Reputation in World of Warcraft

The reputation system in World of Warcraft plays an important part in character development. Reputation is gained or lost through any number of means, one of the more common methods is via killing specific mobs. Players who wish to gain reputation with a faction will also seek out specific quests which increase that faction's reputation. These quests may be to turn in a variety of items, kill a special mob and so forth. There are times when players may also wish to lose reputation with a faction.

Factions
One of the defining aspects of reputation is the faction system. All reputation is tied to a specific faction, of which there are many. The main factions in the game are the Horde and the Alliance, which are at perpetual war with one another. Players of the Horde faction will never be able to earn reputation with Alliance, and the same in reverse. This is at a basic level of game mechanics, where players simply do not have reputation tracks with the opposing factions. Horde players will never have an associated Alliance reputation track. These factions are considered "kill on sight".

There are other factions present within the game, each are usually under a major grouping. Horde players, for instance, have all the Horde cities (Orgrimmar, Silvermoon, Thunderbluff and the Undercity) maintained under a grouping simply called "The Horde". Other factions are similar grouped: some of the major groups are the Steamwheedle Cartel, who control the goblin cities of Azeroth; and Shattrath City, which maintains Lower City, Shat'ari and Scryer vs. Aldor. The last two factions, Scyer versus Aldor, are diametrically opposed , as are several others. Reputation gains with one faction results in immediate reputation loss with another faction.

Each individual player maintains a reputation track, but not all players may have access to specific factions. This is generally due to lack of character development, in the case of a player not seeking to discover a particular faction. Since the release of The Burning Crusade, some of the older level 60 raid-level factions have been neglected; it is entirely possible that new players may never discover those factions. When a player discovers a new faction, the player will be shown a status message informing the new reputation level. While some newly discovered factions begin at Neutral, that is not the rule. Some factions are discovered at Friendly, or even at Hated.

Reputation gains are often subject to "spillover" to other factions within the grouping. For example, when a player of the Tauren race completes a quest for the capital city of Thunder Bluff, reputation is gained not just for that city, but may also be earned for the Horde faction. This spillover is often invisible to the player, as a status message may detail the reputation gain for the major faction, but the spillover may not be detailed. Most times players can advance reputations and experience by completing starting area quests for all factions, therefore gaining a good reputation with all factions.

Reputation based vendors
Vendors that are associated with a faction are known as Quartermasters, and are located in different parts of the world, more often at the hub for that particular faction. When a player interacts with a Quartermaster, the entire inventory is displayed, regardless of reputation requirements. If an item is displayed in a red font, the player is not eligible to purchase that item until the reputation requirement is met. When interacting with these vendors, hovering the mouse over individual items will show the reputation requirement, which allows players to gauge their needed reputation improvements, and to plan for future upgrades. The equipment which a Quartermaster sells may be gear such as weapons and armor, or it may be tradeskill improvements such as a new "recipe".

Riding mounts based on reputation
Related to reputation is the ability for players to purchase riding mounts. All racial factions are represented with a unique riding mount. Native players are eligible to purchase these mounts within level requirements, whereas players who are not native to a race may purchase a "cross-faction" mount upon reaching the Exalted reputation with that race. Horde and Alliance may not purchase the opposing faction mounts.

Recent patches introduced a faction who's specific reward is a special flying mount. Players begin at Hated with the Netherwing faction, and via a series of quests, seek to become Exalted with this faction. The sole purpose of the Netherwing faction is to reward Exalted players with a flying Netherwing Drake mount. Another faction introduced in the same patch is the Skyguard, who also offers a special flying mount to players of Exalted status. Unlike the Netherwing, who's mount is a reward, Skyguard mounts are purchased. This faction also offers many other rewards, and is a full-fledged faction, tracked under Shattrath City.

Dungeon access
Reputation may also affect a characters ability to participate in dungeon raids. Where the concept of "attunments" (the act of earning access to dungeons) has long been a part of the game, some attunments are tied to reputation. The Burning Crusade introduced "heroic difficulty" mode for some 5-man dungeons, with an attunment requirement of Revered. Upon reaching Revered, players may purchase a key to "unlock" heroic dungeons. Naxxramas was introduced with a varying attunment requirement; the higher the players reputation, the less it cost for attunement.

The reputation divisions
The actual divisions for reputation levels are common across all players and factions. When a player crosses the threshold to another reputation level (higher or lower), a status message is displayed, and the reputation tracker is reflected by showing the new reputation. If the earned reputation is greater than the maximum level, the additional earned reputation is carried over (e.g., if a player is at 5,900 of Friendly reputation and earns 500 reputation points, they will be at 400 points of Honored reputation, the next level above Friendly).

*Hated: From 36,000 to zero. This is actually a negative number. Players who begin at Hated begin at 36,000 points, and each increase is subtracted, until reaching zero.
*Hostile: From 3,000 to zero. This is a negative number, same as above.
(Hated and Hostile reputation is considered "kill sight", there can only be aggressive interaction with NPCs who are of these reputation levels)
*Unfriendly: From 3,000 to zero. At this point, players will no longer be attacked on sight, but player still cannot interact. Any hostile actions towards an NPC of Unfriendly reputation will cause that particular NPC to become hostile. Aggressive actions may result in reputation loss.
*Neutral: From 0 to 3,000. At this point, the reputation track is a positive number, increasing to the maximum level. Players may be now able to interact with the NPCs on a limited basis.
*Friendly: From 0 to 6,000.
*Honored: From 0 to 12,000. At this point, players also earn 10% discount from that particular faction.
*Revered: From 0 to 21,000.
*Exalted: From 0 to 1,000. The highest level possible, which actually ceases at 999. Reputation gains beyond 999 are simply lost.

In all, if a player begins at the lowest Hated reputation, a total of 85,000 reputation points are required to reach Exalted.

An illustration is provided below, given to show the comparative levels of reputation from the lowest to the highest. The names of the reputation are the names used in the game, and the colors are similar.
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A sample screenshot of a players reputation is provided on the left:
*This player is of the Horde faction, as indicated by the Horde factions.
*The reputation track normally shows a bar of increasing or decreasing reputation; hovering the mouse over a particular reputation shows the numbers involved. Here, the player is 253 points short of Revered with Thunder Bluff.
*The checkmark next to Sporeggar indicates that the player is actively tracking this reputation; active tracks appear on-screen as a modified experience bar.

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