Taming the old way vs. taming the new way

[evil950510]

So three day ago I decided to tame The Evalcharr in Azshara and I sat there on the hill that over looked its spawn point for three days not moving. I watched TV checked mail on my phone just being bored waiting on hit. Finally just as I was about to do some raiding it finally spawn, I got a rush when my NPC went off and ran down and tame it, but after all of it I thought about how much time I wasted on just one rare. All the rares up to MOP required spending days sitting on one spot wait and sometimes fighting for the chance to tame one rare. However, in MOP hunters were given a new way of taming rares that required hunters to follow tracks or with the SB porcupines lowering their health to be able to tame. Even though they brought new ways to tame rares the one thing in common with MOP rares was they had very short respawn times. The first ten rares have a one-hour respawn and then the MOP spirit beast which all up until now have had some of the longest of respawn timers now spawn only fifteen after one is tamed. Does shortening the time it takes to tame rares take away from the feeling of accomplishment one gets after spending days camping, or is it better to get your rares with out the wait? Has MOP spoiled hunters too much with easier rares?

[Celibie]

This is just coming from someone whos been playing a hunter since vanilla, i think blizz has spoiled hunters with easier rares. I DO like the actual hunting concept but i feel that if you camp for a rare, like i did for almost every rare ive ever obtained, it gives the pet a bit more importance than just researching a mechanic.

[ashdawn]

on 1 hand, I want it to be hard, on the other hand, I dont want to camp for hours, I think they should keep with the MoP rares but make it much much much harder for example: The whale shark in the underwater zone (vash'jr?) as current content, that but at the end a tame on top of a 4-5 hours exact respawn time? I do like the idea of the tracking, maybe if you added the tracks + a hard mob so if you die you need to wait, make it like the pink crane, hard to see in a large area also a hard fight, 4-5 hour respawn time.

thats my perfect idea of a hunt

TL;DR hard to see tracks in a large area with a hard fight with a 4-5 hour respawn time.

[Makoes]

I do not feel that camping=hunting...I have enjoyed the "active" hunting style of the MoP rares very much over the "park a toon and tab out" method that relies on how lucky you are to be there X time before spawn.
For me the tracking in MoP makes me FEEL like an actual hunter, find tracks follow tracks, avoid mobs, flare out, follow/stalk it till the right moment, then Tame it.
Plus no longer having to worry about some %$^*$!! coming and killing something I was camping for hours/days. Worth it.

[Slickrock]

I think there's room for both. I've been tweeting at the blues for a while about this, asking for challenge tames and old-school camp tames. I think some of the challenges are getting dangerously close to being too gimmicky, favoring only those hunters with really leet PVP or soloing skills.

So, yes, I think they have spoiled folks a bit, but there should be both types of tames.

[Quiv]

The only thing for certain is they will never please everyone. So many assume how they prefer rares/taming is how the majority of people prefer rares and taming.

I hope they keep thinking outside the box, and am grateful of course for what they offer. However I can't blame them for feeling jaded or like they can't do anything right, and therefore go safely "down the middle." If we can't even get a consensus here, among like minded players, what chance is there for the population at large?

[zedxrgal]

For me personally. I think hunters now days are VERY spoiled. Part of the achievement was waiting on the rare to spawn. That's why they're called rare!! I've never agreed that a pet should be killable by another player. BUT. That's warcraft. Plain and simple. Again it's part of the game. Always has been. I don't feel the spawn times should be shortened or "hunting" techniques should be added to the old world rares like what they have for MoP. Because. Even and MoP rare can be killed by another player except the spirit porcupines. And I'm sorry. But I personally do not consider the beast a "rare" with a two hour respawn and if you have to follow tracks. That's not "rare". Shoot. Look how fast Timeless Isle beasts spawn! I've seen Emerald Crane, Furry Shell, Imperial Python and Bufo all spawn within 15 minutes of their last kill. That's not rare! Yes only two of those are tamable but my point remains valid. None of that is considered rare to me.

I say leave the old world original camping available with no foot print following, got be epic /leet player and geared or bring the right friends with you taming. That's an achievement /accomplishment of a different sort then camping a rare.

[Lisaara]

I personally hate camping. Will I do it? Sure...but it takes away from the joy and this is coming from someone who camped Aeonaxx, TLPD, and every rare she's ever obtained since BC.

When MoP came out with the tracking, I was ecstatic! The thrill of an actual hunt made me squee with delight and it was super fun! I was actually tracking down the pet of my dreams and I didn't have to worry about people swooping in and killing it(which is NOT fun, btw, and I will never EVER claim it to be otherwise).

I'd be perfectly content if they just used the MoP method and never looked back. Improving it even. I don't want them to take two steps backwards cause of those who have a bit of nostalga and claim we're just 'spoiled' rather than actually enjoying ourselves and not being miserable and missing out on events because of a camp.

(I also camped all 4 colors of Madexx by the way. NEVER. AGAIN.)

[guntitan]

Camping rares is boring. I like looking for tracks and using Flare to find a pet. Hexaposa and Savage was so much fun to find. I did not try the others except the goat in Kun Lai.

[SylviaDragon]

I like the tracks soooooooo much more than normal camping. You know why? because you don't have to worry about some dk killing your pet for the laughs or a druid coming in to ninja kill for an achievement/xmog. You still have to deal with other hunters, who can sometimes be jerks too, but since they have to track an invisible rare across the zone or kill a boss spirit beasts I have seen griefing almost stop completely on my server.
that being said I really did not see the mop beasts are rares. 90% of them were always up. the only two pets that actually took some effort were Simmons (Glimmer) and Doughnut (Crane.) And the only reason Simmons was hard to find was because I was hunting him the first week of mop. After the initial rush he was always up.
my crane, doughnut, is the only mop tame I consider rare as it took me days to find him. (Also have lots of fun stories about helping other hunters track him down. Really enjoyed it.)
I usually get lucky with rares by flying by them and have only had to camp a choice few but the ones I did camp do hold more value in my heart. I like the tracks idea but would like to see more of a challenge/longer spawn timer.

TL:DR
tracks are lots of fun but the respawn is so short that I don't see them as rares and have no problem abandoning them since I know they will always be up later.

[Rawr]

This should really be re-titled "Old Rare Camping vs. New Rare Camping"

[Danielfboone]

I hate camping too but I also feel that the way they made the taming of the MoP spirit beasts is not the way to go either. It's just too hard and requires skills that many players will never have. I think the tracking and flaring was really fun and I would like to see more of that type of thing. I also liked how they did it in Cata and the Firelands patch.

[Kööna]

In my opinion, camping a rare was NEVER fun. Sure, you get that feeling of accomplishment when you actually end up getting what you were camping for, but...camping NEVER was fun!
I camped for the Time-Lost Proto-Drake. I stayed in the Storm Peaks for 2 months straight. I didn't move, didn't raid, didn't do anything for 2 months. I stayed at my camping spot for that entire time. I would even put speakers on when I'd go to bed because I wanted my NPC_Scan to wake me up if it did scan something.
I camped for Aeonaxx, same thing happened. The amount of time I spent there was insane. I never got him while camping either.
I camped for the majority of the rare pets in my stables.
I remember camping Arcturis for 6 hours before he spawned and then a warrior from the other faction swooped down to kill it. I had to wait another 14 hours.

In other words, camping isn't fun. It isn't entertaining.
The fact that they implemented actual "hunts" for the pets is amazing.
I love it. : )

[Samarachan]

For me personally, nothing will beat the adrenaline that comes from hearing NPCScan glare off when you've camped something for so long.
New ways (not just MoP, remember Molten Front?) are just not my thing and can be very frustrating rather than accomplishing.

I do like finding the tracks, then the pets, but I don't like things like Hutia or Deth'tilac. I don't really have a good coordination nor strong nerves, and dieing to one single pet just so you can eventually tame it just isn't fun. I don't plan on getting the porcupines, ever, I just cannot do it physically.

I hope they don't keep this method forever, some of us prefer camping rather than wasting nerves and wanting skills that you can't really own.

[SpiritBinder]

Poor developers, it's so hard these day for these days. You can't offer to much variation or choice as there will always be someone complaining about it, and then everything just seems homogenised and people complain things are boring.

Personally, I'm quite a fan of the tracking method, though I am quite terrible at it. It is exciting and frustrating all in one, but it certainly bring the hunt to the hunter which is awesome imo

I think there's room for both. I've been tweeting at the blues for a while about this, asking for challenge tames and old-school camp tames. I think some of the challenges are getting dangerously close to being too gimmicky, favouring only those hunters with really leet PVP or soloing skills.

So, yes, I think they have spoiled folks a bit, but there should be both types of tames.

I'm not sure how the "Both types" would work. Would there be 2 different pets with the same skin available via 2 different methods? And if not people whom don't have these leet skills that you talk of will still complain about the skin colour/model that they want being too hard for them to obtain I guess….

However I guess they have already done 2 versions this expansion with the Tracking and the MoP Spirit beast Strategy tames, but then the strategy tames are all spirit beasts, and the none of the tracking beasts are. I personally thought they were a push over, they were pretty much always up, to be able to just kite one for a while and you then get a free Spirit beast!?! That and you could even use friends to help you if you struggled. It's fine I guess are, they are certainly not classified a rare pet family these days as they’ve been about for 3 expansions, but that’s just how I felt.

One variation that would be kind of fair would be to make them of a similar method (like the tracking) but just extend the spawn timers on ones they wish to be rarer. That way it requires just as much skill, but more luck for some than others.

Also, the beauty of the tracking method is that you can’t just sit there with NPC scanner running either, you have to actively look for them, nor can some other class kill them for giggles which saves an awful amount of aggro, it’s actually a dam good system.

[Castile]

I agree with most ppl, I loved the MoP tracking method more than the long wait while other ppl spat on you and told you to nick off if they rocked up to camp as well. It made it alot more fun and interesting. I felt I'd earnt that pet alot more too than if I'd just gotten lucky or sat on my mount for x amount of hrs.

[Lupis]

A little while back I did the Evalcharr camp too. I was lucky- I made a friend and had some nice people. But I HATED it. Because when I tamed the beast at last, I realized that I didn't even like the color- but it was such a long hunt that I didn't want to abandon it. I still have that stupid chimera in my stables, unused, because the camp was too long for me to abandon the pet that I don't want. Even if I have a hunter that wants Evalcharr now, I just won't tame him, because I already did the camp (and it was horrible).

...Unfortunately, that happens to me a lot. My appreciation for a pet comes and goes. I hated Sambas for a long time, now I like him again. But I already camped for him and abandoned him after a long period of guiltily hiding him in my stables. I don't want to camp again, camping sucks. So I just won't tame that pet.

I dunno. Camping works, for some people. But for me, it's like getting super excited about a birthday party- you get so hyped up that the reality is always a disappointment. And either way, it's such a heart ache with all the stack-campers and stress, it's just not worth it. I don't play to be stressed out as I stand in one spot.

So for me, the new taming system works much better. I enjoy tracking down the pets because it's fun and active, not stressed and... the opposite of active. And the fast respawn means I don't need to feel guilty if I decide the pet isn't for me. It's not perfect, but I don't need perfect- just not horrible.

[Darkynhalvos]

Tracking down a rare was a nice change, gives me more of a huntery feel and sense of accomplishment. Such a thing also helps cut down the risk of "tame-griefing", which is always a nice touch.

[lymang]

I think there's room for both. I've been tweeting at the blues for a while about this, asking for challenge tames and old-school camp tames. I think some of the challenges are getting dangerously close to being too gimmicky, favoring only those hunters with really leet PVP or soloing skills.

So, yes, I think they have spoiled folks a bit, but there should be both types of tames.

Yeah, this. As a hunter since Vanilla also, I think there's room for both. I have waited/camped for hours/days, and I've also engaged in the tricks to tame Molten Front rares, etc. etc. The only kind of tame I don't like is when a non-hunter kills the mob. I've been pretty fortunate, and haven't had another hunter "steal" a tame out from me, or kill a mob just to prevent me taming, but I can't say the same for non-hunters interfering.