Author Topic: Topic of the Week - Rare Spawn Evolution
Vault_News 
Title: 0110011010
Be Nice to Me I'm a Bot

Posts: 43,785
Registered: Oct 18, '05
Extended Info (if available)
Real Post Cnt: 42,467
User ID: 1,086,234
Subject: Topic of the Week - Rare Spawn Evolution

In Vanilla rare spawns were just that, rare spawns. A mob that only popped occasionally in certain areas. They usually dropped a better than average loot as well. More rares were added in the Burning Crusade and were the object of certain achievements. In Wrath rare spawns were for achievements and dropped special satchels with extra loot such as more gold, a stack of cloth and a random blue item or even a mount. Several of the rare spawns were also special pets. In Cataclysm the "old world" rare spawns now spawn very frequently and give a much larger amount of experience when killed. The level 81 and higher spawns no longer have achievements attached to them. Many of the new rare spawns were put in specifically for hunter pets and drop nothing of value. They have special abilities and require special strategies to tame. Some of the rares are elites require a full group or small raid to kill and drop raid level gear.

Which changes in how rare spawns were handled to you like the best? Are there new types of rares you'd like to see in future expansions? Do you miss the achievements for killing all the rares of an expansion? Should the spawn rate for the old world spawns be lowered again?








Posted from WoW Vault

 

-----signature-----
(none)
Link to this post
Spookysheep 
Title: Lieker of Cheese
Posts: 21,595
Registered: Jan 9, '02
Extended Info (if available)
Real Post Cnt: 21,166
User ID: 601,475
Subject: Topic of the Week - Rare Spawn Evolution
Evolution is a crock of hooey, just like the big bang. Scientists don't have any "facts", its not like they were there when it happened!!1111one!!!


Oh wait, totally not what this is about is it?

 

-----signature-----
I liek cheese
Pirates > Ninjas
.....................................
Link to this post
PallyDog 
Title: WoW Vault Staff
Teh Pyckles!

Posts: 13,429
Registered: Mar 4, '03
Extended Info (if available)
Real Post Cnt: 13,007
User ID: 776,236
Subject: Topic of the Week - Rare Spawn Evolution
*clears throat*

Ahem. Evolution is

"any process of formation or growth; development" as quoted from Dictionary.com

Therefore I do think we ARE discussing evolution! Now as to whethere or not scientists are involved with World of Warcraft is another matter.


As far as rare spawns, when WoW first came out it was exciting to find them. It was great (terrible) to camp them on your hunter or farm them for that one blue they might drop. In Wrath I loved the goodie bags. I loved attempting to solo of the big guys even when I was a lower level. And of course nerd points.

Now, while leveling lowbies I learn all the rare spawns in the zone and just make a circut through them while questing. They give roughly 10x the expe of a regular mob of the same level. Nice easy exp but the spawn so frequently it's odd they even call them rares. It's more like go tot he spot for free exp.

Now the hunter pet "only" mobs....It's coolt o find a rare spawna nd kill it. I understand the frustration in Wrath of having someone come along and kill that bear you were camping for days just so they could get a bag and some nerd points. So lowering the incentive to kill a mob was a smart way to handle that. But then I think they should have added a few other rare spawns just for killing.

I also thought raising the loot quality on the rare spawn bosses like Garr was great. We spent over an hour killing Garr, between wipes, horde and other allies trying ot tag him. Then he drops a 346 item? Gah!! Talk about a let down.

I am curious about the sea horse though. Why did they choose to mkae the mount BoE instead o BoP like the TLPD? nice target for gold farming!


 

-----signature-----
"Pallys are simply self healing rocks." - IndridCole
Link to this post
Spookysheep 
Title: Lieker of Cheese
Posts: 21,595
Registered: Jan 9, '02
Extended Info (if available)
Real Post Cnt: 21,166
User ID: 601,475
Subject: Topic of the Week - Rare Spawn Evolution
Just never could force myself to care about rare spawns. I kill them if I happen across them, but I never go looking for them.

 

-----signature-----
I liek cheese
Pirates > Ninjas
.....................................
Link to this post
The_Korrigan 
Title: Scrub Buster
Posts: 21,660
Registered: Jul 17, '01
Extended Info (if available)
Real Post Cnt: 21,292
User ID: 255,861
Subject: Topic of the Week - Rare Spawn Evolution
I loved rare spawns in Asheron's Call. Because they involved exploration. Hunting the Hoary Mattekar was an adventure.
But in WoW? They are at fixed places, always the same. There is no hunt.
The feeling of the hunt totally disappeared in any "modern" EQ clone, WoW is not the only culprit of this. Even for quests, you now have big frigging arrows on a map to show you where to go. Seems like the new generation of players are so stupid they can't understand simple instructions like "go north, then east between the mountains" and need to be hand held all the time.

 

-----signature-----
SWTOR: 50 Jedi Shadow (Tank), 50 Sith Marauder (Annihilation).
LOTRO: Lifetime account, playing very casually.
WoW: Both accounts canceled for now.
GW2: Future Warrior.
Link to this post
PallyDog 
Title: WoW Vault Staff
Teh Pyckles!

Posts: 13,429
Registered: Mar 4, '03
Extended Info (if available)
Real Post Cnt: 13,007
User ID: 776,236
Subject: Topic of the Week - Rare Spawn Evolution
Mmmm..DAoC the lady of the lake. There was a certain area she was supposed to spawn at around a certain sort of time but she didn't always follow the schedule. At least she didn't when I camped her. The fun part was that she was part of a quest line. I'd like to see some more random / rare spawns that give quests n such.

 

-----signature-----
"Pallys are simply self healing rocks." - IndridCole
Link to this post
Dums 
Title: Moderator
The mystery flavor

Posts: 8,245
Registered: Oct 29, '02
Extended Info (if available)
Real Post Cnt: 7,576
User ID: 732,266
Subject: Topic of the Week - Rare Spawn Evolution
Spookysheep posted:
Just never could force myself to care about rare spawns. I kill them if I happen across them, but I never go looking for them.


Agreed.

 

-----signature-----




hi
Link to this post
Taloquin 
Posts: 360
Registered: Nov 20, '03
Extended Info (if available)
Real Post Cnt: 358
User ID: 860,145
Subject: Topic of the Week - Rare Spawn Evolution
Dums posted:
Spookysheep posted:
Just never could force myself to care about rare spawns. I kill them if I happen across them, but I never go looking for them.


Agreed.


I used to care about rare spawns in Vanilla as a hunter. I don't know how many days, even weeks, that I spent trying to tame rare pets. But once BC hit I pretty much gave up on rare spawns. I realized that spending such a ridiculous amount of time trying to tame a rare pet was a waste of time.

Now if I come across a rare spawn, I kill it. Unless it's a potential hunter pet. I still remember all of the wasted hours I spent in the past trying to tame a pet, and wouldn't want that on my worst enemy. Well... ok, maybe on Korrigan... possibly Spooky. But that's all, I swear.

Simple fact is, rare spawns are just another way for Blizzard to institute a time sink. That's all WoW is. That's all pretty much every current MMO is. A time sink.

And I doubt we'll see any MMO become anything but a timesink in the foreseeable future. It's kind of the nature of the beast when it comes to pay-to-play monthly subscription games.

 

-----signature-----
I'm a lurker and I know it.
Post count just means you spend too much time reading and not enough playing. :P
Link to this post
Blisteringballs 
Posts: 2,247
Registered: Aug 12, '09
Extended Info (if available)
Real Post Cnt: 2,247
User ID: 1,366,612
Subject: Topic of the Week - Rare Spawn Evolution
I remember killing a bunch of rare spawns in vanilla, Wrath, and Cataclysm. And honestly they seemed pointless aside from "oh hey look a named mob". They never dropped loot I would want to use, even on an alt, and weren't very challenging. So I suppose that achievement in Wrath was the best, uh, "evolution" of rare spawns I saw. And now apparently that's gone.

 

-----signature-----
Link to this post
Sociop 
Posts: 402
Registered: Dec 8, '09
Extended Info (if available)
Real Post Cnt: 402
User ID: 1,378,656
Subject: Topic of the Week - Rare Spawn Evolution

posted:
Which changes in how rare spawns were handled to you like the best? Are there new types of rares you'd like to see in future expansions?


No more vanity pet rares!

I want to see the rare pet spawns come back like in vanilla WoW where they had special abilities that ordinary versions did not,like faster attack speeds. I remember spending near 3 weeks camping for broken tooth because of its faster attack speed which gave me a slight DPS boost thus worth the effort.

Not a single rare pet in WoW is really worth the effort anymore.

 

-----signature-----
(none)
Link to this post
Hornet_MT 
Posts: 2,484
Registered: Aug 16, '02
Extended Info (if available)
Real Post Cnt: 2,475
User ID: 706,839
Subject: Topic of the Week - Rare Spawn Evolution
The_Korrigan posted:
I loved rare spawns in Asheron's Call. Because they involved exploration. Hunting the Hoary Mattekar was an adventure.
But in WoW? They are at fixed places, always the same. There is no hunt.
The feeling of the hunt totally disappeared in any "modern" EQ clone, WoW is not the only culprit of this. Even for quests, you now have big frigging arrows on a map to show you where to go. Seems like the new generation of players are so stupid they can't understand simple instructions like "go north, then east between the mountains" and need to be hand held all the time.



QFT

WOW maps are far more 'innovative' in their design... but they are linear in progression and the quest sysem perpetuates this: Go A, kill 1, 2 & 3, Go Base, Go B, collect 4, kill 5, Go Base, etc...

Rares occasionally pop on the radar but don't have anything of value hence whats the point in stopping in your A -> B -> C route.

Whilst the AC map wasn't as innovative, it encouraged exploration through its randomness. You knew that certain mobs would be in certain area's, but that was about it... searching for Diamond Golems, Mattekars, etc... fingers crossed that a 113% +15 would drop or something equally rare and valuable was THE reason you went out every day hunting.

IMO - WOW needs a new zone... 3-4 times the size of Old Barrens, more 'craggy' and 'foresty' with dangerous mobs mixed in with normal mobs EVERYWHERE... stuff that can be soloe'd (just), combined with stuff that needs a group of 2-3 to kill (it would need some clever design to make it so one 'pally'/pet class can't kill everything). It wouldn't be hard to put some lore together that could give us a reason for the zone.

The puller for me would be the loot... blues would drop frequently (1 in 3) from the rare mobs, ranging in Item Level upto Max level + 10. Random stats (could be useless, could be special) - BOE. If you got lucky, you would get a Blue item as good Raid level gear (not heroic Raid) - but the chances of getting the perfect mix of stats on a max level item would make that a rare occurence. In my view, you would aim to get 4/5 blue items an hour - the chances of any of them being a close to 'perfect' item about 1 in 200 with the chance of it being something 'useable' by the majority of the playerbase about 1 in 10.

 

-----signature-----
Why use Ambush?
Your foe is in cloth and you want to give them a nice surprise!
- Sprawl
Link to this post
Groooovechampion 
Posts: 4,616
Registered: Jun 30, '03
Extended Info (if available)
Real Post Cnt: 4,485
User ID: 818,115
Subject: Topic of the Week - Rare Spawn Evolution
I never got behind why Daoc was never really cloned (and I've yet to see a game that came somewhere close to it).

Unless it's always been a fail-concept, but I seriously doubt that.

 

-----signature-----
DaoC, WoW (retired, inactive); WAR (semi active), EVE (active)
"Ye'know, com'on! Giimmeee di Ke$$$HHHHHH!"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OADJl-CVDo0
Link to this post
yarfkat 
Title: WoWVault Priest Captain
Posts: 388
Registered: Aug 25, '09
Extended Info (if available)
Real Post Cnt: 388
User ID: 1,367,984
Subject: Topic of the Week - Rare Spawn Evolution
On behalf of anyone who plays a hunter that cares about the cata rarespawns. It takes a lot o time to camp some of the new creatures. If you come across one, just wait a moment to see if a Hunter is there before you go tagging it and killing it. I had Skitterflame killed 9 times because people didn't take a moment to notice that I had laid a trap and was waiting for the cooldown, had him targeted and everything. I saw someone run up and KILL Deth'Tilac when someone had been camping it for 3 weeks, simply because they were Horde and the hunter was Alliance.

It's sad. When I camp a mob and someone comes along and DOESN'T kill it, but rather helps me get it? (in the case of Deth'Tilac bringing the health down) having toons on both sides of the wall, I pay well over the 25 gold for the tear, and I'm not the only one with that mentality.




As for outside of Cata? Oh yeah, I kill 'em, unless I know it's a highly coveted rarespawn. Then I give hunters 5 minutes to nab it before I kill it, such as the cases of Loque'Nahak, Skoll, Etc. I spam both general, and log my bank alt on and spam trade in a capital city, and detail that in 5 minutes it's goin' bye bye. It also helps that I have about 20 hunters on my Real ID from camping the cata spawns, I just broadcast who spawned and the coords and usually they're tamed within a few minutes.

 

-----signature-----
Q: Does Heroism make the same sound as Bloodlust when it goes?
A: Nope. Heroism has this sound like a gong being hit, and then something
like a triumphant cheer. Bloodlust makes a sound like bong being hit, and
then a murloc being strangled to death.
Link to this post
-Abysmal- 
Posts: 21,891
Registered: Dec 20, '00
Extended Info (if available)
Real Post Cnt: 21,218
User ID: 59,638
Subject: Topic of the Week - Rare Spawn Evolution
i used to do loop after loop looking for vultros for it's dagger...got the cape about 20 times, never the dagger...i gave up my obsession, but it took a long ass time.

 

-----signature-----
Now i LIVESTRONG
GO PATRIOTS
Yankees SUCK!
devil I wish AC looked better, I miss it
sad I love you forever Jamie
Link to this post
-Mithan- 
Title: VNBoard Admin
Posts: 1,000,060,379
Registered: Mar 1, '00
Extended Info (if available)
Real Post Cnt: 56,880
User ID: 13,156
Subject: Topic of the Week - Rare Spawn Evolution
I like Rare Spawns, but wish it was the AC style.

 

-----signature-----
I survived to the end and got nothing out of it, but hey.
Link to this post
Arcilite_I 
Title: VN's Most Wanted
Posts: 34,414
Registered: Jan 27, '02
Extended Info (if available)
Real Post Cnt: 33,674
User ID: 633,598
Subject: Topic of the Week - Rare Spawn Evolution
-Mithan- posted:
I like Rare Spawns, but wish it was the AC style.

 

-----signature-----


PvPing since 1977
Link to this post
Trigeminal 
Title: Drill, Fill, Bill
Posts: 11,233
Registered: Mar 17, '02
Extended Info (if available)
Real Post Cnt: 11,153
User ID: 658,468
Subject: Topic of the Week - Rare Spawn Evolution
Arcilite_I posted:
-Mithan- posted:
I wish WoW was AC.

 

-----signature-----
PvPing since 1975
Link to this post
Arcilite_I 
Title: VN's Most Wanted
Posts: 34,414
Registered: Jan 27, '02
Extended Info (if available)
Real Post Cnt: 33,674
User ID: 633,598
Subject: Topic of the Week - Rare Spawn Evolution
Trigeminal posted:
Arcilite_I posted:
-Mithan- posted:
I wish WoW was AC.





Would be so awesome

 

-----signature-----


PvPing since 1977
Link to this post
NukeMage 
Posts: 3,856
Registered: Apr 7, '02
Extended Info (if available)
Real Post Cnt: 3,821
User ID: 666,051
Subject: Topic of the Week - Rare Spawn Evolution
Arcilite_I posted:
Trigeminal posted:
Arcilite_I posted:
[quote=-Mithan-]I wish WoW was AC.





Would be so awesome[/quote]

 

-----signature-----
I need a new hobby . .
Ten level 85's (one of each class) in WoW
Back to try out the Feb patch in AC
Link to this post
-Spacelord- 
Posts: 17,650
Registered: Dec 18, '00
Extended Info (if available)
Real Post Cnt: 16,923
User ID: 59,430
Subject: Topic of the Week - Rare Spawn Evolution
The_Korrigan posted:
I loved rare spawns in Asheron's Call. Because they involved exploration. Hunting the Hoary Mattekar was an adventure.
But in WoW? They are at fixed places, always the same. There is no hunt.
The feeling of the hunt totally disappeared in any "modern" EQ clone, WoW is not the only culprit of this. Even for quests, you now have big frigging arrows on a map to show you where to go. Seems like the new generation of players are so stupid they can't understand simple instructions like "go north, then east between the mountains" and need to be hand held all the time.


Well said!

 

-----signature-----
(none)
Link to this post
Acao 
Posts: 529
Registered: Nov 29, '04
Extended Info (if available)
Real Post Cnt: 527
User ID: 999,387
Subject: Topic of the Week - Rare Spawn Evolution
-Spacelord- posted:
The_Korrigan posted:
I loved rare spawns in Asheron's Call. Because they involved exploration. Hunting the Hoary Mattekar was an adventure.
But in WoW? They are at fixed places, always the same. There is no hunt.
The feeling of the hunt totally disappeared in any "modern" EQ clone, WoW is not the only culprit of this. Even for quests, you now have big frigging arrows on a map to show you where to go. Seems like the new generation of players are so stupid they can't understand simple instructions like "go north, then east between the mountains" and need to be hand held all the time.


Well said!

I prefer the arrow over bad quest text. In SWG's pre NGE Hero of Tatooine quest series one part of the quest told you there was a man out in the desert when the entire planet was a desert!

 

-----signature-----
Acao Freestar OSS
Master Smuggler, Master Pistoleer, Retired
Cell phones are a lot like religion. Give an arsehole a phone or a god, and they ruin your day.
Link to this post
_Kewk_ 
Title: Sith Lord
Posts: 10,167
Registered: Dec 17, '02
Extended Info (if available)
Real Post Cnt: 9,952
User ID: 749,729
Subject: Topic of the Week - Rare Spawn Evolution
Trigeminal posted:
Arcilite_I posted:
-Mithan- posted:
I wish WoW was AC.




AC3: AC1 with a current graphic engine.

 

-----signature-----
(none)
Link to this post
-Abysmal- 
Posts: 21,891
Registered: Dec 20, '00
Extended Info (if available)
Real Post Cnt: 21,218
User ID: 59,638
Subject: Topic of the Week - Rare Spawn Evolution
could you imagine what people would do if you had to know which damage type to use on certain mobs in WoW?

 

-----signature-----
Now i LIVESTRONG
GO PATRIOTS
Yankees SUCK!
devil I wish AC looked better, I miss it
sad I love you forever Jamie
Link to this post
Arcilite_I 
Title: VN's Most Wanted
Posts: 34,414
Registered: Jan 27, '02
Extended Info (if available)
Real Post Cnt: 33,674
User ID: 633,598
Subject: Topic of the Week - Rare Spawn Evolution
-Abysmal- posted:
could you imagine what people would do if you had to know which damage type to use on certain mobs in WoW?



They would download an addon to tell them.

 

-----signature-----


PvPing since 1977
Link to this post
Sprawl-zero1eye- 
Title: IGN Vault Staff
Reziztance iz Futile

Posts: 53,263
Registered: Jun 28, '02
Extended Info (if available)
Real Post Cnt: 52,657
User ID: 692,733
Subject: Topic of the Week - Rare Spawn Evolution
Come now, they'd all quit at Adult Reedshark. tongue

 

-----signature-----
Mirkwood MUD, OneEye IvoryFang, Lord of the VampireZ (Retired)
AC Frostfell, Clan Z - Lvl 239 Grief Dagger (Retired)
WoW Lightbringer Alliance, Z Guild - Lvl 85 Combat Rogue (Retired)
Making iOS Apps these days at http://zsprawl.com/iOS
Link to this post
Fedup23 
Posts: 2,271
Registered: Jul 14, '06
Extended Info (if available)
Real Post Cnt: 2,265
User ID: 1,155,204
Subject: Topic of the Week - Rare Spawn Evolution
Hornet_MT posted:
The_Korrigan posted:
I loved rare spawns in Asheron's Call. Because they involved exploration. Hunting the Hoary Mattekar was an adventure.
But in WoW? They are at fixed places, always the same. There is no hunt.
The feeling of the hunt totally disappeared in any "modern" EQ clone, WoW is not the only culprit of this. Even for quests, you now have big frigging arrows on a map to show you where to go. Seems like the new generation of players are so stupid they can't understand simple instructions like "go north, then east between the mountains" and need to be hand held all the time.



QFT

WOW maps are far more 'innovative' in their design... but they are linear in progression and the quest sysem perpetuates this: Go A, kill 1, 2 & 3, Go Base, Go B, collect 4, kill 5, Go Base, etc...

Rares occasionally pop on the radar but don't have anything of value hence whats the point in stopping in your A -> B -> C route.

Whilst the AC map wasn't as innovative, it encouraged exploration through its randomness. You knew that certain mobs would be in certain area's, but that was about it... searching for Diamond Golems, Mattekars, etc... fingers crossed that a 113% +15 would drop or something equally rare and valuable was THE reason you went out every day hunting.

IMO - WOW needs a new zone... 3-4 times the size of Old Barrens, more 'craggy' and 'foresty' with dangerous mobs mixed in with normal mobs EVERYWHERE... stuff that can be soloe'd (just), combined with stuff that needs a group of 2-3 to kill (it would need some clever design to make it so one 'pally'/pet class can't kill everything). It wouldn't be hard to put some lore together that could give us a reason for the zone.

The puller for me would be the loot... blues would drop frequently (1 in 3) from the rare mobs, ranging in Item Level upto Max level + 10. Random stats (could be useless, could be special) - BOE. If you got lucky, you would get a Blue item as good Raid level gear (not heroic Raid) - but the chances of getting the perfect mix of stats on a max level item would make that a rare occurence. In my view, you would aim to get 4/5 blue items an hour - the chances of any of them being a close to 'perfect' item about 1 in 200 with the chance of it being something 'useable' by the majority of the playerbase about 1 in 10.


So with all the complaints about the grind.. you suggest that they implement a zone where the main purpose is to grind for loot that has a 1 in 200 chance of being "useful" to your character? I think you are as in touch with the playerbase as Ghostcrawler.. LOL.

J/K .. but they would get so much flack for useless drops.. stupid random loot generator.. wasting resources on blah blah blah blah.. eh.. actually.. at this point in the game they are going to get flack for ANYTHING they do. They are damned if they do/damned if they dont...at least in the eyes of 1 in 12. laugh

 

-----signature-----
(none)
Link to this post
-Abysmal- 
Posts: 21,891
Registered: Dec 20, '00
Extended Info (if available)
Real Post Cnt: 21,218
User ID: 59,638
Subject: Topic of the Week - Rare Spawn Evolution
Arcilite_I posted:
-Abysmal- posted:
could you imagine what people would do if you had to know which damage type to use on certain mobs in WoW?



They would download an addon to tell them.


ya that's true...didn't think of that since i dont use any helping hand addons.
all i use is altoholic because i am, and i never remember what i have/need.

i looked at some that people run with and wonder why they bother playing, barely a step below UCMing.

 

-----signature-----
Now i LIVESTRONG
GO PATRIOTS
Yankees SUCK!
devil I wish AC looked better, I miss it
sad I love you forever Jamie
Link to this post
_Taebo_ 
Posts: 18,672
Registered: Feb 28, '01
Extended Info (if available)
Real Post Cnt: 18,201
User ID: 70,868
Subject: Topic of the Week - Rare Spawn Evolution
I got a couple in Wrath and I thought they were cool. Decent loot and achievement.

Again, there were so many things about Wrath that they ruined in Cataclysm.

 

-----signature-----
May the best MMORPG win.
VNBoards: Where user speculation and opinion are always facts.
Link to this post
Shenron_ 
Posts: 8,665
Registered: Dec 8, '02
Extended Info (if available)
Real Post Cnt: 6,513
User ID: 746,590
Subject: Topic of the Week - Rare Spawn Evolution
i remember seeing a lot of rare spawns in classic WoW but they never seemed to have a purpose. i would get excited seeing the dragon around their names but all the ones i killed never even dropped any loot.

among the 3 expansions i have logged a ton of hours and only seen 1 rare mob total...some scarlet knight in dragonblight. she dropped a bag full of some gems and cloth and crap. it was better than nothing but i was disappointed.

 

-----signature-----
(none)
Link to this post
Road-Warrior 
Posts: ????
Registered: ????
Extended Info (if available)
Real Post Cnt: 0
User ID: 0
Subject: Topic of the Week - Rare Spawn Evolution
Hmmm... Yes! Bring back the Hoary Mattekar and the Diamond Golem! laugh

Seriously. I'd like to see rare spawns brought back like in vanilla WoW, where they had either special stats (for taming) or loot. The way they've "evolved" through the last few patches, I never bother going after them any longer.

 

-----signature-----
Link to this post

Valid XHTML 1.0 Transitional Powered by PHP