Grinding for Rare Crabs is Making Me Crabby

[Milotha]

I swear I've killed hundreds of crabs each day. If I'm lucky I get one rare crab to spawn. He's not dropped the pet. None for sale on the AH. My bank is over flowing with crab meat and timeless gear. Just need to vent.

[Venun]

Consider the tradeforums, high pop servers have crabs like these in surplus, where you could offer stones / other pets to get it much easier

[Waveryn]

Someone needs to explain to Blizz that frustration caused by such low drop rates on hourly spawned pets and even worse on mobs that hundreds must be killed to make a rare spawn, that also has a low drop rate is not what pet collectors consider fun and such things are one of the reasons they continue to loose long time subscribers. Some things meant to be fun should be just that made fun and rather easy not so time consuming of endless hours of gameplay. JMHO

[Quintessence]

Keep at it! The pet will drop eventually. Or as Venun suggested, the option to purchase or trade for it is always there too.

I had tons of trouble getting the crab to spawn as well, but rather than focusing my efforts on spawning it (which just led to disappointment), I took an alt with skinning out to the Timeless Isle and just killed crabs for leather. That felt much more rewarding than hoping for the rarespawn to pop up.

Also, concentrating on a relatively small area seemed to work much better for me than trying to kill and keep an eye on a large stretch of beach. [url=http://www.wowhead.com/maps?data=6757:270745259732247730222699209669230755202747191733279786291790]Here's a Wowhead map[/url] of the general area that I stuck to when killing crabs. It's next to the alliance flightpath, and there's a small cluster in the area. I managed to get 2 rare crabs to spawn there (not on the same day though). I'm sure the horde have a similar set up near their flightpath.

But it really is frustrating that the rare can spawn at any other point where a crab's been killed, so I guess you just have to hope for the best in your small section of the coastline.

Someone needs to explain to Blizz that frustration caused by such low drop rates on hourly spawned pets and even worse on mobs that hundreds must be killed to make a rare spawn, that also has a low drop rate is not what pet collectors consider fun and such things are one of the reasons they continue to loose long time subscribers. Some things meant to be fun should be just that made fun and rather easy not so time consuming of endless hours of gameplay. JMHO

Prior to the implementation of pet battles I would have argued that low drop rates and requiring to farm WAS the fun. It was the thrill of the hunt, "just one more kill..." that made it interesting. Of course, back then there weren't over 500 pets to collect though, and there weren't various options for collecting them.

These days there's a high demand for pets and more of a desire for instant gratification. There are just TOO MANY now that it would be unrealistic to keep a 100% old-school mentality of "farm for everything yourself", and that mentality is only further diminished by the increased availability of most pets.

Perhaps Blizzard needs to keep this change in mind when implementing pets, but for the most part, I think they've done a fairly good job balancing between old-school mechanics and post-pet battle collecting mentality. I mean, if they made the majority of new pets NOT cageable, then I definitely could say they need to rethink everything.

[Bistromath]

They make a medication that will kill crabs quickly. Lol

[Azrile]

The area just north of the horde FP has a place where 6-7 crabs spawn all together. If I am on my main, I kill the 7, then spin around and klll a jademist dancer or two and by that time the crabs start respawning. Pretty easy to force rares there.

the other option is just make a trade-off. All of these things sell for about the same price.. so if you find the crab frustrating, maybe go into the cave and farm the foreboding and jadefire ones and sell them and buy the crab. I personally had great luck with those two.

[Waveryn]

Nothing wrong with buying or trading but personally I am more than a pet collector and what one calls an achievement W**** and there is a new achievement non account wide to loot all the rare items, so even if I get mad and buy something I will still have to farm it for the achievement on my Main and is why I hate Blizz making these take so much time that could be better used running dailys, randoms and raids.

[Worgenbait]

Yeah, I'm an achievement hunter as well, and while I bought my crab, I still need the drop for the achieve. Man, this achieve is nasty as hell for us hunters. As for drop rate, it took me over 2 weeks to even see the crab once. I am not looking forward to farming the drop for the achieve.

[Rioriel]

Pets are my end-game, decided not to raid this tier. This island has to last a bloody long time :')

Being a rogue I tend to whack the poisons on and do things in hour-long sessions. Just mindlessly kill and loot and hope for the best. Then take a break and do something else. I find the island quite frustrating generally, seemed to be endlessly chasing rares called out in general chat to arrive as they're being looted.

I like my way. Head down and kill / fish / grind tokens for an hour. Then have a beer.

[Milotha]

Another 300 crabs killed total today and yesterday. Zero elites spawned. Farming by both flight paths for hours. So few other people on my realm even killing the crabs. I've probably killed at most 7 elite crabs so far. Have all the other pets except the one that requires rep. I should just give up on the crab and grind the rep instead. I have an alemental and a python to trade. Maybe I will get lucky.

[Mizix]

I feel for you! After a full week of crabs' killing and seeing only five rare spawns in total, I gave up and bought it on the AH on another server (where I just had enough money, I'm now totally broken there >.<). Didn't worth the time investment and the frustration, really.

[Sanzul]

Someone needs to explain to Blizz that frustration caused by such low drop rates on hourly spawned pets and even worse on mobs that hundreds must be killed to make a rare spawn, that also has a low drop rate is not what pet collectors consider fun and such things are one of the reasons they continue to loose long time subscribers.

And yet you are here talking about it, and everyone here wants one and continues to try to get one. It's working exactly as intended. If all you had to do was kill ten crabs to get one, we'd all be done with the island already and canceling our subscriptions out of boredom. The drop rates are intentionally set so that you'll continue to have stuff to do for a long time, while still getting something every now and then. You're not supposed to be able to get everything from the island in a week, but it's still supposed to feel like you'll get them all eventually if you hang in there.

I like my way. Head down and kill / fish / grind tokens for an hour. Then have a beer.

That's not a very effective way of doing things on the island, unfortunately. Most of the rares are on 30-60 minute respawn timers, and the best way to get them is to write down the time a rare dies, go do something else for half an hour (AFK or chasing other rares), then return and camp that pet until it spawns (guaranteed to take 30 minutes or less). Most of them have something you can kill while you wait, but the waiting is going to be more productive than the killing (with the exception of Jadefire, I guess). The only pets on the island that are really suited to your style of grinding are the crab, Ominous Flame, and Jademists.

[Rendigar]

I like my way. Head down and kill / fish / grind tokens for an hour. Then have a beer.

The only pets on the island that are really suited to your style of grinding are the crab, Ominous Flame, and Jademists.

Considering this is a thread on grinding the crab I think it's a pretty safe bet that Rioriel's method works perfectly fine. Less putting people down, more helpful ideas, makes this a good place to visit.

And on that note: I have yet to be in the right place at the right time for the rare crab, but I think the idea of sticking to one area is better than running around like mad (guilty as charged). The area north of the Horde flight master is a good place to spend time because you have crabs, the jademist dancers (for another pet - which you can always sell) and the pirate ship also spawns up there. I've also seen Chelon's shell spawn there, for those who need him for the achievement to kill all the rares once. It's a fairly compact area with something like 8 crab spawns, so can keep you busy - especially if you aren't a fan of fishing to pass the time (beer drinking is a whole 'nother story).

[Abyl1]

I haven't found the pet yet, but I was happy to see that someone posted in general chat yesterday that a monstrous was up so we could all run over to get a chance at the drop. It was nice to see the community pitching in like that.

[Milotha]

After taking a break from the endless crab grind for a few days I gave it a shot again today. In the space of time that I would normally spawn at most one rare crab, I got 6 today. No pet still, but at least I got a chance at it after a couple days of zero rares spawned. Didn't change anything. Still grinding both flight path sites. Maybe they upped the spawn rate. maybe I just got lucky. Still haven't seen a rare crab called out in chat except by me, and still not one up on the AH.

[Milotha]

No crab after over 30 rare kills, endless crabs killed, and no accepted offers from my trade posts. Giving up on this pet and hoping someday it shows up on AH.

[Orcking]

And yet you are here talking about it, and everyone here wants one and continues to try to get one. It's working exactly as intended. If all you had to do was kill ten crabs to get one, we'd all be done with the island already and canceling our subscriptions out of boredom. The drop rates are intentionally set so that you'll continue to have stuff to do for a long time, while still getting something every now and then. You're not supposed to be able to get everything from the island in a week, but it's still supposed to feel like you'll get them all eventually if you hang in there.

It's not working as intended. I don't mean to come across as an ass but I absolutely hate it when someone gives this canned response, as if saying it makes everything a-ok. People are not talking about it as much as venting about it and finding alternate ways to get the pet. People have a ton of other things to do ranging from achievements to different zones to other characters. Mindlessly killing crabs in hopes of a rare spawning, and then the rare having the pet is bad gameplay. Much like the minfernal and scourged whelpling that happened.

That's not a very effective way of doing things on the island, unfortunately. Most of the rares are on 30-60 minute respawn timers, and the best way to get them is to write down the time a rare dies, go do something else for half an hour (AFK or chasing other rares), then return and camp that pet until it spawns (guaranteed to take 30 minutes or less). Most of them have something you can kill while you wait, but the waiting is going to be more productive than the killing (with the exception of Jadefire, I guess). The only pets on the island that are really suited to your style of grinding are the crab, Ominous Flame, and Jademists.

This statement makes no sense. The person you replied to stated they were farming and collecting coins, while waiting. You say a more productive thing to do is to sit AFK and come back when the timer is up (there's an addon by the way, no need to write down times). You then say that waiting is more productive than killing but you can kill things as you wait...sigh

[Yellowlab]

Don't hate me, but I have only killed about 5 Monstrous Spineclaws and I have got the pet twice...both breeds. Don't get me started on those Imperial Pythons though! I finally got my Death Adder Hatchling after about 60 Python kills.

[Squall]

http://www.warcraftpets.com/community/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=7441

[GrosBonda]

Don't hate me, but I have only killed about 5 Monstrous Spineclaws and I have got the pet twice...both breeds. Don't get me started on those Imperial Pythons though! I finally got my Death Adder Hatchling after about 60 Python kills.

I do hate you
kill over 300 crab , and 11 rare no pets.....
Buying is not an option ..... i want it by a drop, i know i am silly....