Brown Dragon Turtle

Brown Dragon Turtle is a rare-quality ground mount added to World of Warcraft alongside the Mists of Pandaria expansion (patch 5.0.4). It is a massive shelled reptile of pandaren lineage with a warm brown-tan shell color and a good-natured face. According to the pandaren, dragon turtles are prized for their endurance, steady gait, and ability to carry heavy loads over long distances.

The mount is sold for ordinary gold by two vendors in the capitals — Old Whitenose in Stormwind and Turtlemaster Odai in Orgrimmar. Any pandaren character can buy it right away, regardless of faction and reputation. Members of other races will need to be Exalted with the Tushui Pandaren (Alliance) or the Huojin Pandaren (Horde).

• A simple and reliable collector's goal — the mount costs only 1 gold and becomes available immediately after you reach Exalted, with no ties to a drop or a seasonal event
• An unusual model — dragon turtles stand apart from typical reptilian and riding animals: they have a massive shell, short legs, and a calm "walking" stride that looks great in transmog screenshots
• Part of a family of 12 mounts — besides the brown variant, the two pandaren vendors offer blue, green, red, black, purple, and their enlarged "great" versions. With a single reputation farm you unlock access to every color of your faction at once
• Counts toward achievements — every mount in your collection brings you closer to the mount-collecting achievements and their corresponding reward
• Account-wide — after the first purchase, the mount appears in the collection on all characters of your account, including members of the opposite faction
• Low level requirements — since patch 9.0.1 the minimum level to use it has been lowered to 10, so you can use the mount practically from your first hour of play

Alliance — Stormwind

Vendor: Old Whitenose. Located in the pandaren camp by the Eastern Earthshrine, in the northern part of Stormwind, next to the Mage Quarter and the Canals.

In addition to the brown turtle, he offers the other Tushui pandaren dragon turtles — blue, green, red, black, and purple, as well as their "great" variants with an enlarged model.

Horde — Orgrimmar

Vendor: Turtlemaster Odai. Located in the pandaren camp in the center of the Valley of Honor in Orgrimmar, next to the pond and the training ground.

The selection is the same, only in the colors of the Huojin faction.

The Tushui and Huojin Pandaren are among the easiest reputations in the game to farm at max level.

Method 1. Faction Tabard and Dungeons

The main and recommended method. From your faction's recruiter in the pandaren camp you receive a tabard:

• Alliance — Tushui Tabard from Disciple Jusi
• Horde — Huojin Tabard from Adherent Hanjun

In any dungeon, from classic to modern, all reputation earned with the tabard equipped goes to your chosen pandaren faction. At max level 90, old dungeons can be cleared in a couple of minutes, so a few runs through the Dungeon Finder will close out the reputation in one or two evenings.

Method 2. A Pandaren from Scratch

If you create a new pandaren character, keep in mind: in the Wandering Isle starting zone you have not yet chosen a faction, but once you pick a side you immediately gain access to all racial mounts with no reputation requirement. This is the fastest way for collectors to complete the collection.

1. Decide on your faction. If you play Horde — your goal is Huojin; for Alliance — Tushui. For a pandaren character of any faction, it is enough to simply fly to the capital
2. Fly to Orgrimmar or Stormwind. Make sure you have free inventory slots and at least a few gold coins to buy the mount
3. If you are a pandaren — head straight to the vendor and buy the mount. No reputation required
4. If you are another race — get the faction tabard from the pandaren recruiter and check your current reputation level through the reputation window (default key U)
5. Run dungeons through the automatic group finder with the tabard equipped. Any dungeons will do, but those of the Shadowlands and the Dragon Isles clear the fastest
6. When you reach Exalted, return to the capital and buy the Reins of the Brown Dragon Turtle for 1 gold from Old Whitenose or Turtlemaster Odai

After reaching Exalted with a pandaren faction, it makes sense to buy the entire collection of turtles at once — each one counts as a separate mount in your collection.