"But I don't know anything about hunting rares! I mean, I found Seething Hate once in Grizzly Hills but I don't know how to find any others." If this is you, don't worry! We all begin somewhere and luckily for you I'm going to help you start off with a few tips and tricks, along with giving you one of those good ol' lists that Hoarders: Azeroth Edition is so well known for. Alright, maybe not exactly well known, but this series is famous in my own mind!
Things Yo' Momma Didn't Teach You
Addons
- Download NPCScan, fly over zones, profit. If a rare pops up on your screen (big noise, the screen will flash red) it will give you a little image of what it just saw, along with the name. If you click on that image (near the bottom of your screen, center) it will target the mob. Thanks to the handy-dandy new targeting system there should no longer be any crazy guess work with finding the mob.
- Download NPCScan Overylay, fly over the colored zones of the rares you have not killed yet, profit. Go into options and enable the ability to always track all mobs. If you accidently cache a mob (tamed hunter pets such as Nuramoc will do this even in cities such as Stormwind or Orgrimmar) and do not have this feature enabled, where a mob's patting area is located will be lost to you. Unless of course you have a super memory.
- Clear your NPCScan cache often! Directions are on the download page.
Tips and Tricks
- Multiple rare spawns can be up in the same zone at the same time. I've personally killed 2-3 in a single zone just minutes apart.
- While you may very well find rare mobs at random times during the day, I've had my best luck between the hours of 2am-5:30am CST (US) the morning after a server reset. This any reset really (hello rolling restarts after a major patch!). Depending on the type of restart, be it rolling or full on maintenance, you may have to do some juggling of numbers to get your times just right, but I've found that "sweet spot" three and a half hour window to be prime right after a rolling restart.
- It is possible that many mobs can despawn after a given amount of time if left unkilled/tamed. I have no personal confirmations on this information,
- On occasion a hostile mob who patrols too closely to a town *may* get killed by NPCs. This is rare though, as far as rare events happening to rare mobs go.
- Group up and farm with a friend or two. Not only is it socially fun, but it allows you to cover more ground much more quickly. Time is money friend! It's also a killer.
- While it is by no means necessary, the faster the flying you have the better. Top of the line training + class/spec speed boosts + guild movement speed increases = a much quicker and smoother farm. As I said in the previous bullet, time is money and can make or break your kill.
- Don't just camp one place unless you're down to your last rare. Jump between spawn points of the rares that you need on a regular basis. If you do it one by one, you may call Outland home for ages.
- Take breaks! I know first hand how stressful and consuming rare hunting can be. You will go bloody bonkers if you don't take regular breaks. Do your best to only farm x amount of hours a day/week to prevent burn out and to save your precious sanity. Though if you're going for Bloody Rare and/or Frostbitten (which I'll cover the tips and tricks for next week) you may be half off your rocker anyways.
- Now is a prime time to farm! For those of us non-raiding achievement junkies, a new major patch is wonderful for us. Most folks are busy with their raiding of new bosses, PvPers are starting up a new season, and most people are more about getting their precious few hours of sleep instead of flying around in boredom, killing the mobs that you're after.
These Are Not the Rares You Seek
Hellfire Peninsula
Fulgorge (He may need some closer observation. Apparently cannot be targeted while he's underground.)
Mekthorg the Wild
Vorakem Doomspeaker
Zangarmarsh
Bog Lurker
Coilfang Emissary
Marticar
Terokkar Forest
Crippler
Doomsayer Jurim
Okrek
Nagrand
Goretooth (Tamable)
Voidhunter Yar
Shadowmoon Valley
Ambassador Jerrikar
Collidus the Warp-Watcher
Kraator
Blade's Edge
Hemathion
Morcrush
Speaker Mar'grom
Netherstorm
Chief Engineer Lorthander
Ever-Core the Punisher
Nuramoc (Tamable)
*Please note that there is a third rare that is shown on NPCScan Overlay for Nagrand. He is however not required for the Bloody Rare achievement.
Remember, these creatures are called "rare" for a reason. You cannot simply log on one day and hope to find them all in one swoop. This achievement will take some time and above all, patience. If you're the type to get flustered easily and don't have the stamina to take on that which is rare hunting, this achievement is not for you. If you have the backbone for it though, you shall have yourself a nifty little achievement in no time. By no time I mean this could potentially be a huge time sink for you. Attempt at your own daring!
This week's Hoarders: Azeroth Edition is brought to you by lack of sleep, odd references that I'm not sure I myself completely understand, and the letter z. Therefor, I think that about does it for this week. Happy hunting hoarders!
