From Scryer to Aldor (and back again)
by Mike Schramm 
Mar 27th 2007 at 1:46PM
When we first heard that there would be two mutually exclusive factions in Outland, I knew it would happen, but here's the first time I've seen it in the wild: Coraline on LJ decided that Scryer wasn't the right decision for her warlock, and decided to grind her way back to the Aldor.It can't be an easy process. As you know if you've done the Shattrath tour, doing quests for Aldor lowers your reputation with the Scryers, and vice versa. And there are three levels of hate for each faction-- you start at Unfriendly (depending on which faction you first chose to join), and then slowly fall down to Hostile, and then Hated. You can't actually get the normal rep quests for the other side until you reach Neutral, so if you want to switch sides, you have to go to Shattrath and get a special quest (for Scryer rep, it's Voren'thal's Visions, and for Aldor, it's Strained Supplies). That quest consists of a simple animal drop (basilisk eyes and spider venom sacs, both from Terrokar), and can be repeated all the way back up to Neutral.
Coraline says it's not actually that bad-- she went from Hostile to Unfriendly within about an hour of farming (which means she still has to fight to Neutral to start doing the normal quests). People working back towards Aldor are able to get silk from the spiders (that sells well on the AH), but unfortunately for repentant Scryers, the basilisks don't drop anything really good. They do drop Chunk O'Basilisk if you're a cook, and they can be skinned if you're a leatherworker, so there's that.
Anyone else made the tredge back between the Aldor and Scryer factions? Coraline doesn't say she did this, but I would: if you're leaving your faction, make sure to grab all the goodies you can. I would be completely impressed to see someone dual-wielding both the Vindicator's Brand and the Retainer's Blade at the same time (you don't actually need the rep to wield them, do you? Just to own them, I'd assume).
Update: We've got confirmation-- commenter shooter's guildie shows it is possible to wear both Aldor and Scryer gear at the same time. Could be a bug, but if you want to grind both factions for all the rewards, it seems you can do it.
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, How-tos, Economy, Quests, Factions
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
MattRossi Mar 27th 2007 1:50PM
If it works like the new blacksmithing weapons, then yeah, you'd need exalted to use it. Haven't been able to test it out though.
Siedre Mar 27th 2007 3:04PM
You've got the reputation quests mixed up. The basilisk eyes are used in the quest to gain Scryer rep, and the spider sacs are used to gain Aldor rep. The player you've described had to be switching to the Aldor if she was killing spiders.
Argent Mar 27th 2007 2:04PM
you guys miss the 'requires - ' on the various items?
yes, you need the faction to equip and no, you can't use both items at the same time. but you can inscribe the tradeskill patterns and still use both of those.
Zuuler Mar 27th 2007 2:08PM
Pre-expansion rep requirements were only there for purchasing of items and not on their use. I don't know if this has changed in the expansion, especially with this different rep system forcing a decision between aldor and scryer. In my mind though, you would probably hve to be exhalted just to use the item you bought. Else everyone just does the rep grind to get all the goodies from both sides, eliminating the purpose of having the 2 sides to begin with.
Skibba Mar 27th 2007 2:13PM
Didnt the original pvp rewards require a certain rank to be able to equip them, but then if your rank dropped you could still keep them equipped?
Maybe this would work in the same way, your reputation drops but you only need to rep to buy the item?
Mike Schramm Mar 27th 2007 2:15PM
It's kind of a moot point, because anyone who has the time and money to grind both sides probably can find better weapons anyway.
Argent-- how do you know? Did you try it? Do you have a source?
dixonij Mar 27th 2007 2:18PM
@4
It says specifically on the weapons Requires-Aldor/Scryer Exalted.
Todd Mar 27th 2007 2:19PM
"and since she was going from Aldor to Scryer, she was able to get silk from the spiders that sold well on the AH"
Actually, that's wrong. She would have to fight tons of Basilisks to get what she needs to go from Aldor to Scryer. You would need to kill spiders to get what you need to go from Scryer to Aldor. Just an fyi in case anyone is curious about trying this.
shooter Mar 27th 2007 3:42PM
Well a fellow guildy of mine did this and has exalted scryer and exalted aldor gear equiped right now. Check the link
http://armory.worldofwarcraft.com/#character-sheet.xml?r=Moonrunner&n=Yokel
Zuuler Mar 27th 2007 2:38PM
@Todd
No, I am pretty sure you are the one who is backwards on that.
I had scryers rep, and accidently picked up the aldor rep grind quest (saw a !, right clicked, skimmed quest requirements, clicked accept) and spent about 10 minutes grinding basilisks before I realized turning in the quest was going to give me aldor rep.
I looked up the quest giver for the spider quest and it was unavailable for someone with scryer rep.
So, grind basilisks to go from scryer to aldor, grind spiders to go from aldor to scryers.
PVP rewards used to require you to keep the same rank to be able to continue to use those items. That changed some time ago when rank 14 players complained they did all that work for a set that requires them to spend all their time PVPing just to keep using the set.
And the "Requiers Exhalted Aldor/Scryer" requirement is what appears when you mouse over the item when you try to buy it from a vendor. If this indication stays on the actual weapon after purchase, then I would say yes, you have to keep exhalted to use it.
Zuuler Mar 27th 2007 2:40PM
Beyond all that I just said, there are plenty of broken things in the game. Even if there is a rep requirement for the use of an item, theres always the possibility that requirement is broken and you can take advantage of it until the devs fix it.
Mike Schramm Mar 27th 2007 2:48PM
Well, Todd is right, but I had it all messed up in the article. She was grinding her way back to Aldor-- it was the other comment that was grinding the opposite direction. To go Aldor, you need spiders. To go Scryer you need basilisks. I did link to the right quests, so hopefully no one was confused.
Mike Schramm Mar 27th 2007 2:50PM
Err, at least that's what WoW head says. Zuuler, it looks like you found the complete opposite in game. Is this all broken?
Siedre Mar 27th 2007 3:13PM
Looks like my comment didn't come to my email very quickly. :-) Yeah, WoW head is right. Basilisk eyes gain Scryer rep and Spider sacs gain Aldor rep. I'm doing that grind right now to Scryer. You can always see those quests regardless of your choice. If you read their fine details they tell you which reputation you will gain and which you will lose.
oshin Mar 27th 2007 3:54PM
Thats crazy o.O exalted to one faction takes a fair whack (not as bad as the cenarion circle sure, but alot still), but going back the other way again is alot of work.
Mekias Mar 27th 2007 4:46PM
With my little hunter, I was thinking of grinding up to Scryers (honored) for the mystic spellthread, then switching to Aldor. It seems possible but rather boring.
AlexL55 Mar 28th 2007 3:40PM
What about the quest rewards from the faction specific quest?
Example:
http://www.wowhead.com/?quest=10409
http://www.wowhead.com/?quest=10507
Those are the same quest from different factions. If I completed the scryer's one, can I switch over and do the Aldor one too?
Jason Mar 27th 2007 8:48PM
@Mike; WoW Head has it right; Zuuler is either stupid, or troling.
I personally switched from Scryer to Aldor myself; I was looking at the inscriptions mainly, and feel that I'll get more benefit from the Aldor stuff, regardless of how I spec my shaman.
I didn't find it terribly difficult, I was into hated when I started, dropped about 60g on the AH buying Venom Sacs, and I've made back double selling the netherweb silk that drops along with the sacs for the bunch that I didn't buy. All in all, it's not terribly hard unless you were all the way to exalted with one or the other. I haven't ruled out doing that yet though.
norseman Mar 27th 2007 10:39PM
I am a 70 lvl Mage on alliance side and a tailor to boot. I have grinded my way all the way up to exal with aldor and I have just finished grinding the hellish 1440 basilisk eyes, 360 firewing signets and Ia m now working on the sunfury signets and tomes. IT SUX and is hell to grind the eyes have like a 20% drop... them math comes out to like 5k basilisks. you CAN have both the threads from exalted at the same time though
YonksMan Mar 28th 2007 2:48AM
When the expansion pack 1st came out, I choose Aldor rep based upon a lot of incorrect information that was on various sites (I understand that Blizzard mixed around some of the rewards from Beta to actual production). I ultimately wanted Scryer rep so did the eye quests ... I didn't find it that bad.
After reaching exalted with Scryer, I was curious to see if I would still be able to wear the Seer's Signet if I dropped my rep with Scyer. So I turned in some spider sac's and dropped my rep to revered. I was still able to wear the equipped ring. However when I proceeded to equip a different ring, I was no longer able to equip the ring at Revered rep.
Looking in retrospect, I wish that I had of chosen Aldor rep for the tailoring patterns (3 pieces of Flameheart & healer spellthread) and then grinded from Exalted-Aldor to Exalted-Scryer.