Earning Reputation

In LOTRO, reputation is your standing with a given NPC faction. Most of these factions are associated with an area or people you encounter while adventuring, but there are factions for the crafting guilds and even drinking factions. Which factions should you care about? What's the best way to earn reputation with each faction?

Reputation Tiers

How much "rep" you need to earn depends on what standing you want to attain. With most factions you start out as "Neutral" and need to accumulate 10,000 points to attain the next reputation standing, "Acquaintance". The sole exception is the Lossoth of Forochel where, you start as an "Outsider" and need to earn 10,000 points just to get to Neutral. From that point, Lossoth of Forochel reputation tiers up just like other factions. You'll need 20,000 more to be considered a "Friend", 25,000 beyond that to become an "Ally" and 30,000 more to become "Kindred". The journey from Neutral to Kindred takes 85,000 reputation points per faction, except those pesky Lossoth who want 95,000 to call you brother.

You can see how much reputation you've earned with each faction on the Reputation tab on your Character Sheet (C). Hovering over a faction shows how many points you've earned of the total needed to advance to the next standing. It doesn't show the total points you've over all tiers. If a particular faction isn't listed at all, you haven't earned any reputation with them yet.

It's About the Rewards

Let's set aside crafting guilds and drinking factions for now, and focus on the rewards available from adventure factions.

Travel rewards come in four flavors:

Swift Travel routes. For VIPs, Acquaintance standing with Men of Bree, Elves of Rivendell, Lossoth of Forochel and Council of the North opens a number of Swift Travel routes to and from these areas. Friend standing with Wardens of Annuminas opens up swift travel between Tinnudir and Annuminas.
"Return to" Skills. Kindred standing with Men of Bree, Thorin's Hall, the Eglain or the Malledhrim lets you purchase a "Return to" skill that shares a cooldown with your racial port.
Class Ports. Hunters and Wardens can earn class travel skills via rep. Acquaintance standing with Lossoth of Forochel lets you purchase the Guide or Muster to Suri-Kyla, while Acquaintance standing with the Iron Garrison Miners lets you purchase the Guide or Muster to the Twenty-first Hall.
Mounts. Kindred standing with most factions lets you purchase or barter for a sturdy mount. LOTRO Steeds has a great section on faction mounts.

Friend standing with one's racial faction lets you purchase a racial trait that adds 1 rank to each of three virtues. Kindred standing with the Iron Garrison Guards lets you purchase a legendary trait for your class.

Acquaintance standing allows you access to some faction headquarters, which can contain superior crafting facilities in convenient locations, specifically:

Mathom House in Michel Delving (superior study)
Bree-town Hunting Lodge in Bree (oven and forge, neither superior)
Blue Stone Garrison in Thorin's Hall (superior workbench)
Imlad Gelair in Rivendell (superior forge).

Acquaintance standing with the Galadhrim lets you enter the Golden Wood portion of Lothlorien. Friend standing with the Galadrim lets you enter Caras Galadhon.

Friend standing with most faction gives you a 10% travel discount from the local stable-master. Ally standing gives you a 5% purchase discount from the local vendors and for some factions, a 22.5% repair discount at the Ally rep vendor.

Many factors offer gear (armour, shields, jewelry, weapons), potions, recipes and more. Be sure to compare them to what's available to you for your class and level, especially at the Men of Bree, Galadhrim and Malledhrim barter vendors.

Lore-masters may want to earn Ally standing with the Mathom House (turtle) and the Elves of Rivendell (sparrow) to purchase their non-combat pets. Minstrels may want to earn Ally standing with the Rangers of Esteldin to purchase Mentoring the Harp.

There are 5 reputation earning mechanics which are used in some combination across all factions:

Many Quests, including some epic quests, offer reputation with a particular faction as one of the rewards
Some Deeds reward reputation with a particular faction
Many factions accept looted Reputation Items as barter for reputation
Some factions also accept Crafted Items as barter for reputation
In some cases, Defeating Foes will increase reputation with a particular faction

Reputation by Level and Content

Haudh Iarchith: Men of Bree Rep Dungeon