With the introduction of The Burning Crusade expansion pack to World of Warcraft and the great big world of factions and reputation points, the dilemma of choosing between Scryer and Aldor has become something of a hot topic in Azeroth. Both factions dislike each other, meaning you’re left to choose only one of them. If you choose one and decide later to switch over, you’ll be working on it for a good long time, switching your allegiances.

The most important items you receive from either faction are likely to be the Recipes and Inscriptions. They are both unique depending on your faction and might make or break your decision as to which side to choose. The other items you acquire are largely substandard compared to any other items you might receive in raids and from looting, so you shouldn’t concern yourself with how they might affect your decision.

As for actually raising your reputation with either side, it’s relatively simple. Either side will take tokens dropped by Burning Legion and Shadow Council mobs in Nagrand, Blade’s Edge Mountains, and Terokkar Forrest. However, when you offer the tokens to one side, the reputation gain immediately lowers your reputation with the other side. This is why you want to be sure which side you’re choosing before you start turning in tokens.

So, the difference between the two factions and their offerings is not as great as some people think except in very particular instances. For example, the Scryer offer a fairly good boost to critical strike chance, something that Rogues are probably very interested in. On the other hand, Aldor offers additional damage, something that warriors might be more interested in. the items themselves are almost meaningless and can be purchased from the Auction House.

If you, for some reason, decide you’ve made the wrong choice and work towards switching your allegiance to the other side, it will take a very long time to complete the grind and do so. The differences however are not quite as great as you might think and while some people who are trying to build absolute maximum characters might make the switch, most of the rest of you will notice only a very small difference.

For those that might have lowered their reputation to below Friendly with one faction and want to regain it, either because they changed their minds or because they are trying to get all of the recipes, there is a quest to help you do so. In the Lower City, there is a specific quest that either side can pursue that will allow you to raise your status back to friendly with a faction. The friendly status itself is 250 reputation for one side and negative 270 for the other.

Regardless of your decision, you’ll likely find that the Aldor/Scryer additions to the game make for a great way to grind and build up your character in the new expansion areas of the game. Choosing between them may seem important, but the task itself is where the real fun lies.