Reputation Rewards (for everyone)

GUEST POST

Today’s post is brought to you by Krayleyna.  She posted a wonderful thread on our guild forums about rep rewards, their reputations and who they are for so I wanted to share the love with everyone else.

I’ve found it super helpful, especially in regards to my alts.

After seeing people randomly choose tabards to wear and factions to pursue, it became clear to me that a LOT of people did not research the rep rewards available from the new factions. I’ve compiled a list of the armor available from the Cata factions. You should use this list in figuring out which factions to champion first.

[Editor's Note:  She got angry when she saw me getting rep with the Cattaurs so I could get a camel!]

NOTE: Baradin’s Wardins does not have a rep tabard. You will have to build rep with them by doing the Tol Barad dailies. In addition to the armor listed below, they also have a bunch of 346 weapons available at Revered. You can see the whole list on wowhead here.

Tank Misc
Wrap of the Great Turtle – Cloak – Guardians of Hyjal Exalted
Mirror of Broken Images – Trinket – Baradin’s Warden’s Exalted
Felsen’s Ring of Resolve – Ring – Therazane Revered
Mountain’s Mouth – Neck – Guardians of Hyjal Honored

Tank Plate
Gryphon Rider’s Boots – Boots – Wildhammer Clan Exalted
Sandguard Bracers – Bracers – Ramkahen Exalted
Crown of Wings – Helm – Wildhammer Clan Revered
Stone-Wrapped Greaves – Legs – Earthen Ring Honored

Strength DPS Misc
Gift of Nadun – Neck – Ramkahen Exalted
Impatience of Youth – Trinket – Baradin’s Wardens Exalted
Gorsik’s Band of Shattering – Ring – Therazane Revered
Red Rock Band – Ring – Ramkahen Revered
Shroud of the Dead – Cloak – Ramkahen Honored
Galrond’s Band – Ring – Guardians of Hyjal Honored

DPS Plate
Belt of the Ferocious Wolf – Belt – Guardians of Hyjal Exalted
Waywatcher’s Boots – Boots – Guardians of Hyjal Revered
Gryphon Talon Gauntlets – Gloves – Wildhammer Clan Revered

Agility DPS Misc
Signet of the Elder Council – Ring – Earthen Ring Exalted
Unsolvable Riddle – Trinket – Baradin’s Warden’s Exalted
Softwind Cape – Cloak – Earthen Ring Revered
Terrath’s Signet of Balance – Ring – Therazane Revered
Acorn of the Daughter Tree – Neck – Guardians of Hyjal Revered

Melee Leather
Stormbolt Gloves – Gloves – Wildhammer Clan Exalted
Quicksand Belt – Belt – Ramkahen Revered
Sly Fox Jerkin – Chest – Guardians of Hyjal Honored
Swiftflight Leggings – Legs – Wildhammer Clan Honored

DPS Mail
Treads of Malorne – Boots – Guardians of Hyjal Exalted
Windhome Helm – Helm – Wildhammer Clan Revered
Mantle of Moss – Shoulders – Earthen Ring Honored
Belt of the Stargazer – Belt – Ramkahen Honored

Caster Misc
Lightning Flash Pendant – Neck – Wildhammer Clan Exalted
Mandala of Stirring Patterns – Trinket – Baradin’s Wardens Exalted
Stump of Time – Trinket – Baradin’s Wardens Exalted
Cloak of Ancient Wisdom – Cloak – Earthen Ring Revered
Band of Singing Grass – Ring – Wildhammer Clan Revered
Diamant’s Ring of Temperance – Ring – Therazane Revered
Cloak of the Dryads – Cloak – Guardians of Hyjal Honored
Ammunae’s Blessing – Ring – Ramkahen Honored
Pendant of Elemental Balance – Neck – Earthen Ring Honored

Caster Cloth
Cord of Raven Queen – Belt – Guardians of Hyjal Exalted
Desert Walker Sandals – Boots – Ramkahen Exalted
Flamebloom Gloves – Gloves – Earthen Ring Exalted
Robes of Orsis – Chest – Ramkahen Revered
Gloves of Aetherial Rumors – Gloves – Wildhammer Clan Honored
Helm of Temperance – Helm – Earthen Ring Honored

Caster Leather
Belt of the Untamed – Belt – Wildhammer Clan Exalted
Aessina-Blessed Gloves – Gloves – Guardians of Hyjal Revered
Leggings of Clutching Roots – Legs – Earthen Ring Revered
Mantle of Wild Feathers – Shoulders – Wildhammer Clan Honored

Caster Mail
Earthmender’s Boots – Boots – Earthen Ring Exalted
Wilderness Legguards – Legs – Guardians of Hyjal Revered
Sash of Prophecy – Belt – Ramkahen Revered
Helm of the Skyborne – Helm – Wildhammer Clan Honored

Healer Plate
Sun King’s Girdle – Belt – Ramkahen Exalted
World Keeper’s Gauntlets – Gloves – Earthen Ring Exalted
Peacemaker’s Breastplate – Chest – Earthen Ring Revered
Drystone Greaves – Boots – Ramkahen Honored

Since we are hoping to be raiding ASAP in Cata, maybe even by the first weekend, I thought I would post some resources that people can check out and study up on how to level quickly at launch.

First up is a nice little forum post that Xeo found on MMO-Champion. It has some great ideas for leveling prep, where to go to get started questing as soon as cata launches, and details about 5-man dungeon encounters.

Next is WoW-Pro’s Leveling Guide/Addon. If you have ever used Jame’s Leveling Guides in the past, you are probably familiar with the WoW-Pro site. In the past year or so, they developed an in-game addon that allows you to track your quests and the steps in the guide without having to alt-tab out to the site or print out the guides and waste hundreds of sheets of paper (which is what I used to do before they came out with the addon).

The addon also works with another mod called TomTom, which is like an in-game GPS. It puts a big green arrow (you can resize/move/customize it) in the center of your screen pointing you to your next step and shows waypoints on your maps. Basically, if you use this addon, you just have to follow that green arrow for 5 levels until you ding 85. If you do decide to use it, I recommend you get they absolute latest version of the guide Monday night or even Tuesday morning to make sure you have the most up-to-date revisions as the developers have been tweaking, testing, and adding things right up until the last possible moment. You can watch a video about the guide and download the current version here.

If you just want the printable online guide and not the addon, you can find that here.

I am currently working on researching the new raid encounters so we won’t be flying blind when we jump into our first raids. I will be posting a list of guides and videos for those encounters later this week or over the weekend.

Another thing to keep in mind is reputation earned while leveling. Just like in Wrath and BC, you will need to earn rep with different factions for your helm and shoulder enchants. All shoulder enchants are available with Therazane rep, which is earned through questing in Deepholme as well as a tabard. I would HIGHLY recommend questing in Deepholme while leveling to get a head start on that rep. Helm enchants come in 4 varieties from 4 different factions based on role:

Tanks - Arcanum of the Earthen Ring
Earthen Ring – It looks like Earthen Ring has quests in every zone, but you can check wowhead for a full list.

Plate DPS - Arcanum of the Wildhammer
Wildhammer Clan – Quests in Twilight Highlands

Mail/Leather DPS - Arcanum of the Ramkahen
Ramkahen – Quests in Uldum

Casters/Healers - Arcanum of Hyjal
Guardians of Hyjal – Quests in Mount Hyjal

FNCCC 13 – Sweet and Spicy Kettlecorn

GUEST POST

I wasn’t too thrilled with the recipes this week, but when I saw this Sweet and Spicy Kettlecorn, I knew I had what I wanted.

Last summer our family went to Hersheypark in Hershey, PA. Right inside the gates of the park there is a little shop with the BEST aroma. (I’m not too crazy about chocolate, so this aroma appealed to me more than it would to most people, maybe.) There are guys out in front of the shop who are making old-fashioned kettlecorn in big kettles. They bag it up in enormous bags and sell it for a mere pittance. Seriously, this stuff is cheap. I can’t tell you how much of it I ate, but I didn’t share and the bag was gone by the next day.

Secondly, this recipe was so easy and fast I figured I could do it even with my limited time.

I popped my popcorn, being careful not to burn it like I usually do, and started cooking the sugar. This makes me a bit nervous because I don’t want to destroy my non-stick pan by burning it, but it liquified nicely and turned the light brown that the recipe described. It looked like caramel that was melted. I wonder if that’s how they make caramel? /ponder.

Anyway, I removed it from the heat and put in the butter. I think this is where the problem started. The cold butter made the caramel syrup start to set up. I had my popcorn in a bowl already, so I mixed up the caramel/butter and quickly poured it over the popcorn before it could cool any more.

The caramel did not spread out nicely over the popcorn. It stubbornly stayed right where I poured it, despite massive amounts of shaking. I put the spices over it and they wanted to cling to the hot caramel and nothing else. I dumped the whole mess onto a cookie sheet and took this picture before sampling the kettlecorn.

The pieces of popcorn with the caramel were really, really yummy. The spice was a bit much. In fact, if I’d make this again, I’d completely omit it. The rest of the popcorn tasted like…well…popcorn. No yummy caramel and very little spice mix. I’m a little disappointed at how this turned out, but it isn’t stopping me and the kids from scarfing it down.

FNCCC 12 – Guy Fieri’s Baked Potato Salad

GUEST POST

Now that I’m back to school I am finding it harder to have time to actually cook real things. I’ve been living off string cheese, salads, and fresh fruit this week and I know next week will be the same. I need stuff I can grab really quickly with no preparation time. After the first month of school, I hope things will have calmed down enough that I can actually cook again (besides on the weekends).

Since I’m a little behind, I went ahead and made my Guy Fieri recipe that I’d planned on doing last week. The picture looked appealing, it was gluten free, and there were no really exotic ingredients. Oh, and it got a 5 star rating from the people who reviewed it.

Baked Potato Salad.

This recipe was really easy. I started boiling the red potatoes on the stove this morning as I multitasked around the kitchen. It doesn’t tell you to cut the potatoes into chunks before boiling them, but I used regular sized potatoes and they were taking quite awhile to cook. If you make this and use bigger potatoes, cut them in half and save yourself some cooking time.

While the potatoes were boiling, I went ahead and cooked the bacon. This aroma attracted swarms of vultures in the kitchen but I kept them away with my trusty fork. Mixing the dressing was quick and painless. When I poured the dressing over the boiled/fried potatoes, I felt like maybe it was too much. My potatoes looked like maybe they were in a stew rather than a potato salad. I shrugged it off and took the potato salad to my guinea pigs for the day, my parents.

The recipe tells you to save the green onions and bacon for serving time, so I kept them separately in a plastic baggie. My mom was pleased to see that I’d brought a side dish to go with lunch so she wouldn’t have to make one. At lunchtime, I poured in the baggie of green onions and bacon, stirred the bowl a few times, and realized that my potato salad now looked appropriately like potato salad and not like a soup. Yay!

We had it with hot dogs. At the first mouthful, my dad (who’s pretty picky) said he could eat the WHOLE bowlful. He had seconds and thirds, large servings. Then he announced that I should take this to every potluck, reunion, and church dinner. It was THAT good. My son, who never eats regular potato salad, ate it and loved it. Mom and I ate all of ours. Cady refused to try it, of course. More for the rest of us.

I could see my dad eyeing what was left, so I graciously divided the remaining potato salad into three bowls. One went to my grandma (another unsuspecting guinea pig), one for Addy to try, and one for my parents. I am sure my dad will eat it all if he hasn’t already and won’t share with my mom. I gave her the recipe.

I brought the small bowlful home for Addy and he liked it too. This potato salad is NOT like a typical potato salad except for the texture. The taste is really like a baked potato with “the works.” I will be making this again.

Editor’s Note:  This was attached to the bottom of the email, “(Xeo I’ll send a pic later if Addy doesn’t eat the rest before I can snap one!)”  You’ll notice there is no picture…

Yepper

Guest Post

I was chatting with Shiny and was regaling her with tales of “The Yepper”, and she said I needed to submit it as a guest post. So what the hell, I wrote a story.

Enjoy.

There is a horror lurking within your chat box. A timeless, inevitable terror. Even guilds with small numbers of people are subject to eventual victimization. There is no refuge where it cannot find you, except perhaps that of complete isolation. If you never come across it, consider yourself lucky… but odds are – whether you recognized it or not – you have already encountered it at least once in your MMO career. For those who have escaped contact thus far, it may only be a matter of time before they run into…

The Yepper.

The Yepper is a curious creature. It may seem harmless at first, skulking in the shadows of your guild chat. You may notice it and even interact with it without realizing exactly what it is. Some Yeppers actually arrive in an advanced state of growth – ready to begin their assault the minute they touch your chat channels – but in most cases there seems to be a period where it may be undetectable. Inevitably The Yepper will anchor its roots and begin to blossom. Once The Yepper is comfortable and prepared, it will begin.

From this point forth, no matter what question is asked in chat, no matter how simple or complicated that question may be, no matter who it is addressed to, and no matter how eloquently it is answered by the person it is addressed to… The Yepper will contribute.

“Yep.”

As an example of this phenomenon, let us imagine a scenario where someone has become disoriented in the city of Dalaran:

[Player1]: “Hey, where is the bank in Dalaran??”
[Player 2]: “There’s two of them, one north and one south.”
[Yepper]: “Yep.”

It is almost as if The Yepper has evolved such a sense of self importance that it feels every question must be either addressed to it directly, or in need of personally delivered verification to assure everyone that the answers provided are indeed accurate. Sometimes mere confirmation is not adequate, and The Yepper will expound on the answer. Sometimes the extra information is actually useful to the inquisitive party, but in extreme cases of Yepper infestation it is as if The Yepper is compelled to seek out and add loosely related tidbits of information which have absolutely no bearing on the original question, just so it can become involved in the conversation.

In its most advanced stages of growth, The Yepper will expand its assault to mere comments that some hapless victim drops in chat. Even the most innocent and whimsical remarks can trigger it.

“Yep.”

In its final flourishing growth form, chat is all but completely rendered useless. Any single comment can result in everyone being subjected to hours of most likely pointless trivia and observations, all cheerfully provided by The Yepper. Rhetorical questions will always be answered, and no joke will be left with its punchline unexamined. This is where The Yepper life cycle begins to wither, for at this stage, it is only a matter of time before everyone either stops using the channel, or leaves. Starved of nourishment, it is presumed that The Yepper retreats to an earlier stage in its life cycle until it has rooted itself in a new chat channel, where no one has it on ignore. With a fresh supply of questions and comments to validate, The Yepper cycle can continue.

It is very rare to find a chat channel which is free of Yepper infestation. The Yepper has been found in guilds with as few as people, and the odds of finding them improve exponentially as the population of a chat channel increases. Given how common this phenomenon is, it seems prudent that those who feel they have never encountered The Yepper should ask themselves one simple question:

Are you The Yepper?

FNCCC 11 – Drinks n Wings

GUEST POST

This week I made one recipe of my aunt’s and two that I found on Sparkpeople.com and tweaked a bit.

The ones I found on Sparkpeople are both chicken recipes–Crispy Ranch Chicken and Boneless Chicken Hot Wings.

I had planned on doing the Crispy Ranch Chicken recipe for dinner until Addy commented that he’d like wings. Now when Addy says he wants wings, he means Buffalo Wild Wings. However, I am a good wife and I try to look out for his health… and those wings are pretty unhealthy. I did a little searching and I found the Sparkpeople recipe and thought I’d surprise him by making those too. Wish I’d picked up some celery and bleu cheese dressing at Walmart earlier, but oh well.

The Boneless Chicken Hot Wings were really easy to make. I just mixed up the bread crumbs and other spices in a dish. Then I dipped the chicken bits (I cut up a few chicken breasts into “nugget” sizes) into the Tabasco sauce and then into the crumb mix. I removed them with my dry hand, which as stated in the recipe quickly becomes coated with the crumb mix. I put them on a non-stick foil lined cookie sheet.

Once those were in place, I started my Crispy Ranch ones. I looked at all the comments on this recipe and decided before I even started that I was going to modify it. Instead of Rice Krispies, I crushed up Rice Chex (it’s gluten free and Rice Krispies aren’t). I put in about 3/4 of a 1 oz. packet of Hidden Valley Ranch dressing mix and put both ingredients into a big bag. I opted not to do the egg and parmesan cheese. Instead, I decided I’d dip those pieces of chicken in Tabasco sauce too before coating them with the crispy stuff. The Tabasco sauce made the crispy stuff stick better and I didn’t have to waste eggs (I’m on an egg preservation kick after last week’s Ten Egg Cake).

I put both kinds of chicken into the oven at the same time for 25 minutes at 360 degrees. The hot wing chicken was supposed to be flipped halfway through cooking, but when I tried (as you’ll notice in the picture), the coating started to come off. I decided to leave the rest of them unflipped after turning about half of them.

While the chicken was cooking, I mixed up my aunt’s Summer Citrus Drink. I think it took about 3 minutes to make. Here’s the recipe:

Summer Citrus Drink

1 packet of Kool-aid lemonade, mixed up (or one can of frozen lemonade concentrate, mixed up)
1/2 carton of orange juice (about 1 quart)
1 liter of Sprite/ginger ale

Mix it all up. Done.

And now the verdict on the three recipes…

Boneless Chicken Hot Wings: These tasted good but were a bit too hot for me and the kids. Cady did eat several but she “cooled them off” with ketchup. Addy and I dipped ours in ranch dressing. It was a nice combination. He ate a bunch of them and said they were “OK.” I wonder if they would have tasted better with buffalo wing sauce instead of the Tabasco sauce. Maybe I’ll try that another time.

Crispy Ranch Chicken (modified): The kids and I loved these. We liked the crunchy texture from the Chex cereal and the Tabasco sauce was just enough flavoring to complement the powdered ranch seasoning. We gave it a 5/5. Addy didn’t try them.

Summer Citrus Drink: I’ve had this before but never made it myself. Both kids declared that I should make this every day. Addy said it was “fine.” He’s not a fruity-drink person so this is probably a good compliment. Jordan said it would be really good if you put a scoop of rainbow sherbet in it too. Good thinking, kid!  By the way, we were sucking this stuff down after all those spicy nuggets.

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