Comments

Comment by 5427

Just a comic for this ;p
http://darklegacycomics.com/67.html

Comment by 33052

can you use this more than once?

Comment by Atrius

There is a positive to this reputation gain. It does not give negative Bloodsail Buccaneers reputation. Which means you can maintain a high Bloodsail while regaining Goblin rep, if you're willing to do this in an incredible number of times.

Comment by chronocore

Counts for Loremaster of Kalimdor achievement.
The gordok suit one does too, though only the first time of course.

Comment by 84520

Shackle Key currently gives no rep for SWC. I beleive this is a bug as it should give 350 rep (as has prior to Patch 3.0.X)

Comment by Tiran

If you look at the quest itself, people are reporting that this is just a bug with the chat log (and maybe SCT?). You still get the rep, you just aren't notified.

Edit: As of a recent change (at least since 3.1.2, but I've not been farming as much as I should), this is now fixed, and you see that you're being credited wit 350 rep individually to each goblin faction.

Comment by 239136

I believe the drop rate for this has been increased significantly. I got 5 in one run. They are still unique and still give 350 rep (385 for me), but at least it's practically a guaranteed drop now.

Comment by 237529

Confirmed that this still gives reputation. I am halfway through revered with SWC, and i am still getting rep even though it wont show in combat log or chat log.

Chewbaca
<inexorable>
Caelestrasz

Comment by Neverj

Confirmed, it still drops indeed, but i made 10 straight runs, only boss's, and got 2 keys only, wich is kinda bad, but still the fastest way to lvl rep.

Comment by Phyloni

It's still pretty random.

Started farming the 4 factions under steamwheedle cartel around 3 weeks ago. After many hours spent in DiM i'm hitting exalted tomorrow with these 4.

The key drops; Sometimes I get 3-4 in one run(WHY!) and sometimes i don't see a single key in 5 clears.
I'm really glad you always got a tannin, thats always a minimum of 5x75 rep an hour.

5x 350 rep for the keys
5x 75 rep for the suits
Total 2125 rep an hour(nonhuman). + If you are lucky you get some tannins out of the chest you get, when you free knot.

Funfact: Save up the suits(bank alt with guildbank or something) and use them on killshot of a new boss. Post printscreen on website -> priceless.

Comment by 253148

Really sad about this, I had saved up so much Runecloth :(
I was also wondering why I had not got this key.

My guess for the nerf is 2 reasons:
- They don't want the 40 exalted achievement to be as obtainable
- Blizz are having so many problems with Instance Servers being full, they don't want to waste bandwidth over this. As of February 09, sometimes it can still take me 20 minutes just to enter a instance because of this problem.

Either way, it sucks. Not being an old school raider, getting 40 exalted is still very tough for me, and I will still probably do this, just with 75 rep quest...which is really painful.

Comment by 315154

done 60~ resets:
- only 7~ resets without getting a key
- 15~ resets with two keys or more
- one key on the rest
- total sum of keys 55~

Obviously it's useless to say total amount of keys dropped for one run, as you're supposed to run out if the knot is freed and you have a key in the keychain already. I would say in average it is 1 key / run.

Killed guards, the bushwackler and sometimes the captain, occasionally aoed some trash packs when being desperate for the key and not wanting to do a reset without freeing the knot.

Droprate hasn't been changed.

Comment by 140132

I just ran this today and had 3 keys drop. The first i used to unlock the shackles. The second key went in on my key ring. It would not let me pick up the third key. Once you have a key on your key ring you cant loot any more.

Comment by Serathis

The key is unique, is there any use of getting more than one key in a run?

Comment by bobogeg

I think it's roughly about 243 times from 0/36000 hated to exalted.

i'm thinking that it's 42000 rep from Hated - Neutral, and 42999 more from 0/3000 Neutral - 999/1000 exalted.

84999 rep / 350 per key = 242-243 keys.

Ofcourse if you also do the Ogre suit quest at the same time, you won't have to do more than 200 runs : )
This is ofcourse only if you want to have reputation with both Bloodsail and Steamwheedle Cartel.
These numbers are without the Human 10% racial Bonus.

I'm working on reputation with these guys myself after getting Bloodsail Admiral title and the pirate hat, i do not intend to keep my Bloodsail rep though.
I've turned in cloth for each of the factions in steamwheedle cartel ( started with 3060 silk cloth and about 300 red dye as human for Booty bay)
After turning in cloth i'm now farming mobs for Rep with them, Pirates outside BB and outside ratchet etc. You can get rep off of these untill you're honored (might be revered) if i'm not mistaken. After that there is only need for 33999 more reputation which gets me to believe you will need about 75 runs in DiM. This is if you're incredibly lucky and get a key every run, and also do the Gordok ogre suit every run.

These numbers goes for human with the 10% Diplomacy racial bonus.

Comment by 23639

I want to provide some useful information to people who are grinding these keys.

Here are some points that will help you right away:

Ogres: To Kill or Not To Kill

Keys drop at ~13-14% from the three guards, the bushwacker, and the captain. If you kill all 5 of these, and only these 5, you have a 50-53% chance of getting at least 1 key per run.
There are certain groups of ogres that are directly on the path. Count: 1 at the start, 5 after the first guard, 2 after the second guard and before the door, 4 down the corridor, 2 after the third guard, 2 near the tannin and 7 on the way to the captain. This is 23 total ogres.
The chance of getting at least one key from 23 ogres at 3% drop chance is ~50%.
Therefore your chance of *not* getting at least one key per run halves if you kill the 23 ogres directly on your path to the guards and captian.

How fast should I be going

You have at most 5 instances open per 60 minutes. This means you must average 12 minutes per run to maximize the number runs per hour.
As a level 80 arcane mage, using Blink as much as I can, and cooldowns on the guards, I can do 1 run, from the zone in, to the captain, out of the zone in, reset, and back in, rebuffed, and full hp/mana in ~10-11 minutes if I kill only 7 ogres.
Killing the extra 16 ogre puts me closer to 15 minutes, but brings the chance of a key drop up from 60% to 75%, which is significant enough for the trade-off.

What should I do if I am getting lucky

Because of the luck factor, doing a run isn't the same every time. Twice I've gotten the key off the very first ogre I've killed. (not even the guard)
When you get a key early (before the third guard), you should still stick to the routine and kill ogres and guards on the way. If a second key drops, you know you don't have to continue to kill the captain. You can free the goblin, loot the tanin, and then run back and loot the extra key. This means the early key drop can save you time and get you an extra key to start the next run.
Always free the goblin right away if you have the key and get to him. This allows you to pick up future keys instead of running back to the goblin.
In general, never stop and run back out of the instance before killing all the mobs in your routine unless you've used one key and have looted another. If you just stop and run out, you lose the benefit of your luck, which can help you if you get unlucky on the next run.

Other notes:

Set your hearth to your faction's base in Ferelas. This will allow you to hearth at the captain when your bags are full, mail stuff to bank alts, vendor stuff, and then run back in minimal time.
There is a vendor in the library (immediately to the left when entering, in the corner), which you can access through the courtyard. If just vendoring trash is all you need to do, go this way, rather than hearthing.
These runs are very lucrative as an enchanter. Disenchant all the greens and blues the Guards drop. They have a reasonably high chance of d/eing into greater essences which sell for 15-20g on most servers.
Make sure to open the chest that the goblin leaves after he runs away. To save bag space only loot runecloth, rugged leather, felcoth (sells well on some servers) and any tannin. I have gotten 2 tannins from one chest on one occasion.

I'm sure there's more I can add, I'll edit the post later if I think of it. Good luck on your key hunting!

Comment by 316096

does it sill drop or is my luck so bad that it doesn't drop after 2 full clears?

Comment by 243898

drop rate on this item seems @#$%ed, one day i got it from first guard like 90% of the time, and since then i've not gotn it in like allot of full clears. :s

Comment by taohu

This key can drop even if you are already holding one in your keyring, just that you can't pick it up since the key is unique. This information should be handy for those who managed to get 2 keys in a run and is discouraged from killing Guard Mol'dar and Guard Fengus as you make your way to Knot for fear of a guranteed chance not to drop the key.

Comment by kaos95

Have yet to see this drop . . . 22 runs so far

Comment by 196767

This is the 2nd time im farming goblin rep.

1st time from honored to exalted now from 0/36k. I can confirm that you can get at least 1 key every run.

If you didn't get 1 even after clearing all the packs of ogres i'm sorry to tell you that this is because you missed a patrol or just a pack somewhere. No matter what the others have posted, there is always a key every run.

Every time i wouldn't find a key in the bosses(happened a lot of times), i would just aoe down the whole dungeon, every single mob and i always had at least 1 key, most of the times even 2.

So again if you didn't find the key even after you cleared most of the mobs, you are still missing a patrol or a normal pack.

P.s.= If you have the traveler tundra mammoth you don't even need to hs/portal away.
Every time when you reset DiM sell all the junk stuff and buy more Rune Thread for the Gordok ogre suit.

Comment by Alterraia

I've been running this for hours the past four days. I have cleared EVERY mob in there except the drunk ogre, and there have been runs where I had zero keys. I got every patrol as well. Only things I skipped were the dogs, the bugs and the drunk. The drunk doesn't drop the key, so there's no point in killing him. It is just unlikely that you will not get a key. I have had more than one key drop on many occasions.

Usually, if I get a key at the start of the run, I turn it in, and then go kill the three named guards for a chance at another. If a 2nd key drops, I stop killing because I'd hate for a 3rd key to drop. Then I have to waste it via resetting the dungeon.

It's most frustrating though, when you get a hot streak of keys dropping, and then get locked out for resetting too many times! >_<

I farmed Bloodsail rep, to Exalted (not an easy farm), and now I'm repairing my goblin rep. I should be done some time Friday.

http://www.wowarmory.com/character-reputation.xml?r=Blackwing+Lair&cn=Alterraia

Comment by hobbesmarcus

I've had runs where I got zero keys, and runs where more than one dropped. The keys are unique so you can only pick up one at a time. If you get a key and you have not killed all the mobs who could drop it (which are Guard Mol'dar, Guard Fengus, Guard Slip'kik, Captain Kromcrush and Gordok Bushwacker) then go use the key and then kill the other named mobs. Then if you get another key you're guaranteed to free knot the next time you come in the instance, and you can kill the mobs again to hopefully find another key for the next time you go in there. This improves your chances to always free knot and not waste your time in there.

I'm currently raising all my reps up from hated to exalted by using this method. By doing this you ensure you'll free knot virtually every time and in the end do less of these runs to hit exalted. Good luck!

Comment by 318140

it is definaitly possible to do a full clear with out a key dropiing how ever if u are just trying to farm rep with the goblin factions farming the pirates outside ratchet is by far more efficent i persoanly can get 2400 rep an hour with everlook, gadgetzan,booty bay and 4800 with ratchet. once you get to 11999 houned with ratchet u wont get any more rep with them but you will be able to get the other 3 to exalted and then move to the southsea pirate in tanaris to get the rest of you ratchet rep

Comment by Alterraia

I completed my farm from 0/36000 hated to 999/1000 exalted w/ all goblins. I find this rep farm the BEST way to farm goblins to exalted. You only need 243 keys (that's if you plan on capping the rep). To just breach into exalted is 240 keys turned in.

I've found hundreds of stacks of runecloth. As an enchanter, I've come away with MANY large brilliant shards, greater eternal essences, and illusion dust from the countless greens and BoP blues that you find. I've also obtained over half the librams needed to get exalted with the Shen'dralar and have not looted (due to unique items) the other half to finish off that rep grind. Sadly, I already knocked out Shen'dralar before Insane in the Membrane was even heard of. Other various items were star rubies, aquamarines, and pristine black diamonds (needed for Shen'dralar). I've also had class specific books drop as well as the epic book for Warriors and Paladins.

Make sure to always loot the crate Knot leaves behind for various mats and epic, non binding patterns.

Guards have the best chance of dropping the key. That's a given. However, I started killing every ogre in there. I created my own route. If I got a key to drop, I'd discontinue my route, kill any guards that are alive, and head to Knot. If a guard dropped a key after I already had one, I'd refrain from killing any more ogres, turn in my first key, and loot the other one. Then I'd run out, reset, and vendor junk via my Traveler's Tundra Mammoth (if no vendor mount, go into the library and there is a Shen'drlar vendor there). It also helps to have large bags with very few occupied slots.

Since I snagged a 2nd key from my previous run, I head straight to Knot, killing only guards along the way (as well as the Bushwaker from the Tanin basket). Sometimes I'd get lucky and find a key in that run. Then I'd turn in the one I had and loot the other. If no 2nd key were to drop that run, I'd run out and reset, ignoring the normal ogres that are around the area. Sometimes I'd get lucky on constant key drops, but from time to time, that would result in my being locked out of any instance for some time due to doing 5 different Dire Maul runs within an hour.

It is a long farm, but th epay off is worth it, if you are a rep farmer. I've yet to sell everything I've acquired from this farm, but I've made around 5kg so far, with a guild bank tab full of many more items that have yet to be posted on the AH.

Good luck, and I hope that your farm(s) go as well as mine. It took me about four or five days to complete this farm.

I'm just going to add this part on. I'm not sure if I said it earlier on in this particular post.

During this farm, I had four 22 slot bags on me. The only bag that was full was my starter bag, which had essentials. I believe I mentioned I had the vendor mammoth. Having the bags and the mount make this farm A LOT easier. I used two of my bags for runecloth, one of my bags for items that I was keeping to post on the AH, and the last 22 slot bag for vendor junk. Depending on your realm, Runecloth will sell for a lot. I gave it to someone for their Horde city reps. I didn't have too many trips to the mail box. If I had two bags filled up w/ full stacks of cloth, I'd head to the mail box. Also, if my bag of stuff that I planned to AH, was full and spilling over into another bag, with my cloth bag almost full, I'd head to the mailbox. It was usually 3 trips to the mailbox. 2 trips if I was lucky on keys and didn't have to kill much trash or didn't spend much time farming that day. And that's running all the way to the Horde base in Feralas.

Comment by FuxieDK

Is this key removed?

I'm in the process of grinding Goblin Rep, but last night, I experiences in 5 runs after each other that the key didn't drop at all (that's 20 bosses that all have ~14% drop rate).

That shounds too unlikely to be true (around 0,35% chance of that happens).. I know it's possible, but I'm usually not THAT unlucky..

Comment by 356468

Same here, I've been in 7 or 8 times already and only have seen the key once. Still, I'm only killing the named mobs (guards/captain etc) and Bushwacker. I did do one full clear which didn't give a key either. Must be just an unlucky run for both of us. I'm hoping the odds come around.

Wendellö

Comment by 31285

Sigh, don't tell me they've reduced the droprate of the key...

Comment by hobbesmarcus

I think you've all just had bad luck. I typically get at least one key on most of my runs, and I've been doing this for about a week now. Sometimes I get two keys, so I'll go free Knot, then go loot the second key which dropped so I can free him for sure the next reset. I've even had some of the regular ogres drop the key, so it's not just the named ones in there. Just keep at it and don't give up.

Comment by 356824

well i think they lowered the drop rate after 3.1.1 :( i had 10 runs without any key droped, then 2 runs with one key droped,1 run with 2 drops after that another 8 without any drop.

Comment by 318140

i would have to agree that the drop rate seems to have been stealth nerfed gone for getting at least 1 key majority of runs to clearing the whole insantce 5-6 times and getting nothing

Comment by 279611

I just had 4 runs in a row with 2 key drops each time. It's all just luck.

Comment by 360161

None in two runs... Getting frustrated already ;(

Comment by 219285

Its been a lil weird the past couple of days, monday (eu) keys were dropping like candy 2-3 usually in the first handful of mobs a run then about 1am server time on the tues suddenly went poof started getting no keys on entire clears been like that since.

Comment by 363405

This is 7 run on the named mobs. 7 run = no one keys

And i wont to say that this key need not only for reputation. The most peaple wont have e recepts like http://www.wowhead.com/?item=18519#comments and other and now (whith a low drop rate on the key+drop of recepts) this is about 0.05% ....

Comment by Idocreating

Just to note, if you have this key you will still see another key that drops, you just won't be able to loot it until you get rid of your current key, usually by freeing Knot.

Comment by 362564

I just did 3 runs today (21st of May), and it does seem like patch 3.1.2 increased the drop rate on shackle keys again.

Happy grinding guys'n'girls :)

Comment by Furydeath

I go from getting no key's to getting one from the first 3 bosses and I already had one in my bad so I have to reset with 2 still on the mobs =(

Comment by 423742

Im doing this as a Shadow Priest to get the Insane title as a level 80. If you can get lucky enough to get the key early (within the first room), get the ogre tanin, you can do this is in under 9 minutes from the time you run in to the time you run out. If you're having bad luck and end up having to kill all the ogres up until you get all the way to the ogre tanin basket, it will take somewhere around 15-20 minutes per run as a clothy. The droprate on the key is about 1 key per run which is also nice because it definitely cuts back the amount of time farming the Cartel reputations compared to what it was before.

Comment by 258799

Thought I would leave a comment here :p
I used this way of grinding from mid-honored to exalted with the goblin factions, wont tell you how I did it since there are already good descriptions on that here, just going to leave some general thoughts.

Not the easiest grinding I have ever done, but by far the most rewarding, epecially with skinning all the dogs in the beginning, Rugged Leather is a gold mine :D

I usually kill all ogres on my way to the guards and also clears the top floor directly above Knot every time, to get that Ogre tannin and also to kill that Bush-guy (the guy that reminds one of "the silence of the lambs" (for some reason hmm)). I wonder how many Ogres I have killed...

I also followed Knot after freeing him once, he ran back towards the exit, stopping halfway through the corridor and faded away, guessing he got caugh again by the ogres since I saved him the run after also :p

Comment by aggression

This key ain't a 100% drop/instance reset. Happend me 3 times in 100 runs, when I cleared ALL in there without seeing it dropping. At most I've had 4 keys in same run, but those runs I didn't clear all trash. To bad they are unique. :/

Comment by tehhazza

Any idea if the key still has a chance of dropping after freeing Knot? Because with the intent on having a key for the following run I kill everything inside, but I have yet to see a key drop after I free the little guy.

Edit: Confirmed to drop even after freeing Knot.

Comment by 286093

can anyone confirm that it still drops after the latest patch?

Even though my first 50 runs had a constant 3 drops in 5 runs rate, in the last 20 I haven't seen a single drop, and that includes killing all guards ( but not all ogres ). Just trying to figure out if I'm just extremely unlucky or if there's an undocumented change somewhere....

Edit: to answer my own question, yes it does. After a dry streak for 29 runs, I've started getting drops again, even a ridiculous 4 drops in one run ( 1 which I turned in, 1 after, and 2 from an accidental guard pull + chain pull add which were wasted :(((( )

Comment by 487723

This key, as well as many other greens in Dire Maul is BOP, so you have to click confirmation dialog every time you loot it.

I found really simple and small addon NoBoPWarning that automaticly confirms the BindOnPickup dialog.
Try it, Its real time-saver.

Comment by 240801

I recommend everyone to clear bosses and trash untill Gordok Inner doors.Simply becouse you will get 1-2 keys per run and ofc you will need librams for Insane in the membrane.Ofc drop chance is high so you will get this key 100% if you clear all trash until second doors!

Comment by 58415

Confirmed to still drop if you're already possessing the key!

Comment by 475201

This item will still drop if you already have one on you. However you cannot pick it up due to it being "Unique".

Good thing is if you already have one and it drops, you can see it, unlike quest items. So what you can do is free the goblin, then come back and pick up the key. :)

Comment by 448481

Well I'm at 15+ runs killing the 4 guards and all the trash between them and I have yet to see 1 key. It's either broke or WoW hates me.

When I mouse over the shackle it doesn't even say it needs a shackle key, its doesn't react in anyway, is that normal?

Comment by 360470

To punish higher levels for farming Dire Maul, Blizzard has made many of the rare patterns BOUND ON PICKUP, the description on the pattern that is Bind on equipped is wrong. If you pick it up, it will be soulbound and you will not be able to transfer it, i.e. sell it or send to another toon.

Additionally, Blizzard has penalized those farming Dire Maul by reducing the drop rate for the Gordok Shackle Key (to open the cache) on the bosses to be equal to any of the other ogres. You must kill all to get a chance to get the key.

Comment by 292411

It's about luck..

On my first 8-9 runs I found the key from the first few mobs I killed so I went straight to knot, released him, picked up the ogre tannin and headed back out. I had /sw running and was back near the entrance in 7-8 minutes, so I spent 4 more minutes killing mobs to look for librams and a spare key, and most of the time I found a spare key pretty fast..

Just as I started thinking about that stupid "5 instances an hour rule" forcing me to spend 12 minutes on average I hit a dry spot. Cleared every single ogre in the place 4 times in a row before I found my next key. I thought the instance was bugged or something..

So sometimes you'll be on a lucky streak and find keys everywhere, sometimes you'll be in a drought and do run after run without getting anything but a single ogre tannin, that's just how it is..

I started out thinking I would keep every run at least 12 minutes, but that has changed. Now if I got the key I head straight for Knot, then kill whatever mob is in my path on the way back. That makes it a 6-7 minute run. If I run into another lucky streak I'll end up with "too many active instances" for a while, but every time the key doesn't drop it turns into a 20+ minute "clear everything run", so I calculating on 4 fast runs and 1 all clear every hour on average.

Comment by eljimmystrappo

After you find your first key, free Knot and find your second key, I would recommend just running out and resetting it. For some dumb reason I kept killing trash and two other keys dropped; keys that I cannot use. Don't waste your time if you are just doing Steamwheedle rep, just reset it.

Comment by Valeriya

Soo, yeah... I've farmed ogre tannin alot for the costumes for fun and stuff back in tbc on my druid. Then i didn't have any problems with the key it dropped alteast 1 each run before i got to knot.
But now in woltk I was bored today and thought about doing the same... But the key didn't drop (3 runs)... Then i joined a group with a friend and it dropped on the first kill. Then it started dropping alot. So i figured it might have something about being in a group now? Since the new random group thingy for lowbies...

Comment by 491037

I've been running a load of these and christ is it tedious.

Here's the best way for a level 80 (with some probabilities associated with it)

IF YOU ALREADY HAVE A KEY:
Run into the instance straight to Knot and free him (remembering to pick up the courtyard key near Guard Fengus)... this should take you about 3 minutes from the instance portal. Don't kill anything.

Once you've freed him then you should kill the warlocks and Guard Slip'kik. Keep going up the ramps and loot the Ogre Tannin from the Ogre Tannin Basket. The bushwhacker that spawns has the highest droprate of shackle keys. Keep going up the ramp until the door - You don't have the key so start heading back to clear the other mobs if a new key still hasn't dropped.

From Freeing Knot to the door you should have odds of about 66% to get a key
21 trash, 1 guard, 1 bushwhacker... = 1 - { (1 - 3%)^21 * (1 - 14%) * (1 - 25%) }

If you still don't have a key then head back to Fengus' room killing all ogres on the way... kill Fengus and if you still don't have the key then go back and kill Moldar. Still nothing - exit the instance and reset. Once you have a 2nd key then you can exit or keep killing trash to hope for a libram which go for about 150g on Nagrand (US-H) - personally I'm so sick of Dire Maul I leave.

The odds of this vary depending on how much trash you pick up... but just for the run back you're looking at roughly 35 ogres and 2 guards (Moldar's got 15% drop rate not 14%).... so the odds of getting key for this section are: = 1 - { (1 - 3%)^35 * (1 - 14%) * (1-15%)} = 75%

Once you've freed Knot you've got about a 91.4% chance of finding another key on your way out, so roughly once every 12 runs you'll be keyless.... = 1 - { (1 - 66%) * (1 - 25%) } = 91.4%

IF YOU DON'T HAVE A KEY YET:
This is slightly more boring... you have to just grind all the trash until one drops. Once you find one, then don't kill any more mobs, just head straight to knot, so you can kill the mobs on the way back for a 2nd key. (If you've not worked it out yet, you can only carry one key at a time)
Start off killing Moldar and just kill every ogre you see (except kreeg)... sometimes you have to do a full run and still get nothing. Note that neither the king nor his advisor can drop keys so once you've killed Kromcrush and the captains after him, you can exit, however free blues are not to be sniffed at.

if you kill most of the ogres and all the captains the odds of no keys come to around 5% so one in 20 runs will have you clearing everything for no keys at all.
=1 - { (1 - 3%)^70 * (1 - 14%)^3 * (1 - 15%) * (1 - 25%) }
70 trash, 3 guards, 1 Moldar, 1 bushwhacker

a full clear is netting me on average about 50 gold for 20 minutes work, so it's not a bad grind, it's just really annoying to not be able to use your mount.

Don't bother killing Stomper Kreeg, he can't drop a key, and he can often be useful because if you're the King you can use him as a vendor for all the trash you've picked up

Comment by 350925

Is it possible to obtain more than one key at a time in your bag ? =)

Comment by Vash2214

I don't know if this is because I have auto-loot on or cause I'm moving so fast but I clear the WHOLE dungon of any humanoid life. Yet I still only see one key per run, IF one drops. I've had runs without a key even after decimating everything... Slightly annoying... After I get my key tho I usually don't bother killing anything else. Just wondering if you only see the key after getting rid of your current key? If so I need to start killing stuff on the way out. N hope my mailbox CD pops up before my bags freak on me for trying to loot more then one Libram of Protection at a time again. :P

Still very odd I've never seen more then one key at a time. Considering I'm already thru the beast of a 0/36k hated bar. @__@'

..::EDIT::..
Tried to get a second key after my first and you CAN see more then one key at a time. I just never tried after I got one. Gah could have saved me a few annoying runs... Getting a key off the 2nd mob and not killing the rest after turning the first one in... So if you are working on this, continue to kill what is left even after you have gotten one key! If you get a second that is a straight run to turn it in! And then you will most likely get another on trash on your way out! If you don't well you still get to reset and try again without wasteing a dungon CD. (cause that arena is pretty boring when your by yourself)

Comment by 466729

I should also be noted that for grinding Steamwheedle Cartel rep while attempting to maintaing rep with Bloodsail Buccaneers can also be done by grinding goblins in the ships in Venture bay. However, if you are working on Insane in the Membrane it is probably faster to farm DMN.

Comment by 237453

I have done steamwheedle rep runs for both my toons from hated till exalted and an interesting thing that I have observed on this key drop, no doubt it's random:

Chances of dropping are greatly diminished with other players (includes opposite faction) are within the area. Check local defence or general to trace lvl 60s and below players of your faction.

I expressed my findings to my friend in another server and he too verified that it's easier to get key drops with no one else within the area.

Comment by purus

This does drop while you are in a raid, in case anybody else was thinking about grinding this while waiting for their raid to start.

Comment by yarglof

I just got 12 keys in 1 run >.<

Comment by TrinorofSC

Today being the first full day of 4.0.1... i go farming for rep and i have done 10 runs in 2 hours and got 1 key... now i know thats not normal... they may have adjusted the key drop.. which is going to suck if thats the case. anyone else having this problem?

Comment by 664031

I'm guessing they fixed the drop rate. I ran Dire Maul four times today, four keys dropped. Killing only the ogres on the way to do the Ogre Suit quest.

Waiting for some replies.

***edit***

Yeah, twelve runs on Dire Maul, twelve keys. I enter, kill mobs till key drops, skip all mobs I can (basicly all mobs), free Knot, then come back to kill the ones with higher drop chance. Sometimes two keys drop in the same run.

Comment by 08Jacob

I've also experience very low droprate the last few days. I thought it was only me but then I went here and saw other ppl having the same issues..
Im right now in my 6th run of full clears and not a single key dropped.

Comment by danawhitaker

I was told by a GM today that the key no longer drops as of 4.0.3a. I had one on my main character from farming the recipes for my characters last week before the Cataclysm hit, because I feared this would happen after my experience on the PTR, and my fears were confirmed. I managed to at least get all the recipes, but I was helping a friend get them and we ran out of time. I'd hoped that it was a bug on the PTR, but that's definitely not the case. Even if you have a key in your bag from pre-Shattering, it will not trigger an event dialogue with Knot.

Comment by 255723

Patch went live and i havent seen the key drop yet in 3 runs full clear.

Comment by Sathorn

Knot doesn't have dialog option anymore, which was leading to free him. Also, creating an ogre suit gives no reputation either!

Comment by 627828

So for those of us that were in the middle of trying for Insane, how are we supposed to get Goblin Rep now? Good going Blizz..

Comment by staticmajor

killing pirates in tanaris still gives rep

hope they put this quests into the game again..

Comment by Vacendik

Has anyone got this to drop in 4.0.3? I was there for a few hours killing everything and it never dropped.

Comment by Hemingray

Even though it's now useless, I will always cherish the Gordok Shackle Key I kept on my keychain right before Cata hit, to remind me of the endless Dire Maul North runs for my Insane grind. Fortunately, it's not one of the keys that they forcibly removed from our keychains post-Cata (read up on the Keymaster achievement fiasco if you don't know what I'm talking about).

I have an uneasy feeling that they will remove this from my keychain as well someday. I certainly hope not.

Edit: This key also survived the keychain removal (I transferred it into my bank prior to the keychain removal.) Gordok Shackle Key lives on!

Comment by 426087

Wow, I wish I read this earlier! I just spent 2 days clearing DM and couldn't figure out why the key wasn't dropping... This stinks, I didn't even get all the recipes that I needed!

Comment by 587909

I dont think this drops anymore. I just cleared dire maul twice, hoping this would drop so I can bring up my goblin rep. Nothing.

Comment by remikskr

That is one of the key which will be send to you by mail when you log in after release of Patch 4.2 for first time. Due to the removal of personal Keyring you need an inventory slot if you want to keep this key for whatever reason.

Comment by 417054

Can confirm in 4.2 ends up in your regular inventory.

Comment by Rhothran

Appears to be useless as of Cataclysm, as the quest Free Knot! is gone.

Comment by Sambu

This has been re added to the game since patch 10.1.5.

The key drops from any ogre in Dire Maul North, and you can have 1-2 drop for each run, or more if you are very lucky. Remember to turn it in every time to Knot Thimblejack, as it is unique. You can farm him for Knot Thimblejack's Cache, which drops previously removed leatherworking patterns.

Comment by Svandir

If you're looking to farm this, here's my advice:

1. if you have a key in your inventory, NO KEYS WILL DROP.
2, King Gordok will always drop a key
3. There is a strong chance keys will only ever drop as a one of in a single loot. This is hard to confirm when combined with point 4, but I have a strong suspicion that you will only see a maximum of one key per loot
4. The droprate from ogres/bosses does not seem high. I'd average about 1 extra key per 2 clears, so probably something like a 1% droprate.

My farming strat suggestion is this:
Take an immediate left and hug the walkway, killing every ogre you see. Take a left at the end of the path to kill the three ogres, then double back and head forwards, taking a left through the second arch. Keep going straight, until you're on the raised area, then make a left, taking out the ogres by the bonfire. take out the two direclty opposite, then take the ramp between those packs down and head right, curving round until you reach the door. from there, kill everything you see. If you get a key, STOP KILLING and kite mobs to Knot, turn in the quest, and then resume killing. Doing it like this will get a good chunk of extra kills. If you avoid killing the bosses, you can get a full tribute run each time as well, which can give some nice rare mog.

Comment by SylviaDragon

After farming all of the patterns from this, here is what i learned

-These are all BoE and they drop for anyone. you don't need to farm them on your leatherworker. You could also buy these off the AH, but buying the purple ones will cost you a few 100k so unless you only need one or two patterns, probably best to farm them yourself. I recommend bringing your fastest toon so you can get to the end faster.
- you can and will get duplicates.
-i never saw two patterns drop from the same crate
- the bosses seemed to have a little bit of a higher drop chance than the normal mobs, but not killing them can give you a better tribute chest- which could potentially give you some expensive mog and rare patterns. Sadly the tribute seemed bugged for me so i killed everyone for keys. Between random mog drops and duplicate pattern drops you could make some nice gold on the side.
- the last boss will always drop a key no matter what. So even if you are unlucky, you will get at least one key per run.
- Unfortunately i did not think to track my crates/runs until it was too late but my guess is I was averaging about one blue pattern every 4-5 crates or so, and an epic pattern about every….15-20 full clears? My guess is it took me about 50-60 runs to get everything, though i got lucky with the epic patterns and got no repeats.
- if you want to pace yourself and only do a little bit of farming at a time, its fastest to just run to the last boss, kill him for a key and then reset. This is the fastest way to get a key but you will lock yourself out after 10 runs. Which brings me to the bad news...

The most efficient way to farm these is to kill every single ogre in the dungeon.one at a time. Thats right. One. At. A. time.

The key is unique so if you loot one, no others will drop until it is no longer in your inventory. This also means that if you pull a big group and loot them, all their loot gets pooled so you will only get the chance for a single key to drop off the whole pack. But if you kill and loot each one separately, then you can go turn in the key as soon as it drops and keep rolling for a new drop chance with each mob you kill. It's horrible.
Running directly to the boss would net me a key roughly every 2 ½ minutes on my druid. Killing the ogres one at a time averaged about a key every 3-4 minutes but it prevented me from getting locked out. I would average about 3 keys per run, with lucky runs netting me up to six.

good luck and happy farming

Comment by Xuper

I got it today , just total 3 and only 2 blue patterns
Pattern: Mongoose Boots
Pattern: Swift Flight Bracers

This Knot Thimblejack's Cache give total 6 patterns

Comment by Sulis

Still dropping

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Gordok Shackle Key

Item Level 1
Binds when picked up
Unique

"Used with Gordok ogre shackles."

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Gordok Shackle Key

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