After talking to Ratshag, by which I mean mostly talking at Ratshag while he ignored my mathspeaks and did things that were actually interesting, I believe I have a plan now: Operation Grind Pirates ‘til My Eyes Bleed.
- Currently my reputation with the Steamwheedle Cartel is as follows:
- Ratchet: 9138/36000 Hated
- Gadgetzan: 8578/36000 Hated
- Everlook: 8055/36000 Hated
- Booty Bay: 8055/36000 Hated
- I’m totally a popular guy. So here’s the facts. For the first part of the reputation grinds:
- I’m not grinding Knot Thimblejack runs. I may regret it later, but I need to be able to set foot in goblin towns, and honestly – doing speed runs through DM to kill just the bosses to get Gordok Shackle Keys is not getting me any more librams than just wandering in and slaughtering everything willy-nilly – in fact, it’s getting me less.
- Killing pirates outside Ratchet nets me approximately 6000 rep per hour with Ratchet, because I can do it at top speed. Also, Baron Longshore is kind enough to simply count as 5 pirates. They also stop giving rep once I hit Revered with Ratchet. Keeping that in mind, I’m looking at having to kill approximately 10,771 Southsea Freebooters outside Ratchet, which will consume nearly 9 hours of my life.
- Since these pirates also yield 2.5 reputation with the other 3 Steamwheedle factions when killed, I’ll gain approximately 26,926 rep with the other 3 as well.
- So after finishing up Ratchet, where does that leave us, approximately?
- Ratchet: 3/21000 Revered
- Gadgetzan: 35504/36000 Hated
- Everlook: 34981/36000 Hated
- Booty Bay: 34981/36000 Hated
- Well, uh, almost 1/4 of the way there!
- Now it’s off to Gadgetzan. Here, killing the Southsea Pirates again nets me 5 rep a pirate until revered; again, Andre Firebeard is nice enough to count as 5 pirates. If I get bored I can go kill Wastewander Bandits, but unless there’s something I’m forgetting, they’re actually more spread out and would slow down my rep gain in Tanaris (3000/hr max) even more. Plus, Caliph Scorpidsting only counts as 3 pirates. Borrrrring (comparatively). Southsea it is.
- Once again, we kill pirates! Luckily, it’s a lot fewer pirates to get to revered with Gadgetzan, thanks to all that grinding in Tanaris. I have to kill exactly 5500 pirates in Tanaris – approximately 10 hours. This tips me over into Revered with Gadgetzan, and adds another heap of rep to the other 3.
- How much, approximately?
- Ratchet: 13,753/21000 Revered
- Gadgetzan: 4/21000 Revered
- Everlook: 3731/6000 Friendly
- Booty Bay: 3731/6000 Friendly
- Well, not bad. Ratchet is well on its way. If I killed another 2900 pirates in Tanaris (and really, after I’ve killed five and a half thousand, what’s another 2900?), that’d finish off Ratchet – netting me 7,248 rep with the three non-Gadgetzan cities (roughly 2 and a half, maybe 3 hours). Now, approximately:
- Ratchet: 1/999 Exalted
- Gadgetzan: 4/21000 Revered
- Everlook: 4979/12000 Honored
- Booty Bay: 4979/12000 Honored
- At this point, I have two choices: go back to doing Knot Thimblejack runs, or go back to Ratchet and grind their super-fast pirate rep grind until Everlook and Booty Bay ding exalted. I think I know which one I’m going to pick, don’t you? That’s 28,022 rep (roughly), or another 10 hours, or, in pirates, 11209 pirates. Putting me at:
- Ratchet: 1/999 Exalted
- Gadgetzan: 999/1000 Exalted
- Everlook: 1/999 Exalted
- Booty Bay: 1/999 Exalted
Oh, and then I still have to get exalted with Shen’dralar, exalted with Ravenholdt, and exalted with Darkmoon Faire.
Total Body Count: 30,380 pirates
Total Time Spent Just On Steamwheedle Reputation: 43-44 hours
Spot the madman!
Waaait a second… doesn't rep from killing cap at revered, even for the goblin cities?
Only for that particular city. It continues up through exalted at the other cities. i.e. once I'm at revered killing pirates outside Ratchet yields no Ratchet rep, but continues to give a lousy 2.5 rep per pirate with Gadgetzan, Everlook, and Booty Bay.
A question? If you kill pirates outside of booty bay will that not kill off your bloodsail reputation and then you have to do it all over again?
Killing pirates other than the Bloodsail don't affect your Bloodsail rep, no. (The Bloodsail don't like the Southsea Pirates or Wastewander Bandits either, I guess.)