Guides – Darkmoon Faire
What is the Darkmoon Faire?
The Darkmoon Faire is a traveling carnival that roams about Azeroth and Outland. On the first Friday of each month it arrives in either Elwynn Forest, Mulgore or Terokkar Forest and begins to set up camp. A few days later the setting up completes and the Faire is then open for business for a whole week.
There’s a whole bunch of different amusements at the Faire but since this guide is about getting your reputation to exalted I won’t go into those in details. Check out the ‘Links and Other Resources’ section at the end of this guide for some links to further reading if you’re mainly just interested in learning about the games and ticket prizes.
The Method
This is going to hurt. It doesnt really matter what way you look at it this one is going to impact your gold balance. After 2000/6000 Friendly (I know, odd cutoff point right?) the only way to raise reputation with Darkmoon Faire is by turning in low level inscription decks or epic decks to the Darkmoon Faire.
Starting out at 0/3000 Neutral with the Darkmoon Faire it takes 120 epic deck quest completes to get to exalted. If you manage to get these decks at a steal for 200g each that puts the cost of getting this reputation to exalted at a lofty 24,000g! You’re not going to get the decks for 200g though (at least not quickly) so strategy plays a big part here if you’d prefer not to just throw gold at this one.
Card Calculations – Huh? Decks are costing who in the what now?
Ok, so for me this was one of the more annoying parts of the Insane grind. I had some gold and I knew I needed decks but it was a major annoyance to sit down and research stuff outside of just checking the AH for epic decks. What herbs turned into what inks? What inks turned into what cards? Was it cheaper to buy herbs or inks or cards in the long run?
I wanted to get my title as fast as I could. Since I was pretty much spending my gold on Darkmoon Faire stuff as fast as I made it I needed to try to be smart about the stuff I bought. After doing some research this was the conversion table I put together:
Now keep in mind that milling herbs is like disenchanting so depending on luck you may get more or less [Verdant Pigment] which is the key ingredient in making rogues cards. I set myself the target of 200 gold per epic deck when buying up and building decks. To figure out how much I should be spending on rogues cards to achieve the same rep gains I calculated:
(200g x 1 Epic Deck = 350 Reputation) = (350 Reputation = 14 Rogues Decks x 14g28s)
I was pretty surprised when I did the math and realised I could spend more on rogues decks and materials. As the above calculation demonstrates I discovered I could spend up to 4g76s per rogues card and still be meeting my 200g/deck target. This means if you’re spending up 250g on epic decks you can spend up to 5g95s per rogues card and if you’re spending 300g on epic decks you can spend up to 7g14s per card. Sounds crazy doesnt it? I think once you realise this you have a big advantage that will help you get to exalted without spending an arm and a leg.
Outside of the rogues decks something that helped me get to exalted was buying up individual cards and putting together my own decks. This seems like a really tedious idea at first but if you setup an alt with a guild bank its actually pretty easy. I use the [BankItems] mod which allows me to quickly see what cards I’ve got on alt. This is a MASSIVE help when you’re checking the auction house each day for missing cards.
I figured that since this is already pretty confusing it might help out if I actually talked people through it. Click play on the video below and I’ll take you through my auction house routine for Darkmoon Faire cards – yeah yeah I have a funny accent, shaddup already! :p
One of the best things about doing Darkmoon Faire these days is the fact that they’ve changed all the quest reward cards to BOE items that you can resell afterward. This is an absolutely massive advantage over people like me who had the reputation prior to the 3.1 patch as Darkmoon Faire isnt quite the gold sink it used to be. I’ve even heard of people hanging about at the Faire and offering 50-100g for people to let them turn in the decks on their behalf and get the rep increase.
Links and other resources
The Darkmoon Faire is one of those reputations that has an abundance of general information floating about on the net. Despite this there’s very little specific information on the topic of grinding your way to exalted beyond the many ‘turn epic decks in till you get to exalted’ comments all over the place. That’s one of the reasons I decided to write these guides and share my experiences.
If you’re keen on doing some more reading up on the Darkmoon Faire, either in preparation for your grind or just out of interest, then check out the following links that I also used along the way:
- WowJuju Reputation Calculator – I recommend it in every guide I write and this one is no exception. It’s a big help when especially if you’re turning in a mix of rogues/epic decks and have lost track of how far you’ve got to go. You can click on the ‘quests’ option in Darkmoon Faire and it’ll tell you how many more to Exalted.
- Darkmoon Faire on WowWiki – Great general info on the Faire and it has a really good section on earning tickets which will help you to get to the 2000/6000 Friendly cutoff when you’re just starting out.
- Darkmoon Faire on WowHead – Never hurts to check out the most recent comments on wowhead. I always do this with reputations to see if there are any recent undocumented changes or tips I might have missed.
- WoW Forums – Achievement Forum – This is another great source for guides, up to date information and accounts of other peoples experiences with various grinds.
Got a question, comment or additional tip you think deserves to be in the guide? Then post it below and I’ll make sure to keep the guide as up-to-date and accurate as I can.
20 more decks to go… maybe next Faire.
I have over 300 mismatched cards, just can’t manage to connect with a trading partner to fill in the gaps (although one person in a generous mood after achieving his title donated several cards I needed to me).
This is getting more expensive. Resale value of card trinkets is dropping like a rock with the next expansion almost here.
This is my last requirement for insane, and i just dont know if i can do it… low pop servers dont offer many opportunities for cheap cards… especially in the last few weeks the price of all individual cards and decks quintupled randomly, dampening my spirit further.
Hello
I got a big problem doing this reputation because the Action House on my server is pretty overpriced. A Inscription deck cost like 100 – 500 golds to buy and a epic deck cost like 2000 – 5000 golds to buy. It’s pretty expensive even if you make it yourself, the mats will still cost around the same. Also the rewards from the deck’s doesn’t get bought anymore because people’s are saving their golds for Cataclysm…
So should i spend hours grinding mats to create decks, or should i wait for cataclysm? since then there might be some new cards that will sell good?..
I’m sry to tell you this saate..
You video isn’t updated.. U cant buy epic decks for 200 gold anymore.. on my server the cheapest decks cost 700-800 golds.. and all single cards cost 50 golds.. It’s WAY more hard to get Insane today…
Thanks for taking the time to let me know :) Looking back at these guides I’m pretty amazed at how much time has passed! With time prices are virtually guaranteed to change and in writing most of these I’ve tried to focus on methodology rather than ‘if this price then so that’ so you can still apply the same advice even though the prices have changed.
With that said its probably worth me adding a section in to contemporise things! Let me know what you think would be best and I’d be happy to sort it out :)
Iv just recently started doing insane in the mem. Iv been finding epic cards for as cheap as 2g on my server (VERY RARE) but anywhere in between 20 -50g. since a full deck is 8 cards the price of 200g per deck is very viable on my server. im still using this guide as a bench mark, its just going to take some time.. i feel people are just in a hurry. This isn’t one of those achieves.
…wondering, will this faction disappear at the expansion as it’s not listed on ingame calendar after 11.12.10.?
they won’t remove the faction since MMO posted the new DMF decks that will be available to obtain in Cataclysm.
Hi Vetle
No, Darkmoon Faire won’t be vanishing with Catclysm. It’s already been confirmed that there will be new Darkmoon Decks & trinket rewards for level 85.
Also, ‘The Insane’ title will still be achieveable, as confirmed by this blue post:
“Just for clarity, Insane in the Membrane will not be removed in Cataclysm. We can only confirm this one for you, but since it’s undoubtedly one of the most brain-melting achievements, we thought it nice to let you know that you don’t have to rush to have this done before the expansion. ;) ”
Source: http://forums.wow-europe.com/thread.html?topicId=10868057669&postId=115855676527&sid=1#21
So don’t panic on this faction, just keep going :)
Great guide, its been invaluable during my insane grind. (All to exalted ‘cept 3 gobbo’s -should get them tonight or tomorrow- and the faire)
This particular faction has always been the bane for me. Mats are just not viable on my server (Azuremyst-Alliance) to buy up any more. even the lower level herbs sell for a bucket these days.
Saying that, I focused on the greater darkmoon cards more than any other. I found a perfect farming spot for mats in Skettis in the Terrokar Forest. The main problem holding me back for them cards was primal lifes which are not exactly commen on herbs.
But there are some tree elemental mobs in the aforementioned area that drop between 2 and 6 motes if you ‘herb em’ after killing em. Coupled with the fact they also drop plenty of the rarer outland herbs as well makes this a great, and oft unfarmed spot to amass those epic decks.
DMF will NOT be removed in cata, not sure why it doesnt show as on the calendar, from what i hear is that they stop moving around and settle down somewhere, also, if you check mmo-champion.com, you will see there are new cards/decks to make.
@ Jack, the quote you posted is an old Blizz post. At BlizzCon last month it was mentioned that the Insane FoS will be ‘broken’ in Cata, some reps will no longer be there. Those with only DMF look to be safe though as there are new decks that will still give rep :)
Thanks for the update Takana, and GL to anyone rushing to get the other factions done
seriously, this part of the grind is where the insane part comes in as far as I’m concerned. I was at around 35 exalted reps when I started the whole thing so rep grinds weren’t a big deal. In fact, this whole feat of strength has been something of a fresh breath of air from just killing things over and over. But Darkmoon….this is the most tedious grind there is considering on my server there’s little option to simply buy anything. At this point even a 20 stack of barrens-level herbs are 30g. Anything more exotic than briarthorn and it’s a fortune. It’s not whittled down to herb farming on my rogue alt ALL DAY. And still I’m only Honored. At least I’ll have soem time on this one though *fingers crossed*
Server transferring is always a possibility :). I had to transfer to work on Darkmoon Faire at a more reasonable pace. I really, really can’t imagine farming this one solo and I’ve done every other reputation grind in the game (and some of them multiple times on different characters).
I used the Altoholic addon for checking the bank.
It is a incredible. It is an AH-like interface, where you can see the amount of gold, the bags, the banks, the guildbanks, the achievements, the talents etc etc. from EVERY character you have :)
I’m currently farming this rep ( last one, which i need ), and i would like to say it isn’t so bad at all, after shattering, and cataclysm realase.
I’m able to gather 300 stranglekelp/hour in 1k needels, and get over 2k rep daily.
There aren’t many epic decks on my realm. I’m just helping myself buying rogues cards ( 5g per one ), and every one hour I log on my alt to write ” CoD me your rogues cards ” on trade. I’m almost half way through honored. Just 35k herbs more:)
GOD! I LOVE YOU MATE! :) Thousand Needles here I come! :D
@Shorn
well, youre saying you need 35k herbs more and you get 300/hour, so you are farming for solid 116 hours herbs. is this right?
would also be interesting to know how far you came until now and if youre still farming ;)
@Gornax
Yes, that’s true. I have made spreadsheet which allows me to see how much decks/cards/rep i need to exalted.
Currently it’s:
Rep to Exalted:
21000
Needed Decks:
840
Needed Cards:
2520
Needed Herbs:
25200
Needed time( in h)
70
Yep, i just hited revered today. Completed 8 epics decks and will turn them tommorow ( so + 2,8k rep ).
It’s borning grind, but with frost dk ( +20% mount speed ) is way faster than going to coast of westfall or wetlands.
Well, from every 300 ( or 360, depends ) herbs i can easily get 30 verdant pigments and lots of dusky pigment.
I have currently around 2k Midnight Inks. Of course – making low level glyphs with these ink can give you so big profit, which will allow you:
1) Buy cards and make epic decks.
2) Buy darkflame inks, primal life and make tbc cards.
3) Buy cheap stacks of bruiseweed/stranglekelp.
4) Or you can just simply… make profit, and not spend these money:)
It’s all about patience. I have farmed lot of things in this game and it took even more than 116 hours.
Wish you all good luck
Shorniva – Earthen Ring EU.
Change your WoWWiki.com link to a WoWpedia.org link. WoWWiki is effectively dead as Wikia was killing it with their excessive advertising. Curse.com set up WoWpedia as the new official source and Blizzard is behind them 100%.
The FASTEST way to get to exalted is to make level 60 epic decks. In the current stage of the game, buying cards is essentially impossible since everything is either in short supply or insanely expensive. The best way is to go to swamp of sorrows and gather Sorrow Moss + Golden Sansam for Sapphire Pigment to make into Ink of the Sky.
The level 60 epic darkmoon decks require 5 ink of the skys to make and generally the gathering rate is about 10 cards per hour. Faster or slower depending on how much you’re paying attention. I made about 60 epic decks in two weeks and all the decks required to get from friendly to exalted in 3.
10 cards per hour? Is that even possible?
1 card needs 5 pigment, so 10 cards = 50 pigment. Lets say that you will have 100% chance to get it. It’s still 500 herbs.
With actual 50% chance to get pigment you need to gather like 1k herbs per hour… So again… how is that even possible?
With the introduction of sorrowmoss gaining exalted via epic decks is much more easier, I can farm a good 1000 herbs/hour doing this, its a combination of both Golden sansam and Sorrowmoss. Sorrowmoss, so where do you get it? Thats right you guessed it! Swamp of SORROWS. Theese give Sapphire pigments which turn into ink of the sky which in turn turns into your cards to make level 60 epic decks. They also give the lesser pigments (Ofc) to help your guild with the [Pen is mightier] Guild achievement. Not to mention you can make a fair amount of gold back from making the Glyphs! Earth shield and water shield glyphs give me a return of 25-50g each. But you will have too many of them to just stick in the AH. So if your servers market is still pricey for the other glyphs of that pigment level do that. You could also sell the pigments if you don’t want to make the glyphs, they sell for 2-4g each on my realm, BUT THE INK DOES NOT SELL. (Strangely enough). With sorrowmoss on roughly a 2 min respawn timer and the fact that there is usually 150-250 spawns constantly in Swamp of sorrows you will be rolling in cash and rep. Happy farming! Any questions please make an alt on ravenholdt-EU and throw me a mail or a /w. :)
Gathering Icecap and Mountain Silversage in Winterspring is also a great way of making lvl 60 decks in cataclsym(with fyling mount).
I started farming herbs 8 days ago now. so far it has taken me from 5000/6000 Honored – 3000/21000 revered.
I gather 450-500 Herbs an hour.
Icecap and Mountain silversage – 50% on getting Sapphire Pigment when milling. I usually gather atleast 1k herbs each day, 2k herbs some days. One day when I was lucky I completed 11 epic deck.
Just stick to what you prefer on this one. Darkmoon Faire is in my opinion the hardest and sometimes the most frustrating rep grind. The only one I got left for my achievement now :)
For equal rep gain:
14x[Rogues Deck] = 1x[Epic Deck]
14x(2.5x[Vanilla herb stacks]) = 1x(48x[Northrend herb stacks])
35x[Vanilla herb stacks] = 48x[Northrend herb stacks]
Price Comparison Examples:
if Vanilla herb stacks are 20g, Northrend herb stacks should be 14.6g to be equal!
if Vanilla herb stacks are 10g, epic deck cards should be 45g to be equivalent!
50g per [epic card] = 400g per [Epic Deck]
= 14g per [Vanilla herb stack]
= 35g per [Rogues Deck]
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This is just my experience, if you are not interested do not read it!!
I completed Darkmoon Faire some days after my previous post. I ended up collecting just above 18000 herbs (Icecap & Mountain Silversage). (bought blue cards from AH completed a total of 13 lvl60 epic deck due to this, so check AH for missing cards after a card create session I usually made 26(aprox 1100 herbs milled) blue cards each session). Sometimes I only ended up with 1-2 decks and other times I ended up with 5-6, but then again go go check AH for that little extra you might be missing after a session.) So if you start your rep from the Friendly 2000/6000 quest cap, 18000 herbs collected should be enough for you even if it might differ some due to the 50% chance of finding what you need when milling(and also differ on how often you search AH for that missing 1-2 blue cards after a session). as a side note: The aprox 100 (lvl 60) epic cards sell quite well at my current realm (Frostwhisper – EU), all from 200-400g. I got a few cards left so if you might need any on my realm just whisper me.
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