Eloren ([info]eloren) wrote in [info]wow_ladies,
@ 2008-06-09 10:21:00
Previous Entry  Add to memories!  Tell a Friend!  Next Entry
Current mood: blah
Current music:Desperado - The Eagles
Entry tags:instances, karazhan

Hmmm, maybe "Honored" is still too high of a bar?
I am now quite certain that lowering the requirement for the Heroic keys to Honored was a good move on Blizzard's part. But I've been wondering if they lowered it enough, lol. My poor hunter alt has eked her painful Pick Up Grouped way to Honored with HH, Cenarion, and Lower City, but it is still *so* hard to find a group for a normal mode instance. It only took two weeks of joining the LFG queue for Old HIllsbrad...forming a group or most of one, only to have it fall apart for whatever reason before anyone set foot inside of the instance...pleading for guildies with a bit of spare time to help with it...I shudder to think of the time it will take when I do get ready for Black Morass (I'm doing the Kara key quest chain just so I can let myself in should I ever manage to secure an invite). Everyone just wants to do heroics! I do too for that matter, but I'm *so* not ready for them.

Venture Co is a small RP/PVP server...I do wonder, is it easier or harder to get a normal mode instance run on a high pop server?


(Post a new comment)


[info]kizzie
2008-06-09 02:23 pm UTC (link)
US or EU? Cause I can possibly help on EU

(Reply to this) (Thread)

[info]eloren
2008-06-09 02:27 pm UTC (link)
The US one. But I appreciate the thought!

(Reply to this) (Parent)

[info]okojosan
2008-06-09 02:32 pm UTC (link)
I've noticed this on my server too. It's hard to get a pug for a normal instance. I think my server is high population, too. I suspect people are pvping at 70 just to get the epics, then going straight to Kara/heroics and mostly bypassing the normal 70 instances.

(Reply to this) (Thread)

[info]eloren
2008-06-09 02:37 pm UTC (link)
Very possible. I have been rather desultorily doing just that. But with new honor rewards supposedly coming out with Season 4 (whenever that hits) I haven't actually bought anything yet, I am hoping to just more or less get as much honor as I can before that happens and see what is better.

While I haven't been obsessive, I do have new respect for my hubby's monomania - he got his 70 holy pally fully decked out in the S1 PvP epics in about 2-3 weeks.

(Reply to this) (Parent)

[info]jeweledleah
2008-06-09 04:13 pm UTC (link)
I think that's pretty much exactly what's happening, judging by the ammount of people running around in pvp gear (at least on my server). the crappy part is - you can get to honored with outland factions by simply doing their quests (or repetable turn ins of whatever item you can grind for), but when it comes to caverns of time.... ack.

(Reply to this) (Parent)

[info]nerglish
2008-06-09 02:39 pm UTC (link)
I think your issue has nothing to do with heroic rep requirements, rather it's about server population problems and summer afg's. Yes, it's easier to get pugs for any instance on a higher population server which would go without saying really.

(Reply to this) (Thread)

[info]eloren
2008-06-09 02:54 pm UTC (link)
Maybe, though the poster above said they see the same thing on their higher pop server. But in my guild in general, we've definitely been hit by the summer boss.

(Reply to this) (Parent)

[info]ebbtide
2008-06-09 02:42 pm UTC (link)
Feeling your pain here. My baby druid just hit 60, and while I love tooling around Outlands solo, I know I need to repgrind and that is just so depressing. Good luck!

(Reply to this) (Thread)

[info]eloren
2008-06-09 02:51 pm UTC (link)
There's always stuff to do while leveling, so much so that I was already 67 by the time I got my first instance group (for Ramps). Me and the 68 warlock pet tanked the instance (successfully, I might add) cause we just could NOT find a tank!

We need the same rep...Cenarion. Still many K of rep away from that yummy helm enchant. Too bad I don't yet have a helm I'd consider putting it on ;-)

(Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)

[info]ebbtide
2008-06-09 02:55 pm UTC (link)
Well, with my main we ran so many instances since there were a bunch of us gearing up to start Kara at the same time-- so we just ground heroics to get gear enough, and the rep followed. But finding a PuG is like pulling teeth. It's awful.

I'd really like to spec my druid resto at 70, but my friend has a 68 healshammy he's leveling so maybe I'll stay tank. It's so stressful though.

(Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)

[info]birdie_82
2008-06-09 04:03 pm UTC (link)
So true; before I moved my BE hunter off the server, I would log on and sit for 3 or 4 hours and still not get a group together. Never have a problem alliance side though, but I'm a healer so that might help

(Reply to this) (Parent)

[info]eloren
2008-06-09 04:13 pm UTC (link)
Keep in mind on most servers...it's always cries of "looking for tank/healer" that I see. Rarely is it "Looking for a DPS!" So staying specced tank would probably make finding instance groups a lot easier.

(Reply to this) (Parent)

[info]featherkin
2008-06-09 03:14 pm UTC (link)
If anything, it's the inverse. Honored is so easy to get that people hit Honored quickly and go straight into Heroics with their guildmates. When Heroics were unlocked at Revered, most of the population was stuck farming reputation for keys, thus creating a large pool of people looking for regular instances.

(Reply to this) (Thread)

[info]midnightsteel
2008-06-09 03:29 pm UTC (link)
I'm pretty certain this is the problem, m'yup. Lowering it to honoured was a very bad idea. =/

(Reply to this) (Parent)

[info]eloren
2008-06-09 03:34 pm UTC (link)
Hmm, a good point. Hard to say if that would make much difference though. There's probably at this point in most server's lives only going to be a limited number of players of the right level of gear/experience to be running normal mode. Of course, it could just be that this is the price you pay for leveling long after the bell curve has washed on through normal instances. What surprises me is that many (most?) of the people I have PuGed with are NOT alts!

(Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)

[info]featherkin
2008-06-09 04:34 pm UTC (link)
"What surprises me is that many (most?) of the people I have PuGed with are NOT alts!"

This also makes sense to me. Alts in Outland mean that the player probably has one or seventies, which means those alts are the characters that are most likely to be dragged quickly to Honored by their fellow guildies' alts or mains. Chances are those alts are in a large guild or are well-connected players by virtue of already having done the process on more than one character. Level 70s can raid, which means that players are more likely to be in a large guild. As a result, these alts probably do not have to pug as much as non-alt Outland characters.

Leveling a main to 70 means that a player might not have a large friends list from the leveling process, due to instance runs not being necessary for advancement. Also, they are unlikely to be in a large raiding guild.

(Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)

[info]eloren
2008-06-09 06:30 pm UTC (link)
No doubt this is true. I've had people look at my guild tag and gear and then ask "This isn't your main, is it?" several times. Since I picked a similar name for my alt, a couple of people even had a good guess as to who my main was.

Being an alt in a raiding guild is part of my problem...raid nights I'm on my main and non raid nights I don't try to get on in as timely a fashion (family time, movie nights, etc), so all the smaller group stuff is usually under way by the time I get on.

My entire WoW career, I've been in big guilds. Guilds that people have actually heard of, so I guess it's always been *my* norm, even if it isn't *the* norm.

(Reply to this) (Parent)

[info]tokudama
2008-06-09 03:38 pm UTC (link)
Yup, this. I've stopped playing my poor rogue because it's next to impossible to get a group for Durnholde, and I need to get through that place in order to get to BM and do my alch quest. Back when they made that change I was kind of neutral about it. Now that I'm affected by it, though... GRRRR.

(Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)

[info]eloren
2008-06-09 06:36 pm UTC (link)
I think OH is the big bottleneck. I'll be ready for BM soon, just got to get my last key frag out of Steam Vaults. I hope those two will be easier to get groups for.

(Reply to this) (Parent)

[info]yueni
2008-06-09 04:16 pm UTC (link)
Yup. It's this. I try to get my rep up to honored for the factions via quests or the daily dungeons so that I can run them on Heroic. I've been able to do Coilfang and HFC heroics fairly easily, even as a brand new 70.

I'm about 4 or 5 quests away from honored with Sha'tar, and I'm thinking that I'll need to do some Terrokar forest quests (I skipped the zone) for Lower City rep.

(Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)

[info]eloren
2008-06-09 04:30 pm UTC (link)
Heh, I have performance anxiety. I did step into my first heroic this weekend - a guild team was looking for help killing Murmur. I wasn't that far off on DPS as compared to the two much better geared players, but since the healer couldn't keep the tank up, I came to the conclusion that maybe it wasn't me horking things up :-)

So that made me feel a little more confident, even if we didn't kill the boss.

(Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)

[info]yueni
2008-06-09 04:48 pm UTC (link)
Oh fft! If you can run heroic SLabs, you're totally fine in any other heroic instance. They've nerfed the hardest one (Durnholde) and the others are a breeze. The Coilfang ones and the TK ones are so easy in comparision! =) Run more heroics!

(Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)

[info]eloren
2008-06-09 05:19 pm UTC (link)
I didn't run it! They were at Murmur, the rest of the instance was cleared already. I just came in, died a few times, and decided it was time to make dinner IRL :-)

(Reply to this) (Parent)

[info]liesbyomission
2008-06-09 06:06 pm UTC (link)
Don't feel bad. Murmur's a bastard. If I ever have to tank him again I'm bringing my nature resist gear, lawl.

(Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)

[info]eloren
2008-06-09 06:15 pm UTC (link)
Doh - he's *nature* damage? Don't hunters have a NR aspect? Dang, I could have been more useful. Suspect it wouldn't have helped though. Ah well, newbie hunter and sometimes it shows :-)

(Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)

[info]liesbyomission
2008-06-09 06:18 pm UTC (link)
Yep. Aspect of the Wild saved me a few times with some extremely lucky resists. And you need a good healer too. My healer was a T6 priest. >.>

(Reply to this) (Parent)

[info]atlantisflygirl
2008-06-09 03:49 pm UTC (link)
I know the pain all too well, I only hit honoured with LC last week and I've been 70 for at least 6 months. The only rep I need know is the Sha'tar and I think I've only been in Bot twice lol. It'll take a while :P I feel your pain!

(Reply to this) (Thread)

[info]eloren
2008-06-09 04:16 pm UTC (link)
Yep, I still need Sha'Tar (one more run of whatever should do it!) and Keepers of Time...I think doing BM for the first time for that massive faction up should take care of that one too. Lots of runs required to get CE revered...I just remember that this was a lot easier on my druid way back when! She's exalted with everyone...well, except the T6 factions.

(Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)

[info]atlantisflygirl
2008-06-09 04:22 pm UTC (link)
hehe. yeah and its always a kick in the teeth when you get a whisper saying some random place and you're like yay then you ask normal or heroic, your heart sinks cause its heroic and you're all rats!!!

Happens in my guild, someone will ask for a run and nine times out of ten its for the factions I haven't got enough rep with yet :P

(Reply to this) (Parent)

[info]jeweledleah
2008-06-09 04:22 pm UTC (link)
do quests for scryers/aldor to get to almost honored with Shat'ar. turn ins of signets/whatever work wonderfuly and most people don't realize that they are getting hidden shat rep bonus. I got to 5999 out of 6000 just doing my scryer rep grind. then all you need is one quest (I did one from http://www.wowwiki.com/Sha%27tari_Base_Camp) - just one and you are all set to be honored :)

(Reply to this) (Parent)

[info]almostgold
2008-06-09 04:08 pm UTC (link)
I don't think the summertime loss of WoW players is the issue. I think it's more along the lines of it's been almost 1.5 years since BC came out. A lot of folks have leveled up a handful of 70s and are simply sick to death of the instances. I know my 68 SP has done almost no instances because I did so many of them on my first 3 70s. Burnout.

(Reply to this) (Thread)

[info]eloren
2008-06-09 05:20 pm UTC (link)
The hunter is only my second 70, and I've been raiding for so long on the main I've actually forgotten what a lot of the bosses *do* in heroics!

(Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)

[info]almostgold
2008-06-10 01:36 am UTC (link)
hehe

(Reply to this) (Parent)

[info]erazor
2008-06-09 04:26 pm UTC (link)
It is actually fully possible to get honored with almost every faction before even hitting level 70, just through questing or turn-ins. These are my tips for levellers:

- Thrallmar: Once you go to Hellfire Peninsula, join some PuGs for Hellfire Ramparts and Blood Furnace. This should normally be easy, because at this point, "everyone" wants gear from Outland. Hold off doing the quests, gather rep from just doing the instances and once you are rep capped from instances, go ahead and do the quests and get that rep on top. Should get you at least halfway to revered.

- Cenarion Expedition: Before doing any quests, go to the Auction House or use a higher level toon (if you have one) and buy Unidentified Plant Parts. You can also ask in the Zangarmarsh general channel and try to buy some off levellers. I think you need around 300-ish, can't recall fully though, but basically you can turn this in till honored. If you get any Unidentified Species (or something like that), keep them, as they will give you reputation all the way up to exalted and you can use them to do a last push at some later time. All your rep from quests will now be pushing you towards revered.

- Lower City: This one has been the most annoying one for me, mostly because it was hard finding Arakkoa Feathers on the Auction House. But you can turn those feathers in all the way to honored. If you can't find feathers, just grinding some of the Arakkoa to get xp and feathers will help. The reason why this reputation sucked for me was that Auchenai Crypts is an annoying instance that few people want to run, and Sethekk Halls is quite high level and at a point where you might want to run the 70 instances instead. So feathers helps a lot, and then quests on top will help you hit honored.

- Consortium: You might not really need Consortium reputation, but if you do, in particular for jewelcrafting, you will probably be in for a long grind. Mana-Tombs and the quest there will help you on the way, as will the quests in Nagrand/Netherstorm. However, grinding beads from the Nagrand Ogres will most likely be the way to go if you need a high rep with Consortium, or grinding/buying Ethereum Prison Keys once you have done the starting quest in Netherstorm. You will also get reputation from running daily normal/heroic instances once you hit 70.

- Keepers of Time: The good thing here is that everyone has to do Durnholde/Old Hillsbrad before they can enter The Black Morass. Get yourself into some Durnholde groups, a few is enough because the quest you do in The Black Morass will give you 8000 rep (8800 if human) which is a huge boost.

- Sha'tar: The easiest way by far to do the Sha'tar reputation is by turning in items for reputation either with Aldor or Scryer. When you do these turn-ins, you will ALSO get reputation with Sha'tar all the way up to 5999 in friendly. This means that all you have to do to hit honored is either one of the Sha'tar quests in Terokkar Forests/Netherstorm (so save one!) or kill one mob in one of the Tempest Keep instances (Mechanar, Botanica, Arcatraz).

Last chars I levelled had all their heroic keys within hours of being 70. Good luck with the rep grind!

(Reply to this) (Thread)

[info]eloren
2008-06-09 04:40 pm UTC (link)
Getting an Old Hillsbrad run has made me want to throttle people. Like...we had a full group, some of us were already at the instance (but other faction was camping the stone so no summons) and the paladin started making fun of the druid's guild. Way to blow the run dude! I just hope BM isn't so...insanely painful.

Sha'Tar has actually be the one set of things I haven't had much problem getting a group for, and I should get Honored with my next run. Oh hey, did you know you can now summon a player up onto one of the satellite instances? We had to do that for a Mech Run cause the tank didn't have a flying mount yet!

(Reply to this) (Parent)

[info]kadaria
2008-06-09 04:48 pm UTC (link)
I agree with this. I have three 70s and all of them are able to do at heroics at 70 because of questing and a few instances while leveling. The only rep I have trouble reaching honored with through this method is lower city. However my server population is high enough that I can usually catch someone trying to get a Kara key (SL runs) or people trying to do the normal dungeon of the day.

I used the WoW wiki rep guides to make sure that everyone hit honored (or revered) through questing rather than a ton of instance runs.

(Reply to this) (Parent)

[info]yueni
2008-06-09 04:56 pm UTC (link)
Ooh! You just reminded me about the Arakkoa feather turn ins. I've been saving stacks of those on my bank alt, and now I can put them to good use! In any case, people are also still running Shadow Labs (gives LC rep) for the Karazhan key quest.

(Reply to this) (Parent)

[info]centauress
2008-06-09 09:20 pm UTC (link)
I'm Revered with Consortium and I never ground beads.

(Reply to this) (Parent)

[info]imbue_myblue
2008-06-09 04:32 pm UTC (link)
My server is highly populated, and it is still almost impossible to get a pug together, regular or otherwise. Actually, sometimes it is hard to even get a pug together for one of the daily instances! It sucks for me a lot because my guild is not really interested in helping its members, or doing much of anything. I was told that this was one of the best guilds on this server, but not so much. :/

(Reply to this) (Thread)

[info]eloren
2008-06-09 04:48 pm UTC (link)
That is a thought though, I haven't even been looking at the daily normal instances. My guild's great normally, but I have a hard time finding anyone to help with normal instances. But they do run heroics a lot, thus my desire to get all my keys :-)

(Reply to this) (Parent)

[info]kraylessa
2008-06-09 04:59 pm UTC (link)
I'm not even 70 on my Priest yet and she's already honored with CE and HH. I just need my BM run to hit honored with KoT. And I need my Sethekk Halls run for my Shadow Labs key and my Shadow Labs run for my Kara key after that... which should easily get me to honored with Lowe City. Then I have Mech and Bot for my Arc Key and Arc for my Kara key, which should get me to honored with Sha'tar. It's not so hard. You chould easily hit honored without doing a single instance for CE and HH. And probably get pretty close with Sha'tar. You could do arrakoa feathers for Lower City, if desperate. So really, KoT is the only one you HAVE to run normal instances for.

(Reply to this) (Thread)

[info]eloren
2008-06-09 06:58 pm UTC (link)
I should do that quest line to get the Arcatraz key. I've actually already run Arc twice and Mech once...I coulda had it halfway done! I'll get those Honored standings one way or another, and hopefully soon, but I am not holding my breath :-)

It would be really nice of some of these level 70 instances to drop actual hunter gear though. Maybe getting my Spear voided any other possibility of items for many runs to come.

(Reply to this) (Parent)

[info]centauress
2008-06-09 09:18 pm UTC (link)
Honored isn't too high a bar. Heroic is.

(Reply to this)

Create an Account
Forgot your login or password?
Login w/ OpenID
English • Español • Deutsch • Русский…