Of all my pieces of in-game attire, the one I cherish most is my Arathor Battle Tabard. Way, way back when I first discovered the Arathi Basin rep rewards I had desired this tabard, but due to the work that goes into acquiring it, I really wasn’t counting on me ever getting my hunter paws on it.
Those of you who collect tabards know that there are a few which require some effort to obtain. The Arathor Battle Tabard requires some work, and I mean WORK.
In order to have the right to don the Arathi Basin tabard, you must be exalted with the League of Arathor (or Defilers, for the Horde equivalent). You earn reputation by controlling resources during the game. I don’t know exactly what the formula for AB rep gains is these days, but I know it is a long, long road to exalted, and will require you to slog through several hundred AB games to reach exalted.
Then, once you reach exalted status, the League still doesn’t think you’re good enough to wear their tabard. You must prove your worth by reaching the peak of exalted status – 999/1000. Of course, this is a small milestone to achieve compared to what you went through to reach exalted reputation, but still…
Once you achieve the highest level of exalted reputation possible, you still have to prove your merit by obtaining this quest: Control Five Bases. If you make it this far it’s only a matter of time before you get a 5 cap, but it is in exercise in patience. This last step could take 1 game or it could take 30 games. An Arathi Basin 5 cap can be pretty tough unless you’re part of a quality pre-made.
Reputation gains with either the League of Arathor or Defilers are very slow going. There is no quick way to do it unless you regularly queue with an organized group that can sweep through and 5 cap every single time. For me, this was not the case. All of my BG achievements have been accomplished in PuGs. Apart from my days of competitive 10-19 WSG, I’ve never been involved in scheduled BG premades, which made earning things like Knight of Arathor that much sweeter. Achievements like this were not easy, and took a long, long time. 😉
This is the best looking tabard in my closet and looks amazing when worn over my vanilla Field Marshal transmog set. Earning it was a most memorable WoW moment for this Hunter! 😀
Absolutely loved reading about your Arathor Battle Tabard experiences! It brings back so many memories of epic battles in WoW. Speaking of epic moments, I’ve been exploring football sites not on Gamstop lately, and they remind me of those thrilling matches—full of camaraderie and excitement too. Can’t wait to hear more about your adventures!
I worked my way through the same situation to attain the Defiler’s tabard. Like you Gar, I too cherish the tabard. In fact I use it on all of my PvP transmogs. I also have a question for anyone that can answer it, can a person post a picture in this area of the site?
If I recall correctly, you finally obtained this during the blog’s heyday and posted about it. I remember thinking “DAYUM is that one HELLUV an achievement!” I really love this wow memories series, Gar. It makes me, and others I’m sure” think back to my greatest wow memories with much fondness.
Kudos to you, my man!
PLEASE GOD GIVE ME GNOME HUNTERS IN WOD!!!