[Guide] Rare Elites

Post by Wildhorn

I just got Frostbitten achievement. Yeah!

So thought I should share my experience with people who would try the same and my theory about the rare elite respawn. I killed every rare elite some of them more than once. I also have many Outland rare and the Lost-Time Proto-Drake ;) I am sorry for any typo or bad English.

About spawn point:

Unknown = I don't know any of the exact spawn points.
Incomplete = I don't know every exact spawn points.
Complete = Every exact spawn points.

So, let's start with every rare elite by zone:

Borean Thundra

Fumblub Gearwind: Not much to say. He only has 1 patrol path, which make it pretty easy to spot. Spawn Point (Unknown)
Icehorn: Many spawn points, but all in the same area. This rare elites always respawn when server restart. Spawn Point (Complete)
Old Crystalbark: He has 3 patrol paths. Each one is about 1/3 of the Coldarra circle zone. Easy to get during the off hours, less during the peak hours because it is a very frequented quest zone. Spawn Point (Unknown)

Howling Fjord

Vigdis the War Maiden: Not easy to spot due to the amount of trees in the zone she spawn. Even if she is riding a proto-drake, she doesnt fly. This rare elites always respawn when server restart. Spawn Point (Unknown)
Perobas the Bloodthirster: Many spawn point, but all in the same area. Not easy to get during rush hours because there is many quests for both, horde and alliance around his spawn points. This rare elites always respawn when server restart. Spawn Point (Complete)
King Ping: Very easy to get. Even if he is in a quest zone, not many people are there. This rare elites always respawn when server restart. Spawn Point (Complete)

Dragonblight

Crazed Indu'le Survivor: I can't say much about him. I stumbled upon him without looking for him. That is the only time i saw him. Spawn Point (Unknown)
Scarlet Highlord Daion: Very hard to get. She spawns in heavy quest area. Spawn Point (Incomplete)
Tukemuth: Extremely hard to get. 2 of his 3 spawn point are right next the Wyrmrest Temple, so as soon as he spawn, he will be spotted within few seconds. Unlike what many people report, he doesnt have an improved hit box. So you will have to scout in case he spawn on his eastern patrol path. Spawn Point (Incomplete)

Grizzly Hills

Grocklar: One of his spawn point is right next horde town. So alliance might have to work harder to get this one. Even if he patrol in forest, he is easy to spot due to his size. Spawn Point (Unknown)
Seething Hate: Its 3 spawn points are very close of each others, so it is easy to get it. Spawn Point (Complete)
Syreian the Bonecarver: She has only one patrol path, but it is in a quest zone and next one horde town and one alliance town. So not so easy to get during peak hours. Spawn Point (Complete)
Arcturis: One spawn point, next to an alliance town. It is not part of Frostbitten, but it is a spirit beast that look like a bear, so hunters want it and it is heavy camped by them. Spawn Point (Complete)

Zul'Drak

Griegen: He has many spawn point, in a wide area in a heavy quest zone. So not that easy to get. This rare elites always respawn when server restart. Spawn Point (Incomplete)
Terror Spinner: Many spawn point in a wide area, but in very unfrequented places. Not many hunters look for it as a pet either, so not very hard to get. Spawn Point (Incomplete).
Zul'drak Sentinel: 4 patrols path, which 3 are right next the main quest place of the zone. Better to try to get it during off hours. Spawn Point (Unknown)
Gondria: Not part of Frostbitten, but hunters want it as a pet. 6 spawn points in a very wide area. Most of them, next to quest area. Better to ask for friend help if you want to tame it. Spawn Point (Complete)

Sholazar Basin
Special note about the zone: The zone is heavy farmed, every rare elites are tameable and are also on either in quest zone or ore/herb routes. Very hard to get the rare elites without heavy camping or friends.

Loque'nahak: 8 spawn points, all across the zone in the path of the most farmed mining route. Good luck. Spawn Point (Incomplete)
King Krush: 3 patrol path. One is very long, passing right next the hunter camp and they are all in the path of herbs route. Good luck. Spawn Point (Incomplete)
Aotona: 4 spawn point right in the middle of the map, where every pass over to get from a place to another. Also within Oracle/Frenzyheart dailies zone. Good luck. Spawn Point (Unknown)

Icecrown

High Thane Jorfus: 3 patrol path. All very short. He is next quest zone, but not in middle of them. The main problem with this rare elite is that he spawn in phased zone. So you might not see him if you are in middle of one of them or if you have Citadel daily in your quest log. Spawn Point (Unknown)
Hildana Deathstealer: Only 2 spawn area. Even if she is in middle of quest zone, barely anybody are doing those, so it is pretty easy to get her. Spawn Point (Unknown)
Putridus the Ancient: One spawn point and probably one of the hardest to get. His hitbox is so huge that you can spot him from Dalaran, so any with _NPCscan addon will get a warning and will rush to him. Also, he spawn in an area filled with mobs that will get a pleasure to fight you at sametime. He also have alot of HP just to make him kill longer and he hit somewhat hard. You will also have to fight the opposite faction to get him. You might have to camp his spawn point if you want to have the time to kill him before everybody else get there. Spawn Point (Complete)

Storm Peaks

Dirkee: 3 spawn point, which one is pretty far and out of any major quest zone. Not hard to get, but not easy either. Spawn Point (Complete)
Skoll: I can't say much, I never saw it. He is not part of Frostbitten, but hunter want it as pet. He has 3-4 spawn point in major quest zone and said to patrol alot. Spawn Point (Unknown)
Vyragosa & Time-Lost Proto-Drake: Both share the same 4 patrol paths and the same respawn timer. TLPD is like a rare spawn of a rare spawn. Everytime Vyragosa would spawn, it might be TLPD instead. Best spot to camp them is this spot because it cover the 4 patrol path and as personal experience, 2/4 spawn points. If my theory below is right, the red path spawn point is around here and the one for yellow path is around here. Interesting info about LTPD, its body last exactly 30 minutes.

Theory about spawn time

There is a maximum of 5 rare elites spawn at sametime (I assume 5 because it is the number that automatically spawn at every server restart). No new one will spawn until one get killed. The order is set like an iTune playlist. All rare elites are shuffled and it gives out the spawn order, every 10 minutes there is one that will spawn (if there is less than 5 spawned). When it reach the end of the list, they are reshuffled and it continue.

This explain why we report people killing a rare elite, just to see it again 10 minutes after. This also explain the very long time some people waited. During off hours, there is less people, so less chance that a rare elite in a place get killed, so more chance that there is 5 of them spawned, blocking the system.

Why every 10 minutes? Because everytime a rare elite spawned (Putridus is the best to figure this out) on top of my head, it was at X:X0 (since patch 3.3 it is X:X8, but i discovered that my ingame clock lag by 1-2 minutes since that patch).

Also, I tested this theory with Outland rare. It ended up to be very accurate. I did 2 passes over Outland (take less than 20 minutes) and I got 5 rare each time. I also read other people experiencing the same. They would "scanned" the whole outland and found 5-6 rares only. So the theory of a maximum amount of rare spawned at sametime seem to be true.

This is only a theory, but during that week I farmed those elites, it seemed pretty accurate. So don't start a flame war based on that, it is a theory among another.

EDIT: I got some very nice info coming from a GM. It gives some light about how the system works. According to him:

- Every Rare spawn are different.
- They all have their own "rates and chances" of spawning. Just like loot.
- They might share it with other rare elite (like Vyragosa and LTPD).

Post by 2259

This post was from a user who has deleted their account.

Post by Wildhorn

EDIT: Edited because the 2 fighting guys posts got deleted (this is to who marrakoosh was replying btw).

I added every spawn point I discovered and from sure source.

Post by 243403

This post was from a user who has deleted their account.

Post by 524425

This post was from a user who has deleted their account.

Post by Wildhorn

I don't know about you guys, but I hate that achievement. Been trying to get it forever.

What I enjoy the most about having it finished is that I can finally start back to use /lfd and play my alts. I was so afraid to miss a spawn that I was camping none-stop them >_<

At least it allowed me to program 2-3 addons (WildIgnore, WildList and WildMount).

Post by 524425

This post was from a user who has deleted their account.

Post by Wildhorn

WildIgnore allow to use "/ignore %t" to ignore your target. Default UI require you to manually enter a name (which is quite hard when there is special ASCII symbol in the player name).

WildList allow you to add a note to a player and it will be said in party chat when you team with them. Because the ignore list is limited to 50 and that the /lfd will only use the real ignore list, I could not just put every frozen orb ninja-looter or bad player on my list. So I thought that adding some info about them in case I get them in my team again would be helpful. This is also nice to set note about how badass and awesome some tank/healer were.

They are all on Wowinterface.com, except WildList. I finished to test it early this morning (when I finally got Vyragosa) so I didnt get time to upload it. I am doing it right now, so as soon as it get accepted, it should be avaible.

Post by 524425

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Post by Monday

Hey nice guide, now I'll finally be able to get one of those (gotten outland but no NR yet).

Post by 2259

This post was from a user who has deleted their account.

Post by Wildhorn

It allow you to cast random mount. But unlike other random mount mod that exist atm, it is dynamic, so do not need to download a new version everytime a mount is added ingame and also about 1000-2000 less lines of code :)

Post by 206732

This post was from a user who has deleted their account.

Post by Lohr

Post by Wildhorn

Grizzly Hills:
Arcturis: One spawn point, next to an alliance town. It is not part of Frostbitten, but it is a spirit beast that look like a bear, so hunters want it and it is heavy camped by them. Spawn Point (Complete)

So it was you! GRRR

Depend when. I got mine at 12:08 AM... or PM, i never know which one is which... Noon:08 :)
Like 3 days ago, on Daggerspine.

Post by ArgentSun

Good to have, I am kind of working on this myself. Whenever I get the time, that is :)

Post by 206732

This post was from a user who has deleted their account.

Post by chase123

This is some great stuff you have here. You just motivated me to try and get this achievement.

Post by Wildhorn

This is some great stuff you have here. You just motivated me to try and get this achievement.

Good news.

Post by dpoyesac

This is some great stuff you have here. You just motivated me to try and get this achievement.

Good news.

No, it's bad news -- it motivated me to work on the achieve, too, and I don't like the extra competition.

In all seriousness, this thread has helped quite a bit -- thanks!

[Guide] Rare Elites

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