Getting me a spirit beast

[Mockingbird]

Hello folks,

I want to tame a spirit beast. I like their special, and I like the fact that they ARE special.

Whilst I have my own preferences regarding looks (Arcturis or Gondria), I have to be realistic in that I CANNOT properly camp any of them. The longest play time I get on WoW is around an hour to two hours. I'd love to just park myself at Arcturis' spawn point and wait for 8 hours (ok, love might not be the right word, but I'd be prepared to do it), but I just logisitcally can't.

At the moment, each time I log on I do a circuit of the basin, fly to Argent Tournament and get my dailies, including whichever weapon daily it is, then go via Skoll's storm peaks spawns (there are three, right? Are any of them affected by phasing? I've done 0 quests there on my hunter), then gondria's in ZD, then check arcturis, then do the AT quests and it's pretty much time to log (sometimes I can squeeze in a random heroic).

This seems like a recipe for long-term frustration. What I think I will do instead is dedicate myself to one of them and go for it. Based on that decision, I'd like advise from the experienced tamers out there - Which is the easiest one to go for?

My thoughts were:
Arcturis has one spawn point (+) but on my server is camped 24/7 by 2-3 hunters (-)
Gondria has a relatively small number of spawns in a small area (+) and is in ZD, not a very popular zone (+) but at least one of her spawns is close to a FP (- for chance of randoms killing her)
Loque - lots of spawns (-), part of frostbitten (-), seems popular (-)
Skoll - few, close spawns (+), popular zone for rare hunters (-)

So Gondria seems the best bet - am I crazy or does that make sense?

[Loethlin]

It makes a lot of sense to me.

But Skoll has 5 spawn points. Two just N of Valkyrion, 1 N of Frosthold and 2 N of Brunhildar village.

[Illahren]

I've got em all, as more than a few of us do, and over time and helping others to get a few of them, here are the things I've learned while sitting round the campfire so to speak. Hopefully some of these tidbits can help ya somehow.

Arcturis - One spawn point, and the best time I've seen to get him is five server am. Least that's how it was on my old server before I moved but I'm not exaggerating when I say I was the third of my buddies to get him on the third day in a row at that time. Like clockwork. Might not be the same for other servers, but best bet would be to find people who have 'em just in passing and ask what time they scored him. Most hunters remember when they got their pets, especially spirit beasts.

Gondria - Took me less time than expected mainly because of an Eagle Eye trick. Here's what you do: Stand at the flightpoint and look up. There is an elevated waterway cutting through the zone from north to south. Part of some kind of gutter system or whatever, anyway, fly up and stand on it. There is a point on that walkway where you can stand and literally use Eagle Eye to see all the spawn points. Spin like a top and check 'em every few. Again, most servers are probably different but most of the Gondria's friends have have all been tamed at night 7 -10 server.

Loque - Pray. That's it. Wish I could tell you more but Loque, like you said, has the most spawn points and, even after a year and a large chunk of change, still remains the most sought after spirit beast. With only an hour of playtime or a little more per day, best bet is to roll the dice I would assume on a single camp spot and hope Lady Luck thinks you're cute. Most people I know seem to find Loque in the southeastern spawn point by the hardknuckles.

Skoll - Another morning tamer if memory serves me right from my previous server. There are multiple spawn points but most tames I've heard of happen at the point near the village east of the Bronzebeard "Escape from the Shaft" quest. I'd love to be more precise than "morning tame" but I found my Skoll at the tail end of a two day camp-a-thon for the TLPD.

In the end, I'd say if you just want one, and a particular doesn't matter, go for the one that seems to be spawning near or at your usual play-time. I don't suggest Loque taking into consideration your limited camping time, but the other three, whichever one is in your wheelhouse, load up Npcscan or Silverdragon and take a swing. More importantly than anything else is to first determine how your servers timers seem to be falling out and go from there.

Hope this helps and gl to ya!

[Lisaara]

I truly believe Gondria will be your best bet. On my server, good luck even spotting a dead Loque. Skoll wasnt too bad but you need some serious camping dedication for him and Loque. Arcturis, hunters camp there a lot but he and Gondria are a lot better chances of finding. i found arcturis around 6am. Gondria was found at 11am, 6:55pm, 3:30am, and 2:30am for me.

[Mockingbird]

Ok, thanks for the tips everyone.

Looks like Gondria's gonna be my girl (with Arcturis as a secondary if I find myself logged in at unsociable hours)

[Azunara]

I also recommend in general doing a fly by early in the morning as well check every hour/half hour. I honestly found my Loque in a day by parking one spot and checking every hour for him.

[Sarayana]

I second (third? fourth?) the suggestion to focus on Gondria. She's definitely the easiest find, simply because she's in a less used zone.

Azu is right though, checking during off hours is a great way to go. I found Loque when my toddler dragged me out of bed at 3:30 in the morning.

Good luck!

[erwil]

I second (third? fourth?) the suggestion to focus on Gondria. She's definitely the easiest find, simply because she's in a less used zone.

D8 Someone tell my server that, yet to spot the sparkling kitty.
But off hours are definitely your best choice, if you can manage jumping in and out at night/early morning that is. :3 5am seems to be the magic hour for me at least.

Edit:
Ok, scratch that. Gondria spawned on me while I was writing this. O.O

[bloodysam]

Gondria took me the least amount of time mostly because my cousin found him and said SAM GET HIM!!! so if you had someone helping you that would be good.

[Sasrei]

Id have to agree that Gondria may be your best bet. Though ih ave yet to see her spawn for quite sometime now.. alot of people are looking for her I guess. If you can your best time to check is early mornings like everyone has said. The times I usually find rares are around 7-11 in the morning. Actually 10-11 seem to be a rare happy hour lol. Ive seen and tamed or got tamed atleast 8 rares at that time. But just keep at it, and go for one you really like... sure its nice having a spirit beast but it sucks when you don't click.

Good luck!

[Royi]

Gondria and Arcturis are somewhat close to each other too. I would suggest logging on early in the morning, and do a couple fly bys.

Loque is going to be the hardest to nab, but he's my favorite SB skin so far.

What I did for Arcturis, is clear NPCSCAN/ clear SILVERDRAGON, and just hover above the Spawn point. even if its 20 minutes here, 20 minutes there. Leave your computer alone and go do other things / clean/schoolwork/tv/nap even.

Just have your speakers set to loud. When Arcturis spawns, you will actually hear the noise a split second before he shows up.

[WildcatTM]

Skoll was the easiest to tame for me. I never really saw a lot of people looking for me. The only time I saw someone was right when I decided to look for him. I saw another Hunter tame him. That was the last person I saw. A day later I was able to tame Skoll. Arcturis was a bit discouraging at first, but on my server few Hunters are willing to put that extra effort (not that I can blame them). Gondria was actually the most annoying for me due to the Elemental Invasion. Loque was sadly very easy since I had a pretty good idea as to when he'll spawn.

Usually if you don't have a jump off point, the camping will be long. I was lucky enough to have a jump off point for 3 of my 4 spirit beasts.

[Novikova]

Yeah, I've had a time finding a jump point for Skoll. Either no one sees him or no one's talking. C'est la vie. And it's good you got Loque! He's one of the tough ones if it's packed in the basin and you don't know the time. It's part of why I share times. There's a lot of folks out for Skoll now, but I'd honestly go after the one you like the most.