Post Patch Info for Patch 5.1

I'm throwing out a quick little post to make sure folks know about a few changes in yesterday's patch (5.1).

• A commendation has been added for the Tillers. I wasn't sure if the Tillers would be included in the reputation bonus changes, but apparently they were. This should be very helpful for alts still unlocking their farms. I know my hunter went up 6000 rep in one night thanks to this change!
• Rep bonuses are applied to the rep you get from harvesting your crops. My girls were getting 110 rep (55 bonus rep) for every crop they collected last night. This means you can get 440/880/1320 rep just for picking plants! Assuming guild perks of course :)
• Recipes on vendors are not flagged as "Already Known" so be careful about purchasing vendor recipes based on that status text. I made that mistake right off the bat last night and almost did it a second time while visiting various faction vendors.
• Trading a Spirit of Harmony to the SoH vendor will now purchase only 2x Golden Lotus, reduced from 3x Golden Lotus previously.
• The patch notes specified that a Spirit of Harmony can be purchased with 600 Conquest Points. I've confirmed that this is the case, you can find the Conquest vendor at the tower just south of the Terrace of Gurthan along the Serpent's Spine (the big wall between zones).
• Silkmaster Tsai of the Silken Fields (in Valley of the Four Winds) has become a Tailoring trainer. It's about dang time!
• Confirmed nerf of herb/ore spawns in Pandaria!

Some of these items were not in the patch notes, so I decided to share them here. If you've found any other undocumented changes, feel free to add them to the Comments!

Pilgrim's Bounty - Panda Style!

The last few months of the Azerothian year are so much fun. It feels like there's a new seasonal event every few weeks to break up the daily grind. Yesterday, Pilgrim's Bounty swung into action. Even if you've already done this event and don't need the achievements, you can still benefit from the reputation bonus available through the Spirit of Sharing buff. An extra 10% increase in reputation gains over the next six days could put a nice dent in your faction goals. You can get this buff by visiting any major city and feasting on all five foods until you get a five stack of each food buff. Once you have all food buffs stacked, you'll activate the Spirit of Sharing buff! I would make a point of doing this every time you head out to work on your dailies.

Armor-Crafting Glory Days

In my last post we talked about the rep grinds in Mists of Pandaria and how it's creating some problems for players. I see a lot of this as growing pains more than an actual crisis. As the expansion moves forward we'll unlock more content and the frustration will be less of an issue. The best way to deal with the current situation is to prioritize. So I thought I'd talk about that today and share my thoughts.

On Reputations in Pandaria

I don't know about you guys, but the changes to reputations in 5.1 have already got me strategizing my current gameplan for dailies. Earlier this week I got my second toon to 90, so I'm employing a bit of a "divide and conquer" scenario. Kaliope had been pushing Golden Lotus to Honored for the nice Leatherworking recipes while Kayree spent her last two levels in Townlong, soaking up Shado-pan rep for Enchanting recipes. I'm still not completely clear on the reason for the Golden Lotus gating to other reps. In the case of Kayree (enchanter/engineer) she has no need for Golden Lotus except to unlock Shado-pan. Kaliope also has no desire to continue doing Golden Lotus now that she has her recipes. But after the arduous grind to Honored, I find myself contemplating a push to Revered purely for the benefit of my other toons. Since Kaliope is already Honored, it should be faster to get her to Revered, which will let me unlock double rep for all the others who need it.