Re. Ironclaw Scuttler Spawn Mechanics

[Abashera]

The first time I went to The Cracking Plains in Frostfire Ridge, I saw about five Ironclaws. Because ALL of them were H/H, and I wanted a P/P, I killed them all and moved on, planning on getting a P/P to spawn later. I've also found a few in other spawn points, but again they were H/H.

Since that one time I killed all the ones I saw, I have not seen ONE SINGLE Ironclaw, ANYWHERE.

I've been checking numerous times throughout the day—every single day since WoD launched—every time I need to return to my Garison I stop by a couple places and check. Still... absolutely nothing.

And I have yet to see another player battling pets in the immediate area.

So I have a theory that goes like this, and I'm looking for people to verify it or prove it wrong... and I hope you prove this wrong.

I'm leaning toward the idea that every player gets Ironclaws to spawn once, and only once, and once they kill them, no more spawn for that character.

What I'm looking for is for other players to capture the ones they find, kill the rest, and see if they ever see another one spawn again. I'm not looking for people to say "yeah I see them there all the time." I want you to first kill the spares, and see what happens.

I also noticed that every single Ironclaw I checked was H/H. Two other collectors told me that every Ironclaw they found was P/P, and they saw zero H/Hs. So perhaps each character only gets one breed to spawn, kind of like Jade Tentacle where you only get to have one breed, and you will never own the other; except that with the Ironclaw you may get the other when leveling a different toon.

If the theory is correct, I wish I had not killed the ones I found. I will have to wait to level my Paladin and try again.

[Abashera]

Another theory is that they're like Tiny Twisters in Arathi Highlands, and people have to kill pets in the zone to get Ironclaws to spawn, and at the moment not enough people are pet-battling.

Then there's the possibility that they are subject to some weather mechanic.

They may have a VERY LONG re-spawn timer.

But because I've checked all throughout the day, I seriously doubt it's related to some particular time of the day (i.e. daytime, night time, morning, etc).

And someone on wowhead says that they share spawns with Fire-Proof Roaches. I can't except that because I've not seen one single roach in the places I'm checking. Although I noticed that I did see roaches somewhere [before] I killed all the Ironclaws. Maybe they're gone now too, now that the Ironclaws are all dead. (?)

(EDIT: I made a /target Fire-Proof Roach macro, just in case there are some in the lava. Nothing. :/ )

Just brainstorming here.

[Abashera]

Theory #5

They're phased, and I can't see them.

Maybe they're only obtainable at level 90-92.

The only reason I consider this is because, as mentioned earlier, there used to be a lot of Fire-Proof Roaches, and now I don't see one single roach anywhere in Frostfire Ridge.

So it is possible that the roaches and the Ironclaws are connected, as suggested by a poster on wowhead, and this could be why I never see either any more. Now if this were the case we would all have to stay at one level until we get what we want, whether that be a Rare, or a particular breed.

[Cyberjus]

Are you horde? As an alliance when I went to Frostfire there are millions of pets (including scuttler) everywhere and no horde. I am almost completely alone there.

Edit: I am level 100 btw

[Adorabella_x]

I found loads there. I went there at 7.00 Uk time

[Abashera]

Thank you for the replies guys. But did you kill all the Ironclaws you don't want, like I said?

In order to test the theory, this has to be done.

If you did not kill ALL the Ironclaws you did not capture, then you can not deny or confirm the theory.

And I doubt faction choice has anything to do with it.

What I know is what I posted. I was seeing Roaches in all the lava pits and flows. I saw several Ironclaws. The moment I killed them all, no more spawned - and that's the whole story. They all disappeared the moment I killed all the Ironclaws. I'm just trying to figure out why I'm not seeing ANY roaches or Ironclaws. What is the mechanic I'm missing that is not allowing me to see any?

If everyone else is seeing them and I am not, then at least I can know I need to open a ticket and ask Blizzard "why?"

But thank you for letting me know that it has nothing to do with character level. But that doesn't mean it has nothing to do with phasing. Did you complete the all the quests in Frostfire?

Again, if you did not kill all the Ironclaws, you can't confirm of falsify the theory.

[Abashera]

Update.

(First off, I hope people don't mind my brainstorming. I'm just trying to learn this pet's spawn mechanics, which will prove helpful to players in the future. I would appreciate any help in figuring this out. )

So I had a friend from my realm/guild come to check out the lava pits. He's level 100, and has not done a single pet-battle in WoD. He did not see any Ironclaws either. He did however complete all the quests in the zone—so phasing is still not out of the question.

It could be that Ironclaws just have a VERY LONG RESPAWN TIME. It's only the fourth day of the expansion, so if the respawn is one week or longer... we'll just have to wait and see. Killing them though is still THE ONLY WAY to learn what their respawn time is, and under what conditions they respawn.

I'm going to start leveling my Paladin to see if I can see them before I complete the Frostfire quest-line.

[Cyberjus]

I think you are overthinking things. If anything, it could have something to do with phasing based on your progress in the zone, not that you only get one set.

[Morlis]

I brought my alliance character there, on Kael'thas server, so had no quests done in the zone. I found almost none up in most of the spots that an addon tells me they should be. I however had good luck just to the right of Bladespire Fortress. I found about 8 up along the whole side of the fortress, 2 of which were P/P and the rest were H/H. I will probably just stone it since I have a few extra Aquatic stones.

[Eddieo]

I had done not a single quest in the zone, I found 2 spawned in the SW corner of the area by some lava....One was P/P or other was HH....I left the H/H for someone else...

[Savenra]

I saw these on Day One and haven't seen any since They aren't showing up on my pet tracker either . Any hints or tips ?

[Iibis]

I found about 10 of them NE of Bladespire Fortress. I just used /tar Ironcl to notice them a bit faster than just by reading tooltips from the minimap and to see if there were some that were critters - but they had at least then spawned as battle pets. Quite far away from the lava pool (north from there). I found them around 17-21 server time but I think it's simply that our server just might not be that into pet battling, and it's medium populated with less horde, so there hadn't been people farming them. I had completed 4/6 chapters of Frostfire Ridge story progress with "Ga'nar's Vengeance" and "The Battle of Thunder Pass" incomplete.

Maybe try getting into some other (smaller) servers via xrealm invites to check for them?

[Whitemist]

Hey!

I don't think they have any special spawn mechanic, but I can't be 100% sure ofcourse. I'm on a fairly low population realm, and first day I tried (just using the Pettracker-addon and going to the points marked there), I couldn't find a single one. 2nd day I found a pack of 4-5 of them around east side of Bladespire. For the ones of you been looking for this, I assume you know where the "lava grotto" is. I admit I died trying to go in there, as it seemed to be where they were marked on the map (and yes you are free to laugh), but they were actually on the hill above it.

As I said, I'm on a fairly low pop realm (Nordrassil-EU), so feel free to add me on Tokoyo#2929 for a invite