Pet frequency

[Edladd]

Hi everyone

I have started to embark on my journey across the entire world to collect pets, but I wanted your expertise on how I should approach it.

Last night I spent ages killing snow cubs and rabbits in dun morogh waiting for a fluxfire feline to spawn and it never happened. Then flew rings around Loch Modan for a small black ram, and again, no show. It felt like such a waste of time, as I could have traveled to a few new zones and picked up 10 more pets in that time. What I want to know is, is there any way to use the filters on this site to show the pet spawning frequency? I think I'd much rather pick all of the low hanging fruit (rats snakes etc) and maybe do 1-2 flyovers of a zone - and then come back when my list is a more manageable length to pick up those less common pets.

I also wondered - does killing the common pets help your chance of seeing a rare spawn? Do I need to battle them or can I insta-cast something at them to kill them?

So what do you reckon - what advice will you impart to a budding collector?

Thanks,
Ed

[Arvelayne]

There are probably far more literate people who can give you the guidance you need, but there's one thing that's more important than all the others, and that includes researching:

Patience.

The reason for that is because even once you know exactly where everything spawns, what helps it spawn, and when it spawns, RNG will play merry hell with you.

You *will* spend hours trying to find hard to find spawns, or hunting an area repeatedly to find that rare. I know I have. You just have to pick a task and a time frame and get on with it.

Hope that helps a little.

Arve,
cracked alt.

[Edladd]

Thanks for the reply and I agree - patience is a virtue. But what I'd like to know is if there is a way to find out easily if a pet is very elusive - or if I'm being dumb and looking in the wrong place. I have no problem farming low RNG items (grr.. Raven Lord) - but I'd like to know if I am up against RNG before I start searching if possible.

[Greenstar]

There is a sticky in the Pet Battles section of the forms showing Wild Pet Spawning Condtions for a number of pets. You may want to skim the entire thread as there are some that haven't yet been added to the initial list.

The Little Black Ram only spawns during the day. I spent over an hour one night in the zone looking for them and doing pet battles to see if they would show as a secondary pet, and then I discovered that they only spawn during the day. The comments in the individual pet profiles are also worth reviewing for a quick idea of where/when pets can be found.

When I started my big collecting run, I did a zone-by-zone search and reviewed all the zone-unique pets for these tidbits (after the Little Black Ram confusion). It saved me a lot of time.

[Eviver]

I put together a quick list from notes and mental observations I made. Thought about making a rarity guide but seems like too much work anyways heres my notes/semi guide would welcome additions corrections and observations to add to it.
Don't get me started on perfect Breed Ids.
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Elusive Tier - Everything in this tier you are lucky if you can come out with a grey
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1. Minfernal - Felwood
2. Scourged Whelpling - Icecrown
3. Giraffe Calfe - Southern Barrens
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Less Elusive but still slippery
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4. Baby Ape - Stranglethorn -Few Spawns only during Rain
5. Molten Hatchling -Searing Gorge - Spawns in lava Shares spawns with Lava crabs
5. Fluxfire Feline - Only on here cause of overfarming
6. Emerald Proto Whelp - Sholozar Campers/farmers
7. Anodized Robo Cub - Everlook Campers/Farmers
8. Spawn of Onyxia - Dustwallow

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Limited Spawns Limited Numbers - These pets spawn in limited numbers while its not hard to catch the pets finding a rare usually is hard.
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Tiny Bog Beast -Wetlands
Tiny Twister - Arathi
Snowy Owl - Winterspring Only During Winter
Infested Bear Cub - Hillsbrad
Nordrassil Wisp - Hyjal
Flayer Youngling - Terrokar
Sporeling Sprout - Zangarmarsh
Moccasin - Swamp of Sorrows
Scorpling - Blasted Lands

5.1 Spawns From my XP they seem to spawn in waves with usually 1 rare in a wave if you dont catch a wave 1 will randomly spawn every few hours that will usually be Poor or Rare.
Fluxfire Feline - Gnomergon- Dun Mograh
Harpy Youngling - Northern Barrens
Stunted Yeti - Feralas
Lofty Libram - Hillsbrad
Arcane Eye -Deadwind Pass
Infinite Whelping - CoT-Tanaris
Anodized Robo Cub - Everlook-Winterspring
Cogblade Raptor Toshi Station Blade's Edge Mountain
Nexus Whelping - Coldara - Borean Tundra
Kun-Lai Runt Kunlai Summit
Emerald Proto-Whelp Sholzar

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Limited Spawns Lots of numbers. These units have limited spawns but when they do spawn, there will be a decent number of them so farming a rare is easily possible
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Oily Slimieling - Borean Tundra
Fel Flames - Shadowmoon Valley
Twilight Fiendling - Twilight Highlands
Crimson Geode - Deepholm
Fjord Worg Pup - Howling Fjord
Fledging Nether Ray - Netherstorm
Clefthoof Runt - Nagrad
Warpstalker Hatchling - Terrokar

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Weather Releated
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Baby Ape
Silithid Hatchling
Arctic Fox Kit
Snowshoe Hare - might still bug spawn as secondary.

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Ugly in Blue - Pets I have tried to farm that I couldnt find a rare for after many many Spawns.
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Stunted Shardhorn
Clefthoof Runt
Cheetah Cub
Snowy Owl? Possibily havent check too many
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Pandarian Pack Leaders Pandarian Pets that only Spawn as Primary pets Might be incomplete
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Silent Hedgehog
Coral Adder - Limited spawns in a limited area
Summit Kit
Gilded Moth
Kuitan Mongoose
Shy Bandicoon
Bucktooth Flapper

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Time Related
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Widow Spiderling night
Dusk Spiderling night
Stone Armadilo night
Little Black Ram - day
Wanderer's Festival Hatchling-Only during Festival Sunday nights Limited Spawns
Restless watcher - Spawns only at night but Lots of numbers so Rare hunting isnt too hard

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Other Noteable Mentions
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Blighthawk - Phasing makes this semihard to catch as a rare pretty much have to hunt random pets in the entire zone
Coral Adder- Spawns only as primary in a limited area
Crow - Only as a secondary at Darkmoon Faire
Sumprush Rodent - Needs Item to Summon
Sand Kitten - Went around all of tanaris hunting for a rare one a few times no luck. Eventually got 2 rares off Silithid Hatchlings during a sandstorm
Irradiated Roach- This should not be on this list but Fluxfire Feline hunters have hunted it to extinction

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Might be rare not sure
Turkey - Only seems to be a few spawns but not really on my to get list so I havent tried.
Imperial Eagle Chick - caught rare on first spawn not sure of its rarity and elusiveness
Qiraji Guardian - Only during summer

[NathKnave]

When searching for pets, rare or just one of anything, it's best to focus on a particular zone at a time. Most of the zones have at least one pet that is unique to that zone. It's best to focus your attention to those pets while in their particular zones. You're almost assured of seeing most of the "low hanging fruit" several times while hunting for the more elusive pets. Seeing a rare Snake or Squirrel is almost an unbearable tease at this point.

[Edladd]

Wow! Thanks for the replies. Great list Eviver!

I managed to pick up my fluxfire feline last night - it's literally a killing machine I set a macro to /tar irradiated roach and ran around in the gnome starting area killing all the critters - both battle pets and regular critters, eventually it spawned. Picked up a tiny bog beast doing the same sort of thing. I don't know if killing critters helps with the spawn chance or not - but it certainly passes the time while you wait

On the widow spiderling - a paw actually appeared on my minimap for it, but no physical critter was at that location. Eventually a dusk spiderling spawned nearby, and the widow duly appeared as secondary. Is this normal for pets that are only secondaries? Do they all show on the minimap where they will join battles?

[NathKnave]

On the widow spiderling - a paw actually appeared on my minimap for it, but no physical critter was at that location. Eventually a dusk spiderling spawned nearby, and the widow duly appeared as secondary. Is this normal for pets that are only secondaries? Do they all show on the minimap where they will join battles?

The Widow Spiderling is unique in that it has a special spawning condition (it spawns only at night), but it can appear as a secondary pet at any time. I haven't seen that in any other pet with special spawning conditions. As for the paw appearing on your minimap with no physical critter to fight, I seem to remember that there's at least one spawn in that area that appears inside a tree. You can never see it, but if you "/tar" the pet's name you can use a keybind for "interact with target" and it will start a battle with it.

[Imthedci]

Personally, it would be nice if each zone had an area like Nordrassil in Mt. Hyjal. (Basically, you could catch every pet in the zone in that area, if you put enough time in it.) It would also be nice if you had a chance (however small) for those really rare and/or elusive pets to be secondaries. I think that would help encourage people getting out there and battling instead of wasting time (my opinion) camping an area for a rare spawn.