Guides – Steamwheedle Cartel
What is the Steamwheedle Cartel?
The Steamwheedle Cartel is a neutral goblin organization that controls several cities and towns around the world. The goblins have realized that the greatest profits to be had are in maintaining neutrality in the conflict between the Horde and the Alliance. As a result their services are always available to the highest bidder and they employ anyone, regardless of their affiliation, as long as there’s profit in it.
Their four major cities are [Booty Bay], [Everlook], [Gadgetzan] and [Ratchet]. Each city has its own seperate reputation bar, so one of the cool things about this grind is that you actually gain four exalted reputations at the same time.
Insane in the Membrane – Reps all needed at the same time?
A hot topic since this achievement was announced has been whether you need to have Bloodsail Honored reputation at the same time as Steamwheedle Exalted reputation. People often make the mistake of petitioning a GM and asking the question. The GM responds with their assumption and the player treats it as a straight confirmation – hilarious forum arguments ensue!
You find three GM responses here, here and here that say you don’t need them at the same time. There’s also a blue post here saying the same thing. You’ll note that in the GM responses they also say its impossible to have the reps at the same time and that the blue post starts with ‘My understanding of this is…’ which supports the fact that none of them are authorities on the mechanics of reputation and achievements.
Kambiae of the Spirestone Server recorded this video on live in which despite having had all the reps at different times no achievement was awarded. My advice to you is that while you probably don’t need the reps at the same time you should still go to the extra effort of keeping your bloodsail rep. Why risk it?
The Method
There are two efficient ways for players to raise reputation with the Steamwheedle Cartel. The first method is for players to simply kill low level pirates near Gadgetzan and Ratchet for 5 reputation per kill all the way to Exalted. The second method involves completing the repeatable [Free Knot!] quest in Dire Maul for 350 reputation per completion.
Here’s a table that shows a very simplified version of the positives and negatives for each of the methods:
Method 1 – Killing Pirates for Rep (Yarrrr!)
The first time I did the steamwheedle exalted grind (yeah I’ve done it twice! :S) I had heard of this method but, after seeing how pitiful the rep gains were per mob, I thought you’d have to be crazy to grind that long. It wasnt until I redid my Bloodsail Buccaneers rep with a group of friends that I really became aware of how fast this method could be.
While everyone is grouped up together one person runs around kill the mobs. Everyone else can put that person on /follow and they’ll still get every single rep gain. That’s why this method is superior when you have a group of people doing it – you can all take turns doing half an hour of killing each while everyone else takes breaks or chats away.
Here’s a video of my group doing it – very easy!
Living it up in Dire Maul
Ahhh Dire Maul, my sweet sweet Dire Maul – for some reason I haven’t yet been able to put my finger on exactly why I love doing Dire Maul runs. Almost without fail the place rewards me for spending time there. If you’re after something extra with your rep I can’t recommend this place enough. It’s slower rep per hour than farming Ratchet pirates but you’ll come out with a slew of [Runecloth], [Shen'dralar Librams], Greens (ie [Greater Eternal Essence] for us enchanters!) and if you’re lucky the occasional [Orb of Deception] and maybe even a [Foror's Compendium of Dragonslaying].
You can actually pull out slightly more rep per hour by doing [The Gordok Ogre Suit] quest. This repeatable quest is given out by that same goblin you free, Knot Thimblejack, nearly all the materials needed for the quest you can also find within the instance too:
- [Bolt of Runecloth] x 4 – You’ll get massive amounts of runecloth in your runs, just need to harrass a tailor to turn them into bolts for you :)
- [Rugged Leather] x 8 – This can be skinned from the dogs within the instance, and is regularly found within Knot Thimblejack’s Cache each time after you free knot.
- [Rune Thread] x 2 – This is sold by vendors in most major cities. It’s also sold by the vendors on a [Traveler's Tundra Mammoth] too – another great reason to invest! :p
- [Ogre Tannin] x 1 – You get one of these per instance guaranteed from the Ogre Tannin Basket. Looting this is what spawns the Gordok Bushwhacker who also has a good chance of dropping the shackle key. You will occasionally also get 1-2 more of these in Knot’s cache too.
This method is great when you’re not in a hurry to get to exalted and when you’ve got a few other reputations planned out. You can use these runs as a platform to get more alliance exalteds with the Runecloth, Shen’dralar exalted with the librams, and even the gold earned to get exalted with Darkmoon Faire.
Here’s a short video I put together that shows the pulls I used to maximise speed/drops from the guards and trash:
Some tips for your runs:
- Doing the big multi-mob pulls in here is still a risk for cloth-wearers, so try to work out early on if its going to be worth it for you doing the runs.
- Try to always start the instance with a key. That way you run straight to knot, free him, then work your way backwards out of the instance killing as you go. If you dont get a key off the Bushwhacker or Guard Slip’kik pulls then you can kill more trash as you make your way out thus maximising chances.
- If you’re an enchanter, kill [Stomper Kreeg] (the drunk) because he often drops a green that disenchant’s into [Greater Eternal Essences].
- If you need downtime for any reason, do it outside of the instance so you’re closer to the arena if the rare pops.
Links and other resources
You know there’s not really a lot of resources that you really need for this grind. The methods are both pretty simple, you can checkout my videos on doing both and if there’s additional information in the wowhead comments sections. I found another youtube video here that covers free knot runs and would be a good supplement to your preparation.
I’m keen for these guides to remain living, breathing, up-to-date things so please don’t hesitate in contacting me through the comments section below to let me know if there’s any old, missing or just plain wrong information!
Should make a mention of the gordok ogre suit quest as well. (i.e. mats you should bring)
Thanks – done! :)
Quick Info The item Foror’s Compendium of Dragonslaying http://www.wowhead.com/item=18401 With the revamping of Onyxia’s Lair(3.2.2) this item is no longer obtainable to players.
Also you should mention the wierd capping of reps with pirate killing i.e. how ratchet mobs cap ratchet at honored, but you keep getting the other 3 past that.
Please tell me who makes all the music u use for the videos! Its great music :) very good guides too plz keep making em, make one for thorium brotherhood :)
Hey thanks for checking out the site – most of the music I use in the videos is made by a Norwegian artist named Waterflame. You can find the rest of his stuff at http://waterflame.newgrounds.com/ – I think he’s pretty fantastic, and the music is perfect for these kind of videos :)
Hey, great site by the way. I just started the this feat of strength today by getting honored with the bloodsail pirates and got the pirate hat achievement. I am now starting to farm steamwheedle rep back. In your guide you said, “…and do want the insane achievement, then it might be an idea to raise your pirate reputation to 11999/12000 Honored first by killing Booty Bay Bruisers.” I just want to make sure if it’s absolutely necessary to max our honored before starting back grinding rep with the goblins. Right now i’m 1005/12000 and don’t want to have to grind the goblins a third time.
Thanks!
To answer your question, you only need to be at Honored with the Bloodsail Buccaneers to complete the Insane in the Membrane achievement. The reason I mention grinding all the way up to 11999/12000 Honored with the pirates however is in case you accidentally complete a goblins/booty bay quest at some stage and lose reputation with them. There’s actually a lot of quests out there that do this quite sneakily so its not always easy to know the reputation hit is coming.
Since it only takes a little bit longer grinding the Booty Bay Bruisers I think its safer in the long run to build up that buffer…and besides, the bars all look so much better if its filled all the way! :p
Nice site, nice guides etc!
I didnt know druids could do so much aoe damage in cat form :p What are the abilities(yes, Im too lasy to check thottbot)?
Thanks!
Hey mate – it’s catform swipe doing the AoE damage. I’m actually a feral tank spec in that video too so a proper cat spec can put out faster swipes than you see there.
hey man,
sites looking awesome!
I stumbled across a way to get steamweedle rep without losing bloodsail rep. theres a boat in venture bay that has venture co. evacuee’s aboard and there also in the buildings surrounding the area aswell. they give u 5 booty 2 ratch, gadz, everlook rep per kill…not sure if it will go till exaulted or if there spawn rates are fast enough but they do drop greys and money so i figured id mention something about it…im sure you already knew this but never hurts :P and if you’re you i know how you like to have all your rep bars maxxed exaulted :P hehe
Hey there love the vid ive been doin dm runs but only the 4 guards wow what have i been missin?!? anyway, after fallin in love with yer ui i decides to downloaded it.i was wondering if you could tell me how u got the two sides of bars so close together. im havin a hard time adjusting to clicking all the way to the left when a “quick click ” is needed. Thx.
I was just wondering if I’m half way through revered with all 4 should I bail on that for now and get the Bloodsail done or can I finish the Steamwheedle rep then go for Bloodsail? Would that envolve re-grinding the rep? Really wish I would have read this sooner…
Hey Sweet,
Unfortunately yes it does mean you’ll need to trash the steamwheedle rep and regain the Bloodsail rep. You should probably note though that some people have been able to get the [Insane in the Membrane] achievement by first getting to exalted with the cartel then trashing the rep and getting honored with Bloodsail. You’re SUPPOSED to have them all at the same time but randomly some people are able to get one THEN the other and still get the achievement.
My suggestion is that you’ll probably want Steamwheedle back at Exalted anyway so bite the bullet and do it sooner rather than later :)
“The first method is for players to simply kill low level pirates near Gadgetzan and Ratchet for 5 reputation per kill all the way to Exalted.”
Just thought i’d leave a comment to say your above sentence is wrong. You stop getting rep from pirates when you are revered.
If you grind pirates in ratchett for example, you will get 2-3 rep per mob for all steamwheedle factions except ratchett.
If you grind pirates in Tanaris you will get 2-3 per mob for all steamwheedle factions except Gadgetzan.
Whatever area you are grinding pirates in, you cant get rep for that area once you hit reverred.
This means that it will three times as long killing pirates (since you will grind exalted in 3 factions first, then have to repeat the grind for the 4th faction and you only get 2-3 rep per mob, not 5) than what your guide states.
Therefore, once you hit reverred, there is only one way to get exalted, and that is through Dire Maul.
Its just taken me 15 minutes of guild chat to wonder what was going on when i wasnt getting the rep that your guide says i should, until i realised your guide is wrong :)
Cheers for the heads up mate – Mikrakov actually reminded me to add a blurb about that back in May and like an idiot I completely forgot! It’s not quite as bad as you’re imagining, though, and it’s still definitely the fastest way to grind the rep out. Basically for best results kill the pirates in Tanaris/Barrens until that main reputation hits revered. Then switch to the other area and continue grinding until all your reputations hit revered. You’ll notice that by that time the original reputation that capped out at revered will be several thousand into revered already which means it’s definitely no time wasted.
You’ve then got the option of either switching back-and-forth between the areas as you finish off the reps or hitting up Dire Maul to finish them all in a more even fashion. For people doing the Insane grind I’d definitely recommend doing most, if not all, of the grind in Dire Maul so you build up a nice supply of Librams and gold to buy Darkmoon Decks. In coming weeks I’m planning on writing a front-page for the insane guides to tie them all together and give people a better idea of which one to do when. Would love to hear back from you on your perspectives as far as how the grind has gone for you so far.
I actually got reverred through Loremaster questing before i decided to grind these reps, so after realising that full rep isnt given for pirate mobs i went straight to Dire Maul.
I can do 5 runs in about 40 minutes (i skip every mob except the guards, and yet to see a key NOT drop), then i am basically waiting 10-20 minutes before i can enter again through the instance cap.
Did 10 runs in 2 hours last night and handed in 10 ogre suits.
350 x 10 = 3500 rep
75 x 10 = 750 rep
4250 rep per 2 hours.
Reverred to exalted in about 10 or so hours isnt too bad.
Pirates give 2-3 rep per kill for 3 factions only at reverred. Not sure how to work out the time limit, it may still be faster than Dire Maul.
But Dire Maul is kinda fun and gives great Nostalgia feeling of when i first started the game back at 60 :)
the only problem i have is i cant get in the dam instance, “Additional Instances Can Not Be Launched”.
I did use your guide alot though for the routes to take in Dire Maul, your video was very helpful thanks.
Hi,
good guides, they really help me a lot :)
But why do you write “o raise your pirate reputation to 11999/12000 Honored first by killing Booty Bay Bruisers.” when its enough to be 1/12000 Honored?
Furthermore its no more required to be Honored with Booty Bay and the Steamwheedle Cartel at the same time.
Very good question! :) I actually answered this one earlier in the comments field as someone else asked it. The 11999/12000 is mainly a precautionary measure since there are so many quests out there that can drop your Bloodsail Bucs rep without you realising it. If you just go to 1/12000 Honored then any single rep loss would take you under target.
Also it seems to be entirely random on the ‘reps at the same time’ thing – if you read up on wowhead and the forums there’s plenty of people that have experienced both possibilities. Some got the achievement without having them all at the same time, some had been at all the required reps and didnt get the achievement without raising them up at the same time again. In any case it IS a gamble so you’re safest to just get them all at once in case.
I always wanted to farm Steamwheedle rep without losing my Bloodsail rep but i was never motivated enough.
On Wowhead there ist a letter where a GM is confirming that you do not need Bloodsail honored AND Steamwheedle exalted at the same time. I asked a GM on EU-Frostwolf and he said that at the moment you do not have to have both reputations at the same time but he also said that he can not guarantee that it will stay this way. But come on when did Blizz make this harder in the last years?
They would have to take the Achievements away from people who completed the “nerfed” Feat.
Another thing is, get someone who once had Bloodsail Honored to install the addon “Overachiever”.
You will see the Insane Feat with “Honored with Bloodsail Buccaneers” in green.
*When did Blizz make something harder in the last years.
Always these mistakes. Sry im not a native speaker :P
Hey:D
atm my achi says green for bloodsails still and I am not honored with them anymore. atm I just need a rogue for Ravenholdt :S But yea it is alot more fun farming the steam rep in dire maul specially since you also can get the librams. atm I have 15 Librams, so there is still some way. But I am getting a prot pala helping in DM, by pulling all and I just AoE it down… I’m lock btw
No way you can pull off these multi-pulls with a hunter :( . 1,5 year ago hunter was still THE solo class but now every class that doesnt wear cloth armor is better for soloing.If you do these multipulls with a hunter you will get aggro on the first pet heal.
Maybe you should mention that you can kill the last boss for a chance on a Ace of Warlords for your Darkmoon Faire reputation
Lol there is higer drop chance on Ace of Warlords on last boss?? nice, 1 of those I need:P
No I don’t have the insane title yet but I did ask Blizzard about the Steamwheedle and Bloodsail reps. I’m just sharing the information I have:
Answer: You should not have to be them at the same time as once you reach one of the requirements it should check off and then you can move on to the next requirement.
Thanks for guide!
Thanks for the info, Coco. One thing I’ve noticed from reading the many posts and comments around the web on this topic is that there’s no certainty involved. For every person that posts and explains they got it without having them all at once there’s another person who didnt.
There’s multiple GM responses floating around that are also for or against it and the general feeling one gets is that an element of randomness remains. If you’ve got time and don’t mind then take the chance and go with it, otherwise keep the bloodsail rep and don’t risk it.
I was wondering what the average amount of Librams that you get per run(s) is. I’ve only just started and have done about 5 runs through Dire Maul North, killing right about everything up to Gordok Bushwacker and haven’t had a single libram drop.
Thanks in advance
Ampere
Hey there! The big problem with estimating libram drop rates is their relatively low drop rate (around 1%). It can sometimes mean you go hours without a single drop only to have multiple drop off one pull.
If you check out this older post you’ll see that with DM it’s simply about putting in the hours and seeing what comes out. Sometimes you’ll have good sessions like that one, sometimes it’ll be an hour without even a key. Just the way it works I suppose :)
I’m going to start out farming this today, I just wanna say big up to you Saate, your work on these guides is amazing!
//Vete
Not really sure if any1 said this, but if you are some friends farming this south of ratchet then you can have 1 group on the higher ground, killing those and one group down, the range of the rep is pretty long.
first of all, thx a lot for this very very nice guide to insanity :D
Just wanted to give a tip, I have read around a lot how to get cartelrep fastest, and I have tried myself. Found that the pirate-grind is WAY faster. But, we who are going for the Insane also want Shen’dralar rep. My way of doing it is doing DM-runs until I get my 84 librams, then I’m off for pirates if I’m not exalted already. A lot of ppl have first done cartel-rep, and then done DM, cause in either way, if you go for the Insane and don’t have an amazing amount of money, you have to get really familiar with DM. The ppl who have done it seperatly are very very frustrated about not reading up on this :P
I am doing DM runs, found me a nice route that takes me exactly 12 minutes from I enter till I’m out again. I can keep go these runs and never get a lockout. Don’t think speed when doing DM, think “12 minutes” :)
Awesome guide (all of them btw) and thanks a million for putting this together for the rest of us noobs. :)
Just wanted to share a tip while working on looong, not so tedious grind; listen to audio-books or audio theatre plays (no I am not old!). I am currently working on the Insane achievement as most of the people here are. I’ve now done the bloodsails and I agree with you on getting this faction up to fully honored and don’t want to risk it. It is quite an achievement in itself to have all 5 factions up at the same time. The main thing for me was to choose which faction would be next.
I did land on grinding back up the goblin cities first as I really missed the cross-faction AH, and being able to land in Booty Bay without beeing attacked. At the same time I have started working on Shen’dralar rep by collecting librams and Pristine Black Diamonds and have gotten a fair few of each by searching the AH. Planning to do the switching mode of pirates until all of the goblin cities are revered and then start the DM runs.
I just started doing Insane in the membrane, I was worrying about getting bloodsail honoured and the goblins exalted at the same time but I contacted a GM and found out you don’t have to keep blood sail honoured while keeping the goblins exalted.
http://img340.imageshack.us/i/insane.jpg/
Hope this helps :)
Thanks for sending that through – unfortunately one thing we’ve learned about GM Responses on this one over the last 6 months is that not even they really know. There are GM Responses out there that both confirm and deny the same thing. In the response you got you can note the lack of intimate reputation knowledge there by the fact that they tell you it’s impossible to have Exalted Bloodsail and Exalted Steamwheedle at the same time.
For starters you only need Honored for the insane achievement which they seem to have not realised. Following on from that it IS INDEED possible to be exalted with both factions at the same time. I think you really need to rely on other players as the best resources for a true answer here. I’m releasing a bloodsail guide in the next week so I’ll make sure to include a piece on this one :)
First off, i’d like to give you all the cred for the site! really helpful!
Pointer: As you mention, if going for insane title, you need to get honored with Bloodsail first. Unfortunately this is NOT true.
A very good friend of mine just got this title and he’s been exalted with Steamwheedle Cartel since TBC, he simply just killed Booty Bay Bruisers and got the achievement.
As for me, im nearly exalted with all Steamwheedle Cartel factions, just need about 5k rep with everlook and Gadgetzan, I got really upset when i read on the site you need to gain honored with Bloodsail before starting off with rep-raise Steamwheedle C.
So I had to look it up and the fact is false = if you get exalted with Steamwheedle and then loose rep with them it still counts towards the achievement.
My reference: Viruz, Bloodscalp (EU)
Excellent guide, but for grinding the Ratchet pirates, I believe you missed including that the named quest pirate (cant remeber the name since I FoK the b’sterd as soon as I see him) gives 25/12.5 rep with the Steamwheedle guys making him a priority target when farming. He also spawns rather quick (sometimes instantly).
Keep up the good work.
Now I have reached Exalted with SC and Honered with BB at the same time… Is it needed to have them at the same time for the title? I’m asking coz I have been trampled down on forums and so on, for saying u need it on same time, when others say u dont, it was changed in a patch?
What is right?
Good question – I actually wrote a section about this in my Bloodsail Exalted Guide. The general consensus is that you do NOT need the rep at the same time currently. With that said different people have reported different results, and someone on a live realm posted a YouTube video of them having the reps at exalted at different times and not getting the achievement.
You’re PROBABLY ok doing them at different times and not together but the best thing for you to do is go ahead and get the reps at the same time anyway. Why take the risk?
Okay thx Saate – was getting confused on the different answers around^^
Also i think it’s more cool to have them both on the same time when going for the insane.
And thx for some great guides, the have been a big help so far.
/cheers
Gex
Awesome guides!!!
Just an fyi….By the boat dock to get to feathermoon, there is a goblin that has 2 repeatable quests for 25 rep a piece for all 4 factions…not very fast but a nice way to break the monotoney of multiple DM runs
“Try to always start the instance with a key. That way you run straight to knot, free him, then work your way backwards out of the instance killing as you go. If you dont get a key off the Bushwhacker or Guard Slip’kik pulls then you can kill more trash as you make your way out thus maximising chances.”
U dont give the key right away. FIRTS do the ogre suit quest. For that u go to the second floor to open the tanin basket. When you go to the next floor, it’s in the left corner behind the fire. When emptied, u get to the goblin. When you have done all the suit’s, than u release the goblin. Otherwise the goblin will leave and u cant do the suit quest(s).
Hope this helps :)
It has been stated several times on achievement forums and just recently confirmed by zharym that you dont need to KEEP honored with bloodsail as of 3.1 simply getting it there and then using cloth turn ins to get back your steamwheedle rep is ok.
hey just wanna say there’s also a neat and faster way to grinding this rep for all of you warrior’s out there grinding this rep and dont have anyone to grind this rep with you. (like me!) this only involves the Southsea pirates south of rachet too. if i know something for dire maul, i’ll post asap.
let me explain now…
1. spec into prot for the Damage Shield Talent
2. get as much block value as you can (1600+, dps gear also works too so just have your sword n board equipped with it)
3.have a lot of music to kill the time lol :P
4. just mount up and start riding around the place!
how you wanna do this is make sure your back(or your mount’s back in this case)is always turned on the mobs. let them walk up to you and hit you then they fall over dead :D
how this works is you’ll have enough block value to instantly kill em with your Damage Shields Talent and your attacks wont be dodged, parried, or blocked when your backs turned on em but the talent still does damage to em anyways! the pirates will still miss occasionally. this method got me approximately the same amount of rep you get per hour when you get buddies to help ya. hope this helped.
just my little two cents..ive been goin for this title for a while(just recently finished up darkmoon yay!) and am now working on steamwheedle and id just like to say even tho u may not have to have all reps at the same time it would truly i.m.o. be “insane” to have them all at the same time instead of doing easy cloth turn ins. after all is said and done and you finally have your well deserved insane title it will be better to look back and know you truly earned it “the hard way” rather than taking the easy way out. Saate U Rock.
Where is the Insane Achievement located in the Achievement Points menu? I looked under the Reputation tab and didn’s see it.
Thx!
Once you achieve it the actual feat itself is going to show up in the feats of strength tab. It does not show up in the regular achievement tabs allowing you to track it etc. Hope this helps.
Hey nice video and guide! Just a question. What UI addon are you using? Its nice and neat.
Thanks
Hey Damien, thanks! The UI you see is SpartanUI :)
Just for note. If you find yourself in the position (like I was) that you are exalted with all four goblin reps and haven’t done bloodsail yet. It is possible to get the feat without regrinding the goblins and it is not random.
To do this you must grind the bloodsail rep up in a single sitting, i.e. do not log off between beginning the grind and finishing it, this is the point where the game will update your reputation status and hence you would need to regrind the goblins.
It should also be mentioned that if you have neither the mammoth mount with vendors or the argent pony for your squire, don’t kill Stomper Kreeg and do a tribute run and you can vendor to clear some of your trash and items you’re not gonna keep with him.
Heya,
I recently started grinding rep with the Steamwheedle Cartel in order to get 4 more reps towards my The Exalted achievement.
Your guide doesn’t mention that some pirates will stop giving reputation beyond 11999/12000 Honored. The pirates near Ratchet will stop giving Ratchet reputation, pirates near Gadgetzan will stop giving Gadgetzan reputation, and (though I haven’t tried it out) the pirates around Booty Bay will probably not give Booty Bay rep beyond Honored.
So far I’ve been grinding pirates near Ratchet which went pretty well. They respawn rate is ridiculously high and they die quite fast. However, after I got Ratchet rep at 11999/12000 Honored I went to Tanaris and kill the level 45 pirates there. This is a considerably longer grind, as the respawn rate is slower, mobs take a tad longer to die and there are less spawn points in general. In a few hours of evening I was able to get my reputation of Ratchet up with roughly 3000 rep. My plan is once I reach 999/1000 Exalted with Ratchet, to go back to The Barrens and start working at my Gadgetzan rep (which is capped 11999/12000 now). Booty Bay and Everlook will get Exalted while doing this.
Unless someone else got a faster strategy. Note that I am alone on this with my Holy / Shadow Priest.
Link to Wowwiki article;
http://www.wowwiki.com/Mobs_which_affect_reputation_with_Steamwheedle_Cartel
~ Purnissa of Bloodhoof EU
I think if I had to do it again from the begining, I’d do Dire Maul runs for Steamwheedle from the start.
When I began, I started out with BloodSail then went on to killing Ravenholdt dudes until that was capped (then you go onto Junkboxes after), then went to kill pirates in Tanaris from hated to Honored 11999/20000 (- which took an unbelievable amount of time, but was mindless grinding – that I spent watching TV and Hulu and movies.
In Tanaris if you hunt the pirates in the cove, they are more close knit and there are a few elite spawns to kill for some extra rep– but if you hunt the pirates just outside the cove around the water towers, you can get the water skin drops that you can turn into Tanaris 5 a piece and get rep with 4 factions too, which helps chip a little more off the rep grind.
The pirates in Ratchet were pretty easy and I’d clear the top area of pirates, drop down to the second tier, clear those and go back up to the top and just circle it that way. Sometimes I’d come up against others grinding or questing, so then I’d just stay on one tier until they moved on.
After I was capped- I went into Dire Maul to finish the reps off with key/ogre suit runs.
But even having done that…I sorely regret not having done Dire Maul the whole time. Since I’m running DM now for all these librams and waiting for Pristine Black Diamonds to drop…I realize I could have had a lot more done had I gone to Dire Maul from the start- key or no key per run, than kill all the pirates and have to start with no librams or pristine black diamonds when I got into the Shen rep.
The reason I’d chosen to do pirate kills at the time, over DM runs, was because I didn’t think it’d take SO long to farm librams and PBD from Dire Maul. I was somewhat naive thinking I’d get alot of librams per run – when that’s not the case. I can go hours without a single libram- and some days I can get 4 or 5 per a few hours. If you’re a caster – I can’t get a loop done in 15 mins. The toon I farm on–has the best gear that I own which helps get through the instance quicker but as a caster I get knocked around by Brutes a lot (frustrating if they are multiple in a pack)It might take me…45 mins. I’m probably like a lot of people. Not the worst gear–but not decked out in the best of the best gear either. I’ll do…5-6 runs in the time I have to run the instance. And again, I just don’t get a libram every run. Sometimes I get 3, sometimes absolutely none drop for 2 or 3 runs. Which means close to 3 hours with no libram drops. And Pristine Black Diamonds (for Shen rep)? Bah. They are rare, let me tell you. I’ve gotten…maybe 5 total to drop since I’ve been grinding Dire Maul. That means I’m far behind where I need to be for 84 Pristine Black Diamonds now. Buying them on the AH is expensive.
Maybe this observation can help others who are starting Steamwheedle and Shen rep (at the same time). Yes, pirates were faster- esp with the water skin turn ins, but in the long run– even though you might get really sick of doing the Dire Maul runs, you might find doing those might be more beneficial to you than grinding pirates solo.
Oh- and…if you’re a rogue- you CAN pick pocket Heavy Junkboxes from Dire Maul ogres – but be wary of the dogs that walk with the ogres since they can “see” you and imo– BRD seemed to be a better place for the HJB’s, but just letting you guys know, you can actually pick the ogre’s pockets if you are a rogue already and want to (you might have to be lvl 80 rogue to be stealthier to the dogs, my rogue was lvl 70 and was able to be “detected” easier”).
Additionally…
Be warned– I know that even as I started, my mind was set on “what is the fastest way…?”. I advise you may want to abandon that line of thinking for a more “what is the best benefit to me”? line of thinking for this achievement. Ultimately, there really isn’t a way to speed this up. And it’s harder to see it until you’re…allmost done with it. Grinding pirates seems fastest, but when you compare how long it will take to then get all you need for Shen rep afterwards, assuming that you start with zero librams like I did and needing 84 of them PLUS the BOP items for Shen rep…this won’t be a very quick grind for you. Unless you can buy all that is collectible off the AH- which means you have the gold to do it or a server that runs those instances with large regularity to post those items. In most cases, you’ll be grinding most of what you need.
I’m not trying to say it’s not possible to have good luck and get it done before someone else can, or that people aren’t fast grinders or anything like that. I just suggest for the average person, like me, who doesn’t have a lot of gold and has to grind for just about everything….to be prepared for the long haul. Because it is.
I’ve been grinding for this rep every time I’m on WoW since September 2009. My play time might vary, but generally we’re talking 3 or more hours a night after work and up to 12 hours a day on the weekend.
My focus has been scattered to the different reps so that I don’t burn out–and I sometimes balance out grinding for librams for herb farming for Dark Moon Faire cards/mats, but I have pretty much avoided all new content of the game– no raiding or “randoms” , anything since I started. I think maybe I took a few weeks off Nov/Dec for some family reasons, but that was outside of WoW.
I don’t think I’m going “too slow” or that I’m not dedicated, I’m just going at a pace that won’t burn me out. And it’s taking me this long and I’m still 2 reps from the title. Yes, I get closer every day and I’m not trying to discourage anyone undertaking this achievement– it’s truly something I’ll feel good about when it’s over– but it takes a really long time and good dedication to get it done.
This feat achievement really shouts “Dedication to craziness” and I wish that Blizzard would extend the title to BOA. Bind on Account so that all my chars will have it after I obtain it- but that’s probably asking too much :)
Good luck fellow insane grinders :) Meet you on the other side of Insane fame :)
I’m curious. While doing your Dire Maul runs, did you full clear them, or were the pulls in the video the only pulls you did?
@Smitty – It varied a bit, but generally I’d kill as many of them as possible. It’s all about balancing your run up to that 12 minute mark to prevent being instance-capped. So if you can clear the whole thing in 12 minutes, perfect, if not then clear what you can in 12 minutes and work from there.
effing love your guide saate, it’s really helped me. I’ve saved the steemwheedle and shen’dralar grind to the last, starting out with Ravenholdt and DMF (2 resets, 120 decks o_O). Also earned shitloads whilst doing DMF.
I’m grinding DM in hope to get PBD’s and _good_ librams. So far I’ve looted 4 PBD’s and I’m only 10,350 into hated :| hopefully I’ll loot more of them seeing as people want 500g+ per diamond on Al’Akir EU nowadays.
Update! I’m currently only 1000 rep away! I’ve accumulated 250 ogre tannins will cost a bit to hand in :| (2000 rugged leather + 4000 runecloth(bolts))
Woohooo! Finished the rep grind for all goblin cities and Shen’dralar on the same glorious day a couple of weeks ago. And that with a few diamonds and librams to spare.
Only have Ravenholdt and Darkmoon Faire to go now. Thanks again for your wonderful guides. Just checked up the guide on Ravenholdt.
Great guides. I had the Loremaster acheivement before I started this but, Bloodsail done and Cartel I have just managed to get freindly with them all after 43hours of Dire maul runs. 53 Librams and 12 PBD’s. The PBD’s are now selling on AH for 400+ g, but I would suggest to farm these at the same time as you are farming the Abomination Stitching’s and Skin of Shadow as they also drop in top end classic instance’s. The problem I have is finding the Blood of Heroes. I have found only 2, do they congregate in a certain locale or are they random ? co-ordinates for locality would be great if possible.
Thanks
Faethor – Azuremyst
Another reason to do cartel reputation in DM is Gordok Ogre suit. I can sell this suits for 15-20 g in AH – another nice amount of gold in DM!
I carefully planned out my Steamwheedle strategy before starting with spreadsheets and everything.
The strategy I came up with was this:
I finished Bloodsail first, then bought back Steamwheedle rep with the cloth turnin quests back to neutral. Instead of going for the cheapest route, which would involve turning in max amount of linen, then silk, then runecloth and mageweave, I actually did linen last, with equal amounts of all the other cloths. So 42 turnins each of runecloth, mageweave, and silk, and 21 turnins of linen, leaving me at neutral rep for Ratchet and neutral+5250 with other cities. I did this because I didn’t want to farm a ton of pirates, but thought I would still use at least a bit of cheap AOE pirate rep at the easiest farming site (Ratchet). A couple hours and 2100 pirates later, all reps were even at 1500 into honored, with 31.5k rep to go. Ideally, I was trying to trade gold for saved farming time in DM.
The reason I went through all this is because I had read an estimate that DM runs averaged 1 libram per run, and I anticipated having wasted DM runs with excess librams if I did all rep from neutral with DM runs (or even worse all rep with no cloth turnins at all).
After some experience and looking up drop rates on wowhead, I think that estimate of 1 libram/run is about right– if you are doing almost full clears on every run (need about 60 ogre kills per libram).
Unfortunately, I was also following advice on making speed runs with boss kills for keys and just a few more in between, perhaps averaging just 10-15 kills/run. By the time I realized my error, it was too late to catch up, and I have now finished all goblin reps (hooray!) but am still 20 librams short even after the ones I have picked up in the AH. Oof.
Of course, I am also 40 PBDs short, and don’t expect to find that many on the AH if I want to finish this year, so I still have more farming to do.
I still think the cloth turnins are a valuable part of an Insane strategy (if you don’t care about keeping pirate rep, which has been established to be not necessary). Even pirate grinding might fit in, but as has been repeatedly stated here and elsewhere, don’t underestimate the amount of runs/kills needed to collect librams/PBDs.
On the bright side, getting 4 goblin reps at once sent got me the 30 exalted reps achievement, and the achievement tracking I turned on looks much nicer with only 3 reps to go.
@Faethor:
Look up Blood of Heroes on wowhead.com. The comments there include coordinates for blood spawn points in TomTom format (and I think gatherer too?).
I have been using this, and while it is slow, I am up to 28 bloods, and usually find about 2 every time I do a Plaguelands sweep. Others in the wowhead comments report even better results.
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