How to Earn Horde Faction Rep in Alterac Valley

So you want to become Exalted with all of the Horde factions, eh? A lofty goal, but easy enough to attain if you go about it the right way.

There are a few paths you could take. There's the expensive way, the time consuming way, and then there's the Alterac Valley way.

If you've got plenty of gold, you can simply buy your way to being Exalted with all of the Horde factions. Go to the capital city, find the Horde Cloth Quartermaster, and hand in 60 x Runecloth. Continue to do this until you're Exalted. But be warned - it could cost you a couple hundred if not thousands of gold. (Note: The Darkspear Trolls Quartermaster is located in Orgrimmar).

There's also the time consuming way. Run around Azeroth and complete quests that yield Horde rep. Going back to the low level areas (Barrens, Tirisfal Glades, Eversong Woods, etc) is a good way to find quests that grant reputation with a particular faction as well as the Alliance in general. The problem is that you need to know what quests you've already done, and you need to know who to talk to. Since the quests will be "greyed out" (far below your level), you won't see any helpful exclamation points.

That leaves the Alterac Valley method.

Grinding Horde Reputation in Alterac Valley

If you're new to WoW, you probably go into an Alterac Valley and rush the opposing team's general. Games these days are quick and decisive.

In the past, they were much longer. There are various repeatable quests available for you to complete that would, in a long game, help your team win. For example, you can activate the Wing Commanders and have them bomb the Dun Baldur base.

The other upside to this is that completing these quests grants you Orgrimmar reputation and therefore reputation with all of the Horde factions. All you have to do is kill the enemy players, loot their bodies, and hand in the items to the respective NPCs.

Stormpike Soldier's Blood. These are your most valuable item. Hand them in to Primalist Thurloga (he's in a cave in Frostwolf Village). If you complete the quest A Gallon of Blood and hand in 5 x Stormpike Soldier's Blood at a time, you'll earn 18.75 Horde reputation. Handing in 200 of these will activate the Primalist and send him to summon Lok.

Armor Scraps. These are handed in to Smith Regzar. He's standing near the forgein Frostwolf Village. For every 20 Armor Scraps you hand in, you'll earn 2.25 reputation.

Stormpike Flesh. You'll loot various bits of flesh, and these can be handed in to the Wing Commanders in Frostwolf Village. The Stormpike Soldier's Flesh goes to Wing Commander Guse, the Stormpike Lieutenant's Flesh goes to Wing Commander Jeztor, and the Stormpike Commander's Flehs goes to Wing Commander Mulverick. These turns in grant 2.25 reputation per bit of flesh handed in.

Expectations and Tips for Maximizing Reputation Gain

In the average game, you can expect to earn 1-200 reputation with the Horde. You have the potential, though, to gain as much as 1000 to 2000 reputation. The longer the game - and the more people you can kill - the more reputation you can earn.

First and foremost, play defense. You rarely find enemy players to kill on offense, so choose a bunker to hunker down in and kill every Ally that comes your way. Friends help a lot. If your bunker gets overrun, just head down to Frostwolf Village and continue to kill Allies.

Don't wait until the very end of a game to hand things in. If the game ends and you're holding 100 x Stormpike Soldier's Blood... well you're outta luck. If other people are handing the items in, you can also lose out on rep. Once the Primalist heads off to summon Lok and once the Wing Commanders are activated, you can no longer hand items in. So if you notice other people looting bodies, hand in your items early and often.

Strictly speaking, this isn't going to be the fastest way to get Exalted with any given faction. However, it is simple and it's a good way to make the most of your time. Chances are you can use the Honor points to buy something useful - like a new weapon or some armor.