http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=poop%20jokes&page=7

Can't stop laughing.

Poor little dog...

3/27-4/2 Tim's schedule

Sunday- 3:30-10pm
Monday- 2:30-11pm
Tuesday- Off
Wednesday- 9am-2:30pm
Thursday- 2:30-11pm
Friday- Off
Saturday- 4:30-12am

Moar Raid Videos

Thought it might be fun to see a couple of our successful runs from last night. :)


This is pretty much a Peeve Appreciation Video. Watch his leet kiting, and tell him he's awesome next time you see him.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IG27cT7FF6I&feature=player_profilepage


I missed the very beginning, but figured this was still worth seeing.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xAcTHI-H71E&feature=player_profilepage

Paid Guild Name Changes Finally on the Way!

Despite the fact that some in the military who use this slogan (from which our guild name derives) are guilty of the same mistake, there is no word "Reproache" in either French or English. Blame Platheus.

"Sans Reproche", coming soon. (Or maybe Sans Poop. We'll see.)

Atramedes

Atramedes Attempts 3/20 <-- clicky

Uploaded in case anyone would like to see a couple of our attempts from last night. After watching my unadulterated idiocy for a few hours, I've decided one specific thing we might be able to work on is our positioning (twss). Feel free to leave a comment here if you have any observations or suggestions. :)

Arcane gearing basics for Mech

• Intellect is your best stat (though you can't reforge for int).
• Hit is the next best thing, up until you reach the cap of 615 for 5 man content (1742 for raids but don't worry about that until you get all 346+ gear). Once you reach the hit cap, additional hit rating is worthless.
• Haste is next, nearly equal with Mastery.
• Mastery might even pull ahead of haste at times depending on the rest of your numbers. For now favor haste. (As a rough analogy, think of your total "rating" points as the perimeter of a polygon, and Haste and Mastery as two contributing factors in determining the length of various sides. Maximizing your DPS is like trying to maximize the area of that polygon: there's no rule that tells you, independent of all the other properties of that shape, which side you should choose to lengthen. Similarly, whether 10 Haste or 10 Mastery constitutes a bigger upgrade depends on the state of your gear - the totality of your stats - at a given moment. The attempt to figure all this out is called theorycrafting, or simcrafting. Some people in the guild use spreadsheets to get the numbers as close to perfect as possible. There's also a program called Rawr that will run the numbers for you. In any case, you don't have to worry about doing this crap, just yet.)
• Crit is very weak, relative to any of the above.

Stamina is worth having but not at the expense of Int, Haste, Mastery, or Crit. Everything else (including spirit) is worthless. Resilience is great for PvP, almost worthless otherwise. For this reason, almost any PvE gear, unless the ilvl is much lower, will be better than the entry level PvP stuff.

Guides:

http://us.battle.net/wow/en/forum/topic/1648728060

Read this a few times at least, skipping the sections on frost/fire specs if they don't interest you.

Another gear list, simple and straightforward:

http://eaoexcursions.wordpress.com/2010/12/02/a-cataclysm-mage-gear-list/

More comprehenisve gear lists; you can set the parameters (remove raid gear from your lists, etc.)
http://www.maxdps.com/mage/arcane.php

A more thorough and technical guide, optional but definitely worth a read:

http://elitistjerks.com/f75/t118084-cataclysm_arcane_mage_compendium/

http://wow.joystiq.com/category/mage/

Very readable weekly column on mage stuff. Bookmark this and check in every weekend to stay updated on current discussions and recent changes. Read older columns when procrastinating or otherwise killing time to become better informed about Mage mechanics and what to do in specific combat situations.

FAQ: Non-Obvious Mage Mechanics

http://us.battle.net/wow/en/forum/topic/969937068

http://www.mmo-champion.com/content/

Check regularly if you want to know about game changes within hours of their announcement.

Quick fixes:

- Get a cloak without agility. Check the list from

http://www.maxdps.com/mage/arcane.php;

you could probably go quest for a bit in Twilight Highlands and get an upgrade with Intellect.

- Reforge the crit on your chestpiece into haste.

- Turn the hit on your wand back to haste. You're more than 19 over the cap.

- Your spec/glyph situation is a little odd; a mix of PvE, PvP, and a few choices that I wouldn't recommend for either. I'd suggest having a dedicated PvP spec, whether frost or Arcane, and a dedicated PvE Arcane spec.

For the PvE Arcane: lose 2/2 Improved Counterspell and 1/2 Shatter. 2/2 Arcane Flows is a MUST (you have 1/2). In Fire you need 2/2 Master of Elements and 3/3 Burning Soul. Keep 3/3 Piercing Ice in Frost, but nothing else in that tree.

Prismatic Cloak, Imp. Arcane Explosion, Imp. Blink, Imp Polymorph, and Invocation are all decent optional talents for your last few points. Check the link below to see which optional talents I think are best for you right now.

Lose the glyph of Arcane Barrage and pick up the glyph of Mage Armor. Always use Mage Armor when fighting as Arcane (used to be Molten Armor was best). Get the Glyph of Evocation. Minor glyphs are less important, but Armors/Slowfall are the most useful.

Here's an example of a setup I'd recommend:

http://www.wowhead.com/talent#ohIMMRhRrRRofZc:s0VMkomoV

There's some wiggle room in the talents and glyphs, but that's an ideal starting point.

(You could, for example, take 2 of the points form Prismatic Cloak and put them in Imp. Blink, or you could take the 2 from Arcane Explosion, assuming you don't often do AoE in dungeons.)

Tim's Schedule 3/6-3/19

Basically, my schedule is always changing, but they seem to have made a habit about giving me Tuesdays/Fridays off.

3/6 I work, but will be home around 8:15pm server time.
3/7 I work till 10pm server.
3/8-3/11 I have off. Wootz! First time for everything.
3/12 I'm unsure about, but I assume I work till 11pm server.
3/13 I'll be home no later than 9pm server
3/14 Home at 10pm server.
3/15 Off
3/16 AM shift, will be home at 4:30pm server.
3/17 Home at 10pm server.
3/18 Off
3/19 Home at 11pm server.

That's all I have for now, will keep it updated when schedules come out!

Rolling a new alt, Cata-style

1. Create character. Base the character name off of a pop culture reference, or possibly a play on words of your chosen race/class combination (Edworgcullen, Holykow, etc)

2. Spend 30+ minutes reconfiguring all your addons that have defaulted back to their initial factory settings.

3. Log on to your main and mail yourself full heirloom gear.

4. Log back onto your alt and equip all the heirloom gear.

5. Log back onto your other alt because you forgot the rare heirloom ring you won by sheer chance in the Kalu'ak Fishing Derby.

6. Log onto your new alt and be ready to roll.

7. Log back onto your main to mail your new alt five Netherweave Bags and 100g to get you started.

8. Stay on your main until a guild officer gets online to send your new alt a guild invite. Refuse to level without the extra experience from the Fast Track guild perk.

9. Log on to new alt, finally ready to go.

10. Do a few monotonous quests, quickly realizing you are no longer in the mood to level a new character.

11. Hop on your main and ask if anyone in guild needs a daily heroic.

(Stolen from Masterofwarcraft.net, my favorite tip/exploit site.)

A Clarification

Tom Waits:

Tom Waits:

Crap:

Mind Control in Vortex Pinnacle

There are one or two difficult trash pulls in Vortex Pinnacle, the worst being the pack of centaur-things located at the bottom of a small stairway, inside the spell-redirect triangle. The healers can drop 100k heals when MCd, and if you don't care about loot or rep, you can just MC one at a time and make them leap off the side.

Video:

Raid Night

As usual, I'm posting way past bedtime, so I'll be brief and incomplete. A few things I wanted to post before the raid:

• Please have food and potions with you, and make sure every piece of gear is gemmed and enchanted. If you still have a 333 you didn't enchant because you're hoping to vendor it soon, I'd prefer to waste some mats and have a stronger raid.

• Double check that you're at the hit-cap for level 88. For most of us, this will be the first time fighting anything over level 87.

• Thanks to Rainsong for donating about 7-8k worth of herbs to make flasks. Unless you're bringing your own, please do not use a flask until we have a good sense of the mechanics of the fight and are ready to attempt the kill. It costs about 2k an hour to keep the raid flasked.

• BoE Epics will likely drop from trash, if not today then soon. We haven't decided on the exact policy just yet, but (partially to deal with the flask/repair expense of raiding) we would prefer to have the BoEs benefit the raid as a whole, and to avoid a situation where one player can win a roll and make 10-20k off the drop. Here's a rough sketch of a BoE rule: If the piece is an upgrade for your main spec, you can roll on it just like any other piece of loot. If no one rolls main spec and you want the piece for offspec or for an alt, you can purchase it from the raid for half of the market rate. If two players want the same piece for an alt, they could roll to see who pays this fee, rather than enter a bidding war. If a piece is left unclaimed and unpurchased, the item will be sold at market value and the money will go into the Guild Bank. (Some exceptions may be made to the "off-spec" rule. For example, I've asked X to have a Mutilate offspec for when the raid needs the 8% spell dmg taken debuff; if a piece of loot was an upgrade for this spec but not for Combat, the he shouldn't have to pay a fee. Or if we end up relying on Moo to heal sometimes... etc. blah blah blah you get the point, the details would be crafted around a "whatever's best for the raid" policy.)

• BoP loot policy is simpler than it used to be, as armor specializations make "downgrades" (Mail-> Leather, Leather -> Cloth. etc.) almost always a bad idea. The new hybrid talents that convert spirit to hit add a new layer of confusion to the loot priority system, but as Moo is the only Hybrid DPS, it won't be too complicated. Moo can roll as he normally would on DPS gear & can have all cloth spirit gear, as no one else can use it. As healers are already at a slight disadvantage (3 of them to gear, vs. 2 caster dps), the weapons and jewelry that have spirit are for healers to roll first, the ones with hit are for DPS only, the ones with haste/crit/mastery are for everyone.

• If we have Tol Barad tonight, we'll kill Argaloth. Should be no problem for us.

• We'll probably spend most of our raid time on Magmaw. Omnitron, Halfus, and a few others are possibilities if Magmaw ends up being much easier or more difficult than expected; I think this fight will be manageable but sufficiently difficult to keep us occupied for a while. Please everyone familiarize yourself with the basics via videos and guides. I have 2 different plans we'll discuss in detail but it would help if we're all going in with a pretty solid idea of what to expect.

Here's a concise overview:

Phase 1 is almost entirely about adds that spawn from lava pillars (we'll have to move from the pillars before they spawn); the adds bite and give a gross-sounding "Living Bomb - like" effect and a grosser sounding debuff that causes more of the same adds to spawn. This can get out of hand quickly, so they have to be slowed, kited, and zerged. Rain will probably go frost (Blizzard + 2/2 Ice shards) for this fight just to help us cope with this mechanic, and Lateef's Ice Trap (talented and glyphed, though Battle.net is down and I can't check specs) will provide similar kiting/slowing effects. Rogues may or may not have to help with the AOE after the ranged have initial aggro. Boss damage on this phase is minimal.

Also: we'll have to move from the pillars during this phase, manage armor debuffs via tank swaps, and move from one side of the room to the other when the boss sets our side on fire. The healers will also be coping with Lava Missiles on the raid.

Phase 2 is a burn phase. The rogues will climb up on Magmaw's head and use a special ability to chain it to the ground. All damage is increased to 200% in this phase, and the boss mechanics stop entirely, giving the healers a break.

Updated Raid Comp Info

Here's a more complete list of possible raid buffs and debuffs, minus the specifics of some resistances, the values of which I was unable to find easily online - all the usual sites have this gibberish that looks like a math equation with typos:

(cond($lte(level, 70), level,cond($lte(level, 80), level + (level) * 5, level + (level) * 5 + (level) * 7)))

It probably makes sense to X, but ... you think that makes you special? You calling me stupid? We don't all watch Frasier, you jerk.

We'll get the exact numbers in-game and see which, if any, stack (Kings/MotW/Resistance Aura & Totem/Priest Shadow Protection).

We have two paladins and a shaman, and the combination of auras and totems is something I haven't worked out yet. Expect a few updates in this area, soon.

I'm using our main group as a reference point; as we switch things up we'll know what we're losing & gaining.

Italics indicate a buff we'll definitely have in the raid.

Buffs

"Heroism"

Shaman/Mage/BM Hunter with Core Hound

5% Stats (Str/Agi/Stam/Int)

Druid MotW (also resistance)

Pally Kings (also resistance)

Hunter w/ Silithid Pet

549 Agility/Strength

Warrior Battle Shout

DK Horn of Winter

Hunter Roar of Courage (Hunter cat/Spirit Beast)

585 Stam

Priest Fortitude

Warrior Commanding Shout

Warlock w/ imp Blood Pact

4075 Armor

Devotion Aura

Stoneskin Totem

10% AP

Blessing of Might

Blood Dk's Abom's Might

Marksmanship Hunter Trueshot Aura

Enh. Shaman Unleashed Rage

5% Critical Strike Chance

Elemental Oath (elem shaman)

Furious Howl/Terrifying Roar (hunter pets)

Leader of the Pack (feral druid)

Rampage (fury warrior)

+3% Damage

Arcane Tactics (Arcane mage)

Communion (Ret Pally)

Ferocious Inspiration (BM Hunter)

+2126 Mana

Arcane Brilliance

Fel Intelligence (warlock w/ Fel Hunter)

Mana Regen (326 mp5)

Blessing of Might

Fel Intelligence

Mana Spring Totem

Melee Haste

Hunting Party (Survival Hunter)

Imp Icy Talons (Frost DK)

Windfury Totem (any Shaman)

Reduced Pushback

Concentration Aura

Totem of Tranquil Mind

Replenishment

Vampiric Touch

Revitalize (resto Druid)

Enduring Winter

Soul Leech

Communion (ret pally)

5% Spell Haste

Mind Quickening (Shadow Priest)

Moonkin Aura

Wrath of Air Totem

+6% Spellpower

Arcane Brilliance

Flametongue Totem

+10% Spellpower

Demonic Pact (Demo Warlock)

Totemic Wrath (Elem Shaman)

(obviously you can't get both buffs, just get either the good one or the less good one)

Spell Resistances:

Kings/MotW (all magical resistances), Resist Totem, Glyphed Healing Stream Totem, Priest Shadow Resist, Pally Resist Aura (now gives fire/frost/shadow resist) Aspect of the Wild (Nature Resist) .

The numbers on all resistance buffs, as well as info on which, if any, can be combined, to be filled in later. Which Totems + Auras overlap and which ones we'll use will likely follow logically from that. I notice we don't need spell haste, we don't need melee haste, we don't need Stoneskin or Str of Earth Totem or Mana Tide because other people will provide equivalent buffs without any trade-off.

Debuffs: (done hastily, to be updated and expanded tomorrow)

Reduced Armor

Prot warrior Sunder, Rogue Expose Armor, Faerie Fire, Hunter pet abilities

Reduced Attack Speed

Warrior Thunderclap, lots of other stuff

Reduced Physical Dmg done

Warrior Demo shout, Druid copy of this, Curse of Weakness

+4% Physical Dmg Taken

Combat Rogues and others.

5% Spell Crit chance debuff

We don't have this. Fire mages and Warlocks only.

8% spell damage taken

Druid Earth and Moon, Warlock Curse of Elements, Various Hunter pet abilities, Assassination Rogues.

Our main group has everything easily covered except for 5% Spell Crit Chance debuff, 8% Spell Damage Taken, and 5% Critical Strike chance.

Hunters can now cover various gaps, but not more than one at a time. So Lateef can bring 5% critical strike chance with a Wolf or Devilsaur, or he can cover 8% spell damage taken with a Dragonhawk or Wind Serpent. We have 2 Combat rogues in our main group; I know on some nights, at least, Tim will have to work and we will have a different set of variables. But on nights when both are present, if either has any interest in trying a different spec: Assassination rogues have Master Poisoner for the 8% spell damage debuff, which would leave Lateef to cover 5% critical strike chance, while Subtlety rogues have Honor Among Thieves for the 5% crit, leaving Lateef with the 8% spell dmg debuff from the appropriate pet.

(If either X or Tim is interested in an Assassination offspec, this guide and and its author seem pretty impressive).

We won't have 10% spellpower (just 6%) or the 5% spell crit debuff with our current raid makeup or any of the people I expect to see filling in regularly. We could get both with a demo warlock, but our only high lvl warlocks are alts of main raiders. The 4% spellpower loss is unfortunate but overall I think we're in a better place regarding buffs & debuffs than I expected.

Here's a reasonable goal: Starting this weekend every main raider runs, if possible, 2 heroics a night, 1 if its a bad night for whatever reason. We prioritize selected heroics, targeting instances with our most needed upgrades, over randoms. We all pitch in and get as many upgrades crafted as possible for our main group; I can't skin or herb but I am happy to mine (and fish for raid food buff stocks) & donate a portion of my Gringotts stash to get this happening. It wouldn't be especially difficult for us to go from 60% (a rough estimate of where we are now) to 85% of optimal pre-raid gearing in one week of work, I think. Sun, Feb 6 (or thereabouts) we try out a few of the easier bosses.

Schedules are going to be tricky, we'll start collecting that information soon.

Raid Composition: Buffs and Debuffs

We're missing very little.

For our 3% crit, Lateef would need to bring either a wolf or devilsaur (assuming the info I found is up to date). We don't have the 5% spell crit debuff on bosses, unless Rain goes Fire, but that's no fun and anyway then we lose the 3% flat damage she brings to the whole raid. We might be missing bleed damage on the target (I think Lateef would need a different pet from the 3% crit one for that), but I need to look up the details.

http://raidcomp.mmo-champion.com/?c=6eudokk9ai000000000000000000000000000000

Raid Composition

Here's a rough sketch of what our raid group looks like at the moment. Please note that we do not intend to have the same 10 people running every raid night; this is to accommodate a. main raiders who would prefer to take more nights off, b. guild members not in our main group who would still like to sometimes participate in raid content, and c. the raid as a whole, which was often gimped by one or two individuals showing up late or not at all and then offering embarrassingly stupid or transparently dishonest excuses for leaving 8 or 9 people sitting around trying to pug from /2 and getting whispers from undergeared DKs who evidently thought they qualified as "caster dps" or "MT heals".

(That last bit is not a passive aggressive attack on anyone who might read this; the players I refer to have moved on in various ways, some are even very successfully not raiding with other top guilds on our server and/or getting ROFLStopmed by Moo in PvP.)

Tank:

Peeve, Zeuze

Heals:

Elewe , Vici, Elaani.

Dps:

Xharybdis, Esdue, Lateef, Moomello, Rainsong.

Others definitely or probably interested in raiding; I am unsure about schedules & availability at the moment but will post updates as I gather more information:

(non-alts of those listed above are in bold to help me keep track of how many people we have).

Tank:

Chico, Raideen (offset, possibly), Troy (geared for heroics on Dravor, but as he's been tanking for years, will quite possibly appear in this role as well), Baiula (X's pally, only a possibility: not yet sure which alt he will favor most).

Heals:

Raine, Chica? (not sure), Baiula (no idea if he's interested in Holy), Asuuna (another X alt), Fangorn (if/when we are short on healers and someone else would like to tank), Fangorn (if/when we need heals and have extra tanks that would like to go), Taisou (where's Waldo Kori?), Fatalia (?)

Dps:

Dravor, Sicnoc/Garion, Puka, Petrynni, Chico, Dramas/Rocketlike, Tharkun, Zoot, Eugoogalizer, Buddahmonk, Khaj, Epicharis, Koriyuki

Not sure about some of the other players who are family/friends/old guildies of Troy; Raine and I need to get together for 10 min so I can get up to speed on all the newer folks and update our "Who's Who" page. If your name is not on this list it is not a sign that our raiding will exclude you; there are just a lot of people I don't know well.

Scattered thoughts:

• We need more healers - for raiding but especially for our daily heroics which are, of course, essential to getting players sufficiently geared for raiding.
• All of our warlocks are alts of main raiders; I'd like to see one or two more in the guild.
• Our only Moonkin is Moo's alt; this would be ideal for anyone with a druid trying to pick a spec to focus on gearing. (Fangorn and Elewe will primarily be needed for healing).
• We are doubled or tripled up on some classes if you include main raiders and likely raiders not in the original group of 10. This is fine, but it would be ideal to have feedback from everyone on what classes they would like to prioritize (pick a main and prioritize your alts, maybe) so that I have a better sense of potential raid composition. "Whatever's best for the raid" is always great to hear, but I'd also like to know what you are most excited about doing. Post in the comments or talk about it in game.
• If there is sufficient interest from people not in our main group to raid more often, it would absolutely be feasible to get a second group going. This might be a month or more away rather than a week or two, but I think there would be a bunch of alts interested in rounding out that group as well
• If I made any obvious errors or omissions here, please let me know. I'm posting this at nearly 6AM on no sleep.

Mind Control Guide

Principally for our shadow priests (Moo/Fatalia /Chica/ Pet/ Luin/ Impure, others?) interested in getting creative with CC, this guide details the abilities of various mobs susceptible to Mind Control in Cataclysm dungeons.

For those unfamiliar with the ability, the same author has an introductory guide here.

Stonecore, etc

("Who's Who" is in need of updating; I bumped it so it's now the very last post.)

I decided to start posting here again, for when I come across information that might be advantageous for guild members. If you are unable to post on this site, let me know, and I can add your Blogspot/Gmail ID to the list.

The standard of writing at WoWInsider appears to be higher than it was a year or so ago; this post on why Stonecore sucks is worth a read.

Excerpts:

Slabhide uses a very misleading LoS mechanic. To avoid his AoE, you need to use the spikes that fall from the sky to line-of-sight the ability. However, you can't use about half of the spikes -- they're still inside of his hitbox, so you'll still be hit. If you don't already know the exact details of LOS/hitbox interaction from picking apart the game like raiders have for the last six years, it isn't immediately obvious why you're dying. It's not obvious to you, and it's not obvious to your party members. In a PUG, I have seen people die standing behind a spike and get yelled at for it. Neither the person who died or the person who yelled at them really understood why the player died.

The person who died did everything right -- he ran behind a spike when the AoE was cast. Because he did everything right, he assumes that the fight must not be LoS-based; it must be something else. The others in the group assume he is a terrible player and wasn't actually behind a spike, even though he was. None of them know that the real reason the person died was because the spikes don't break line of sight when you're inside of the hitbox, even though it's between you and the mob.

Once I explained it to everybody, the reaction from the group was, "Oh, that's really stupid." It is stupid. It's a very poorly designed encounter, one that I would personally describe as broken. Those spikes should not spawn inside of Slabhide's hitbox at all, unless the purpose of this encounter is to teach players that World of Warcraft's LoS mechanics don't work properly.

...

Ozruk:

The Shatter mechanic is designed in such a way that you will wipe to him when you first encounter him. It isn't negotiable. It isn't a matter of seeing Shatter being cast and then running away from it. If you try to do that you will die, which is different from the normal version of the encounter. You need to turn and start running when the Paralyze ability is cast, including the tank. And then Ozruk will use his ability. There's no way for a tank to know that and adapt to it. There's no picking up the pieces if members of your group don't know how it works, especially the tank. Unless they're clairvoyant, they are going to die learning this fight, and the mechanics are set up in a way that they might not fully understand why they died.

You are hit with Paralyze. If you have a DoT on your character, Paralyze is immediately removed. If you're a tank killing Ozruk for the first time and your Paralyze debuff was removed the moment it went up, you may not have noticed it at all. When you die, your immediate thought is going to be, "Oh, I didn't run out of Shatter fast enough." What is there to indicate that you were supposed to turn and run away? You didn't remove Paralyze intentionally. You didn't plan for its removal. It just happened without your knowledge, and then you died, not actually learning anything about the Shatter mechanic -- a spell that most certainly does not function like other Shatters we have come to know in raiding.

...

From the same post - this might, roughly, be the order of our attempted raid kills:

"...If you want the cop-out answer, I think you'll be fine doing the bosses in any order you'd like, as long as you save Cho'gall, Nefarian and Al'Akir for last. If you want a little more direction than that, my raid's first six boss kills, in order, were:

1. Magmaw
2. Omnotron Defense System
3. Halfus Wyrmbreaker
4. Valiona and Theralion
5. Maloriak
6. Conclave of Wind

Two bosses in Blackwing Descent, two bosses in Twilight Bastion, then we hopped around. I would say the first few bosses in each dungeon are roughly equivalent difficulty.

Reputation Factions: Update

It's still not clear whether we'll get credit for exalted with a set of factions (e.g. Alliance Vanguard) and each subset member (e.g. Explorer's League, Frostborn, Silver Covenant, and Valiance Expedition). Currently, in my achievement list, and in my reputation panel, I get credit for all 5 of those. But other sets & subsets are not listed the same way (i.e. with a reputation bar for each) and there are discrepancies between the in-game list and the armory list for some (e.g. Alliance and the subdivsions of SW, Gnomer, IF, Darn, Exodar).

(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.

Reputation Factions

Regarding the guild achievement "United Nations": We need to raise 55 reputations to exalted, including the 5 new factions that will be added in Cataclysm. I think there are 57 reputation factions in the game currently, so in Cata we'll be able to skip 7, total. This number keeps changing, so I'll get a better count in a subsequent post. For example, Z's shammy has met Magram Clan Centaur and Gelkis Clan Centaur, which explains why he's been missing for most of WotLK. I'm not sure that these count, nor am I certain that the subsets of a given faction count either.

Factions not yet completed by a guild member are in bold, along with any info regarding plans or work in progress. Please leave comments, as I did not bother to check everyone's armory carefully. The more info we have, the less likely it is that someone will spend time and money doing a redundant rep grind.

Wintersaber
Syndicate

Kalu'ak
Ebon Blade
Sons of Hodir
Kirin Tor
Argent Crusade
Wyrmrest
Ashen Verdict
Oracles
Frenzyheart (Epicharis is working on it.)

Alliance Vanguard (I'm hoping this counts, along with its four sub-factions)
Valiance Expedition
The Silver Covenant
Explorer's League
The Frostborn

The Scale of Sands (5 or 6 Hyjal clears)

Netherwing
Kurenai
Ashtongue Deathsworn (BT clears)

Consortium
Keepers of Time
Violet Eye
Honor Hold
Ogri'la
Cenarion Expedition
Sporeggar

Scryers
Sha'tar
Lower City
Aldor
Sha'tari Skyguard
Shattered Sun Offensive

Cenarion Circle
Darkmoon Faire (Probably skip this one, which requires something like 4000 stacks of herbs or many tens of thousands of gold worth of deck turn-ins.)
Hydraxian Waterlords
Thorium Brotherhood
Timbermaw Hold
Zandalar Tribe
Shen'dralar Probably skip: 20k+ worth of Pristine Black Diamonds
Bloodsail Buccaneers
Brood of Nozdormu (AQ Farming)
Argent Dawn
Ravenholt

Alliance
Exodar
Darnassus
Gnomeregan
Stormwind
Ironforge

League of Arathor (Moo and Luinilelen are both working towards this.)
Silverwing Sentinels
Stormpike Guard

Gadgetzan
Booty Bay
Everlook
Ratchet

(I believe Z is working on all four of these.)

YOGcaaaasts!

I INtroduces you!! ahhhhhhhhhh :P I'm tired.
This is the first vid in their Cataclysm beta series. I love these guys, omg. :)