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Ever since World of
Warcraft: The Burning Crusade
there has been a heavy
amount of focus and dedication to reputations. With the expansion WoW:
Wrath of the Lich King it continues to be a big focus for players who
are gearing up or are in need of some of the powerful loot or enchants
a reputation offers.



There is a large variety of reputations in Northrend and the Mage can
benefit greatly from many of them. In the gearing up section there is a
lot of +hit gear that can be obtained from reputation vendors and a lot
of shoulder/head enchants are available as well. Leveling up some
reputations are even easier as a Mage. For instance, Mages start out
friendly with the Kirin Tor.



Reputation –
What is it?



We can talk highly of reputation all day long but that
isn’t going to explain what it is. If you’re new to
the game then relax. Reputations only start coming into play at 70 and
even then you can play until 80 without worrying too much about them.
Reputation as a word is used in a weird way. When we talk about
“reputations” we talk more along the lines of your
faction with the various groups and organizations that have a
reputation stat attached to them.



For instance, in Outland you’ll find doing quests will
increase your reputation with Thrallmar or Honor Hold (depending if
you’re Horde or Alliance). You’ll get a nice little
message saying that “Your reputation has increased by 150
points with Honor Hold”. These points act like experience to
“level up” your reputation with that faction. There
are many levels and each level determines what you can do.



There is a lot more to it, but we’re only focusing on the
friendly reputations that have loot to sell us for the various levels.
There are a total of 8 levels ranging from Hated to Exalted.
You’ll start out Neutral with most of the factions talked
about here. As you level up you can reach Friendly, Honored, Revered,
and Exalted. Revered and Exalted are the points where you’ll
get that factions best gear. You’ll need 3,000 points to go
from Neutral to Friendly, 6,000 to go from Friendly to
Honored, 12,000 for Honored to Revered, and 21,000 to go from
Revered to Exalted.



Reputation is gained by doing quests for a faction or
“championing” their cause. You can purchase tabards
from some factions (we’ll tell you which ones,
don’t worry) that will allow you to gain reputation for their
faction in level 80 heroic instances.



Now that we know what it is, let’s start talking about what
it can get us. Loot and Enchants.



Kirin Tor



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src="http://www.tentonhammer.com/image/view/65804">As a Mage
you’ll start out friendly with the Kirin Tor and end up
Honored by the time you’re done questing through Dragonblight
(most likely, anyway). They are a hard faction to level up with so
that’s a big bonus! That’s especially good since
they contain one of the best pre-raid weapons for a Mage. Not only
that, but they have the best Arcanum that a Mage can get as well.



First let’s talk getting your reputation up with these wacky
Mages flying around in their floating city. A good deal of reputation
will come from doing quests in Borean Tundra, Dragonblight, Coldarra
and within their city of Dalaran. Outside of their quests there are two
dungeon dailies available outside of the Violet Hold. Archmage
Lan’dalock gives the heroic daily which lands you with 75
Kirin Tor reputation and Archmage Timear gives a normal dungeon daily
which hands out a token for 250 reputation with the Kirin Tor (if you
choose). So running the regular and heroic dungeon daily will land you
with 325 points a day. There is a Jewelcrafting and Cooking daily
available as well that gives 75 and a 150 reputation respectively.



This is also a reputation you can champion for. Once you reach friendly
you can
obtain a tabard and champion their cause.



Now on to the good stuff. They have the following Mage-tastic items
available:
  • Shroud
    of Dedicated Research (Cloak) [Honored]

    28 Stamina, 29 Intellect, 38 haste rating, 46 spell power
  • Arcanum of Burning Mysteries (Arcanum – Head
    Enchant) [Revered]

    30 spell power, 20 critical strike rating
  • Flameheart Spell Scalpel (Dagger) [Revered]

    28 Stamina, 33 Intellect, 34 hit rating (big one), 25 critical strike,
    355 spell power

    One of, if not the
    best pre-raid one-handed Mage weapon.
  • Robes of Crackling Flame (Chest/Robe) [Exalted]

    66 Stamina, 73 Intellect, 42 haste rating, 104 spell power, 26MP5

    More of a healer
    robe, but it is applicable to a Mage.

Horde Expedition /
Alliance Vanguard




This is an
easy reputation to gain. If you do any of the quests for the main
storyline factions like the Explorer’s League or The Warsong
Offensive then you’ll get a little bit of rep with
these guys. If you don’t wear a tabard in a heroic instance
then you’ll get reputation with these guys as well. So
it’s not hard to get your rep up. Although, there
isn’t a point in farming it since the loot isn’t
all that great except when leveling up.



Let’s talk rewards:

  • Charged Wand of the Cleft (Wand) (Horde) | Gnomish
    Magician’s Quill (Alliance) [Revered]

    18 Intellect, 17 Spirit, 20 spell power

    Not anything
    special, more of a early healer wand, but does work for a Mage.

  • Darkspear Orb (Off-hand) (Horde) | Orb of the Eastern Kingdoms
    (Alliance) [Revered]

    44 Stamina, 31 haste rating, 34 spell power

style="font-weight: bold;">Argent Crusade



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There
are three ways to get reputation with these crusaders for the light.
The first is the large number of quests that you can do in
Zul’drak and Icecrown. The second is the daily quests
Pa’Troll which lands you 350 reputation (with an additional
500 if you’re done in 20 minutes) and Slaves to Saronite in
Icecrown for another 250. The third is by championing their cause.
Right, simple enough! Loot time.

  • Purifying Torch (Wand) [Revered]

    21 Stamina, 8MP5, 26 spell power

    Another healer item
    that can be used by a Mage if there isn’t anything better at
    the time.

  • Signet of Hopeful Light (Ring) [Exalted]

    42 Stamina, 50 Intellect, 26 haste rating, 58 spell power



Frenzyheart and the
Oracles




I can’t honestly recommend any loot from these two cuddly
factions. While there is a Wand that the Oracles have (and you
don’t, until you’re good enough friends!) that is
somewhat ok, there still is a 8 day wait to get it. If you want the
Mage loot, the Oracles have a 31 stamina, 16 critical strike, 26 spell
power wand if you plan on grinding up for the mysterious egg for the
non-combat pets.



Kalu’ak



The loveable Tuskarr who have some odd daily quests have a
ton of quests for their faction and 3 dailies clocking in at 500
reputation each. You can’t champion for them, but you can
take some ok loot honored.

  • Turtle-Minders Robe (Robe) [Honored]

    55 Stamina, 56 Intellect, 38 hit rating, 66 spell power

    The crafted
    Ebonweave Robe has the same stats, but way more of them. If
    you’re looking for an item like this consider this item as
    something to hold you off until then.



Knights of the Ebon Blade



Ah Death Knights, the Mage’s worst enemy (in theory anyway).
You’ve got to help take the Shadow Vault before you can do
their dailies (it’s a quest line in Icecrown) and each of
their six daily quests give 250 reputation. You can also champion them.
You might start out at Neutral but it’s not a hard reputation
to get up.

  • Dark Soldier Cape (Cloak) [Honored]

    28 Stamina, 38 Intellect, 29 hit rating, 46 spell power
  • Belt of Dark mending (Waist) [Exalted]

    64 Stamina, 50 Intellect, 55 haste rating, 77 spell power



Wyrmrest Accord



At Wrymrest Temple you can do quests, do three dailies, or get a tabard
at friendly to champion their cause in level 80 heroic instances. A
pretty easy reputation, even if the black dragonflight is aligned to it.

  • Sash of the Wizened Wrym (Waist) [Honored]

    37 Stamina, 51 Intellect, 40 hit rating, 60 spell power

    Getting to honored
    isn’t hard at all and this is an amazing item.
  • Sandals
    of Crimson Fury (Feet) [Revered]

    49 Stamina, 50 Intellect, 51 haste rating, 77 spell power, blue socket
    w/ 4 int bonus



Sons of Hodir



It takes over 10 days to get exalted with the Sons of Hodir but
it’s worth it for the shoulder enchants. There is just one
you want called the Greater Inscription of the Storm which adds 24
spell power and 15 critical strike to a shoulder item.



Oh, I got ahead of myself didn’t I! To get friendly with
these angry dudes you’ll need to start the quest line with
They Took Our Men! in K3 (Storm Peaks) which will bring you up to
friendly with them. At which point you can do dailies to get your
reputation up. As a small note, the blue (superior) shoulder enchants
are as good as the superior shoulder enchants from The Burning Crusade.



Well that’s all of the factions and all of the great Mage
loot available from them! If you’ve got anything to add be
sure to come on over to our forums and chat about it!




To read the latest guides, news, and features you can visit our World of Warcraft Game Page.

Last Updated: Mar 13, 2016

About The Author

Get in the bush with David "Xerin" Piner as he leverages his spectacular insanity to ask the serious questions such as is Master Yi and Illidan the same person? What's for dinner? What are ways to elevate your gaming experience? David's column, Respawn, is updated near daily with some of the coolest things you'll read online, while David tackles ways to improve the game experience across the board with various hype guides to cool games.

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