Server restarts, Rares and me

[KieraDK]

So I'm currently trying for Bloody Rare and Frostbitten thanks to the achievement thread here...

On Wowhead I saw some comments that King Ping in Howling Fjord was always up after a server restart and I was wondering if it's the same situation for the others. Also, would a cap of how many rares can be up at one time effect this.

A quick google found me nothing adn these achievements are extremely frustrating

[Kisho]

Generally speaking, just after server restarts is an excellent time to go rare hunting. It doesn't just apply to King Ping. I don't know about any sort of cap though, so I'll leave someone else to answer that.

[Seriss]

Check the wowhead comments some more for these achievements. They are really helpful. There are 4 specific rare spawns in Northrend that are up when a server restarts. I don't remember which ones they were (I just know that this vrykul war maiden spawn was one of them)... but there should be a comment somewhere on wowhead that tells you more.

[Inde]

Check the wowhead comments some more for these achievements. They are really helpful. There are 4 specific rare spawns in Northrend that are up when a server restarts. I don't remember which ones they were (I just know that this vrykul war maiden spawn was one of them)... but there should be a comment somewhere on wowhead that tells you more.

AFAIK it has been fixed in 4.0 and they no longer spawn after server restart. At least I could not catch any right after

[Deleted]

I believe they are on spawn timers, but the timer doesn't stop during the downtime. So after say a 6hour downtime, all the rares from the 6hours are all loaded at the same time. Thus you have a much higher chance, but it isn't guaranteed.

[Deleted]

Actually, it's speculated to be King Ping, Griegen, Vigdis Warmaiden and some others. I'm very skeptical though. I can't see why certain specific rares would spawn instantly after server reset and others won't. About the cap, it's speculated to be 2 rares up at any one time, in northrend at least.

I have both achievements and yes, they are very frustrating, and do not expect to get them any time soon. Just be patient and do occasional tours around the zones and you'll get it in time. Make sure to install _NPCScan & _NPCScan Overlay. Those are two very helpful addons.

I recommend that you go rare-hunting early morning. I usually do (for the looted gold achievement and the cloth) and i usually end up killing 2-5 rares on one lap around northrend.

Good luck!

[KieraDK]

Thanks for the answers!
I knew all rares up at the same time would be too good

[Deleted]

as a dedicated rare killer my opinions (may it be fact or presumed fact):

- there is no longer the 2-4 rares in northrend cap.
- there can be more than 1 rare per zone.
- maybe respawn times are shorter since 4.0
- "low" lvl rare spawn more often than "high" lvl (pre 4.0 it was 3-6h vs 12+)

it depends on your server population (these days is kinda meh for rare killers, because hollows end let many players roam in northrend around), but in the night time or even early morning, you should find everytime at least 1-3 rares.

the 6h-lock period on time lost proto drake / vyragosa seems to be gone, maybe ofther rares have them cleared as well.
there is a theory where killing all rares in northrend again and again will reduce the time for vyra/tlpd to spawn.

to my 'facts':
on one night (around 5 a.m.) a whole circle around northrend ends in 10 rares killed.
another night i had all three icecrown rares up, parallel to each other (putr, highthan, hildana).

there are two big problems for frostbitten:
either the low lvl spawns are farmed by leveling chars, so icehorn and king ping might be difficult to spot, or the high lvl stormpeak ones are camped by tlpd farmers, as tlpd is a rare spawn of vyra herself.

[Tiolith]

After completing Bloody Rare I went for Frostbitten with a friend, we found a grand total of 10 Northrend rares at 07 in the morning.
Just missing Vyragosa and King Krush now

[KieraDK]

Such luck. I'd consider it lucky if I found 1 rare that I needed.
More often than not, however, I check pathings and find nothing

Guess I'll just have to camp one spawn point with NPCScan up

[Surfd]

From what i have been lead to believe, there is actually a "rare cap" in northrend (allow me to elaborate):

For arguement sake, lets say there are 20 rare mobs that can spawn in northrend. At any given time, there can ONLY be a maximum of 5 live in the world. If you kill one of the live ones, this opens up a spot for a new one to spawn. All rares are supposed to be on somewhat fixed Spawn Timers (ie, Kill mob X, it respawns every 8 hours +/- one hour window) that is different for most of them.

Theory has it that the way the spawn cap affects spawn timers is as follows: If a mob that is on a fixed 24 hour spawn timer was killed at 12pm, and 24 hours goes by, he will spawn if the cap for active Rares has not yet been reached. However, if there are already 5 rares up, his spawn timer will hit, and he will not spawn. The kicker is that no one is really sure if a mob who is supposed to spawn but cant goes into a "queue" where he spawns instantly the next time a slot opens up, or if his timer just resets and you have to wait another 24 hours and hope the cam hasnt been reached and there is a spot open for him to spawn in.

Part of this theory is derived from the fact that no one (or group of people) has ever noted anything even close to all the rares being up at once (hense the cap), and because often killing one rare in an area leads to one seeming to magically appear somehwere else you had just been.

[Gaios]

I got both achievements for Northrend and Outlands inside a week. Just checked on them at 6 AM in the morning before I had to go to work. Easy as pie.

[Eon Drache]

Rares up at a time is at least 3. I've checked after server restarts and had none up at the time. I did the /who thing to check everyone that were in the northrend zones and none of them said they killed any rares.

[nellpyiwe]

Not sure if this is helpful but when you kill one rare the other rares get a quicker respawn timer, so pretty much if you go kill other rares, it's a bigger chance your own rare will spawn !