Reins of the Blue Dragon Turtle

Reins of the Blue Dragon Turtle is a ground mount from the Mists of Pandaria expansion that remains obtainable in the current Midnight patch. Visually it is a bulky dragon turtle with a massive shell in a cold blue hue, twisted horns and a heavy, measured gait. The model shares its animations with the rest of the dragon turtle family, but it is the rich blue coloring that makes this one recognizable. The item's flavor text describes these beasts this way: "Most of Pandaria's native inhabitants prefer to ride these sturdy beasts because of their steady gait and large carrying capacity."

There is one thing to keep straight here. Databases list two items with the same name: item=91009, the general version available to every race, and item=87796, the racial version available to pandaren with no conditions attached. In the collection they are one and the same mount, but the way you obtain it depends on your character's race. This guide covers the 91009 version specifically — the purchase for non-pandaren, which unlocks through reputation with your side's pandaren faction.

Technically the bar is minimal: the mount costs a mere 1 gold and requires only the basic riding skill. All of the difficulty comes down to grinding your reputation up to Exalted.

• One of the cheapest reputation rewards. The token price of 1 gold makes it a status symbol rather than a purchase. The value here lies in simply owning it.
• An addition to the dragon turtle collection. There are twelve variants of these turtles in the game, and the blue one is among the most striking. Each counts toward achievements for the total number of mounts collected.
• Walks on water. Like the other turtle mounts, the blue turtle moves freely across the surface of water, which is handy along coastlines and at crossings.
• Thematic transport. The cold blue turtle looks great on characters with a "watery" or eastern aesthetic — shamans, monks and frost mages.
• Account-wide access. Once obtained, the mount unlocks for every character on your account regardless of faction or class.

• Character level: 10 — the minimum to buy and ride it.
• Riding skill: Apprentice Riding.
• Reputation — the key requirement. You need Exalted with your side's pandaren faction: for the Alliance that is the Tushui Pandaren, for the Horde the Huojin Pandaren.
• Gold: 1 gold (a token amount).

If your character is a pandaren, no reputation is needed at all: the racial version item=87796 is directly available to you from the same vendor.

The mount is sold by a pandaren vendor in your faction's capital.

The vendors stand at the pandaren camps: Old Whitenose is by the Eastern Earthshrine in Stormwind, and Turtlekeeper Oday is by the pond with the turtle pen in the Valley of Honor in Orgrimmar.

Reputation with the pandaren factions is farmed through a tabard and dungeons — the same way as the reputation of the old Alliance and Horde factions.

1. Get a tabard. The Alliance needs the Tushui Tabard, the Horde the Huojin Tabard. They are sold by the respective factions' quartermasters.
2. Wear the tabard and clear dungeons. While the tabard is on, killing regular enemies and bosses in dungeons grants reputation with the chosen faction. The newer the dungeon by expansion, the more reputation drips in per kill.
3. Pick fast dungeons. Short dungeons with dense packs of enemies that you tear through in bunches thanks to your level advantage work well. A single run takes a couple of minutes.
4. Finish off the remainder on Wandering Isle quests. The pandaren starting zone grants a noticeable initial pool of reputation at character creation — but the bulk is still gathered with the tabard in dungeons.
5. Once you reach Exalted, buy the mount from your vendor for 1 gold.