Hunt for Rare or settle for less?

[Harpua]

After a couple of months of pet collecting, I begin to wonder if I have it all wrong.

I have spent a lot of time hunting Rare versions of pets. Sometimes I capture Rares that pop up as secondary pets. Other times I go into a zone looking for a specific pet - say a Stone Armadillo in Desolace. The problem with hunting for the Rare version is that it can take a lot of time. On top of that, you may not always get the best breed. I am beginning to wonder if that's not a waste of time.

Tonight I was in Hillsbrad looking for a couple of pets - Lofty Libram and Infested Bear Cub. They both have a limited spawn range. There was also someone else there who looked like they were doing the same thing. It hit me that I might be better off just capturing the best breed and using a stone on it later. Especially if it's not one I'm likely to use a lot.

Is this crazy or sensible?

[Shikon01]

For me part of the fun is the chase in trying to capture a rare pet, but there are limits of course regarding some of the hard to find pets such as minfernal, weather specific, unborn val'kyr as well as many more that you tend to get what you can find in highly hunted areas. I specifically focus on blue quality pets that I know I will immediately use in pet battles and of course I stone bought pets. Although I would love to have all blues, there are limits to my patience w/ leveling, quests, etc to do and w/ the knowledge that some pets aren't so suitable for pet battles as others, but at the same time want at least as much variety as possible in my collection. It all comes down to what you enjoy and what your purpose and goals are. I also use my pet leveling and pets hunts to level other toons as well.

[Azrile]

If you have a lot of high level alts and park them at the different pet tamers in Pandaria.. you will have a ton of stones.

I made a best effort to get wild rares, but once I felt even slightly annoyed, I just moved on and dealt with it later with a stone. There is definitely a priority to stones though. I would try a bit harder for Beasts and Flyers, and maybe critters. But magic, dragons and undead.. you will have a crapload of stones for.

[Opallena]

My rule of thumb is: If you're not going to fight with it, just capture a rare of any breed. If you know you're going to fight with it, take some extra time to get another breed that you like. As mentioned above though, certain pets like Minfernal and Unborn Val'kyr that have many spawn locations or are on very long respawn timers in heavily hunted ares it's not worth it to hunt more than just one.

Bear in mind though, once Warlords of Draenor comes out we will be able to merge pets to get new breeds (as it is understood so far, we'll see once beta comes out). So if you're not planning on using it right away, you might just want to capture any rare then wait for the expansion.

[Kpb321]

If it is one your not likely to use a lot why would you care about the breed?

Overall I agree with Lexli and I generally don't use a stone on a wild pet unless it's a really rare pet that is pain to capture at all or unless it has a huge number of breeds. For example the Flayer Youngling. Initially I captured the first rare I saw and didn't care what breed it was. When I decided I wanted a (S/S) breed I captured the first one of that breed that I saw and stoned it. Wasn't going to spend forever hunting them to get a S/S rare capture in the wild and I had extra Human stones.

The one other scenario where I have used a stone on a wild pet is that last pet in a zone. For example I got to the point where the Kuitan Mongoose was the only pet I needed to get as a blue in Townlong Steppes and I could have kept doing pet battles and gotten it but I decided to just use a stone. I didn't need any of the other pets in the zone anymore so there wasn't any chance of picking up an upgrade for another pet from one of the second pets in the battle and they are kinda spread out. If it was a different breed or they weren't as spread out I might have kept trying but I was ready to be done with the zone so just used a stone on a good breed and called it good.

[Kendrah]

I caught whatever one was the first quality I got of a particular pet. I think if you're planning on leveling them to 25 or doing the panda pet battle dailies, you will probably be okay with hunting for rares of critters and beasts. Those two have a TON of different pets. They are, by far, the two biggest ones. When you get to the panda dailies, the bags drop the rare stones and you'll quickly get most of your other breeds fairly quickly if you don't need the rare like OMGNAOZ!

[Peanutty]

Even with a ton of stones I still vastly prefer to hunt for rares and nearly all my pets were caught rare. The only exception are the super hard to find pets, like Minfernal and Unborn Val'kyr - it's hard enough just finding one that I won't waste my time on it.

Taming rares for me is where the excitement is in wild pet battles, I get a thrill out of seeing that blue pop up. I've spent over 2 days on some of my rares (insanity) because I not only needed it rare, but with a specific skin (Yakrat, Gold Beetle are two I can remember off the top of my head). I'm a lot less choosy about breeds though, unless I know I'm going to be using a pet as a regular in my line up I will take any breed.

[Cec]

I think its very individual wheather you wanna hunt for a rare or you wanna stone the pet.

My pets are almost all caught rares, exept for minferal, unborn' valkyr, giraffe calf and some specifik breed pets like the flayer youngling.

But i spend more then 3 days over 9 hours hunting for a rare wildhammer gryphon hatchling and 7 days for a water waveling. The anodize robocub and the infected bear cub took me weeks to get in rare quality. Its a rush for me i think lol!

I guess it depends alot how much time you wanna put into it and, if its worth for you. For example if you have lots of stones cause you are doing dailies, then maybe its worth just stoning the pet.

Good luck with the pet hunting!!

[Ammeg]

I collect them first, and upgrade them later.

So if I find one, I am happy. I'll then go back to the spawn points and farm until I get a rare quality at a later date, saved me so much time with the Zookeeper achievement among others.

[Corah]

I agree with Ammeg, collect first, upgrade later. Who knows, as you hunt for other pets in the zone you might find an upgrade. I would only use stones on wild pets that are an absolute pain to get, the giraffe calf for example.

[Shikon01]

If you have a lot of high level alts and park them at the different pet tamers in Pandaria.. you will have a ton of stones.

I made a best effort to get wild rares, but once I felt even slightly annoyed, I just moved on and dealt with it later with a stone. There is definitely a priority to stones though. I would try a bit harder for Beasts and Flyers, and maybe critters. But magic, dragons and undead.. you will have a crapload of stones for.

I 'm not one of those that have a stable of level 90's just one so far though I wish I did lol !! I agree about getting the type of pet you want to upgrade later..if you fail to get a blue while on the hunt. I personally, hate having to go back and hunt for pets at earlier zones w/ rare and hard to get pets being the exception.Heck, I still have all the pet tamers quest left to do...ya I get side tracked and working in RL is a chain around my neck, but I'm a causal gamer and will never be able to keep up w/ today's whiz kids and I can accept that

[Savior82]

Collected all at whatever quality first, slowly working towards rarification now. Will use stones on the pets that cant appear as rare first, then the rest if needed. It takes a long time, but hey, at least it's something to do.