(Faction sets in question: Alliance Vanguard, Alliance, Steamwheedle Cartel, possibly others.)
So I can't give a definite tally, but here's a rough estimate:
According to this page, there are about 57 different factions available to us (counting sets and subsets, and not counting Horde or "removed" factions). We're missing about 11 of them. United Nations achievement calls for 55. Cataclysm will likely have about 5 immediately available (probably easy grinds with a tabard, so not worth busting our asses on something now if we can get those 5 easily in the first few weeks of December). This means we need 4 more, preferably before Cata hits. That number could easily go up to 6 or 7 if we don't get credit for sets and all their subsets, and could decrease or increase again if the number of possible Cata reps is more or less than 5.
Of the eleven exalted reputations we do not yet have:
Luinilelen has been grinding out League of Arathor for lots of hours every day.
Epicharis will get Frenzyheart.
Moomello and I are nearing exalted with Hydraxian Waterlords with Molten Core runs.
Rainsong is planning to get Bloodsail on her DK.
Brood of Nozdormu (Ahn'Qiraj), Ashtongue Deathsworn (Black Temple), and Scale of the Sands (Hyjal) will all be get-able by farming old raids. If we can organize 5 or more people and do some strategy research, these could potentially go very quickly (likely 8-10 runs, I think, but of course the length of each run depends greatly on how well prepared we are). I suggest we knock these out one or two at a time, unless we have time for all three in a given lockout: as time goes on we're more likely to get the information required to determine exactly how many reps we need, and if it turns out we only need one or two, I'd rather have those done than be revered with all three.
Darkmoon Faire and Shen'dralar are both insanely expensive, as the former requires Deck turn-ins and the latter requires Pristine Black Diamonds. I'm collecting the Diamonds, and if I get enough from farming the Stratholme mount, I might farm the rest of the mats. Not likely though.
Silverwing Sentinels would require a massively time consuming rep grind in Warsong Gulch.
Ravenholdt requires killing mobs until honored, then farming (on a rogue) about 1300 Heavy Junkboxes from Tyr's Hand or Molten Core. Pain in the ass, probably not an ideal time investment unless you have a ton of free time for mindless grinding. Volunteers?
Other:
Syndicate: gained from killing Ravenholdt mobs, but you can't get past neutral.
Magram and Gelkis: can't get past Honored.
How can you help?
- Decide that you don't mind running Warsong Gulch 7 million times.
- Grind out the Ravenholdt junkboxes if you have a rogue.
- Invest 20-30k+ in Darkmoon decks or Pristine Black Diamonds.
- Help us to organize raids for rep farming in AQ, Hyjal, and BT. Learn the boss mechanics, take notes, and do research to see if there are other ways to accelerate the rep grind (e.g. turn ins or repeatable.
Why does this matter ?
Guild progression and guild perks will play a large part in establishing our reputation in Cataclysm. If we can offer the lion mount, increased profession perks, gold drops, raid utility, mount speed, and leveling xp, reduced hearthstone CD, remote bank access, etc., we are likely to have a larger pool of players to choose from, which will allow us to be more selective about who runs in our groups. We will probably ditch the idea of 1-player per raid spot, rather than have so many nights when we start late, end early, or don't run at all.
Hopefully this means we will have a more consistent schedule without having to carry terrible, semi-blind players' ungeared third alts with retarded specs and worse rotations through our main group's progression anymore.
Of course, "55 exalted reputations" is not the only thing that matters for guild progression. Please do what you can to prepare for solid progress as soon as Cataclysm hits: guild achievements will involve thousands of daily quests, cooking, fishing, critter killing, farming and crafting in large volumes, and most importantly, getting to 85 as quickly as possible, staying ahead of the raid progression curve, and contributing to PvP and PvE achievements. See here for some details.
It's probably a safe assumption that guild achievements like this, this, and this will drive the costs of mats up and the cost of crafted items and consumables down, as crafters scramble to meet the quotas and flood the market with the resulting products. The best bet is to get your gatherers and crafters working before 95% of the rest of the server has professions leveled.
Update: According to this site, there will be SIX reputation factions in Cataclysm, all of which will allow you to grind rep by wearing a tabard. However, this time rep is only available through heroic dungeons (in LK any lvl 80 dungeon provided tabard rep), and the gear requirements for heroics should be a bit more difficult than they were last time. We'll look at rep rewards and pick 1 faction for each person to raise to exalted to get us there as quickly as possible.
