All of these items require an Exalted status with the faction listed. Each faction also has a tabard you can purchase, once you are Friendly with them, to wear while running level 85 dungeons.  These are just the purple epics that the Quartermasters sell, there are blues at different levels of reputation also available.

Hyjal
Arcanum of Hyjal – BoA Caster/Healer Head Enchant
Cord of Raven Queen – Holy Priest Cloth Belt

Earthen Ring
Flamebloom Gloves – Cloth caster gloves, no spirit, so mostly DPS.

Therazane
Greater Inscription of Charged Lodestone – Shoulder Enchant for healers

Ramkahen
Desert Walker Sandals - DPS Caster Boots
Reins of the Brown Riding Camel – Mount
Reins of the Tan Riding Camel - Mount

Dragonmaw
Yellow Smoke Pendant - Caster/Healer Neckpiece

Cataclysm Quartermaster Epic Loot – Squishies is a post from: Azgalor Nights

I hit 85 on my Shammy last Thursday, 2 days after release.  I saw some 85s Tuesdays evening, so I wasn’t the quickest by far, but I think that 2 days was a good time to level all the way up.  I did notice some interesting facts about the amount of XP you needed to get from 80-85, which I will list below.

80-82 is fairly easy.  I was surprised that the XP needed between these levels wasn’t more, honestly.  I was expecting a much longer grind.

82-83 requires 4million XP, which is twice the amount you need to get from 81-82.  This is where I slowed down some.  I headed straight to Deepholm after dinging 82, in attempts to get the higher level XP-rewarding quests.  I finished all the quests in Deepholm for the achievement Deep Into Deepholm.

83-84 requires about 5.2million XP.  I was thankful that the number didn’t double again.  This grind seemed less agonizing to me because I was expecting more XP after considering the jump from 82-83.  I spent most of this time in Uldum and I finished all these quests also for Unearthing Uldum.

84-85 requires 9.1million XP.  Of course this seems like a large amount, but the quest rewards give greater XP also.  After I finished the Uldum Quest achievement, I went to Twilight Highlands.  You need 95 quests for this achievement, but I dinged 85 while I was about 70 quests into it.  Of course I ran some dungeons while leveling also.  I did go back later, actually earlier today, and obtain the quest achievement Fading into Twilight.

Now it’s time to get my Warrior to 85.  He is 82 right now.  I’ll post about him later.

Ding, 85 is a post from: Azgalor Nights

Post-Patch 4.0.3 Leveling Map is a post from: Azgalor Nights

Countdown to Cataclysm is a post from: Azgalor Nights

Wearing these tabards in dungeons gains you rep with that city.  And it isn’t just heroic dungeons either, the tabards are able to be purchased by any level of toon, and can be used to gain rep in dungeons while leveling to 80, soon to be 85.

The Orgrimmar, Darkspear Trolls and Bilgewater Cartel Quartermasters are all near the Flight Path in Orgrimmar.  The Undercity QM is near the FP in Undercity, and I assume the Silvermoon City QM is near their Flight Path also, but I haven’t been out there yet to buy that one.

Horde City Tabards is a post from: Azgalor Nights

“Just in case anyone was thinking about stopping an alt just short of 80 for rested XP…”
From Valnoth
Rested experience will be reset at launch. You will start at 0 rested.
Lead World Designer

In part 2, some readers had pointed out that daily quests may no longer provide XP once Cataclysm hits. Blizzard recently smashed this rumor in an interview with BestBuy:

“Will you allow players to fill their quest log with say, 25 dailies, and then turn them in right after Midnight on December 7th to get a quick boost towards 85? This is how it worked in the beta, but some players are confused on whether it will work on Live. Thanks!”
Regarding 25 daily quests to turn in when the expansion goes live, this is something players have been able to do for the last 2 expansions and we aren’t talking about changing it now.

Remember, launch is actually on Monday, at the stroke of midnight, so make sure to book Tuesday off! Launch will occur simultaneously across the US at 12am Pacific, or 3am Eastern. Don’t get your time zones mixed up!

“Wondering exactly what time you’ll be able to begin playing your goblin or worgen or making your way to level 85? On all North American realms, World of Warcraft players who upgrade to Cataclysm will be able to begin experiencing the new content at 12 a.m. Pacific Standard Time (3 a.m. Eastern Standard Time) on December 7, whether they purchase the digital download through Battle.net or buy a physical retail boxed version in stores. Players will not be able to access Cataclysm expansion content prior to 12 a.m. PST, regardless of how they upgrade or what time zone they’re located in.”

Some Facts about Cataclysm, part 1 is a post from: Azgalor Nights

Cataclysm Trailer is a post from: Azgalor Nights

Here is my Character screen.  You will notice the stats don’t show and the background is different.  The character animations are also different.  To show character stats, click the arrow on the bottom right of this window, which opens up a side-bar window attached to this one.
All Emblems of Triumph and Frost were converted to Justice Points.  I had around 350 EoFs on this toon, and about 25-30 EoTs.  The equation resulted in my having 4574 JPs, which is over the soft-cap of 4000.  This basically means that I cannot gather anymore JPs until I spend some of these, so I bought some gems from the EoH vendor.  Gems are 220 JPs for the primary colors and 110 JPs for the mixed colors.
The new Flight Path map is larger and more spread-out than the old one.
The professions window opens with your Spellbook.  It is an added tab at the bottom of your Spellbook along with Mounts and Companions.  The “SHIFT-P” keyclick doesn’t work anymore for opening your mount window.  This Professions window shows a larger and easier to read view than the old one.  The window on the right in this image is the actual Profession window that you open when you want to make something.  In order to search by “Have Materials” you have to first choose the “Filter” button on the far right.

This is the new talent interface.  What I like most about it is the “Learn” button at the bottom.  You can arrange your talents in any manner or any spec, and they aren’t actually “spent” until you choose the Learn button.  So if you make a mistake in your re-spec, don’t worry, it isn’t saved until you “Learn” them.

New GUI Look After Patch is a post from: Azgalor Nights

The Shaman

The Warrior

The Druid

The Paladin

The Mage

New Talent Trees I will be using is a post from: Azgalor Nights

New Launcher Screen is a post from: Azgalor Nights