Cry Havoc » Guild Level

March 10th, 2011 by Romy

Blizzard added a variety of new guild-oriented features to the recent Cataclysm expansion for World Of Warcraft. One of these was guild leveling, whereby each player’s activity contributes to the level of the guild as a whole. Each new guild level earned unlocks new perquisites such as a 5% bonus to all reputation earned, or longer flask duration in raids.

Another change was the addition of Guild Reputation. This takes the basic concept of a character’s reputation with a particular faction and applies it to the guild that character belongs to. As your reputation with your guild improves, you have access to a wider range of rewards.

What is Reputation?

The game has always had the concept of “reputation” with various factions within the game world. You would increase in reputation for a particular faction by doing certain quests or by killing certain mobs who were enemies of that faction. In some cases, factions might oppose each other, such that gaining reputation with one also causes you to lose status with the other.

Reputation is tracked by a point system, and there are several levels of both positive and negative status.

Hated — This is the ultimate level of NEGATIVE status with a faction, indicating a reputation value in the range of -3000 to -39000. NPCs who belong to a HATED faction will usually attack when you come into aggro range, although there are exceptions. Killing a mob who is Hated usually results in a further loss of reputation with that faction. Their names are shown in RED, like any other hostile mob.
Unfriendly — This is somewhat better than Hated, indicating a reputation value in the range of 0 to -3000. These NPCs will not attack you unless you attack them first. Killing a mob who is Unfriendly usually results in a further loss of reputation with that faction. These mobs’ names are shown in ORANGE.
Neutral — This is where you start with most factions, although there are exceptions. This level ranges from 0 to 3000 reputation points. Names are shown in YELLOW and they will not attack unless you attack them first. Killing a mob who is neutral usually results in a loss of reputation with that faction, and in some cases will actually take you all the way down to either Unfriendly or Hated status. Note that in some cases it’s not possible to attack these NPCs at all.
Friendly — This level ranges from 3000 to 9000 reputation points. Character names are shown in GREEN. At this level of reputation and above, you can no longer attack the NPCs of that faction. (There are certain quest-based exceptions where specific individuals may become hostile.) Some factions may offer certain goods through faction Quartermaster vendors
Honored — This is the next better level from Friendly. Character names are shown in GREEN. Those factions which offer goods through Quartermaster vendors will have additional items available to players of this level. This level ranges from 9000 to 21000 reputation points.
Revered — This level ranges from 21000 to 42000 reputation points. Character names are shown in GREEN. Those factions which offer goods through Quartermaster vendors will have additional items available to players of this level.
Exalted — The ultimate level of reputation. Character names are shown in GREEN. Factions which offer goods through their Quartermaster vendors will often have superior or epic-level items available to players of this level. This level ranges from 42000 to 43000 reputation points.

Note that the game normally shows your reputation points as a value relative to your current level. For example, if you have a reputation score of 30000 with a particular faction, the game will actually show it as 9000 points into revered. (3000 points for the Neutral level, plus 6000 for the Friendly level, plus 12000 for Honored.)

The collections of rewards offered by each faction generally fall into two categories, a range of useful items for many but not necessarily all classes, or jack squat. The quartermaster’s offering may include patterns for creating items with crafting professions, or enchantments for item slots which cannot usually be enhanced by the Enchanting profession, or cooking recipes. You find an epic weapon or armor piece among the offerings. There’s not always an item upgrade for everybody, but more often than not you will find something.

Guild Reputation

Guild reputation works in a fashion generally similar to how reputation works with any other faction. You earn points for completing quests and for killing dungeon and raid bosses. You do NOT earn points for killing regular mobs.

One thing that is different from how you earn reputation with other factions is that the amount of guild reputation you earn for any particular action is dependant on your character’s level. That is, for doing the daily cooking quest in Stormwind City, your level 85 character might earn 46 points of guild reputation, while your level 75 character would only earn 35 points.

Another thing that’s different is that there is a limit on how much guild reputation you can earn in a given week. You can earn a maximum of 3500 points per week, meaning it will take you at least 12 weeks to get to exalted status. Note that you do have to be reasonably active every week to hit that maximum.

One thing that the guild reputation system does is make things more painful for those who jump around from one guild to another. When you leave a guild and join another, your guild reputation is reset to zero and you have to start all over again. (If you leave a guild but then rejoin it without having been in another guild in between, you keep your existing reputation with that guild.)

Guild Reputation Rewards

There are a variety of rewards available once your character hits Friendly status with the guild. Some of these are practical, such as a selection of cloaks that include the ability to teleport your character to your home city (Stormwind or Ogrimmar), or the Guild Page, which allows you to summon a vendor for buying guild reputation rewards or (more importantly) for selling loot you may have in your bags.

Other practical items include a variety of cooking recipes which can be used to create special food for raids & groups. These items create a “table” which any player in the group can click to eat and receive the buff given by the food.

Some guild rewards are strictly fun, like the Armadillo companion. There’s also a Dark Phoenix flying mount.

Reward Requirements

All guild rewards require a particular degree of guild reputation before they become available. Additionally, many of them also require that the guild has earned a particular guild achivement. This might be something simple and relatively trivial such as reaching a particular guild level, or it might be a raid achivement for conquering certain raid content. Some are based on purely “fun” achivements like Critter Kill Squad.

In Conclusion…

I think that the new guild features are very welcome and long overdue. They encourage guilds to work together towards a common goal that goes beyond gearing up for the next big raid. And the reputation system makes changing guilds something that must be seriously considered… those who hopped from guild to guild in the past will find themselves on the short end of the rewards stick if they don’t change their ways.

Achievements, Critter Kill Squad, Guild Level, Guild Reputation, Guild Rewards, Reputation Rewards

What is Reputation?

Guild Reputation

Guild Reputation Rewards

Reward Requirements

In Conclusion…

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