level 90. A listing of the quests can be found
below:

  • Gina Mudclaw’s Vote
  • Gai Lan’s
    Improvement
  • Mung-Mung’s Vote
  • Fish Fellreed’s
    Improvement
  • Farmer Fung’s Vote
  • Nana Mudclaw’s Vote
  • Haohan Mudclaw’s
    Vote
  • Haohan Mudclaw’s
    Finale
  • Haohan Mudclaw’s
    Improvement

Farm
Machinery

After completing some of the
Tillers Union Quests described above, you will be able to purchase 3
types of farm machinery from a vendor named Gina Mudclaw. Gina also
doles out her own quests to earn reputation with both her and the
Tillers and is also the vendor who is responsible for selling Riding
Goats. Each piece of machinery sells for roughly 100g. The three pieces
of machinery are as follows:

style="font-style: italic;">Jinyu Princess
- Large silver barrels of
water are added to one end of each set of 8 soil patches. Each barrel
contains a sprinker which can be activated to douse all 8 patches with
water at the same time. This instantly tends any Parched crops.

style="font-style: italic;">Thunder Keg
- Adds a small device to the center of both sets of 8 soil patches.
Activating the Thunder Keg causes it to surge energy that instantly
tends any Infested Crops.

style="font-style: italic;">Earth -Slasher
- Adds a plough to Sunsong Ranch. This can be picked up and placed in
the player’s bags. To use position your character at the end
of one row of 4 soil patches, then use the plow to push it over all 4.
This will till any untilled soil. When using the Earth-Slasher over “Occupied” soil patches, Virmen residing there will emerge stunned and at 30% health. Pretty handy!

To install the machinery you
simply start the item’s quest and speak with Farmer Yoon. If
the changes are not visible, leave your farm and then return. If the
first two of these items are actually worth the cost is up for debate,
as they only are useful on a certain type of growing plant.

Best
Friends

As mentioned above, and
described in more detail below, you can earn friendship with various
members of the Tillers. The top status of friendship is “Best
Friend” As you earn this status with each of the members they
will automatically make small, mostly cosmetic improvements to the farm.

Lost
Dog

What is a farm without a dog?
Not much of a farm I would say. Besides the three main methods of
improving your farm mentioned above, players may also opt to gain
themselves a furry companion to roam their farms. To do this they must
travel to the south center of the Heartlands, just west of Halfhill.
Here, if you are lucky, you will find a Lost Dog with a quest. The
quest will ask you to find 20 Tasty T-Bones that can be obtained from
Mushan in the Skyrange (requires personal flight to get to). When the
quest is complete the dog will run to Sunsong Ranch as a level 90
“Dog” and take his place beside Farmer Yoon.

Tillers Friendship

style="padding: 5px; float: right; width: 250px; text-align: center;"> href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/234294" target="_blank"> src="http://www.tentonhammer.com/image/view/234294/preview"
width="245">Collect
gifts from Dark Soil and use them to
earn friendship with select
Tillers members.

Players can earn friendship
with 10 special members of the Tillers. Friendship is earned
individually and is totally separate from the Tillers faction
reputation. Current friendship is shown by a progress bar next to a
heart, which is displayed at the top of any dialog box you open with
any of these 10 members, as well as at the Tillers Shrine in Sunsong
Ranch. Friendship progresses upwards from 0 to 42,999, through a series
of five ranks, with the sixth rank gained at 42,000. The ranks progress
as follows: Stranger, Acquaintance, Buddy, Friend, Good Friend, Best
Friend.

There are currently three
methods to earn reputation with these 10 Tillers, all of which require
the player to be level 90:

Favorite Foods

Nothing makes friends faster
than a good meal. Using this method players must deliver 5 of the
member’s favorite meal to them. This can be completed once a
day. Friends quests for meals will only be offered if you actually have
5 of the needed dish in your inventory. All required dishes can be
cooked. 

Gifts of Friendship

If food isn’t enough,
you can also bribe er…win over these members by giving them
gifts. Each member has his or her favorite type of gift. These gifts
may be found inside Dark Soil, which appears randomly across the
Tillers land. Handing in gifts appears to be unlimited,
however, gifts
are sometimes difficult and time consuming to find so exploring other
options for friendship will likely be necessary. These gifts bind to
your character when picked up so they cannot be traded. All friends
will accept gifts, even ones they don't like, it is up to you to
deliver the right gift to the right friend. Delivering the preferred
gift will earn more reputation.

To give an extra helping hand
when it comes to food and gifts below you will find a listing of the 10
Tillers friends and their favorite foods and gifts:

style="width: 600px; text-align: left; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"
border="1" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="2">
style="text-align: center; font-weight: bold;">Friend style="text-align: center; font-weight: bold;">Favorite
Meal style="text-align: center; font-weight: bold;">Perfect
Gift Tina
Mudclaw Fire
Spirit Salmon Ruby
Shard Sho Eternal
Blossom Fish Lovely
Apple Chee
Chee Valley
Stir Fry Blue
Feather Ella Shrimp
Dumplings Jade
Cat Farmer
Fung Wildfowl
Roast Marsh
Lily Gina
Mudclaw Swirling
Mist Soup Marsh
Lily Old
Hillpaw Braised
Turtle Blue
Feather Jogu
the Drunk Sauteed
Carrots Lovely
Apple Haohan
Mudclaw Charbroiled
Tiger Steak Ruby
Shard Fish
Fellreed Twin
Fish Platter Jade
Cat
Friendship Quests

In addition to giving food and
gifts friends may offer up quests to earn their favor. Friendship gains
from these quests are huge, coming in at around 2,000-4,000 friendship.
There are three types of extra quests, although not every friend offers
all types of quest:

style="font-style: italic;">Daily Quests
- These end at the friend that you will earn friendship with and are
also Tillers daily quests. Most of these quests are only available
occasionally.

style="font-style: italic;">Regular Quests
- These can only be completed once and unlock when you reach a certain
rank of friendship.

style="font-style: italic;">World Drop Quests
- These start from objects you find in the wide world of Pandaria and
will end at one friend. This is the friend you will earn reputation
with. Examples are: Beautiful Brooch, Exquisite Earring, and Nice
Necklace. These world drops
are bound to your character and cannot be traded.

Friendship Rewards

As mentioned previously, making
friends with these 10 Tillers has its benefits. Each friend will offer
you their personal touch as a reward:

  • Chee Chee - Adds 4 Farm
    Sheep to your farm. Mails a Goodie Bag.
  • Ella - Adds a cat named Luna
    to your farm. Mails a Tree Seed Pack.
  • Farmer Fund - Adds a Yak
    named Shaggy to your farm. Mails an Enigma Seed.
  • Fish Fellreed - Adds 3 Pigs
    to your farm. Mails a Special Seed Pack.
  • Gina Mudclaw - Adds a
    Mailbox to your farm. Mails a Celebration Gift.
  • Haohan Mudclaw - Adds a
    Mushan named Miss Fifi to your farm. Mails 3 Songbell Seeds.
  • Jogu the Drunk - No longer
    charges to make predictions about the next days crops. Mails drinks.
  • Old Hill paw - Adds Chickens
    to your farm. Mails a Straw Hat.
  • Sho - Adds an orange tree to
    your farm. Mails a Chirping Package.
  • Tina Mudclaw - Adds
    furniture to your farm’s hut. Mails cooked food.

Besides these rewards players
will also earn an achievement for becoming Best Friends with any one of
the Tillers friends, and another for becoming Best Friends with all 10
of the Tillers friends.

Owning Sunsong Ranch


As of Patch 5.2, Sunsong Ranch can be owned by you! Once you have completed the questline associated with the Tiller's Union and have all 16 plots unlocked for use, seek out Nana Mudclaw who will have the quest “Inherit the Earth” available. This quest will send you to Farmer Yoon to convince him to take up a new position with the Tiller's Union. Once Farmer Yoon relents, he will gift the farm to you....for free! Owning Sunsong Ranch unlocks Work Orders; daily quests that grant reputation with a range of Pandarian factions.

Tillers Daily Quests

The Daily Quests for the
Tillers unlock only after the initial Sunsong Ranch quests have been
completed. Players will find they will be at Honored reputation at the
end of the introductory Sunsong Ranch quests. All Daily Quests begin
from quest-givers found in Halfhill. Daily Quests are the best
repeatable way to earn reputation with this faction besides harvesting
crops. There are currently five separate Tillers Daily Quests available
and all require level 90. More Daily Quests may become active after the
official launch of Mists of Pandaria.

Besides the regular Daily
Quests mentioned above, the Tillers also offer a Cooking Daily. This
quest comes from one of the Cooking Way Trainers found inside Halfhill
Market. When complete this daily will reward the player with 1 cooking
skill point, 1 Lesser Charm of Good Fortune, 1 Ironpaw Token, and 5
Valor Points, but no reputation bonuses.

Earning Reputation Faster

There are a few ways to gain reputation faster than normal with factions in Pandaria that can help you save time in the game.

src="http://www.tentonhammer.com/image/view/250216" alt="Grand Commendation"
style="border: 0px solid ; width: 250px;">

Earn Reputation in half the time!

The first way to gain reputation faster requires you to be working on reputation with any secondary characters that you have (or a primary that is at least revered). Once one character gets to revered with a faction you gain the ability to purchase an item from them called a Grand Commendation. This item allows you to earn double reputation with that faction on this and all other characters that you have. It is an awesome speed boost to earning rep, and one that you should make sure you grab as soon as you hit revered with each faction. It cuts that last 21,000 reputation required to get to Exalted down to half. The fact that it speeds up all other characters sure doesn't hurt either.

The second way to earn reputation faster is to champion a faction while running LFG dungeon runs and scenarios each day. This feature was added into the game with Patch 5.2. This feature is especially handy if you have gotten sick of doing dailies for various factions. You can select a faction to champion and you will get 200 reputation with them for the first scenario you complete each day and 300 reputation with them for the first LFG random dungeon that you run each day. Over time this 500 points each day really adds up. If you team this up with a character that already has a Grand Commendation, it means you can get from revered to exalted in 10 days just with scenario and dungeon runs. Not to shabby.

src="http://www.tentonhammer.com/image/view/250217"
width="600" alt="operation shieldwall ring">
You can tell which reputation you will earn in scenarios and dungeons by which star is filled in, and which factions you are earning double reputation with by the bars that have the arrows on them.

Comments

Do you have any other helpful
information to share about the Tillers? Please feel free to share it
with us and the rest of the Ten Ton Hammer community in the comments
section below!


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Last Updated: Mar 29, 2016

About The Author

Amunet, also fondly known as Memtron, is an organic life form best known for its ongoing obsession with Blizzard Entertainment's numerous properties. To that end, Amu has authored hundreds (thousands?) of the most popular World of Warcraft guides, editorials, and Top 10 lists on the planet. When not gaming and writing, Amu is busy chasing after her three children in a perpetual loop of ongoing disaster.

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