A few facts about Garrisons

I keep seeing people post some things that are not true about Garrisons and followers. Since I am in the beta I thought I would shed a little light on what I have seen and give folks honest information.

1. Followers do not gather materials for you. Putting a follower with the corresponding skill to work at one of your buildings grants some form of a bonus or buff. You still have to physically farm your own mats via the gathering buildings and/or the old fashioned way.

2. Followers do not perform work orders. Work orders are performed by npc's at your profession/gathering buildings and are basically extra cooldowns.

3. Followers do grant interesting buffs. Such as the buff you can get from the smithing building if you put a follower to work there that grants a 4 hour buff that causes you not to lose durability on gear.

4. Garrisons do not require upkeep. Once you build a building that is it unless you decide to destroy it.

5. Garrison resources are a type of currency used to level buildings and send followers on missions. You will have a cache outside that fills up over time you can access and you can acquire them by quests and other means.

6. Garrisons do not get attacked unless you que for it to happen. So you do not have to worry about constantly running to your garrison to defend it.

7. Garrisons are not mandatory to level to 100. If you prefer to level via the dungeon route you can.

For a better explanation on how the garrisons work as far as questing goes this poster put it best:

10/12/2014 01:07 PMPosted by Degas

The garrison "gates content" no more than the villages in Jade Forest. Or the villages in Kun-lai Summit. When we landed in Pandaria, we were "forced to do mandatory quests in order to open the Panda-village to get quests in order to progress further".

The Garrison functions exactly in the same manner. You land in FFR/SMV and have to do the quests to do the initial setup of the garrison before progressin' to the next village for more quests. That is all. The outposts do the exact same thing. You arrive in Gorgrond, do some quests to setup the outpost, and then your sent off to the next village for... more quests.

I honestly don't understand why people can't grasp this. All Blizzard did was give us a quest hub that not only gives us quests but some nice bonuses if we elect to come back at a later time to do more stuff. It seems to me that all these people demanding we give them proof are expectin' us to suddenly start uploadin' videos to YouTube. You know how expensive, time-consumin', and harddrive space that takes?

Garrisons have very interesting buffs and perks tied to them. So before you get dead set on not doing them because of reasons. I say wait and try it for yourself.

Addition: The followers main purpose is to go on missions to acquire things such as gear for you, gear for them, xp for you, xp for them, gold, garrison resources and currencies for various factions.

This is the only way I know to gain xp from your Garrison ( other than picking the herbs/mining the ore) that i am aware of. Gaining xp by follower missions would be excruciatingly slow and the most unviable way to level. You get to 100 faster by questing in Draenor.

They also can be used to work at buildings if they have the corresponding trait. While there they will offer some form of perk or buff. Like the smithing example I gave above or like the bodyguard feature associated with the barracks.

Addition 2: You can build your Garrison to suit your playstyle. There are no mandatory buildings unless you deem them mandatory.

If you are not a crafter and do not want any profession buildings taking up your plots guess what? You don't have to put them there. The mine and the herb garden are extra buildings we all get that do not take away from our main plots.

Addition 3: For those who want to quest. As long as you complete the garrison intro quests as soon as you enter your respective zone after Tanaan. You will get quests that lead you all over Draenor all the way to 100.

You will not have to run back and forth to your garrison to get quests.

Addition 4: Garrisons are not account wide. They are toon specific but the tier 3 blueprints are account wide. As they are unlocked by achievements that will take time to get.

Addition 5: Outposts are not a part of your Garrison. Once you leave Shadowmoon/Frostfire one of the first quests you get in every other zone will be to set up an outpost.

These outposts will give you a choice of two buildings. Your choice of building determines your zone wide buff and your quest path. The only tie in to Garrisons the outposts have is there completion is one of the requirements to unlock blueprints. The other is just to be a certain level.

Addition 7. Since some one asked I am also going to list all the achievements by name and criteria needed to unlock tier 3 blueprints.

1. Upgrading the mill: Place 75 work orders at the lumber mill and complete the two quests listed, Legacy of the Ancients and Reduction in Force. Unlocks tier 3 lumber mill.

2. Salvaging pays off: Open 100 pieces of salvage from missions. Unlocks tier 3 salvage.

3. Finding your waystones: Loot 500 ogre waystones. Unlocks tier 3 mage tower/spirit lodge.

4. Terrific Technology: Use all the inventions available at the workshop. Unlocks tier 3 Gnomish Gearworks/ Goblin Workshop.

5. Stay awhile and listen: Complete all of the Inn quests. Unlocks tier 3 inn.

6. Filling the ranks: Raise 20 followers to 100. Unlocks tier 3 Dwarven bunker/Warmill.

7. Patrolling Draenor: Complete 50 patrol missions. Unlocks tier 3 Barracks.

8.Draenic stone collector: Collect 500 Draenic stones. Unlocks tier 3 mine.

9. Draenic seed collector: Collect 500 Draenic seeds. Unlocks tier 3 herb garden.

10. Draenor angler: Complete the Draenor specific angler achievements. Unlocks tier 3 fishing shack.

11. Savage friends: Earn exalted with 3 Draenor factions. Unlocks tier 3 trading post.

12. The bone collector: Collect 4000 broken bones from other players during pvp combat across Draenor. Unlocks tier 3 gladiators sanctum.

13. Draenic pet battler: Win 500 pet battles across Draenor. Unlocks tier 3 pet menagerie.

14. Got my mind on my money Draenor: Loot 10000 gold from enemies in Draenor. Unlocks tier 3 storehouse.

Those are all the ones I see at the moment. Will update when i find the others.