WotLK The Sons of Hodir reputation

[Slysweetguy]

Hey guys, how’s it going?

I’ve got a problem — a big one, and it’s probably something that should take a few minutes to fix, but I’ve already wasted almost 6 hours on it.

I bought a character from the Warmane market, everything went smooth and I’m happy with the char.
But then comes the classic issue: The Sons of Hodir reputation.

The rep is Exalted, so I fly to Dun Niffelem to grab enchants — and… no vendor.
At first I thought okay, no big deal, I need to get back on the quest chain. So I tried to find “A Spark of Hope” or “Forging an Alliance”.

And here’s where things get weird:
I cannot start this quest chain at all. The quests are just not available.

I thought maybe the previous owner already completed part of it but not till the necessary part, so I rechecked the entire quest chain step by step from the start at K3 — every prerequisite, every NPC — but I got nowhere.

Then it hit me:
If the previous player didn’t do the whole basics, the rep couldn’t possibly be Exalted. He wouldn’t be able to get shoulder enchant also. So the chain must have been done at least to "Forging an Alliance”.

So I tried going the other way — assuming the chain was completed past “Forging an Alliance”.

I checked:
• Thorim on the mountain top
• The Frostborn area / statue park outside Dun Niffelem
• Multiple locations where Thorim appears in later quests (the ones like 95% of players never even reach)
• The anvil on the edge of Storm Peaks, just outside Dun Niffelem

Still nothing. No NPCs, no quests, no vendor in Dun Niffelem village.

At this point I’m honestly losing my mind.
I even contacted GMs, but they just keep telling me to “find Forging an Alliance” or ask me for screenshots — except I have no idea what screenshots I’m supposed to provide, since there’s literally nothing there.

Please help, because this is driving me crazy and I’m completely stuck.

[Mitzen]

Have you tried if phasing works? It's like stepping back and forth between two rooms repeatedly, but with zones.

[Slysweetguy]

Oh dude - problem solved

Your question about phasing actually made me double-check everything one more time, and I finally found one quest that belongs to the Sons of Hodir chain.

I still have no idea how it’s possible to have Exalted reputation while the whole quest chain was basically stuck in the starting phase, but somehow that’s exactly what happened.

Anyway, thanks a lot — your curiosity pointed me in the right direction. Much appreciated

[Mitzen]

Sons of Hodir Commendation Badges can be bought with EoT, granting SoH rep. Measuring progress with reputation isn't accurate due to badges and multipliers if playing on Icecrown.
Regarding shoulder enchants, they are binds to account, so shoulder enchants could've been bought on an another character.

I don't use quest tracking addons, but perhaps that could help? If one would be able to tell the progress on a quest chain, or other quest that's required for the vendors to show up.

Screenshots could be showing no quests on Forging the Alliance NPC's, or if possible the quest tracking addons showing them as completed.

[PvtBowers29]

Slysweetguy i found this out a few year back and made a bug report about it. But you need a quest of the Sons of Hodir to see the vendor's. It's dumb.