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All of the latest Mists of Pandaria newsBreakfast topic: Faction fanboyism
by Allison Robert 
Oct 25th 2009 at 8:00AM
These guys are, for lack of a better word, awesome. Their emotes are fantastic. They sell an evil penguin pet and a cool fishing item (the Mastercraft Kalu'ak Fishing Pole) that probably won't be replaced for the duration of the expansion. Their ships are giant turtles traveling along beautiful coastline with a vendor on board (seriously, riding these at night = an endless series of Kodak moments). They get my vote as the faction that immerses you most thoroughly in what they need and what they're doing to survive in an increasingly hostile Azeroth, and I'm wondering if, given Northrend's various difficulties, they might be convinced to seek warmer climes just so we don't have to give them up.
Agonizing rep grinds have plagued the game since classic, but the Tuskarr are such a well-realized bunch that even at exalted I love hanging around their villages. What's your favorite faction, and is there anything about them you'd like to see repeated with future reputation grinds?
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Breakfast Topics, Expansions, Factions
Reader Comments (Page 5 of 5)
Maritova Oct 25th 2009 7:53PM
The Kalu'ak are my favorite by far, and I think it was with them that I first felt twinges of roleplaying inside me. I love their names, their architecture, their fascinating ways of making a living in their harsh environment, and as one obsessed with Fishing and Cooking, I felt like my character would be right at home living in a Tuskarr village, hunting and fishing and cooking each day. They really had some compelling quests, too (and in these days of QuestHelper, I actually took the time to read all the quest logs and get into it all for these).
The Fishing Pole was my first purple, and I'm looking forward to the Northrend fishing competition for people to spend more time with the Kalu'ak.
Raze Oct 25th 2009 11:23PM
The Oracles in Wrath, if only because they're pretty much the only faction that really just wants to be left alone and not get caught up in all the war business. They're a funny contrast to all the super serious drama that virtually every other faction has to deal with, and Moodle is awesome.
For TBC it would definitely be the Consortium, what with my main being an Engineer. I understand folks don't like the sci-fi of TBC getting mixed in their typical fantasy, but they were a pretty damn cool faction that seemed to take the wacky, business savvy, inventive nature of the Goblins and tempered it into something less comedic and a whole lot more awesome. I wish Blizzard would do more with that race (I forget their name) aside from the couple that show up in Northrend to be put down four seconds after you see them.
Dreyja Oct 26th 2009 4:54AM
:D I have no words that say it better than:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2I7V2mkduqw
Rock and Roll is not really dead. :)
Melchisedek Oct 26th 2009 5:42AM
My first reaction to the article was remembering the agony of the dailies I had to do to get the fishing pole...read on for my thoughts on the daily rep grind...
Having gotten that off my chest :
I side with the Oracles, the Frenzyheart couldn´t get my sympathy no matter what rewards they had. Ok, the Oracles are ugly on the outside but they are sweet on the inside. But the cuddly, little frenzies are horrible through and through.
It is interesting to see how people like the factions that "corresponds" to their char, identified much more with the Ebon Blade when I played my DK than I did when playing my main (priest). Felt very welcoming when I would come to the Cathedral in SW on my priest, not finding many factions that give the same sense of "belonging" for my priest as my mage (Kirin Tor) and DK.
I can´t comment on factions without venting a little about dailies:
I really don´t like rep grinding through daily quests, I did the Sons of Hodir for the shoulder enchants (but bought as many relic of Ulduar as I could afford to shorten the suffering of the dailies) and did the Kaluak for the fishing pole.
But instead of making me feel any love or sympathy for the factions my reaction at exalted would be: "Finally.. hope I never have to see these guys again!" Same thing for the Netherwing, did the quests (again and again and again and...) and have never gone back there after I got exalted and got the mount.
The ability to get rep from wearing a tabard in a dungeon have been a real life saver for me, every time I have to do lots of dailies I feel like giving up the game, it´s my least favourite part. I hate the repetitiveness of it all.
The dailies I have enjoyed the most (except for the jousting part) was the Tournament ones, except the rewards aren´t so interesting as I´m not really that much into mounts and stuff (already got my Netherwing Drake).
Reading the comments makes me realize how different WoW players are, some areas/factions I really disliked are other people´s favorites, like Zangarmarsh and the Sporeggar. I guess some people even like dailies and rep grinding through daily quests.
For me the zones in WOTLK have been much more enjoyable than BC (too much SciFi for my liking), I especially like places like Howling Fjord/Grizzly Hills and Storm Peaks. Never been much of a fan of the "dark zones" like Zul`Drak, Icecrown (or Duskwood for that matter), think it´s because of the lighting there, live in the arctic and have enough darkness from November to February each year.
Siaperas Oct 26th 2009 12:27PM
I would still like to see older factions still pop up and be a relevant part of Azeroth. Not from a gear standpoint, but from the standpoint of the narrative. What does the Cenarion Circle have to say about the Cataclysm? What does the Thorium Brotherhood think about the return of Ragnoros? Why not let people rep up with the Earthen Ring? Will the Consortium start opening trade in Azeroth with the majority of the goblins joining the Horde? I don't need new gear from these factions, but it would be nice to see them still play a role in the narrative.
John Oct 26th 2009 4:41PM
My favorite factions kind of depend on timetables.
Thorium Brotherhood & Argent Dawn were both *EPIC* in terms of story immersion and requirements to reach exalted. (Hydraxian Waterlords, anyone?) Alas, that was long ago...
In TBC, many factions felt more like grinds than "Hey...I actually might *care* about these people." Lower City and Thrallmar rep comes to mind. Then there were the really good factions that had so much potential but I felt saddened, as if interest was just 'blah' at the end e.g. The Mag'har (dear God...not one more anal bead, please...), The Sha'tar.
Caverns of Time was a great idea but...how many times can you realistically go help Medivh.....again?
My TBC points go to Cenarion Circle and to Ashtongue Deathsworn. Go druids + great mount at the end for CC and AD because of the raiding involved. Back when clearing a raid carried that 'awe of mystery' because only 5% of the people got to see the content.
Wrath? I concur that the Sons of Hodir line is fantastic. Anyone else want to see http://www.wowwiki.com/Quest:The_Drakkensryd as a Daily??? Blizzard put some great thought into this story and it is very immersive.
I really liked the Taunka. They had a good story and while I definitely felt a bit like Kevin Costner in Dances with Wolves, I felt like these were genuine cow people that I was supposed to help. Somehow. Hmmm....steak.
Out of them all, Argent Dawn and Argent Crusade are probably my favorite, if only because I felt like they both have a genuine story with deep roots which ran not only through the original Warcraft games, but also through WoW. Besides, they have cool horses :P
Soliduck Oct 28th 2009 2:46AM
There is a quest that implies that Tuskarr die in warmer climates somewhere in Howling Fjord. They mention how pirates take them as slaves only to have them die later due to the heat.