The devaluation of rare spawns by shared models

[Zivhayr]

Hello all. Long time lurker here.

Today I was running circles around the molten front in the vain hope that I would find one of the rare spiders. I went at it for about an hour and fell off like an idiot for the fifth time until I was ready to give up. As I was running back to my corpse, I spooted Anthriss on my NPCScan, funnily enough the only spider that wasn't cached. I quickly tamed him, and was excited! I had a pet that few others did. However, I soon realised that the normal spiders with the same model are also tameable! Nothing seperates my rare spawn from these normal spider mobs you see every day, apart from my own knowledge (which no one else sees) that I did in fact find this rare spider and claim him.

Now, I understand that the effort put into finding and taming this spider alone makes it special, but truly I am the only one that appreciates that. Deth'tilac and Solix are the only spiders that do not share a model with an easily tamed spider. This fact, of course, doesn't make me want to abandon my Anthriss of course! He is special to me personally, still. But it just seems a bit strange that there are these new pets which are supposed to be a hard challenge and rarity to tame, and yet they are no more special (outwardly) than common spiders. I believe the silver rare frame, elite frame and boss level used to be maintained on pets upon taming. I remember spending about 2 hours trying to get a perfect tame beast cast off of The Beast in blackrock spire. I tamed him, and he was extremely special. Along with the effort put into taming such a beast, I had a fancy ?? level pet to show for it. Since then, they have removed the frames and the boss level (retroactively) and now I have just a generic core hound in my stable. Of course, I still love him, and wouldn't bring myself to get rid of him, but I now have nothing to show for my efforts apart from sentimental value.

Another example I can think of at the moment is Mazzranache, another pink tallstrider model has been released upon Cataclysm, and as such this old hard to find pet is no more.

I've waffled on a bit and probably said a couple things twice, but there's my two cents. I've probably said a few things more than once. <-- joke

My apologies if there is already a thread dedicated to this particular discussion, I could not find another thread discussing this specific thing in my time searching.

[Tahlian]

Mazzranache is still around, and he, like your spider, will still set off NPC scanning addons. If the fact you had a grand adventure taming your spider (or flamingo) isn't sufficient reward for you, then perhaps you should focus your taming on beasts that have a unique appearance, and not worry about whether or not they have or had a silver dragon around their portrait.

I don't feel my Rak'shiri is in any way devalued by sharing a skin with Shy-Rotam. She's my blue lady, and has been for six years.

[Zivhayr]

The pet that I feel most attached to is my brown tallstrider, one of the most generic pets in the game! So I'm not too worried about uniqueness in my pets, I just started thinking about the subject when this happened, and thought I may as well start a discussion

Edit: I think the main thing that got me thinking was the fact that these are suppposed to be a big challenge for hunters, and yet there is an alternative that takes little effort

[Vephriel]

I've never been the type to understand how a rare is devalued by having a common spawn. You can't walk two steps in a major city without bumping into a rare. No one gives them a second glance due to how many hunters run around with one.

I wouldn't care if any of my small handful of rares were to have common counterparts. I didn't tame them because I wanted to be unique or special, nor to have people grovel in awe of my taming prowess. I know it to be quite the opposite. People aren't impressed when they see hunters with rares. It's more eye-catching to see a rarely used common mob in all honesty.

You know the rare you tamed, you know it's special, and that's all that matters. I like going after rares because they can be a personal thrill to hunt them down over another mob that is found with the same model. Pets are something personal to me, and I don't factor in another person's opinion in how much I love my pets, be they common, rare, colourful, or plain.

Again, the challenges are to see if YOU can do it. A hunter can either feel accomplished after taming one of the pets, or if they just like the model they can go get one of the non-rare versions. Trust me, I doubt anyone else is going to care what you went through to get your tame. It's not about them looking unique or recognizable, it's about the taming process itself.

[Zivhayr]

I tamed one of the green spiders for the looks when I found this out, and after a few minutes abandoned it. I agree with what you're saying. The challenge of the tame is a large part of the bonding proccess, and this isn't going to deter me from hunting the rare counterparts of these models

[CrystalKitten]

I agree that common skins shouldn't devalue the rares at ALL. I mean.. you mention that the new pets were added to be:

which are supposed to be a hard challenge and rarity to tame

I don't think that Blizzard said ANYWHERE that these would be unique. Just that they'd be rare spawns, designed to be hunter challenges. And rare does not mean unique The two terms seem to get confused a bit around here sometimes. Maybe I'm wrong.. but even if I am, we've all witnessed Blizz changing their mind.

And it makes sense for Blizzard to remove the rare dragon, and ?? level once a pet is tamed. To be honest... That change was SO long ago, I don't remember ever seeing any pets with it.

Honestly, people should tame rares because they like the challenge of finding it, or of the taming, or because it has a unique skin that they like. Taming a rare strictly as a status symbol is just.. I don't know. I personally don't see it as a status symbol when people think they're a "better" hunter (and before debates start up, if you're looking for a status symbol because it's a rare then OBVIOUSLY you WANT other people to know it's a rare, and that you camped for it, and found it, while less lucky people didn't) just because they managed to find a rare. But, as you said, that's my own 2 cents

That's not to say that I think less of "rare hunters" ... But rare hunters that want to go around strutting their stuff, and want to make sure everyone else knows they got a rare and not just a common one that looks like a rare... Ehn, not the kind of attitude I like, in game or out.

And yes, I do have a lot of rares. But they're unique rares, that I liked better than the common skins. My Feathers is a common flamingo... And by choice. On my way over there I saw Mazz, but decided to leave her be, since I could just grab a common one now, and let her stay with her babies

I also agree with Veph Some common skins are definitely more "rare" or stand-out-ish in cities and dungeons than many rares. And if people like the thrill of the camping and hunting, then it shouldn't matter to them if others know it was a rare or not.

[Serenith]

If the pet makes you happy, then who cares what everyone else thinks.

[Vephriel]

which are supposed to be a hard challenge and rarity to tame

I don't think that Blizzard said ANYWHERE that these would be unique. Just that they'd be rare spawns, designed to be hunter challenges. And rare does not mean unique The two terms seem to get confused a bit around here sometimes. Maybe I'm wrong.. but even if I am, we've all witnessed Blizz changing their mind.

*nodnod* I agree with this. I think that we have plenty of other unique rares to seek if that's something that appeals to you. The challenge tames don't have to be unique, the entire purpose of them is just to give you a bit of a 'puzzle' or a special angle to work with in order to accomplish the tame. The satisfaction is in pulling it off. If that's not something that matters to you, then go for a unique rare pet instead. As a note, I do have Deth'tilac and I adore my Sabbath to pieces, but that's not because he's a unique model. I would have gone for Deth'tilac even if the area was carpeted in common purple lava spiders. He is an amazing mob, and I love his aura and presence. Even if no one else knew I tamed Deth'tilac and not a common purple I wouldn't care, because it only matters to me who I tamed. ^^

[nirvana]

I would have gone for Deth'tilac even if the area was carpeted in common purple lava spiders.

Going to have to disagree with you there, I would've been much too creeped out by the many spiders being squished beneath my toes to venture forth.

/shudder

[Vephriel]

I would have gone for Deth'tilac even if the area was carpeted in common purple lava spiders.

Going to have to disagree with you there, I would've been much too creeped out by the many spiders being squished beneath my toes to venture forth.

/shudder

I probably would have rolled around in them squeeing with delight.

[Serenith]

I would certainly tame a common spawn version of Deth. I can't stand the way Deth has to be tamed, cause its so easy to get ruined. But its pretty.... personally I wish they had an all blue spider! =P

[Chimera]

Id like to say.... if you tamed the rarespawn version of a creature that has a common counterpart, no one knows that. No one knows you tamed the rare version and not the easy common spawn. you and whoever may be watching will be the only person(people) who will ever know that you managed to tame the rare and not the one that walks around 24/7

[meepitco]

Actually, I have seen Bronzie Madexx twice, and when I pst'd the only other hunter in the area, he was delighted to hear that Bronzie was up. He tamed, and I turned down 1kg.
I asked him why he wanted Bronzie? (Mind me, I tame unique stuff, so interesting to see people tame commons)
He replied: I only like the green and bronze colours (Which REALLY surprised me), and I only need the bronze one (:
--
After this, I learned a moral lesson..If it is special to you, keep it. I saw the hunter yesterday, and he had his Bronze Madexx out with him.
So...
If it's not unique, but you still like it, keep it. I still have my Sian-Rotam, and she's been my fateful companion ever since...And then when I found out about Echee, I still kept her. I even used her when I was in Uld

[Kalliope]

I've said this before and I'll say it again: Anthriss is actually the rarest of all of the tamed spiders in the Front due to his obvious location and the ease with which he can be killed.

"Rarity" is in the eye of the beholder. Rare spawn pets are actually more commonly found than their regular counterparts, just because they are special to a greater number of people.

Who cares if people know that you have a rare spawn at first glance? YOU know who you tamed and what you had to do to tame them; that should be enough.

[Chimera]

Yea, its like waiting hours for Takk the Leaper to spawn when you can just head directly south and tame King Reaperclaw, hell you might even see Humar the Pridelord up and snoozing away if you do. Unless you have some special unique bond with Takk id take the easy way out and tame Reaperclaw, continue on with grinding my levels, and checking up on Takk once in a while incase he was up. Specially seeing as Takk the Leaper is Elite. I dont know how much damage he does to a poor dressed lvl 19 to say.. lvl 22 (no BoA items) but im sure he can eat you up pretty fast in those 10seconds.

Least if you tame the common model you dont have to camp for hours on end and you can actually get to know the skin so you can decide if you like it or not. Saves you from hours to days of waiting and a possible grief kill or two inbetween.

[Worba]

Hello all. Long time lurker here.

Today I was running circles around the molten front in the vain hope that I would find one of the rare spiders. I went at it for about an hour and fell off like an idiot for the fifth time until I was ready to give up. As I was running back to my corpse, I spooted Anthriss on my NPCScan, funnily enough the only spider that wasn't cached. I quickly tamed him, and was excited! I had a pet that few others did. However, I soon realised that the normal spiders with the same model are also tameable! Nothing seperates my rare spawn from these normal spider mobs you see every day, apart from my own knowledge (which no one else sees) that I did in fact find this rare spider and claim him.

Now, I understand that the effort put into finding and taming this spider alone makes it special, but truly I am the only one that appreciates that. Deth'tilac and Solix are the only spiders that do not share a model with an easily tamed spider. This fact, of course, doesn't make me want to abandon my Anthriss of course! He is special to me personally, still. But it just seems a bit strange that there are these new pets which are supposed to be a hard challenge and rarity to tame, and yet they are no more special (outwardly) than common spiders. I believe the silver rare frame, elite frame and boss level used to be maintained on pets upon taming. I remember spending about 2 hours trying to get a perfect tame beast cast off of The Beast in blackrock spire. I tamed him, and he was extremely special. Along with the effort put into taming such a beast, I had a fancy ?? level pet to show for it. Since then, they have removed the frames and the boss level (retroactively) and now I have just a generic core hound in my stable. Of course, I still love him, and wouldn't bring myself to get rid of him, but I now have nothing to show for my efforts apart from sentimental value.

Another example I can think of at the moment is Mazzranache, another pink tallstrider model has been released upon Cataclysm, and as such this old hard to find pet is no more.

I've waffled on a bit and probably said a couple things twice, but there's my two cents. I've probably said a few things more than once. <-- joke

My apologies if there is already a thread dedicated to this particular discussion, I could not find another thread discussing this specific thing in my time searching.

Let's put it this way. Say the developers came to you and said "Zivhayr, we don't have the resources leftover from our other projects to develop a brand new model at this time. But we DO have enough to add a rare with a common model that has special mechanics which make taming a real challenge - would you like us to add it or not (there is no 3rd option, sorry)?"

[Aeliel]

Personally, I don't care whether a pet I tamed is a rare or common skin, or is a rare spawn with a unique or a share model. I tame pets because they fit with the character I'm taming them on and that's it. Sometimes a unique-skinned rare clicks, sometimes a non-unique-skinned rare clicks, sometimes it's one of the commonest models in the whole damn game (the one pet that never leaves my goblin hunter's side is a plain green turtle, for instance).

I tamed Humar the Pridelord back in Burning Crusade, before they added Pitch in Sholazar Basin. There was a big hoopla about "oh no, my Humar is no longer unique HOW COULD YOU" back then, as I remember it, and I was left scratching my head - because my Humar was very much still unique, because he was mine, not anybody else's, not any other cat with the same skin. Same with all the other pets I own - they're my cat, my turtle, my spider and so on rather than Skarr, Terrorpene, Deth'tilac and so on.

[Sasrei]

I like rares cause of the thrill of the hunt, I enjoy finding the one thing I really wanted most. Most times ill go out of my way for the rare skin then the common just because that. Plus npcscanner drums.. need I say more?

But seriously I think if you like it, what should it matter what someone else thinks? I mean think of it this way Loque was the first spirit beast, hes rare and unique people either love him or hate him. Yes when people see him they know its Loque but lately with so many loques out there being tamed its more common to actually see him or any of the other spirit beasts then a regular common skinned mob. There are quite a few common mobs that are unique skinned to like the green tiger.

I have alot of rares on all my chars mostly cause I have.. a problem. I see rare.. and I kinda.. have to re home. Usually it ends up following me home!
But I still really enjoy my common skinned mobs to

The molten front rares, the two spiders with the common skin most times I find that they are the hardest find. I see kirix, solix and even deth up more. Skitter is easy to mess up and get killed and Anthriss draws people like a moth to a flame. Usually I find a ton of bones near her spot and more often then not shes killed within 10 mins of her spawning, while other mobs like solix, deth, and kirix can be up for over an hour now a days.

So in reality is a rare that spawns every 6-17 hours but every single hunter you see is running with him, more rare then the common mob that noone has tamed? Kinda makes you think hey.

If its special to you, it shouldnt matter the respawn timer ^.^

[CrystalKitten]

I tamed Humar the Pridelord back in Burning Crusade, before they added Pitch in Sholazar Basin. There was a big hoopla about "oh no, my Humar is no longer unique HOW COULD YOU" back then, as I remember it, and I was left scratching my head - because my Humar was very much still unique, because he was mine, not anybody else's, not any other cat with the same skin. Same with all the other pets I own - they're my cat, my turtle, my spider and so on rather than Skarr, Terrorpene, Deth'tilac and so on.

This here is VERY well put! I actually have the same last 3 as you... Except I have Solix, for my spider! And they are very much my own, and some even have very very deep meaning for me, and would have been obtained whether they were rare, unique, common, or otherwise!

I actually tamed one of the common chocolate scorpions.. Named him Nine(After my fav chocolate bar), and then went around molten front doing my dailies. I wasn't PLANNING on taming anything else for a long while, so I didn't bother leaving a slot open... But then I saw Karkin... and.. and.. well, I DID always kind of want a crab, and he was so shiney... As in.. actually shiney, not special! And while I had Sparkles, I always liked the other model as well, plus Sparkles wasn't a true crab. So I ditched Nine and felt SO bad (just ask my guild.. heh, I complained about my guilt for the whole run back to Uldum). I ran back, and not only did I stable Bubbles (my new Karkin) right away, I went back, and tamed the EXACT same Nine <.< Not a different one, not wait for the rare to spawn.. I got the exact same common one, heh. Which I think illustrates the "it's MY scorpie" very well, heh. As I had to get Nine back.. not some other scorpie that looked the same... <.< Now I wanna go take Nine out to play >.>

[Anj]

You know who I still go back to from time to time? A Prairie Wolf! Sure his model is as common as saronite ore nowadays but his bark really is infectious. Not only that, I think those wolf models are the only wolves who run properly.