Insane in the Membrane

Before we get started I’ll give you a little background on what exactly this achievement is all about. The [Insane in the Membrane] is a Feat of Strength that was implemented on Live Servers in “World of Warcraft Patch 3.2.0: The Secrets of Ulduar”. This FoS (Feat of Strength) rewards no Achievement Points, but does give the title “the Insane” (IE “Zenworks the Insane”). It involves obtaining Exalted with several factions and Honored with one faction. Depending on your playtime, class, and current reputation standing, this achievement can take anywhere from a month to a year.

As stated in the Introduction, it all depends on your class, playtime, and reputation standing. I earned the achievement on my level 80 Draenei Holy Priest (which was then changed to Blood Elf). Some days I didn’t even work on the achievement, others I would spend 12+ hours working on it. It took me approximately 3 months of work. I was actually at a small disadvantage, but nothing that would have made it take more than a day or two longer. I started the achievement the day I heard about it (research shows on 2/24/2009) and finished on 5/24/2009. I honestly cannot give you a specific number of hours that the achievement took in its entirety. If I had to guess I would say I spent an average of 4 hours a day on it. That comes to 360 hours, or 6 days /played. This could be WAY off, because I honestly don’t remember how much I worked on it daily. DPS classes (especially with AoE) will have an advantage on several of the rep grinds, but you can’t get much worse than a Draenei Holy Priest. Humans will have a huge advantage because of Diplomacy. Diplomacy increases all reputation gains by 10%, which in essence cuts 10% off the time required to get the achievement, if not more. Another advantage is engineering. If you can make the portable mailbox ([MOLL-E]) you will have a huge advantage when farming Shen’dralar rep for Librams, and turning them in. Consider the amount of gold you have. Having a large amount of gold (30k+) can help a lot but is not necessary. One of the “deal breaker” for most people is the fact that you NEED a Rogue for this achievement. You can use/level a Rogue alt, use a friend’s Rogue, or hire a Rogue to farm for you.

The requirements of [Insane in the Membrane] are as follows:

Please note that Booty Bay, Everlook, Rachet, and Gadgetzan are in essence one reputation faction (Steamwheedle Cartel) since when you gain rep with one, you gain rep with the others. There are differences and we will get into those when we actually deal with Bloodsail and Steamwheedle reputation farming.

In this section we will be going over the VERY basics of how you gain reputation with each of the factions required for the title.

The quickest and easiest way to gain reputation with the Bloodsail Buccaneers faction is by killing Booty Bay guards until you reach honored. Keep in mind, ANYTIME you increase your reputation with Bloodsail your rep will decrease with all four Steamwheedle Cartel factions. The Bloodsail and Steamwheedle are mortal enemies. Time Consumption: 5%

There are two ways to increase Steamwheedle Cartel reputation without decreasing Bloodsail reputation: Dire Maul key runs ([Free Knot!] + [The Gordok Ogre Suit]), and the quests near Feathermoon ([Zapped Giants]). The quickest way (the way we will be using in this guide) is DM key runs. You will be running Dire Maul north, killing the guards, obtaining a key, and freeing a Goblin named Knot. You will also be turning in [Ogre Tannin] along with other mats for the [Gordok Ogre Suit]. Time Consumption: 40%

The only way to gain reputation with the Darkmoon Faire faction is to turn in level 60+ Decks at 350 reputation each and class decks for 25 reputation. We will also be turning in some [Thorium Widget]s until they no longer give reputation. Time Consumption: 10%

The only way to gain reputation with Shen’dralar is to turn in [Libram of Rapidity], [Libram of Protection], [Libram of Focus], and your class book (only once). Libram are unique but not soulbound. Each Libram requires [Pristine Black Diamond]x1, [Large Brilliant Shard]x2-4, and an item specific to that Libram. We will also be doing one quest at the beginning to save us a book turn in along with the prerequisite quest for turning in Librams. Time Consumption: 25%

From Neutral to Revered you will be killing Syndicate mobs in Arathi Highlands. The only way to gain reputation with the Ravenholdt faction after Revered is to turn in [Heavy Junkbox]x5 at a time for 75 reputation per turnin. The only way to obtain [Heavy Junkbox] is to pickpocket them from specific mobs in the game. A Rogue is required for this part. The Junkboxes are not Bindable so they can be traded/mailed. Time Consumption: 20%

Various readers have been emailing me saying that it is not a requirement to have BOTH the Steamwheedle Cartel and the Bloodsail Buccaneers at their required repuations at the same time. Some players have earned the achievement while hated with Steamwheedle Cartel as long as at one time they were Exalted. Other players have claimed the opposite, saying that they were not able to do the achievement unless they had all the required faction's reputations at the same time. Blue posts, in-game screenshots all seem to conflict.

"My understanding of this is that it was never required that you have these criteria met all at the same time. Once you reach the required reputation level with one of the factions, the criteria should be credited." -Dresorull on 04/18/2009 @ 02:39:51 PM PDT

"Well you shouldn't lose the criteria if you gained the reputation to obtain it. " -Dresorull on 04/18/2009 02:56:35 PM PDT

A reader sent in an email here showing a GM confirming that "You need to have ALL the Reps at the same time."

If you want to be on the safe side, I would grind out Bloodsail, then do Steamwheedle as explained in this guide. If you want to be risky and try it the other way, contact me and let me know how it turns out.

So, we now know generally what is involved in obtaining the title, but how do we go about it. This is going to be a rather lengthy section, read it a few times and make SURE you understand how this works. You will save yourself a lot of time. This is very vague on purpose. Each faction has its own section below, all the information you need will be explained there.

If you do not have the Key to Scholomance then that should be the first item on your list. After you have the Scholo Key you need to get to Honored with the Bloodsail Buccaneers. Simply kill Booty Bay guards until you reach Honored. By the time you are done you will be 0/36000 hated with all of the Steamwheedle Cartel factions. At this point I suggest you check the auction house atleast twice a day for the following: [Libram of Protection], [Libram of Rapidity], [Libram of Focus], [Pristine Black Diamond], and cheap Darkmoon Faire decks.

After you finish Bloodsail you will go do the prerequisite quest for Shen’dralar. If you do not have the [Crescent Key] (Key to DM North) now is a good time to obtain it by going to DM East. As you are in DM you will have to kill all kinds of mobs, guards, etc. Make sure you loot all bodies. If you come across a [Libram of Protection]/[Libram of Rapidity]/[Libram of Focus] you need to save it. Librams are unique so you will have to mail it to an alt. If you don’t have a [MOLL-E], the nearest mailbox for Alliance is Feathermoon Stronghold, for Horde the nearest is Camp Mojache. In the days/weeks/months you will spend farming DM for Steamwheedle Reputation you should still be checking the Auction House daily.

Once you obtain Exalted with all four of the Steamwheedle Cartel factions it is time to begin work on Ravenholdt. Grind your way to revered by killing Syndicate mobs in Arathi Highlands. Once you hit Revered pickpocket the [Heavy Junkbox]s in Tyr’s Hand in Eastern Plaguelands. Be sure to keep checking the auction house. Once you have the required amount of [Heavy Junkbox]s, turn them in at Ravenholdt.

After you are exalted with Ravenholdt it is time to move on to Shen’dralar. If you do not have the required amount of Librams to obtain exalted then either farm them manually in DM or just watch the Auction House. Once you have the required amount of Librams, go farm the mats and turn them in.

Once you hit exalted with Shen’dralar move on to the last faction: Darkmoon Faire. Do the Darkmoon Faire pre-quests for some “free” rep. If don’t have the required amount of decks to hit exalted then make them yourself or keep watching the Auction House. Keep in mind that The Darkmoon Faire only comes once a month. You can actually turn in your Decks whenever you want, the same goes for Shen’dralar Librams, just don’t lose track of how many you’ve turn in!

If all went well, you should obtain the title.

This section expands on each faction you will be grinding for this title. It will include tips written by myself, and hopefully other viewers (if they feel like contributing). This is the most important section in the guide, and probably what you came here for.

It is important to note that you should obtain the scholo key BEFORE beginning Bloodsail Buccaneers rep as the quest is unobtainable while unfriendly with Gadgetzan.

This will be by far the easiest reputation to grind out, especially if you have a friend to help you. Healer + AoE is by far the best combination. There is not much to explain about this reputation grind, you basically kill guards in Booty Bay. Each Bruiser killed rewards 25 reputation with Bloodsail Buccaneers, subtracts 125 reputation from Booty Bay, and subtracts 62.5 reputation with Everlook, Gadgetzan, and Rachet. Expect to kill roughly 2000 Booty Bay Bruisers in order to achieve Honored with Bloodsail Buccaneers.

Every time you kill a Booty Bay guard you will gain Bloodsail reputation and lose reputation with all of the Steamwheedle Cartel factions. You will lose Booty Bay reputation as a faster rate than the other Cartel factions because you are killing Booty Bay guards. Assuming you start out at Hated with Bloodsail (which you probably are) you will end up at 0/36000 with all four Steamwheedle factions by the time you hit Honored with Bloodsail. To begin killing Booty Bay Guards you have to open your reputation tab, choose Booty Bay, and check the “At War” box.

If you have a Healer + AoE combination I suggest pulling as many guards as you can at a time and AoEing them down. A suggestion is to go by the top entrance of the inn, pull a goblin, and run all the way down through the inn to the bottom. If you are alone, or have a group with low survivability it may be wise to stay near the boat dock where the mobs are more spread out.

As you progress from Neutral to Unfriendly, the Booty Bay guard’s names will change color. When you hit Hostile the mobs will attack you on site, so the stakes are higher. A group with a healer should not have a problem when hitting Hostile as long as they do not pull too many at once. Solo or groups without a healer have to be careful. They respawn very quickly and can easily grind you down if you cannot escape.

Any Goblin guard has an ability to prevent exploits. Goblin guards do not evade bug, if they cannot reach you they pull out their guns. Their guns are the most overpowered thing in the game. When they shoot it does damage and kicks you back. They shoot once a second to once every two seconds. This can pose a serious problem if you have more than one guard shooting you. Guards also have a net ability which roots you in place. You can be rooted and shot at the same time. You won’t physically fly backward but you will still be knocked backwards and have your cast interrupted.

Be careful when pulling mobs, make sure when you pull a guard that it can easily get to you. It is not easy to explain, you will have to get a feel for how the mobs work yourself. If you have a guard shooting you, you can try to range it to death, or you can simply run. The suggest escape route for anywhere in Booty Bay is the bay itself. Hop in the water and head straight out to sea. You may get shot and launched farther out to see, or you may be chain rooted and die. Healing agro is a factor if you are grinding with a healer. The person you are healing may not be being shot, but if you get healing agro on the goblin it may decide to shoot you.

Once you hit friendly you may want to go for the [Avast Ye, Admiral!] achievement which rewards the “Bloodsail Admiral” title along with a set if pirate clothes.

Overall this is not a hard grind, it can be fun if you do it with a friend. One thing to keep in mind is once you hit Hostile with Booty Bay, Everlook, Gadgetzan, or Rachet, their guards will attack you on sight. This means when you land in a goblin town, you will be attack as soon as you land, fortunately you can escape. You will not be able to speak to any Steamwheedle NPCs until you repair your reputation with that faction.

For more information on obtaining reputation with the Bloodsail Buccaneers, see the following WoWWiki page: WoWWiki - Bloodsail Buccaneers Reputation Guide

You should ONLY do this reputation grind after you have reached atleast Honored with the Bloodsail Buccaneers, otherwise you will simply be wasting your time. Before you begin running Dire Maul to restore your Steamwheedle Cartel faction, it is wise that you do the Shen’dralar Pre-Quest first. If you don’t have The [Crescent Key] you need to obtain that also as it is needed to enter Dire Maul North.

Edit: Various readers have brought it to my attention that you can grind Steamwheedle Cartel reputation by killing Wastewanderers (any similar mobs) in Tanaris. Please refer to the Reader Emails section and the next fiew lines for more information.

Edit 2: It has been confirmed by serveral readers that killing certain mobs in Tanaris does NOT affect your Bloodsail rep. I've killed a few mobs to test it and it doesn't hurt my rep, I don't know if you can do the whole grind using those pirate or not. See the guides below for more detailed information on that strategy.

Edit 3: Several reader's have submitted small guides when it comes to DM:

2.2.3 – Farming Pirates (Submitted by Ebullana)

2.2.4 – Steamwheedle... Easy mode! (Submitted by Coldheat)

2.2.5 – The Great DM Debate (Submitted by Fargnbastage) - Recommended Comparison of Pirates vs DM Grinding!

If you have the [Crescent Key] already, you can skip this section, but you will be missing out on 500 free Shen’dralar reputation. Begin by going to Azj’Tordin who is northeast of Camp Mojache. Once you have picked up [Pusillin and the Elder Azj'Tordin] head to Dire Maul East. When you enter Dire Maul East look to your left you will see an Imp named Pusillin. You may have to run past some mobs in order to reach him. Talk to the Imp and click through the conversation. When you are finished he will take off running.

Follow the Imp as he runs through the instance, talking to him each time you reach him. Kill mobs if you have to. If you are level 80 you can run past all of them. The last time you talk to Pusillin he will grow in size and attack you. Kill him and loot the [Crescent Key] and the [Book of Incantations]. From here turn in the quest you got earlier.

After you turn in the quest, it is time to do the Elven Legends quest which allows you to turn in Librams needed for Shen’dralar reputation. For Alliance, look for Scholar Runethorn in Feathermoon Stronghold, for Horde look for Sage Korolusk in Camp Mojache. After you pick up the quest, head to Dire Maul north. Enter DM North, go down the rap, make a left when you get to the bottom of the ramp. To the left you should see a door, open the door with your [Crescent Key] and follow the LONG hallway to the end. At the end of the hallway is a room. If standing in the entrance to the room, look for Lorekeeper Lydros, he should be at your 2 o’clock. On the floor next to him are the remains of Master Kariel Winthalus. Click the remains to complete the quest. Return to the Quest give and turn in the quest. You are now able to turn in Librams for Shen’dralar reputation.

Before we begin running Dire Maul North (DM from now on) there are a few things to go over. If you have the [Reins of the Traveler's Tundra Mammoth] you have the advantage of making gold while running DM. If you don’t you can either run to a vendor or destroy the items. If you have a [MOLL-E] (Portal Mailbox made by engineers) you are at an advantage when you obtain Librams for Shen’dralar reputation. If you don’t have a [MOLL-E], when you get a [Libram of Protection]/[Libram of Rapidity]/[Libram of Focus] I suggest that you immediately mail it to an alt. If you wait until you have a second one drop, and it happens to be of the same type, you will not be able to pick it up. By the time you run to the mailbox to mail your old one and get back to the body where the new Libram is, it will have despawned. NEVER delete a Libram, you will regret it. Along the way you will find various class books, keep one that applies to your class, the other classes are of no use to you. You can only turn your own class book in once.

The overall strategy for fixing Steamwheedle Rep is the following: Enter DM, kill Guard Mol'dar and loot his body, run to the chest in the center of the second square, loot it. Kill Guard Fengus and loot his body. Go through the door and kill Guard Slip'kik. If you have the [Gordok Shackle Key] then unlock Knot Thimblejack by completing his quest ([Free Knot!]). Loot the box he leaves and proceed up the ramp. Loot the Tannin Basket and prepare to kill the Gordok Bushwacker. Proceed up the stairs, go through the door, kill Captain Kromcrush, loot his body and run back to the entrance. Reset the instance and start over again.

Click HERE for a map of your route. The circles represent points where you’ll have to stop and either loot a chest, kill a guard, or talk to a mob. We’re going to go more indepth in exactly how you run DM, but first lets go over how you actually get reputation.

There are two quests we will be doing in DM that give reputation: [Free Knot!] (350 reputation) and [The Gordok Ogre Suit] (75 reputation). The main way to get rep will be by doing [Free Knot!], but as we run DM many time we will loot the [Ogre Tannin] from the basket and save them to turn in later. [Free Knot!] involves getting the [Gordok Shackle Key] which has a decent chance to drop from the Guards in DM, and a small chance to drop from other trash mobs. The [Gordok Shackle Key] is a unique item that goes in your Keyring. Some runs you will not get a key, others you will get one from each boss. Try to never leave a key in the instance when you reset it, sometimes it is impossible. We’ll cover more of this later.

The maximum possible reputation for a DM run is 425 reputation, which means you will have run DM AT LEAST 198 times. If you are the luckiest person in the world and get a key to drop every run it will take 40 hours to farm. Since the key doesn’t drop every time, more like half the time, you’re looking at 80-100 hours for Steamwheedle.

Now we go more indepth in running DM. When you first zone into DM run down the ramp ahead and to your left. Dodge and Heyena packs, run around the boss to the ramp behind him. Pull him and kill him on the top of the ramp. This is because he will occasionally call for help and agro any nearby mobs. After you kill Guard Mol'dar loot his body, be sure to loot the [Gordok Shackle Key] if it drops. At this point head toward the Guard Fengus and Chest dot indicated on the map.

Guard Fengus patrols around the West and South walls and through the center of the courtyard. In the center of the courtyard is a chest that contains the key to one of the doors in DM. Loot the chest and kill Guard Fengus, be sure to loot his body. If you already have a [Gordok Shackle Key] (either from a previous instance or an earlier boss) then leave it on the mobs body. If not, pick it up and continue on. Proceed through the door on the Westside of the courtyard. Be sure to dodge the Wandering Eye of Kilrogg as they spawn void walkers. In the corner of the room you at the end of the hallways is Knot Thimblejack.

If you have a [Gordok Shackle Key], now is a good time to unlock him from his shackles by completing his quest. Before you leave the instance go around the corner and up the stairs and loot the [Ogre Tannin] from the Ogre Tannin Basket. If you have looted the basket, freed Knot, and still have a remaining key on one of the earlier guard’s bodies it is time to leave the instance. On the way out be sure to loot the extra key so it can be used on the next run.

The goal is to try to get two keys in every instance. This means if you run in with a key, you want one to drop. If you run in with no key you want to loot the first one that drops and free Knot, continue clearing the instance (or go back if a second one dropped from a previous boss) and loot another key. Once you get the second key, or kill Captain Kromcrush it is time to leave.

IMPORTANT: The concept is hard to explain, so I have developed a Flow Chart to help explain how you should proceed in DM with various key drop locations. The Flow Chart can be found HERE.

Captain Kromcrush summons two adds during his fight. Unless you have very powerful AoE abilities it is suggested that you clear the pack just before him, otherwise they will agro when he summons his adds. It is important that you save all [Runecloth] and [Rugged Leather] that you get while running DM. These items will be needed when turning in [Ogre Tannin] for [Gordok Ogre Suit].

When you are done with a DM run, you must reset the instance. To reset the instance right-click you player frame, choose “Reset all Instances”, and accept the confirmation box. You may only enter a new instance five times an hour. On average you will stay behind this timer. Occasionally you will get very lucky with Key drops and be locked out for a certain amount of time. If you get the message “You have entered too many instances recently.” you have hit this limit, usually waiting a few minutes will allow the timer to run down, thus allowing you to enter DM. If all else fails wait an hour and you’ll be set.

There are a few tips to keep in mind while running DM. Wandering Eye of Kilroggs are bad. Don't attack or agro one when near a pack. Even entering combat with one while near a pack will agro the pack, even if you can oneshot it. Don't bother killing King Gordok, hes useless. He is not a guard so he doesn’t drop the key. Learn the predictability of Dire Maul, it will help a LOT.

Eventually your inventory will fill up and you’ll need to vendor your items, having [Reins of the Traveler's Tundra Mammoth] can help in this area. Simply exit DM, mount up, vendor your items and repair. Keep an eye on your chat log for the mobs to spawn in the DM arena. They have a chance to drop the [Orb of Deception] which sells for a lot on most servers. You can't sneak between the wall and the ogres by the Ogre Tannin Basket. It is not possible without stealth. The insects between the 2nd and 3rd guards (at the end of the hallway) have a somewhat big agro radius. Don't forget to loot Knot Thimblejack's Cache which Knot leaves behind after you free him, has a chance to drop more [Ogre Tannin] (which means more reputation) and also some epic patterns.

So, what was all that [Ogre Tannin] for that we’ve been looting? Once you get about a hundred (7500 reputation) Tannin, go collect the materials needed to complete the quest. Each [Gordok Ogre Suit] requires the following: [Bolt of Runecloth]x4, [Rugged Leather]x8, [Rune Thread]x2, and [Ogre Tannin]x1. Each suit is unique so you must either use the suit, destroy the suit, or mail the suit. A [MOLL-E] will help a lot in this area.

Once you reach Exalted with all four Steamwheedle Cartel factions (should happen at the same time) you are halfway done with your title. You may also talk to Goblin NPCs again and will no longer be attacked on sight. Note that killing Booty Bay Guards can still mess up your reputation so don’t do it!

A reader suggests the following: I have a suggestion to players who are not engineers so they cant use MOLL-E and sell stuff during hours of grinding in DM. If you enter queue to AV when you have full bag you can sell stuff there to vendors in our base and then leave bg without losing any time going outside dm and run in... Second point is for people who get more than one libram per session. Use the Argent Squire. You can choose bank, mail, or vendor and use it 5 mins... It has 4 hours CD.

I would like to point out a faster (and as yet unmentioned) way to get Steamwheedle rep. Specifically, grinding Southsea Freebooters (just south of Ratchet) and Wastewander (and/or Southsea Pirates*) in Tanaris. I find the rep/hour is *much* better than grinding shackle keys in Diremaul -- at least for me, who averages just over 2 keys/hour in DM (despite killing all 5 guards/captains 5 times an hour). And this can actually be done all the way to Exalted, if you are smart about when you grind what.

*I actually find that the Southsea Pirates (in the cove in eastern Tanaris) are a faster grind than Wastewander, since they are far more clumped. But I haven’t done extensive testing.

Rep Rates in Diremaul:

Even if you get 5 keys per hour in DM + 10 Tannins (1 from knot, 1 from basket), the theoretical absolute maximum rep/hour is 5*350 + 10*75 = 2500. My own rates (based on 4 separate 1-hour tests) were closer to 1150 rep/hour (2 keys + 6 tannins) for 5 full “miniboss clears” per hour. My luck absolutely STINKS though, so I’d be willing to accept that you can average up to 2000 rep/hour in DM.

Rep rates outside Ratchet:

Nothing complex here: I have been able to maintain well over 2500 rep/hour without too much effort simply running around killing southsea freebooters (and Baron Longshore). This is 2500/hour Everlook/Booty Bay/Gadget “spillover” rep -- actually 5k/hour Ratchet rep, and I have read that 3k-3.6k/hour spillover is possible.

Rep rates in Tanaris:

Have only done limited testing here, but was able to maintain 2100 rep/hour grinding wastewander (while half asleep) and I am guessing a good deal more from the southsea pirates. Again this is 2100/hour Everlook/Booty Bay/Ratchet “spillover” rep -- actually 4.2k/hour Ratchet rep.

The point is, even the half-credit “spillover” rep is faster grinding pirates than what you can get in DM.

Getting to exalted:

Most people assume that because the direct rep from pirates stops at revered, that you *must* go to DM (or zap giants) to get to exalted. This is untrue. The key is to switch zones at different points in your grind to make sure you are always progressing:

1. grind one area at full-credit until you hit revered (and stop gaining rep with the local faction)

2. switch to the other zone and grind until you hit exalted with the originally capped faction

3. switch back to original zone to finish grinding the other 3 factions to exalted.

Example (which I am using personally, though only about 30% through step 2a.):

1a. Started grinding south of ratchet, from 0/36000 hated for all 4 factions

1b. Grind Ratchet rep to 11999/12000 (revered), resulting in the 3 other factions at 31500/36000 hated

2a. Switch to Tanaris, and grind until Ratchet is exalted (another 21000 rep), resulting in:

Everlook & Booty Bay at 1500/12000

Gadgetzan at 11999/12000

3a. Switch again to pirates south of ratchet, until all factions are exalted

The downside is that you don’t earn any cash (the rep rates assume no looting), but it is definitely faster than the DM key grind, even if your luck is considerably better than mine.

I hope the above makes sense. It certainly does work, but it may be beyond my ability to explain it clearly & concisely in a single email.

It's been a while since I first started this /achievement/, and since then I've found a much easier way (many thanks to Bané!) to farm up my Steamwheedle Cartel reputation.It requires approximately *_ZERO_* of those painful Dire Maul runs. Ha ha haaa.

*First:* Kill Booty Bay guards with some friends (ok, they don't have to be friends) until you are honored.

I chose to go up to 11,999 just because the rep bar will be "full". You can also kill the "Boss" of Booty Bay to push you past honored, if you really want to.

*Second:* Kill the Southsea pirates outside of Ratchet (to the south, I believe). Don't waste your time looting them.

Kills grant:

+2.5 Rep Gadgetzan

+2.5 Rep Everlook

+2.5 Rep Booty Bay

+5 Rep Ratchet (Maxes out at 11,999/12,000).

(Other three will continue to grant rep through full exalted)

Once Ratchet was maxed out, I moved to the Southsea pirates in Lost Rigger Cove; Southeast Tanaris. These pirates have a little bit more health (Level range in the low 40's) , so one-shotting them isn't /as /easy, while maintaining high mana levels.

Kills grant:

+2.5 Rep Everlook

+2.5 Rep Booty Bay

+2.5 Rep Ratchet

+5 Rep Gadgetzan (Maxes out at 11,999/12,000)

(Other three will continue to grant rep through full exalted)

I continued to kill these until my Ratchet reputation was maxed out. After that, I moved back to the pirates in the Barrens-- Mainly because they are level 15(ish)-- and much easier as a Mage to run around one-shotting with [Ice Lance]. I killed these until the remaining three reputations were up to 999/1000 exalted.

Total estimated time: 5 Days of farming, 8 or more hours per day. Hey now, it was summer time :P

Thank you again for the guide! It helped me stay occupied during the summer! :P

-Cold

Pirates vs DM

First off I wanted to tell you that your guide has been my "BIBLE" over the last few months of grinding this title and I wanted to thank you very much for your time and effort in creating this guide. Of course I question any strategy that involves months instead of hours the one thing I do have during this grind is time to scrutinize the strategy.

While I agree that Coldheat and Ebullana are correct that grinding pirates is MUCH faster for getting your Steemwheedle rep up there are MANY drawbacks to this method. I have found this out the hard way. Your rep grind with Steemwheedle will most likely be 2-1 in terms of rep grinding per hour for Ratchet and Gadgetzan. In fact, just killing the pirates in Ratchet I was getting about 4500 rep per hour for Ratchet. however what ended up happening is that I ended up exalted with Ratchet then Gadgetzan but still had over 20K rep to grind with Everlook and Booty Bay. At this point you will only get 2 rep/kill for Booty bay and Everlook. Killing pirates at this point drops my rep/hour to about 1100 which is still not bad but lower than rep from DM.

Here is the major problem:

Librams

In order to get rep with the Shen'dralar you have to turn in librams and to say that there is a shortage of librams in the AH is an understatement. Basically to get librams you require people on your server to be running DM, selling the librams, and having very few people trying to get the Insane title who would compete with you in AH. I have checked across quite a few servers through friends and the Librams simply are not available and when they do drop in AH they are very pricey and sell out almost immediately. Now every server is different so here is a simple test. over the next 5 days see how many librams you can buy for any price. IF you can buy 3 per week for X amount of gold it will still take you 27 weeks to complete that portion of the achievement (thats almost half a year!). Perhaps your lucky and your server has an abundance of librams. no worries, forget everything I just said, but for the other 99% of the players your not getting many librams in AH. This leaves you with the one and only place you can get them.... thats right, our old friend DM!

I realized this AFTER grinding pirates for 3 weeks. I went into DM to finish off the last 2 factions to see if it was as slow a grind as I had read and I was correct. It is slower. Much slower. However, my last week of grinding to get Steemwheedle rep I finished my rep grind and I proclaimed to my friends "I never have to run DM again! I am exalted with all 4 Steemwheedle factions!"

YAY!

The Problem

During that week I accumulated about 14 librams. As my week finished I realized that the Librams are going to be very difficult to obtain . So now, 3 weeks later I am still running DM. EVERY day for 3 hours/day, full clearing DM north and west just to grind librams. I am averaging about 1 per hour but most importantly I am throwing away tannin and shackle keys every few minutes thinking to myself "well there was a few weeks wasted on pirates... I'm literally throwing away rep that i already have".

I am also noticing that I am getting about 60G per hr in loot/junk/AH blues and greens plus I am also getting a lot of herbs in DM west. I am averaging about 2 stacks of various herbs per hour (which can be milled for decks for Darkmoon rep) and I am even getting Pristine Black diamonds which are needed for the libram rep turn in. All in all I am kicking myself for spending hours grinding pirates for fast rep in 2/4 Steemwheedle factions in return for throwing away thousands of gold (which could have bought me a bunch of Darkmoon decks), stacks of herbs (again more decks), black diamonds, and most importantly LIBRAMS!

So for the record if you want to speed through the rep grind for half of the Steemwheedle cartel then kill pirates. If you want the "Insane In The Membrane" feat of strength in an efficient manner then buckle down, pop on a movie or audio book and run DM. Alot. It is slower. It is boring. It is frustrating but at the end of your Steemwheedle grind you will find yourself WAY further ahead in Shen'dralar and Darkmoon Faire rep.

The first part of this section was written by Zenworks "back in the day". The second part contains tips for finding Heavy Junkboxes.

There are only two ways to gain reputation with Ravenholdt: Killing Syndicate NPCs (stops at Revered), and farming [Heavy Junkbox]. To begin, go to Stromgarde Keep in Arathi Highlands and kill all mobs with "Syndicate" in the name. Once you hit Revered with Ravenholdt, it is time to move on to farming Junkboxes.

The only way to reach exalted with the Ravenholdt faction is to turn in [Heavy Junkbox]x5 for 75 reputation per turn in. Assuming you start out at 0/21000 Revered with Ravenholdt it will take [Heavy Junkbox]x1400 as a nonhuman, and [Heavy Junkbox]x1273 for humans. I chose to farm [Heavy Junkbox] in Tyr’s Hand in EPL, so that’s where we will focus in this guide. Reports say that level 50+ mobs in Blackrock Depths are a decent place to pickpocket [Heavy Junkbox] also.

How long will Ravenholdt take? I estimated 5 seconds between pickpockets, WoWHead says Tyr’s Hand mobs have a 15% chance to drop a Junkbox. I get the following calculations… Nonhumans: 26 hours. Humans: 24 hours. This seems to be low as I figure I spent at least 35 hours farming Junkboxes.

There is not much to explain when it comes to pickpocketing [Heavy Junkbox]. You simply pickpocket mob after mob until you have a full inventory and mail the [Heavy Junkbox] to the character you are trying to get the title on. I also suggest possible making an alt to use as a storage space so you don’t have [Heavy Junkbox]x2000 in your mailbox.

IMPORTANT: HERE is a link to a video I made which shows the best route for pickpocketing [Heavy Junkbox] (Read Next Paragraph!). To save time I did not actually pickpocket the mobs, but I show the route that you should take.

It is important that you do not open or even lockpick the [Heavy Junkbox], as the quest NPC will not accept them if they are opened. Mauria, a reader submitted the following: The NPC WILL accept pickpocketed and even opened lockboxes, but you MUST leave something inside or the box goes away. If there are coins only, simply do not loot. If there are a few items and coins, loot the most valuable item(s), and leave the least. The gossip text even explains it's alright to open and rifle through them, but leave something inside for incentive for young rogues in training. Author Note: I have not confirmed this, if you want to play it safe I would just not open the boxes.

You turn in the [Heavy Junkbox] in Ravenholdt, a fortress in the mountains of Hillsbad Foothills. HERE is a link to a video which shows how to get to the quest NPC from Tarren Mill.

The quest you do to obtain Ravenholdt reputation rewards a unique thrown weapon. You have to either vendor or destroy the item. You can mount on the balcony where the questgiver is. If you have [Reins of the Traveler's Tundra Mammoth] you can turn in the quest, vendor the thrown, and repeat. If you have a [MOLL-E] it makes turning in [Heavy Junkbox] even easier. You can turn in roughly [Heavy Junkbox]x500 before the Mailbox despawns, otherwise you have to run to the nearest mailbox to get more (Tarren Mill for Horde, Southshore for Alliance). Non-rogues may not have noticed there is a poison vendor in the basement of the manor. I simply hop down and vendor the thrown weapon and run back upstairs for the next turn-in.

After you become exalted with Raveholdt it is time to move onto the last two reputations: Shen’dralar and Darkmoon Faire.

Hello Zenworks -

I'm hoping that you still update your guide as I have learned a couple of things regarding the Heavy Junkboxes that may allow players to take a reprive from Blackrock. Blasted Lands has a wondrous amount of humaniods just milling about, longing to robbed. (This information is Alliance skewed as that is my main faction)

1. Twilight''s Hammer: You can find them wandering aimlessly while contemplating their hopless mission by Serpent's Coil, the Dark Portal and close to the Red Reaches. You can find them at the Altar of Storms but I'll get to that one in a moment. The only problem with them is that they are a bit spread out mob wise so not as fast as other areas. I would do them last while waiting for pockets to respawn if need be. I only pickpocketed these guys on my rogue when she was running through to turn in quests, and the drop seemed about average 1 box for every 3-6 mobs.

2. The Red Reaches: As you ride down the road to Surwich you will notice several shipwrecks off the coast and a whole lot of undead Worgen just chilling, having conversations, fixing ships torn in two, taking a nap on the hard ground... Anyways, start at one end and pick pocket everyone as you work your way through. Good clears yielded 12-14 boxes for my rogue (thank you RNG for liking me for once), average was around 7-9 and the occasional just 5-6. Once you cleared all the Worgen, mount up, ride a bit further down the road and find the murlocs being victimized by Naga. Do the same thing all over again, robbing everyone blind. The Naga can be a bit spread out in places and keep in mind that there is a cave filled with Naga also. Sprint is invaluable to help keep downtime to a minimum and useful if the rogue is at level as attempting to mount up or land close will cause aggro issues. I didn't keep track of the drop rate among the Naga unforutnately other then it seemed average to slightly above.

3. Dreadmaul Post: Ah the ogres, we could not forget about the ogres, now could we? Dreadmaul is rich with these dim-wited creatures with mobs close by each other for the most part, with three small caves scattered around. Keep in mind that the ramp to the Altar of Storms is in the ogre area so feel free to run up after you are finished with the ogres to grab the last little bit from the Twilight Hammer's devotees. This is an excellent place to end your circuit, unload what you have on you at the nearest mailbox and then start everything over again.

Alliance players take note: Dreadmaul Hold is NO longer held by the ogres. The Horde reclaimed it so there is nothing you can do there except be beat on by guards.

If you are leveling a rogue come to Blasted Lands at level 54 and stay until there is nothing left but Surwich quests (The mobs can't be pick-pocketed over there. The first one in the series which has you killing certain mobs is quick and painless. The second one where you have to collect body parts has drop rates worse then Outland and will have you pulling your hair out). There are breadcombquests from the Hero's Board and also from your respective Swamp of Sorrow Faction (the Alliance one is with the Broken in the Harborage). You will be forced to do all the quests at the Keep that you see if you are Alliance (I would assume this is the same for the Horde) before opening up more chains. The quests will take you to all the mobs you need to rob...erm...borrow from, sometimes several times. So you can accomplish two things at once and there are no elites in this area outside of the quest target on top of Defiler's Rise (and I bet some of you can guess who that is).

If you are leveling through here and want the achievement or have higher level toons that need it, for Alliance, if you do everything leading up Surwich you should not have to finish all the Surwich quests, you stop right after the first quest sending you into the tainted Forest, if not right before. (I am unsure of how the Horde fair as I have not done any of the new Horde quests through here yet)

There is a hidden quest at the Naga cave. While you are breaking idols/killing mobs/stealing you will see a large bluish stone box with baby murlocs atop it. Speak to them and choose to help them. This will give you a quest to pull the stone out to sea while keeping them safe. It may seem daunting to an at level rogue to do this quest with all the mobs, but mine accomplished it with careful walking and no aggro problems. Once you have them in sufficently deep water the stone will float (I know, I know take it up with Blizz) away and as you wave goodbye to your little friends you will get a remote turn in.

Glyph of Pickpocket is invaluable as you can basically auto-run, auto-loot and just keep moving between mobs while still keeping your distance if you at level for the area. This is also invaluable if you are doing LBRS (haven't done upper) with a rogue around 60-65. I took mine in to solo it at 63 and with a little thoughtful sapping only had to use vanish once during my circuit. I was just testing to see if I could stealth successfully through there and stopped at the spiders for obvious reasons, stealing from all mobs possible. Both places have their pluses and drawbacks, especially if you don't have a flying mount yet to minimize travel time.

If you haven't gotten to quest here and are familiar with the original quest chain that took place and ended here (as well as sent you all over the world and back again): The Fallen Hero of the Horde (You Are Rakh'likh, Demon) you might be interested in seeing how it has changed (you don't have to leave the zone for one) and gives you a chance to see old friends.

Sorry this is so long, but I've seen so many 'helpful hints' from people working on this that won't necessarily yield the junkboxes you really need and crave - such as farming Orcs at Blackrock Stronghold in Burning Steppes. One, this has serious drawbacks if you are at level since it is tightly packed formations with pats everywhere. Two, the level of these mobs does not guarantee the boxes you need. I have never gotten anything other then Heavy Junkboxes in the Blasted Lands. And I stole like it was going out of style while I leveled through there. These mobs respawn quickly, pretty much guarantee that you'll get the boxes you want (I'm sure there's always a chance to get a different type if RNG just wants to laugh at your plight), and you can do it at level without fear that if you aggro something while vanish, sprint etc is on cd you won't end up being beaten into the ground by 20 angry Orcs.

The one thing I haven't tested yet is how fast you can make the circuit. But there are a lot of mobs and I would think that even a higher level player, if they went Worgen - Naga - Ogre would be able to start again on the Worgen once they finished the Ogre's/Altar of Storms. And if not there are many Twilight Hammer's mobs near the Worgen you can work on while you wait. Flying mount would be almost no down time. If you have a land mount still and are only out there to steal, I would start at the end with the Naga (far western part of the Red Reaches) and work through the area. This will put you much closer to the ogres as you complete your circuit and I would hearth once you got to Altar of Storms (especially since almost everyone has a 15 minute hearth now). I would set your hearth to Surwich/Sunveil Excursion - they have repair, an inn, and a mailbox - as it is much closer to the Naga to minimize any down time.

I wish I could give you a solid number to how many my rogue got while leveling, I lost count after 50. I only pick-pocketed mobs when I was in the area to quest. There was no intentional running just for boxes, which why I am slightly unsure as to how fast the pockets respawn compared to the speed of running the circuit, though with the sheer number of mobs you will encounter I see little if any wait. Which is good for her since she's working overtime for two people going for exalted and needs to be ready when she starts to seriously collect boxes.

Finally, if you are farming the Spire or Orcs outside of Blackrock I would make Iron Summit in Searing Gorge your friend, especially if you are lower level (60's or so) and don't have means to other forms of repair/mail/fp or epic flight.. It is right near the entrance to Blackrock on the Searing Gorge side, it has a mailbox, an inn (to set your hearth), repair and a fp. If you have a flying mount you are near SW for Alliance (sorry Horde).

And if you haven't gotten the pets and have a toon capable of doing this, killl the spider boss and the rare spawn (rare is relative he's like always there) Worg Handler - an Orc - who's in a side room by the two Worg bosses in LBRS. To my knowledge the Worg Pup and Smolderweb Spider are 100% drops from these mobs now and the quests to get them have been removed. They are BoP.

Thank you for the guide on this achievement. I have only really recently started getting into Rep grinds outside of a couple that I wanted to do on my now main (such as the Argent Dawn when it wasn't just doing a few quests in EPL and becoming exalted). In some ways I am somewhat upset about how some of reps have been nerfed that I previously had to grind endlessly to get on my toons - old Timbermaw rep grind for example so perhaps I'm just looking for a challenge. Or I really am insane.

Take care

Liberi - 85 Protection Paladin - Nazgrel

(P.S. You can rumage around the boxes before turning them in. This was definitely confirmed. I usually don't because I fear I've forgotten to turn off auto-loot. To anyone wanting to make a little extra money by skimming, they really need to triple check their auto-loot otherwise they'll lose some of their hard-earned prizes.)

I personally found Shen’dralar to be the “hardest” of all of the reputations required for the title. This may have been because of the server I was on and the lack of Librams on the auction house. Shen’dralar reputation is obtained by doing one quest for 500 reputation, the rest is by turning in librams multiple times and your class book once.

There is not much to explain about obtaining the Librams. Simply Enter Dire Maul and kill the mobs. Fortunately I never had to kill any mobs outside of those that I killed for the Steamwheedle reputation.

How many Librams are needed to get from 0/3000 Neutral to Exalted? Assuming you did the quest from the Steamwheedle section ([Pusillin and the Elder Azj'Tordin]) which rewards 500 reputation you need the following: 82 Librams + 1 Class Book. Each Libram rewards 500 reputation, your class book turn in also rewards 500 reputation. You will need 82 Librams, 82 [Pristine Black Diamond], around 200 [Large Brilliant Shard], and the correct amount of the item specific for that libram. We will discuss each libram in detail later. While farming DM you should have obtained the book specific to your class. It starts a quest, do the quest and turn it in to the correct Shen’dralar mob. This is in the same room as the NPC which you will be turning in all your Librams (see below).

If you are finished with Bloodsail, Steamwheedle, and Ravenholdt and do not have the required amount of Librams, I suggest you farm until you do have the right amount. Certain Librams are better than others because their requirements are easier to meet. Your priority list should look like this: [Libram of Focus] > [Libram of Protection] > [Libram of Rapidity]. Focus being the easiest and Rapidity being the hardest.

Where is the Shen’dralar NPC? To reach the Libram turn in NPC do the following: Enter DM North, go down the rap, make a left when you get to the bottom of the ramp. To the left you should see a door, open the door with your [Crescent Key] and follow the LONG hallway to the end. At the end of the hallway is a room. Look for the mob named Lorekeeper Lydros, if standing in the doorway, he should be at your 2 o’clock.

A tip that I found out is that Librams (even though they are unique) can be stored in Guild Banks. It may be wise to create an alt, make a guild, and buy the initial guild tab simply so you have a place to store them other than your mailbox. It makes it a lot easier to keep track of how many of each Libram you have. Turning in Librams can take less than 5 minutes or it can take hours depending on if you have either a friend of a [MOLL-E]. Mail yourself all the Librams and their required materials. Run to the Shen’dralar NPC and drop your [MOLL-E]. You should be able to take the Librams out of the mailbox and turn them in, get more from the mailbox, turn them in, and repeat. Depending on how quick you are you might be able to turn in all 82 Librams before the mailbox despawns.

Now we move on to how to satisfy the requirements of each Librams.

[Libram of Protection] is the second easiest Libram to get items for. The quest turn in materials are as follows: [Pristine Black Diamond]x1, [Large Brilliant Shard]x2, [Frayed Abomination Stitching]x1. The first two items can be found at your local Auction House. [Frayed Abomination Stitching] can be obtained from The Slaughterhouse in Undead Stratholm. Thankfully [Frayed Abomination Stitching]s are NOT unique so you can farm as many as you need for the quest.

Stratholm is located in the North part of the Eastern Plaguelands. If you do not have the [Key to the City] then you must enter through the live side and work your way to the right. If you have the Key then you can use the service entrance and save yourself some time. I am not going to go into detail on how to run Strat, but I will give an overview….

If you do not have the [Key to the City] then enter using the normal Stratholm entrance. Work your way to the right until you come across a Boss named Magistrate Barthilas. Kill him and you will receive the [Key to the City] allowing you to use the service entrance from now on. The service entrance is to the east of the normal entrance. It is a gated stone hallway going into a mountain.

Enter through the service entrance, open the gate infront of you. Walk around the mobs to get to the small gate on the far side of the room (not the large one to your left). Open the gate, take a right, open this gate. Through this gate you want to hang another right and hug the wall. Dodge patrolling Gaygoyles and make it to Baroness Anastari. Kill the Baroness and enter the door behind her. Kill all the Thuzadin Acolytes in this room. Exit the room and head back toward the gate. Before you get to the gate take a right down the path. Down this path you should see another boss named Nerub'enkan. Kill him and the Acolytes behind him.

Exit the room behind Nerub'enkan and go straight, you should see another gate. Open this gate and walk through. It will close behind you trapping you with a bunch of rats. Kill the rats and the gate will open. Take a right after you go through the gate. Kill Maleki the Pallid and the Acolytes behind her. Someone should yell in your chat window that The Slaughterhouse is vulnerable. Exit the room, take a right, go all the way down the path. You should see a large gate to your left, walk through it. Inside this room are Abominations. Kill all of these. Some will drop [Frayed Abomination Stitching], some will not. If you want, kill Ramstein the Gorger, the skeletons, the Black Sentries, and Baron Rivendare in the center room. Zone out, reset the instance and repeat. HERE is a map of the route you should take when farming these items.

[Libram of Focus] is the easiest Libram to get items for. The quest turn in materials are as follows: [Pristine Black Diamond]x1, [Large Brilliant Shard]x4, [Skin of Shadow]x2. The first two items can be found at your local Auction House. [Skin of Shadow] can be obtained from The Great Ossuary in Scholomance. Thankfully [Skin of Shadow] is NOT unique so you can farm as many as you need for the quest.

Scholomance is located in the Southeastern part of Western Plaguelands. You need the [Skeleton Key] to enter Scholomance. There is a quest chain to get the key that starts with the quest [Scholomance]. The Alliance quest giver is Commander Ashlam Valorfist in Chillwind Camp. The Horde quest giver is High Executor Derrington in The Bulwark on the border between WPL and Tristfal Glades. Note that there are certain prequests that must be done before this quest is available. [All Along the Watchtowers] and [Clear the Way] are the prequests for the Alliance. You must do [Scarlet Diversions] to get [All Along the Watchtowers] for Horde. [Clear the Way] is not needed for Horde Side.

To get [Skin of Shadow], you must enter Scholomance. When you enter you should be on a bridge that goes over a room. If you look to your left you will see that the railing along the edge of the bridge is broken. Jump down to the room below trying to hug the wall. If you do it right you won’t agro any mobs. To the left (under the entrance) should be an opening and a gate. Open the gate and walk through. On the left side of the room is another gate. Open the gate. In this room should be Humans and Bats. Wait for some of the bats to fly away and work your way to the first hole to the left. Jump down, you should be in the “The Great Ossuary”.

In this room you should kill Risen Constructs and loot their corpses to obtain [Skin of Shadow]. Be careful not to pull Rattlegore in the middle of the room. Once all the skeletons are dead, take off all your gear and let Rattlegore kill you. Run back to the entrance, resetting the instance on the way. Rinse and repeat until you have enough [Skin of Shadow]. You will most likley hit the instance lockout a few times.

[Libram of Rapidity] is the hardest Libram to get items for. The quest turn in materials are as follows: [Pristine Black Diamond]x1, [Large Brilliant Shard]x2, [Blood of Heroes]x2. The first two items can be found at your local Auction House. [Blood of Heroes] can be obtained from objects called Blood of Heroes spread over the Plaguelands. Thankfully [Blood of Heroes] is NOT unique so you can farm as many as you need for the quest.

[Blood of Heroes] is not hard to get at all, just VERY time consuming. You basically run around both Eastern and Western Plaguelands looks for items on the ground. When you loot them they will spawn two level 60 mobs. If you stand as max loot range and move as soon as you loot they will not agro you. HERE is a map of Eastern Plaguelands where I have found [Blood of Heroes]. They are indicated with a Yellow Star. It is a good idea to make a few rounds then wait a while and do a few more. The respawn rate seems to be very long. I suggest looking at the comments on THIS page on WoWHead. It has a lot of helpful hints and locations for finding [Blood of Heroes].

Darkmoon Faire is arguably the easiest, but most costly of the reputations you need to grind for the title. There are two ways to obtain Darkmoon Faire Reputation: Turning in Decks, and turning in other items up to a certain point. Our strategy is this: Turn in [Thorium Widget]s until it no longer yields reputation, then turn in Darkmoon Decks until exalted.

You stop receiving reputation from turning in items at 2000/6000 friendly. This means you can turn in 5000 rep worth of items. Each quest gives 250 reputation for nonhumans and 275 reputation for humans. This means you must turn in 20 quests for non-humans and 19 quests for humans.

The recommended way to do the quest [Thorium Widget] until it no longer yields reputation. Each turn in requires [Thorium Widget]x6 ([Thorium Bar]x3, [Runecloth]x1) totaling [Thorium Widget]x120 ([Thorium Bar]x360, [Runecloth]x120) for nonhumans and [Thorium Widget]x114 ([Thorium Bar]x342, [Runecloth]x114) for humans. Engineers can make Thorium Widgets.

Once you are done, you should be at 2000/6000 Friendly with Darkmoon Faire. At this point we need another 37,000 reputation in order to reach exalted. There are two ways to obtain reputation at this point. You can turn in Inscription Decks ([Rogues Deck], [Swords Deck], [Mages Deck], or [Demons Deck]) for 25 reputation each for nonhumans, and 27.5 for humans. The other option is to turn in Darkmoon Decks for 350 reputation for nonhumans, and 385 for humans. Classic Decks, Burning Crusade Decks, and Wrath of the Lich King Decks all give the same reputation. Valid decks for turn in are as follows: [Chaos Deck], [Nobles Deck], [Prisms Deck], [Undeath Deck], [Blessings Deck], [Furies Deck], [Lunacy Deck], [Storms Deck], [Beasts Deck], [Elementals Deck] [Portals Deck], and [Warlords Deck].

To get the rest of the 37,000 reputation you need to turn in roughly 106 decks as a nonhuman, and 97 decks as a human. This number will probably be lower as you will find the Inscription decks on the Auction House. You need 14 Inscription Decks to give the same reputation as one Darkmoon Deck.

You have the option of either buying these decks from the Auction House, or creating them yourself. If you choose to create them yourself I suggest making the Burning Crusade Decks ([Blessings Deck], [Furies Deck], [Lunacy Deck], and [Storms Deck]). These have the cheapest mats for their availability. You will need an inscriptionist/scribe for this part. Each Darkmoon Faire Deck is compromised of eight cards (Two, Three, Four, Five, Six, Seven, Eight, Ace) of its type. Each card requires [Darkflame Ink]x3 (created from [Ebon Pigment], found by milling BC herbs), [Resilient Parchment]x1 (vendor), [Primal Life]x3, and [Ethereal Ink]x1 (created from [Nether Pigment], found by milling BC herbs).

What you want to do is collect hundreds of BC herbs and mill them. Make the items you receive into [Darkflame Ink] and [Ethereal Ink]. Get a bunch of [Primal Life] and some [Resilient Parchment] and create a random card. You want to cast Greater Darkmoon Card in your inscription pane. It will create a random card. After creating lots and lots of cards you will be able to start combining them into decks.

Once you have enough decks wait for the next Darkmoon Faire. Turn in your [Thorium Widget]s and then your Darkmoon Faire Decks. If you did this guide in order, you should get the achievement when you turn in your last deck. Congratulations!

This just in:

It's a question you've been asking us for a little while now. And, based on all the posts, emails, petitions, and letters we received following the announcement that the Insane in the Membrane achievement would no longer be in available in World of Warcraft: Cataclysm, we started to wonder if maybe we had gone a bit loco.

So, we went back to the drawing board. After carefully reviewing all the feedback and discussing the matter amongst ourselves, we're now happy to report that we will be making the following changes to the Feat of Strength:

* Exalted reputation with Shen'dralar will no longer be required. As this is the only reputation that will be unobtainable in Cataclysm, we've simply decided to remove it as a requirement.

For those who already earned Exalted reputation with this faction, don't worry -- we haven't forgotten about your accomplishments. In a future patch, we'll be adding in a separate Feat of Strength to recognize your deep love of Dire Maul.

* Bloodsail Buccaneer faction reputation will remain in-game. Also, to ensure that this change does not negatively affect Cataclysm quest progression in Stranglethorn Vale, Booty Bay Bruisers will now provide reputation up through Exalted.

This will ensure that players will still be able to attain Insane in the Membrane and "The Insane" title in World of Warcraft: Cataclysm. Please note, however, that these changes will not take effect until The Shattering in patch 4.0.3a -- excluding the separate "Exalted with Shen'dralar" feat, which will be introduced in a future, but currently-undetermined patch.

And, of course, those who are already Insane in the Membrane will retain their title and current Feat of Strength. Shine on, you crazy diamonds.

Source: Battle.Net Blog | Are You Insane in the Membrane?

Outdated Info (pre 11/10/2010):

Insane in the Membrane is a feat of strength, not an achievement. Feats are things that you can't be guaranteed to complete, which is why they're feats and not achievements. Most of them are actually now impossible to complete, and this feat will join a long list of "you had to be there" moments in WoW time.

The feat isn't being removed of course, those who have it will retain it, however; some of the requirements are, so it will no longer be able to be completed by anyone who has not already done so.

It's possible that in some very specific situations where someone has completed the reputations which are being removed, but not others that will still be in the game, that it can still be completed. But it's something we're waiting for clarity on, and will let you know as soon as we do.

Source: MMO-Champion BlueTracker | Blizz, "the Insane" and Cataclysm

Way Outdated Info (pre 10/26/2010):

A few people have sent in emails (here and here) asking about the Insane title in Cataclysm. The bottom line is that we don't know yet. In November 2009 Ancilorn (an EU Forums Blue) stated the following in this post:

"Just for clarity, Insane in the Membrane will not be removed in Cataclysm. We can only confirm this one for you, but since it's undoubtedly one of the most brain-melting achievements, we thought it nice to let you know that you don't have to rush to have this done before the expansion. ;)" -Ancilorn on 11/18/2009 @ 02:11:48 PST

From WoWWiki:

It is unknown if this position has been changed, if the requirements will be changed, or if the methods of gaining the relevant reputations will be updated to more current levels. The 'vanilla' dungeons of Scholomance, Stratholme, and Dire Maul are all going to undergo renovation. It is doubtful that Pristine Black Diamonds will continue to be dropped in these instances, but this has not been confirmed. At last report, Knot Thimblejack does not offer Free Knot!, nor does Lorekeeper Lydros offer the libram quests. These may simply be elements not yet updated.The Night Elves will once again have mages, which means the Shen'dralar can move out of Dire Maul. Where they go, and how you get reputation with them is currently unknown.

This section provides useful formulas for finding reputation gains for various factions.

This formula should be used whenever entering current reputation standing into other formulas.
Hated: [Your current reputation]
Hostile: [Your current reputation] + 36000
Unfriendly: [Your current reputation] + 39000
Neutral: [Your current reputation] + 42000
Friendly: [Your current reputation] + 45000
Honored: [Your current reputation] + 51000
Revered: [Your current reputation] + 63000

How many more Booty Bay Bruisers do I have to kill (Non-human)?
How many more Booty Bay Bruisers do I have to kill (Human)?

How many more [Gordok Shackle Key] do I need without turning in Tannin (Non-human)?
How many more [Gordok Shackle Key] do I need without turning in Tannin (Human)?
How many more [Gordok Shackle Key] do I need with turning in Tannin (Human)?
Approximately how many hours do I need to keep doing DM with turning in Tannin (Non-human)?

Note: [Number of Runs per Key] = 1 for one every run, 2 for one ever other run, 0.5 for two per run
Note: [Number of Runs per Key] = 1 for one every run, 2 for one ever other run, 0.5 for two per run

How many more [Heavy Junkbox] do I need to turn in (Non-human)?
How many more [Heavy Junkbox] do I need to turn in (Human)?
How many more [Heavy Junkbox] do I need (Non-human)?
How many more [Heavy Junkbox] do I need (Human)?
How many more hours do I have to keep pickpocketing (Non-human)?
How many more hours do I have to keep pickpocketing (Human)?

How many more Librams do I need to turn in (Non-human)?

How many more Librams do I need to turn in (Human)?

How many more Librams do I need (Non-human)?

How many more Librams do I need (Human)?

How many more Decks do I need to turn in (Non-human)?

How many more Decks do I need to turn in (Human)?

How many more Decks do I need (Non-human)?

How many more Decks do I need (Human)?

How many more quests do I have to turn in before I hit the limit where I am no longer given reputation?

Bloodsail Buccaneers Reputation Guide – Lots of great information in grinding Bloodsail reputation. It also includes valuable information how to repair your reputation with Steamwheedle. Note that the cloth turn ins destroy Bloodsail Reputation.
Darkmoon Faire Reputation Guide – Information on how you gain Darkmoon Faire reputation.
Ravenholdt Reputation Guide – Information on how you gain Ravenholdt reputation.
Shen’dralar Reputation Guide – Information on how you gain Shen’dralar reputation.
WoWWiki – Great source for information on just about anything in World of Warcraft. Superb faction and lore information.
WoWHead – One stop shop for anything you need to know about any item, quest, spell, or achievement. You need to know anything about anything WoW related, check here.

Feel free to link this guide wherever you would like (WoW Forums, Your Guild Forums, etc). Feel free to quote parts of the guide, but you MAY NOT post the entire guide on any website. If you see a significant part of this guide on a website other than one that has "spectralcoding.com" in the URL, PLEASE report it to the Email in the Contact Section. Links to this site are by all means encouraged, feel free to add links to relevant WoW Discussions, Wiki Articles, Forums Posts, etc. All posts MUST include a link to this page. If you are interested in translating this guide into another language please contact me via the Email in the Contacts Section. Translations are encouraged but must be hosted on my servers. This guide is copyright Caesar Kabalan (Zenworks) and may NOT be duplicated in whole or significant part by anyone without permission.

It took me several weeks (and several revisions) to finally get the first version of this guide written. I no longer play WoW (addressed in the next sections) so my time is somewhat limited as far as updating this guide.

If you enjoyed this guide or it helped you with your grind in any way please consider making a small donation to keep the site up and running. Monetary Donations will help to keep the guide available free of cost. My vision is not for this to become a Pay-to-View guide as some leveling guides are. Even a few dollars will help out!

Even if you are short on cash you can still help! If you have anything to add to this guide such as extra tips and tricks Donate Knowledge by contacting me (Zenworks) at the Email in the Contact Section. As I said I no longer play WoW, so I cant experiment with new ways to grind the reps!

I figure since I wrote this 7500 word guide on this achievement you get to hear about me. I’m Zenworks, level 90 Draenei Blood Elf Human Priest of the guild Lunacy of the Ysera-US Crushridge-US Ysera-US Moon Guard-US realm. I’ve been playing World of Warcraft since about patch 1.3 (Released March 2005). I’ve raided MC, BWL, AQ, Naxx, and Kara on a Undead Mage. I quit for a while and decided to reroll Alliance Priest in early BC. Since then I have been been at the height of end game content. Have cleared SSC, TK, Hyjal, and BT, and some Sunwell at its peak. In Wrath our guild progressed through Naxx with ease (who hasn’t?), along with Maly and Sarth3D. With the release of Ulduar, we got several realm-first achievements. I quit for 6 months or so shortly after I got the achievement (and wrote this guide). I have since come back to the game and transfered servers and factions. I'm now Fannin Blood Elf Priest of Crushridge-US. I have since quit and come back, transfering BACK to Ysera-US, faction transfering to Alliance, and then namechanging to Cogsworth. I am strictly casual play now though. No 7 days a week raiding for me.

Anyway, enough about my raid habits. I’ve always been a interested in long and usually pointless grinds. I achieved Timbermaw Hold exalted on my Mage at level 60. As soon as I saw [Insane in the Membrane] I knew I had to go for it. I saw, I grinded, I achieved. Anyway, if you feel the need contact me in game or by email. See the next section.

I'm usually available on WoW whenever I’m needed. If you find any mistakes in the guide PLEASE let me know and I’ll correct them as soon as possible. Any other submissions are encouraged. If I feel that the content is worthy I may even give you your own section! Emailing me is not emailing a black hole. I check my email several times per day. If you don't get a response (most do) it is not because I didn't read it, it is probably because there is nothing to say.

Here is my contact information:

Various readers have taken the time to write me emails related to this guide. Because I no longer play WoW and don't have the time to update this guide to the latest and greatest information, I suggest you read the these emails! If you have anything to add, please send me an email and I will add your Email to the list. If your email contains new information I will do the best I can to update the main content to keep it up to date! I PROMISE that I read all emails the day they're sent, I just may not get around to posting them for quite a while if they have low priority information.

Highly Recommended Emails

8/21/09 - Steamwheedle Rep (from Ebullana)

9/11/09 - Steamwheedle... Easy mode! (from Coldheat)

12/4/09 - Regarding Bloodsail/Goblin Reputations (from Enaress)

1/12/10 - Shen'dralar Tips (from Zolutek)

1/14/10 - Serkac's Insane in the Membrane Comments (from Serkac)

3/10/10 - Grinding Addon (from Cal)

4/25/10 - Heavy Junkboxes, Pickpocketing Made Easy (from FiL)

5/20/10 - DMF Grinding Spreadsheet (from Russell)

6/29/10 - Insane Guide Suggestions (from Eudaemonea)

7/11/10 - Bloodsail Rep Not Needed (from Plokoon)

7/27/10 - Ravenholdt Turnin Macro (from Gulvak)

8/2/10 - Swiftness of Zanza (from Christopher)

8/29/10 - Its Good To Be King (from Tarvis)

10/26/10 - Insane Unobtainable Blue Post (from Lowsanity)

All Emails

7/19/09 - Thanks (from Max)

7/22/09 - Darkmoon Faire Change (from Coldheat)

7/24/09 - Wastewanderers in Tanaris (from Conrad)

7/25/09 - German Translation (from Tim)

7/27/09 - DM Librams (from Zeertkiyah)

8/4/09 - Corrections (from Mitzvah)

8/9/09 - Wastewanderers (from Alex)

8/9/09 - Darkmoon Faire Change (from Jeff)

8/9/09 - Wastewanderers Change (from Alex)

8/26/09 - Bloodsail and Steamwheedle? (from Robert)

9/7/09 - Ogre Tanin Comments (from megaheld)

9/22/09 - The Great DM Debate (from Fargnbastage)

9/22/09 - DM Suggestion (from Milacek)

10/10/09 - Mistakes? (from Lakara)

10/11/09 - Tips and Corrections! (from Mauria)

10/12/09 - Ogre Tanin in DM (from Auvreannia)

10/13/09 - Mages doing Ravenholdt (from Robert)

10/13/09 - Hearth to Mojache (from Raddish)

10/13/09 - Corrections (from Seth)

10/21/09 - Steamwheedle and Bloodsail Together? (from Claudiu)

10/22/09 - Frayed Abom Glitch (from Aldlich)

11/1/09 - Invocation of the Wickerman (from Peagle)

11/3/09 - Concurrent Reputations Unneeded? (from Unknown)

11/10/09 - Insane Faire (from Kittypurple)

11/18/09 - Darkmoon Farming (from Ahou & Tamida)

11/26/09 - Thanks & Tip (from Corhianne)

12/9/09 - Profession Tip (from Pi Ka Oh)

12/25/09 - Shen'dralar Vendor (from Eric)

12/26/09 - Ogres Drop Lockboxes (from Roland)

12/31/09 - At War with Booty Bay? (from Villain)

12/31/09 - Selling in DM (from Ullrick)

1/18/10 - Insane in the Membrane Experiences (from Manmana)

1/22/10 - Question on Insane in the Membrane (from Rrawrzz)

2/26/10 - Insane! (from Anerios)

2/26/10 - The Insane Grinding (from Ramorous)

3/10/10 - Grinding Addon (from Cal)

3/26/10 - DM North Repair Vendor (from Goodoleboy)

4/2/10 - Steamwheedle Rep Tip (from Vincent)

4/6/10 - Zandalar Tribe Rep (from Shadrani)

4/14/10 - Pristine Black Diamonds (from Emeraldroots)

4/24/10 - Making Gold While Farming Darkmoon Faire Reputation (from Keiki)

4/25/10 - Heavy Junkboxes, Pickpocketing Made Easy (from FiL)

5/9/10 - Scholo Key (from Malezar)

5/15/10 - Bloodsail / Junkbox Tips (from Thierry)

5/15/10 - Syndicate Mobs (from Leodaun)

5/16/10 - King of DM Tip (from Trevor)

5/16/10 - Dual Account Libram Trick (from Felix)

5/20/10 - DMF Grinding Spreadsheet (from Russell)

6/09/10 - DM Question (from Chex)

6/16/10 - Steamwheedle Cartel Quests (from Tumak)

6/26/10 - Shen'dalar Rep Question (from Patrick)

6/29/10 - Insane Guide Suggestions (from Eudaemonea)

7/2/10 - DMF Rep Grinding (from Tigriss)

7/4/10 - Guide Errors (from Fluorine)

7/11/10 - Bloodsail Rep Not Needed (from Plokoon)

7/13/10 - Heavy Junkboxes in Scholo (from Boonbackstab)

7/21/10 - Scholo Key before Ruining BB Rep (from Droodza)

7/27/10 - Ravenholdt Turnin Macro (from Gulvak)

8/2/10 - Swiftness of Zanza (from Christopher)

8/29/10 - Its Good To Be King (from Tarvis)

9/1/10 - Excellent Insane Guide and Heavy Junkbox Note (from Laksmi)

9/6/10 - Skin of Shadow - The Artist's way (from DivineStudios)

9/8/10 - A Few Tidbits You May or May Not Know About (from Rebbatskcab)

9/8/10 - Darkmoon Faire Tip (from Tyler)

9/21/10 - Easy Libram Hand-In (from Manny)

9/21/10 - Always Kill King Gordok (from Killcrazy)

9/22/10 - Some Possible Tips (from Emmiestar)

9/22/10 - Insane in the Memebrane Confusion (from Jason M)

9/23/10 - Title Requirement Confusion (from Jason W)

9/27/10 - Card Calculator Spreadsheet (from Noms)

9/28/10 - Wastewander Water Pouches (from Casirati)

10/2/10 - Bloodsail Correction (from Thomas)

10/3/10 - Cataclysm (from Arkass)

10/5/10 - More Cataclysm Questions (from Toez)

10/8/10 - Cataclysm Question (from Frankyaeger)

10/8/10 - Zap Ze Giants Steamwheedle Alternative (from Whansinn)

10/10/10 - Steamwheedle + Shen'dralar Tips (from Llyneth)

10/10/10 - Meta Reputation Proof (from Jacii)

10/11/10 - Insane Achievement /script (from Joel)

10/17/10 - Insane Achievement Macro (from Jan)

10/25/10 - Looting Multiple Librams (from Bryan)

10/26/10 - Insane Unobtainable in Cataclysm (from Gav)

10/26/10 - Insane Unobtainable Blue Post (from Lowsanity)

10/27/10 - Insane Title in Cataclysm (from Tyler)

10/28/10 - Insane Question (from Kat)

10/28/10 - Steamwheedle & Bloodsail Requirement (from Gary)

10/31/10 - Ogre Vendor (from Tom)

11/10/10 - Insane Change (from Shortmann)

11/12/10 - Steamweedle Cartel Rep (from Amyara)

11/14/10 - Steamwheedle Cartel + Bloodsail (from Phóebe)

11/24/10 - Reputation Bonus Food Buff (from Rachnim)

11/29/10 - There is Still Hope in Cata (from Tindaellyn)

12/1/10 - Changes in Shatterning (from Suria)

01/12/2023 – 11:25
10/26/2010 – 11:49
10/4/2010 – 12:40
8/30/2010 – 15:42
6/22/2010 – 15:11
4/25/2010 – 14:36
12/31/2009 – 02:03
12/27/2009 – 22:23
11/7/2009 – 15:03
10/20/2009 – 03:45
10/20/2009 – 01:10
10/11/2009 – 23:33
09/22/2009 – 15:50
09/12/2009 – 13:37
09/07/2009 – 22:21
08/09/2009 – 16:10
08/09/2009 – 16:03
08/09/2009 – 15:49
08/04/2009 – 16:45
05/26/2009 – 21:59
05/26/2009 – 00:23