When is rarity determined ?

[Shankmcgank]

Hi,

I'm just wondering if anyone knows or has strong evidence to show when a pet's rarity is determined ?

I've been trying to farm a Lizard Hatchling in STV, and I've been here all day without seeing a rare. I'm trying to get one as a secondary from the other pets in the zone, but it seems it's always the primary that is rare. Then when I fight a Lizard Hatchling, the secondary will be rare, arghhhhhh !!!

The reason I'm asking, is if the rarity is determined before combat starts (i.e. next pet battle, primary will be rare, no matter what pet battle it is), then I'll just skip over everything that isn't a Lizard Hatchling. However, if rarity is pre-determined by the actual pet spawn, then it won't matter.

Can anyone give me some information in regards to this ?

Thanks.

[Jerebear]

Rarity and breed are determined when the battle pet spawns in the world. One of the reasons we know this is prior to a recent patch (I think 5.4), pets that spawned in groups all had the same rarity and breed (This of course was fixed).

[Shankmcgank]

Awesome, thanks for the quick reply ! I guess my luck is just terrible...8 hours later, still no rare Lizard Hatchling.

[Khorah]

/comfort..
I recently farmed up a rare [pet]shimmershell snail[/pet] and ran into similar issues, and this was bouncing into different realms.. Hang in there.. he WILL spawn

[Lowbrowdeluxe]

Just to make sure, OP, you're ah...*cough* removing any spawns you meet that aren't the rare you're looking for so you don't fight the same group again on the next pass, right?

[Maizing]

Just to make sure, OP, you're ah...*cough* removing any spawns you meet that aren't the rare you're looking for so you don't fight the same group again on the next pass, right?

Yeah, unless the pet itself is rare (such as [pet]minfernal[/pet]s), you need to ensure that a group with "less than desirable" pets is not left out in the world... because those pets will remain the same breeds/rarities each time they are engaged in a pet battle.

[Shankmcgank]

Just to make sure, OP, you're ah...*cough* removing any spawns you meet that aren't the rare you're looking for so you don't fight the same group again on the next pass, right?

Hi,

Yes, I flew around from early afternoon (1 PM or so) until 5 AM EST, killing everything that wasn't a Forest Spiderling or Lizard Hatchling spawn, and killing all the Tree Python, Polly, and Beetle spawns I saw. I did take a few small breaks for sanity, but I bet I spent a solid 8 hours fighting / killing and I still don't have it.

[Dakaf]

Kill all of the non pet battle critters too. Some speculation that there may be a max number of critters total in the zone. Good luck, you will get it eventually!

[Jerebear]

Just to make sure, OP, you're ah...*cough* removing any spawns you meet that aren't the rare you're looking for so you don't fight the same group again on the next pass, right?

Hi,

Yes, I flew around from early afternoon (1 PM or so) until 5 AM EST, killing everything that wasn't a Forest Spiderling or Lizard Hatchling spawn, and killing all the Tree Python, Polly, and Beetle spawns I saw. I did take a few small breaks for sanity, but I bet I spent a solid 8 hours fighting / killing and I still don't have it.

You should also be killing the Forest Spiderling and Lizard Hatchling spawns that are not rare. Since rarity is determined at spawn, leaving them up doesn't help at all.

[Shankmcgank]

Just to make sure, OP, you're ah...*cough* removing any spawns you meet that aren't the rare you're looking for so you don't fight the same group again on the next pass, right?

Hi,

Yes, I flew around from early afternoon (1 PM or so) until 5 AM EST, killing everything that wasn't a Forest Spiderling or Lizard Hatchling spawn, and killing all the Tree Python, Polly, and Beetle spawns I saw. I did take a few small breaks for sanity, but I bet I spent a solid 8 hours fighting / killing and I still don't have it.

You should also be killing the Forest Spiderling and Lizard Hatchling spawns that are not rare. Since rarity is determined at spawn, leaving them up doesn't help at all.

I do for sure...I should probably be arrested by the Stranglethorn State Police for animal abuse or hunting without a valid license.

[Opallena]

You'll get it eventually; every collector has had at least one pet that was tough to get a rare version of. Mine was the tiny twister...

[Tonid]

The hillsbrad rabbit and the ooze in Hinterlands were worst for me ^^.

What I've read is that if you can't get the rare, try to use a team to kill the opponent in pet battle, don't forfit and don't kill the pets with your character -- they say it makes respawn time much longer. There were however times, when I didn't have the patience to pet battle, so I just shot the poor thing (my main is a hunter).

In general, from my observation:

- As others say above, rarity is definitely determined at the time the pet team spawns, not pre-battle.
- If you forfit the battle without killing the first pet (you can damage it), the pet will respawn very shortly with exactly the same team setup.
- If you kill even a single pet in pet battle, then forfit, there will be no respawn of the same team, and you'll have to wait for regular respawn.
- If you kill pets in pet battle, they will respawn quicker I believe, than if you kill them after forfitting with your character.

It also REALLY pays off to read comments on some pets here on the site. For example, I would have had a horrid time trying to get the rare pet in un'goro (diametrodon or however you spell it hatchling). The key thing is they appear with selected "mothers", so if you keep the "mothers" alive (by marking them), and kill other regular mobs for more "mothers" to spawn, you increase the speed of pet respawn. Oh, I didn't have the patience to pet battle there, so I just killed the pets off with my hunter if there was no rare.

[Zimahl]

- If you forfit the battle without killing the first pet (you can damage it), the pet will respawn very shortly with exactly the same team setup.
- If you kill even a single pet in pet battle, then forfit, there will be no respawn of the same team, and you'll have to wait for regular respawn.
- If you kill pets in pet battle, they will respawn quicker I believe, than if you kill them after forfitting with your character.

This is huge and should be forced into memory by all collectors. A few times I've been leveling pets and have run across rares that I'd like to trap but it was probably going to a close battle. I'd rather forfeit out quickly, put in a good team that is capture-safe, and then battle again than lose the rare because of an unfortunate crit or loss.

[Tonid]

- If you forfit the battle without killing the first pet (you can damage it), the pet will respawn very shortly with exactly the same team setup.
- If you kill even a single pet in pet battle, then forfit, there will be no respawn of the same team, and you'll have to wait for regular respawn.
- If you kill pets in pet battle, they will respawn quicker I believe, than if you kill them after forfitting with your character.

This is huge and should be forced into memory by all collectors. A few times I've been leveling pets and have run across rares that I'd like to trap but it was probably going to a close battle. I'd rather forfeit out quickly, put in a good team that is capture-safe, and then battle again than lose the rare because of an unfortunate crit or loss.

Precisely my approach. I had a specific team for capturing (now I have all rare, so I no longer need it): kun-lai runt for quick destruction of other pets, and magical crawdad with 2 tranquility/wish and a low damage aquatic spell for bringing the pets down to capture level. Obviously, for lower level pets, I had some unleveled pets handy that could do less damage.