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.
Another great guide :) And your accent isn’t any funnier than mine ;p Thanks dude.
Heya um… how much rep do the BLUE decks give???
25 rep each – all the lower level inscriptions decks (rogues, swords, mages and demons) give the same amount each. People tend to sell the three blue decks for a bit more simply because they’re blue in colour which is why in my experience rogues was always the best to go for.
Thank you for all of the guides in showing how you got the Insane title. I’m finding them to be very useful in my own quest for it. Just curious, what is the name of the mod that you use to show the percentages on the AH for prices within your target range?
Thanks for checking the guides out :) The percentages you’re seeing in the video are actually the auctioneer mod telling me what % the prices are compared to the normal prices it sees them at. As an example if I use the auctioneer mod to scan the auction house every day for a week and it sees an item for 1000g most commonly it will get used to that price. If one day I’m checking the auction house and it sees the same item for 600g it would display a 60% next to it to let me know its cheaper than usual.
I always back up the price checks with pricing info from wow.allakhazam.com and wowhead.com as well though if I’m not sure.
Hey again Saate, check out this screenshot of my alt’s guild bank after turning in all of the decks I had.
http://i685.photobucket.com/albums/vv216/Psychi_The_Mage/DMFDecks.jpg
Nice :) I’m so envious that post 3.1 you guys can actually make some gold back by selling the trinkets instead of having to vendor/DE them like I did!
Thanks for putting this together, it’s very helpful, especially the video. One question though, what font are you using in the pictures? I like it and was curious.
Hey Fallout, the font used in the graphics there is called ‘Oil Makes You Run Faster’ and you can find a copy at http://www.dafont.com/ – I think its pretty cool too :)
Hello, i am a little unclear of how to get 2000/6000 friendly to start off, can i turn in like Dense grinding stone from 0/3000 – 2000/6000?
Thanks.
There are a few repeatable quests you can do. They will stop giving you reputation at 3000/6000 Friendly
I really like the action bar setup you have on the you tube video, can you tell me what its called?
Thanks
G’day – The action bar setup you see is SpartanUI (www.spartanui.com) :)
A fast question, how the fuck did you get all that gold? Is’t your guild’s gold from the guildbank or what? xD
Hahah I’m actually at 55k now so it keeps going up and up! It’s my gold not the guilds and I get it from playing with the Auction House. I sell a variety of enchants in there and check for raw materials a few times each day too, when there’s bulk cheap stuff available I’ll spend up to a few thousand buying it all so in the long run I’m making more on it all. I also keep an eye out for cheap frozen orbs, abyss crystals etc to buy and just relist at a higher price in the AH.
I’ve been thinking about the idea of possibly doing a series of videos on the techniques I use but I’m not sure if I’ll do it yet. Keep an eye out for a post in the next week too! I’m only about 5k away from breaking the ‘total gold acquired’ stat in my wealth tab hehe :)
haha nice mate ;D
man a few videos of your auction house techniques would be 1337! as an aspiring AH entrepenauer i myself would watch them over, and over. (crosses fingers)
You know I’ve been thinking about doing a series on the Auction House since the Darkmoon video has proved to be popular. I’ll see what I can come up with :)
Hey there, great guide!
Btw isn’t it possible to get like inscription and farm the herbs and make the decks on ur own?
I have one question:
Are the cards that are created through inscription 100% percent random? So if you see like 5 two of prisms in the ah for 20g and one Ace for 160g its just because of dumb luck and the current market situation or are certain cards in one set harder to obtain?
Only faire left for my title!
Tho, for me it’s the hardest of them all :(
Damn mate, you can come play the AH on my server anyday! they say its the most excpencive server in the game i dont know but hey ^^ its doomhammer btw ;)
Just wondering, what is the name of the add-on so you can move the AH window, and pull up your alts guild bank?
The two mods are Auctioneer and Bankitems, there’s a link to the Bankitems one in the guide.
thanks a bunch i will have to pick those up
Watching ur video about darkmoon faire and i just have 1 thing to say. I wish my AH was as filled as that :p (playing on a pretty lowpopulated server) :(
Hehe I can imagine – I made that video when I was on Shadowsong which is a medium population server. Since then I’ve transferred to Aman’thul (Oceanic) and while higher population creates a buyers market its definitely tougher when you’re trying to make money. Screwed either way eh? :p
Another link I would add to you rep guides is http://wow.curse.com/downloads/wow-addons/details/factionizer.aspx. This is the link to Factiontizer, which is a great addon for tracking how many turn ins of a particular quest, item or instance. The other benefit is it will tell you how many turn ins to complete the current stage of rep. For example, if you are just interested in doing the Hodir dailies and not running Halls of Lighting, it will tell you how many days of doing dailies it will take to move from honored to revered.
Hey, I’m wondering what is the addon named that allows you to move the action house window?
Pretty sure its auctioneer that allows that (www.auctioneeraddon.com)
I have actuioneer but I can’t move it
Hmmm interesting – do you have the Bankitems mod too? Must be something to do with one of those mods that allows it to move, from memory I think it’s just always been movable for me. Other mods I use that might be it are CT_Mod, MoveAnything, Carbonite, Bartender.
um…i was turning in darkmoon faire items…and the rep didnt stop at 2000/6000 friendly
lol what now
Keep turning them in! :p If you’re doing the normal faire/ticket turnins it should cap at 2000/6000 Friendly. Not sure if its slightly more for humans but see how far it’ll let you take it and let me know :)
60 epic decks to go!
Pelosi – Stormreaver – US
Hey man, first of all i would like to thank you and say i really like your guides they have been a big help in my insane grind.
a suggestion for getting to 2000 friendly, on my server(blackrock US) dense stone is extremely cheap (2-5g a stack) so turning in dense grinding stones is a very cheap way to get there.
The best method to doing this is buying all herbs from pre-bc to Wotk (Except Silverleaf, Peacebloom, Earthroot they are worthless)Also make sure to buy lots of Eternal Lifes and Primal lifes. If its like my server there will NEVER be enough herbs on the auction house at reasonable prices and farming for hours just to make a few rogue decks isnt going to make a dent in getting Darkmoon Faire rep. I put away 10k gold to buying mats I make all decks from every possible herb, scoure the auction house regulary (3-5 times daily) and bought massive of everything i could get my hands on. Go for the nobles cards if possible a deck sells for 6k on my server. all the BC -pre bc rare decks are pretty much valueless (100-200g on ah) but for 200-300g a deck it will provide 350+ rep per turn in and mats are generally eazier and much cheaper to obtain than pre bc mats. the idea with Darkmoon faire rep is that you wanna spend 1g per 1 point of rep. In many cases i found turning in decks made me money. I also made an inscriptionist character and spend something like 20 + hours Milling for 15k rep. hopes this helps… at 2200 friend u can nolonger turn in mats for rep only cards. GL
If you now aim for mostly the level 80 decks, and you farm maybe 10 decks home, wouldn’t the money you earn from selling the trinkets, be enough to buy 10 decks more? If you had a Nobles deck, you of course would. If someone doesn’t need to get the achievement fast, isn’t this a fair way to do it?
It’s all based on time and what you want to do.
Personally, I’ve been doing like Saate in his video on my bank alt.
Been mailing a bunch of interesting drops from my constant Dire Maul runs (epic lv 60 recipes, random BoE’s, cloths, leathers etc..) and selling them
So far I’ve nearly finished 3 or so epic decks, and I’ve actually not spent any more gold than what I’ve earned while doing the other reputations.
However I got burned out after doing 500 or so lockboxes within a few days, and 8000 rep back to booty bay, and decided to go herb gathering on my 80DK inscriptor. Was originally going to convert my level 80 inks into midnight ink and craft many rogue decks with the hunter’s ink i’ve been grabbing up cheap. But, instead I managed to get enough Snowfall ink for cheap and crafted a few lv80 cards. Fortune be it the first one was a greatness card and into the bank alts vault it’ll go until hopefully it’ll become a deck and net me 350 rep and quite possibly one day soon a nice profit with which to further fund the deck building etc..
Anyways, as always, thanks Saate for this awesome guide.
Nice guide, wish i’d known about it when I did this grind last April.
Just 1 tip for Darkmoon Faire that I havent seen anywhere else:
Talonsworn Forest-Ragers can be herbed for the best BC herbs and 2-5 motes of life each. There are 4 per reset, I just parked my herbalist alt there and did a circuit every 20 mins or so. I alternated playing the AH for cheap level 70 cards and completed the decks with herbs milled from the Forest Ragers.
First of all, thanks a lot for this great guide :) This grind have become my favorite grind of the insanity-grind. I was afraid when I heard this was going to cut in on my money, cause I only had 3k gold to start out with. I am following your tip about buying cards, and have made me a maximum price on 20g per card, and 200g per deck. The good surprise is that people buy the done trinkets for way more than I give for the deck :) I started out with 3k, I have earned around 17k only from this grind, plus more from the other grinds :D
Hey Saate, love the guides! I just had a quick question about the ticket turn ins. You’re able to go from 0/3000 neutral to 2000/6000 friendly with just the Tier 4 turn ins correct? I wouldn’t have to get anything for Tiers 1-3?
Thanks a bunch for this guide. I have seen sites that say that i can turn in dense grinding stones until 999. has this changed since you last posted?
Other than “decks” sounding like “dicks”, it was a very good guide!
I know, it’s pretty terrible right? :p One wierd thing I noticed recently is that playing back the file on my computer locally it totally sounds like ‘decks’ – I reckon I’m clearly the victim of some nefarious vowel altering YouTube scandal.
Great guide Saate, I’m not quite done with DMF yet but I’m getting there :) Got about 70 decks and counting turned in. The most satisfying part about this grind is that I’ve been able to make heaps of cash off of the trinkets after I turn in the decks. Darkmoon is the last rep I have to grind.. so I’m definitely looking forward to getting my title! Keep up the good work with these guides, they are very helpful! :)
Irinixx – Dragonmaw – US
Hey, nice guide.
I’m also on Shadowsong btw, Horde though.
An advice for those who combine buying cheap from AH and herb farming methods. When deciding upon herbs to farm, check the AH and see what cards people tend to post. If lvl 70 cards prevail, farm trees in Skettis. If there’s an abundance of lvl 60 cards, farm Winterspring. There’s no guarantee of even distribution of cards you will create, so you’ll want to complete your decks through the AH anyway, and it can be a pain if you choose the wrong type.
Thus far, I’ve had good success selling the Death cards, moderate success with Berserker!, and little luck at all with Illusion. Not the best returns in the world, but after Shen’dralar, I can’t complain too much. I was wondering, though, for those going this route with the trinkets, with which version of Greatness have you had the most success? I’ve been sitting on a few Nobles decks, unable to decide. I’d guess the +Str or +Agi trinket would be the most popular, due to the fact that they’re still quite good for several classes and specs, but am a bit hesitant to make the choice, as am error in judgment can easily cost several thousand gold in this case.
This part of insane is the one I really have problems with. There is no decks/cards or herbs on the auction house on my realm and I’m on a high populated server. This will probably take several months for me :s
Been farming this whole past week for herbs. Been farming like 30 stacks a day. Finished Shen’Dralar, Bloodsail, and Steamwheedle. I can tell this one is going to be the most annoying.
Oh man…I’ve been working diligently on my title but on this last rep…I’m finding it hard to stick with it. The herbing, the selling of trinkets to get some gold back once a month…I *will* get the title, but I’m moving a lot slower these days…
I could use some encouragement if anyone has any to give :o)
On a different note:
Hey Saate- you have a public Twitter, FB, or Myspace page? I love this site, don’t get me wrong, but I’d be interested in if you had anything that incorporates this site within one of those mediums as well :)
-Isa (said Izza not Eeesa) :)
Thanks for the great guides, been a lot of help.
Only 1K boxes for Ravenholdt and Darkmoon Faire left :D
Does anyone have any input on what herbs are best to farm and make with inscription?
The Classic Vanilla decks has no “extra mat” (mote of life/eternal life), so a bit faster?
Been farming herbs many hours a day for weeks, soooo sloooow :D
I’ve been farming in Sholazar. You get a lot of Eternal Lifes and Frost Lotus (which you can sell). Sure some of the herbs like Goldclover, Tiger Lily, and Deadnettle don’t mill into as many Icy Pigments, but I was able to farm about 50 stacks in 2 hours. Most of those stacks being Adder’s Tongue (which has same mill chance as Icethorn and Lichbloom).
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Hello!
First of all, thank you Saate. Your guides have helped me to get every faction to exalted but Darkmoon Faire. My main issue is an empty auction house regarding decks, cards and low level pigments/inks.
So I took my level 60 rogue, previously made to gather heavy junkboxes, and trained him with herbalism and inscription. I mainly farm herbs across The Barrens to craft Rogues Decks. This is very slow due to the low drop rate on Verdant Pigments. Even if I’m able to make 10 Rogues Decks a day, I will need around 150 days before reaching exalted with Darkmoon Faire.
My question is: would it be clever to level this character to 80 with herbalism and inscription to 450? Would be farming and crafting Northrend Decks faster than Rogues Deck?
Thanks. :)
While doing this, make sure to befriend any other Insanity-grinders on the server, so you can swap cards and complete each other’s decks. It works wonders!
Around 30 Darkoon Faire decks to go for my title. I’ve been grinding herbs, buying cheap herbs, and buying cards, and decks where possible for weeks. I’m *straining* to get the last ones I need to complete this title. I wish in retro-spect I’d also started this close to the beginning as well, and not waited until the last to get this rep done…
I wish I was on a server like yours…
I’m currently farming DMF Decks as my last faction for the Insane and have about 60 Decks so far.
Only thing is… On my server I must pay minimum 800G per deck / 100G per card, plus the amount of decks is so small, there is like one deck every few days and a few cards… There is most Nobles Decks and they go for about 5000G…
I did it! I made it!!! Isadoriana the Insane! :D Sweeeet relief. It’s overrrrr. Thanks to Saate to preparing such a great resource that helped me on my way :)
While working through Darkmoon rep, I assumed the low level armor from the low level decks was junk to be disenchanted or vendored.
Oops.
I just tried putting these on the AH and they have been selling for WAY more than the silvers I was getting before. So far I have gotten around 3g for the level 10 rogue deck greens and 15-20g for the level 20 swords deck blues. My auctioneer addon says I could actually charge 3x that, although I hesitate to believe it when it has very few data points.
Not a way to profit, but makes rogues deck rep a bit cheaper, and swords decks competitive.
I’ve still been using primarily level 80 decks for rep, just because they are the only cards and herbs commonly available on my AH.
Still a looooong way to go.
Wish my server was like that, the low level herbs to make rogues decks ect are through the roof in prices 30-60g per stack] it’s actually cheaper for me to mill and make WOTLK cards and decks :\