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Reputation grinding is still grinding. However most are daily based or tabard based in instances for 80s in Northrend. The older factions are still the same grinds, though I imagine they've reduced the time needed by increasing the reputation earned for kills and some quests. On the otherhand, you generally don't need to do those older rep grinds because you'll find quest items later on that are superior to the older level 60 items (and later level 70 items). Unless you want the achievement for them that is...or a mount or pet maybe.
The difference is not so great moving from Outland to Northrend in terms of item quality in the starting areas. Moving from Old WoW to Outland is quite a much larger jump in item quality. There are still some things that one would use for a long time in Outland, and there are other things you'll ditch because the starting quest items in the Hellfire are vastly superior.
Take the Furblog quests in Winterspring and Felwood. At the end you get a blue quality trinket. That trinket is rather good for a long time in Outland. I don't think I replaced it fully until I hit Northrend. It had just that much more spell damage than any of the other questing trinkets.
Other stuff will be replaced just on the first quest chain. Even Tier 2 Epics from what I understand
In Northrend however, it took me quite a while before I was replacing items. Especially crafted items and rares items. Epic items even longer. (I don't think I've replaced my "Belt of Blasting" yet, just regemmed it instead). It just depends on how much you were geared before hitting Northrend. People with Tier 6 gear didn't get much in the terms of items until late in the game (or even until they started doing Level 80 content for Tier 7 stuff)
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