But I like the Sons of Hodir!

One small tidbit of news from Blizzcon that really caught my attention was this: While explaining the new Path of the Titans feature that's planned for Cataclysm, it was specifically mentioned that this addition wouldn't be "grindy" like the Sons of Hodir. This surprised me in so far as it implies that people think working for the Sons of Hodir isn't fun. I'm currently making my way to exalted with them for the fourth time and thoroughly enjoying it.

Maybe I'm strange but I actually quite like doing dailies. Not for gold, mind you... but then I haven't been short on cash since I bought epic flying for the third time back in BC. However, as a general rule I like the comforting sense of routine that dailies provide, and as a means to gain reputation they feel more natural than anything else.

For example I like the championing system as it was introduced in WOTLK, but in all honesty I don't think it makes much sense. Do the Kirin Tor really care that much if I smack around some random vyrkul in Utgarde Keep just because I wear their tabard while I'm doing it? Sorry, but I'm not quite buying it. Levelling reputation by killing hostile mobs à la Timbermaw makes more sense, but it's still kind of dull - surely killing things can't be the only thing those furbolgs care about? Finally, doing nothing but item hand-ins like you had to do to get exalted with the Aldor and Scryers just reduces reputation to another thing that can be bought with gold.

Now, daily quests - I think those make perfect sense. I can easily picture King Jokkum thinking: "Man, that little tauren has come to polish Hodir's helm again? She really seems to be devoted to helping us out, I'm growing more fond of her every day!"

My problem with most of the Northrend daily quests has been that they are all over the place. I'm not sure why Blizzard decided to go that way; after all the Isle of Quel'Danas showed how hugely popular a centralised quest hub with lots of convenient dailies nearby can be. And yet if you want to raise your reputation with the Wyrmrest Accord for example, all you can do is get two dailies in Coldarra and then fly across half the continent for one more at Wyrmrest temple. The Argent Tournament has been a bit better in that regard, but it still requires you to fly all over Icecrown and the sword-fetching quest in one of the more southern zones of Northrend is a major pain in the arse.

So for all the daily quests that Blizzard implemented in WOTLK, the Sons of Hodir offer the only daily quest hub as I think it should be: By the point where you're revered with them you can get a total of six dailies from them which are all very conveniently close together and never require you to travel very far. They are also varied enough and don't require you to kill too many mobs to feel hugely "grindy", not to me anyway.

Plus, I think the Sons as a faction are just plain fun. Call me juvenile, but I giggled when I first noticed just how much cheap innuendo they've got going on in their daily quest titles. It's almost as if the whole thing is a parody of a reputation grind - I mean, there isn't even any pretense that you're doing anything relevant or important. It's pure sucking-up, be it by polishing their furniture or showing off your manliness (/giggle) by single-handedly slaying a wild wyrm. I'm not saying all factions should be silly like that, but as it is I consider it a pleasant change of pace from saving the world in three different ways before breakfast.

Finally, I wrote in the past about how I miss attunements in WOTLK, and the Sons of Hodir provide the closest thing to an attunement that I could find in Northrend: A pretty long and epic quest chain that changes the world around you and allows for some personal progress for your character. It's just a shame that this personal progress doesn't consist of anything truly impressive, like access to a new raid instance - instead you just get permission to buy a bunch of shoulder enchants which you wouldn't have otherwise (unless you're an inscriber). Not to look a gift horse in the mouth, but yeah... shoulder enchants? I find it funny that getting my shoulders enchanted requires more effort than getting into Ulduar.

Speaking of Ulduar, I think it's a huge shame that the Sons of Hodir weren't used for some kind of Ulduar attunenement or even just a quest, as the setup was pretty much perfect. At the end of their regular quests as it is - SPOILER - you get Thorim to challenge Loken, but he loses the fight and gets captured and dragged into Ulduar. The Sons then ask you to kill Loken and cut out his filthy tongue, but once you've done that it just stops. I always found that odd, don't they care about where Thorim has gone? Or their "father" Hodir for that matter? It would have made perfect sense to continue this story with a quest that asks you to go to Ulduar and find both Thorim and Hodir. What a wasted opportunity. If anything I want more content along the lines of the Sons of Hodir, not less!