When is it time to just give up ?

[Shankmcgank]

Hi all, once again...

So I'm trying to farm a rare version of Lizard Hatchling.
(http://www.warcraftpets.com/wow-pets/be ... -hatchling) (http://www.wowhead.com/npc=61321#comments)

I've read all the comments on the Lizard Hatchling; both here, and at wowhead.

I flew around STV yesterday, from early afternoon (1 PM or so) until 5 AM EST, killing everything that wasn't a Forest Spiderling or Lizard Hatchling spawn, as I fought these, and killing all the Tree Python, Polly, and Beetle spawns I saw.

With the exception of a few small breaks for my sanity, dinner, shower, etc...I spent a solid 8 hours flying around in-game, bored to tears and failing to get this pet. In the meantime I managed to go on a streak where I found 3 rare Forest Spiderling spawns in a row (never seen 3 rare pets in a row before), and another where I got 2 rares in the same battle, but neither were the Lizard Hatchling. I literally fought and killed hundreds of pet spawns.

I've been all around STV, non-instanced ZG, Jaguero Isle, Arena, Grom' Gol, Kunzen Camp, etc.

The issue I have with using a critter stone, is that it seems there are a lot of critters, and I hardly ever get critter stones, usually magic, undead, elemental, or aquatic, for some reason. The other issue is that since I spent so much time there, it's going to feel like an even bigger waste. Then, like a gambler who is chasing his losses always telling himself that the next hand of cards is going to be the big winner; I feel that since I've done so many pet battles and failed in my quest for a rare, that surely the next pet battle will have to have it !

8 solid hours (probably more, honestly) seems like a waste for ONE rare pet when I still have 169 more to go.

Like the title says, when is it time to just give up ?

Any help, suggestions, advice or encouragement is appreciated.

[Jefra]

I would have giving up after like a half hour lol. But I also do have a bunch of critter stones I could use if I wanted this.

[Casca]

There is always that one that just won't spawn. Take a break from going after this specific pet, a few days, then come back and try again. Do this a few times if necessary and eventually it will spawn.
Don't try too long on a single pet or it will burn you out and you don't want to keep going altogether.

[Kpb321]

Lizard Hatchling is a beast not a critter =).

Personally, I'd say just move on for now. As you've got 169 pets left to go I'm sure there are more than a couple beasts in that list so don't use a stone yet but give your sanity a break and go work on some of the other pets you still need to upgrade. Once you are getting closer to the end of the process then you can come back and give it another try and decide if you want to actually use a stone.

I got all blue a couple weeks ago and I definitely used stones on things I could have farmed but didn't have the patience for anymore. Did a number of 3 for 1 trade ins to get the last couple beast and flying pets stoned. I ended up having enough critter stones to cover my needs there but definitely used up a few stones there too.

Since it always works out that way I've got 2 beast and 2 flying stones I don't need now that I've gotten in the last couple weeks. Could have saved my trade ins if I had waited but I still had left over stones of the types I traded in so it's not like I'm completely out of any type of stone now.

[Digem]

Lizard Hatchling is a beast not a critter =).

Personally, I'd say just move on for now. As you've got 169 pets left to go I'm sure there are more than a couple beasts in that list so don't use a stone yet but give your sanity a break and go work on some of the other pets you still need to upgrade. Once you are getting closer to the end of the process then you can come back and give it another try and decide if you want to actually use a stone.

I got all blue a couple weeks ago and I definitely used stones on things I could have farmed but didn't have the patience for anymore. Did a number of 3 for 1 trade ins to get the last couple beast and flying pets stoned. I ended up having enough critter stones to cover my needs there but definitely used up a few stones there too.

Since it always works out that way I've got 2 beast and 2 flying stones I don't need now that I've gotten in the last couple weeks. Could have saved my trade ins if I had waited but I still had left over stones of the types I traded in so it's not like I'm completely out of any type of stone now.

This is pretty much the best advice.
Also, yes that is how the evil RNG works you get the stones after you don't need them anymore.
Save them for next expansion should be a lot of new pets to collect, stone , and level.

Only farm something as long as it fun or at least tolerable for you.
I found moving on and coming back later seemed to work pretty good.

[Shankmcgank]

Lizard Hatchling is a beast not a critter =).

Personally, I'd say just move on for now. As you've got 169 pets left to go I'm sure there are more than a couple beasts in that list so don't use a stone yet but give your sanity a break and go work on some of the other pets you still need to upgrade. Once you are getting closer to the end of the process then you can come back and give it another try and decide if you want to actually use a stone.

I got all blue a couple weeks ago and I definitely used stones on things I could have farmed but didn't have the patience for anymore. Did a number of 3 for 1 trade ins to get the last couple beast and flying pets stoned. I ended up having enough critter stones to cover my needs there but definitely used up a few stones there too.

Since it always works out that way I've got 2 beast and 2 flying stones I don't need now that I've gotten in the last couple weeks. Could have saved my trade ins if I had waited but I still had left over stones of the types I traded in so it's not like I'm completely out of any type of stone now.

Oops...see what hours and hours of failing, plus little sleep do to me when I make a post ? lol. I don't get many beast stones either.

I like to finish zones...this is the last pet I need from STV, so if I can get the rare, then I never have to worry about going back there. It just seems like I'm giving up to go farm something else and come back later, with that one nagging pet preventing me from checking off another zone.

It really pisses me off that RNG is so messed up. I can get 3 rares of the spiderling to spawn in a row, but I can't get one %^#$*&% rare Lizard in hours of trying. I wish they would add a streak breaker in, like with bonus rolls. Unfortunately, in another thread I made asking when rarity is determined; it appears this wouldn't work.

I should probably listen to you guys and go work on something else but it's just going to feel like that much more of wasted time and a failure of epic proportions if I leave and go work on something else.

[Mykro9]

It won't be a failure.
You are looking for some pixels in a video game.
Now that I brought some perspective into this...
Like others have said, go do something else.
Hell, go get every OTHER beast rare, then come back and decide if just stoning it is worth it.
If you have a lot of cage-able beast pets, ask friends or people on here if they can help you with their unused stones to round out your collection, so it won't feel so bad 'wasting' a stone on your lizard.

[Peanutty]

"When is it time to give up?" My answer: never.

I've spent many days stubbornly trying to farm up rare pets, and we're not even talking Minfernal levels of rare here: 2 days on a brown Yakrat, over 2 weeks (on and off) on Scarab Hatchlings (had to get the two unique colors), about 2 days on Desert Spiders to get both colors. Coral Adders filled my afternoons for about 10 days. I sat through 6 snowstorms in Storm Peaks to get a rare Arctic Fox Kit.

Yes, I have a lot of patience. But I tried to make the best of it too. While farming my team always included a lower level pet, so I was boosting them as I went, and all those battles fed into my Legendary Pet Battler achieve as well. In the end I managed to tame almost all wild pets as rare (had to stone a few ultra tough spawns like Minfernal) and easily had my Legendary Pet Battler achieve.

Another option you could try, if you have friends or guildmates that pet battle, is to send them out to STV and engage in battles to help you look for that rare spawn. If they find one, have them hold it for you until you get there, then they can forfeit out so you can take over.

[Dakaf]

A lot of good advice here! Don't give up, but breaks are definitely needed! Make sure you have at least one of the pet from each zone and move on, if you can't easily find a rare. When you're done collecting, you will be doing A LOT of pet tamer dailies. Always a chance of a stone from the bags that you are rewarded with. Beast stones are rare, but when leveling, you could fight beasts more than other types. The family type stone drop is determined by the pet engaged in battle. Find a place with a lot of beasts (like around Gorespine) and have a ball!

[Deadlycurves]

I understand your frustration, i have clocked 14 hours farming for a rare sand kitten, decided to leave that one for a while and chase the handful of others i need. the advice above is good and highly recommended, several times i have spent hours chasing a specific rare, only to find it sometime later when i have battled a spawn on a whim while going to do something else.

[Shankmcgank]

Update:

Went to STV this morning, anticipating another 8 hours of failure.

First pet battle, right outside Grom'Gol...rare B/B. Shitty breed, but whatever, I'll take it !!! STV crossed off the list

Thanks for all the advice and tips.

Funny how I couldn't find one in hours of trying and the first battle has a rare.

[Tekulve2012]

I have a comment ... someone said they rarely get beast stones. It made me realize that it is unfair about beast stone drops. Considering that beasts and critters are the 2 biggest families and that we battle them most in the wild, more of these stone types should be dropping.

I understand that we all need(ed) beast/critter/flying most for upgrades- since there's where there are the highest #s of pets- but even still, I find beast stones unrealistically rare {this assuming that the battle you're in [the pet types] influences the stone type that might drop}.
------------
Back to the OP... some collectors want to find all rares without using stones..a purist approach... while I greatly respect that, I'm not patient enough ..stone away when you have one (if frustrated).

[Peanutty]

I have a comment ... someone said they rarely get beast stones. It made me realize that it is unfair about beast stone drops. Considering that beasts and critters are the 2 biggest families and that we battle them most in the wild, more of these stone types should be dropping.

I don't think it's unfair now that you can trade in stones. Before that yes, it seemed like you were really working against RNG because not only did you need a stone, but a particular one. Or you can always hope for/trade for/buy BoE stones, though generally I find it better to sell those than to use them myself.

[Kpb321]

I have a comment ... someone said they rarely get beast stones. It made me realize that it is unfair about beast stone drops. Considering that beasts and critters are the 2 biggest families and that we battle them most in the wild, more of these stone types should be dropping.

As far as I can tell the bags from the tamers/spirits/BoF have an equal chance of dropping any family specific stone which does make some sense. When fighting wild pets you seem to have a much higher chance of getting a stone matching the type of the "primary" pet. That should mean that from wild pet battles you'll end up with a lot more beast/critter stones than say undead stones. Unfortunately, that drop rate is so low compared to the bags that it doesn't seem like it really has that much of an effect. Combine that with Critters, Beasts and Flying pets being the top 3 for the number of pets that have to be stoned along with some really hard to catch pets in those types and you've got a recipe for everyone needing those stones. With the 3 for 1 trade in now and the ability to buy them from the CT if needed, it's not horrible but it certainly would have been worse before those options were available.

[Waynebrady]

Like others mentioned, just leave and come back another time. Don't be upset if you search for hours and still don't wind-up with a rare, it happens a lot. I like to make sure that I kill off the non-rare pet that I battle, that way when it respawns you have a chance of it being a rare. Also, I try and kill other battle pets around the pet I just battled, just to push new spawns.

[Hootstwo]

Go park yourself near the legendary goat and fight all the kids there, you'll scare up a beast stone in WAAAAAAAAAAAAY less than 8 hours (more likely 30-60 minutes). Voila - still sane!

[Mykro9]

Go park yourself near the legendary goat and fight all the kids there, you'll scare up a beast stone in WAAAAAAAAAAAAY less than 8 hours (more likely 30-60 minutes). Voila - still sane!

I will piggyback on this.

All the beasts of fable have great spawn points for family specific battle pets. Gorespine, Nitun, and No-No are great for beast, critter and aquatic pets, and their respective stones. I wish there was a beasts of fable flyer, or other family besides the beast/critter/aquatic only setup. By the way where is a good area to farm flyers?

[Gwenolyn]

By the way where is a good area to farm flyers?

Timeless Isle.

When I had just a few left to get rare, I found my time was better spent doing tamers and battles to level. Stones will start showing up. Everyone has a tough one... looking at you Coral Adder (which comes as a secondary on Timeless Isle now... figures I've caught/seen several rares.)

I disagree that you should NEVER give up. There are way too many pets and way too little sanity. And more pets in WoD on the way. I don't even remember which ones in my collection were stoned and which were caught now. I stoned maybe 6-7 wild pets??

[Dakaf]

Don't forget about the [pet]dragonbone hatchling[/pet]! It's spawn points are rarely if ever camped. There are like 5 giant dragon bones half in the tundra in Dragonblight. They're level 22 I think? Not sure on their level anymore. I did level up one of my toons a couple levels there just fighting them to get a couple stones to drop.

[Angelwings626]

=D I usually give it 100 battles. I don't usually look at time. Sometimes I will kill everything in an area and rush checking the respawns. After an hour I will use a stone.....upgraded the breed or color style i wanted the most....

I hunted down almost ALL of my rares, with the exception of the Unborn Valkyrie. On retrospect I don't remember hunting the rares...I had a month of no work, so i did it till my eyes bled, and It feels like whatever to me. The great thing is leveling while hunting tho.

Don't waste too much time, got pets to level afterwards ^_~....and then raid pets....and then achievement pets, and the isle pets, and then farming gold, and then tournament stuffs...... Not to mention there's some other parts of the game like raids or instance....altho at this point, I forget what those are....