Game Mechanics: Make Quillmane Classic Again

[Robot]

I did finally manage to narrow down the PH and spawn Quillmane a few times today and got a cloak. The biggest issue with Quillmane hunting isn't that the PH can be any type of mob anywhere in the zone. The real problem I encountered and was able to figure out was that there are several other named cycles with the same type of PHs on the same 78 second timer. This includes Groi Gutblade, Synger Foxfyre, Gnawfang, High Shamans Grisok/Phido, Ren'rex and potentially Grizzleknot aswell. Groi and Synger always have a lion PH that spawns in the southern half of the zone. High Shamans have escaped splitpaw gnolls and possibly also lioness/mist wolf/shadow wolf? couldn't confirm that as I had Phido spawn relatively early and left him after that.

First thing we did when we got to the zone was pull and AOE down basically everything in the zone that wasn't a static or obvious non-PH. I had to keep killing 78 second respawns until all those named were up and leave them, eliminating those respawns as potential Quillmane PHs. This is difficult on green especially as theres still usually about a dozen lowbies in zone killing around KFC, Splitpaw, etc. Groi also dies to Aviaks and then you have new lions spawning again which is a PITA. If the zone is empty what you can do after your AOE pull is then pull the gnolls around splitpaw and AOE them down so they respawn after all the other trash in the zone, putting them at the top of the Track list. Reshuffling your ranger's track list is the key to finding quillmane.

Once you have AoE'd down the zone, all the 78 second timers will respawn first. Have your ranger run in a big circle around splitpaw hitting track and going and grabbing everything that respawn after 78 seconds but before the 6 minute respawns are spawning. You will find about 4-6ish of these spawns. Only one is the Quillmane PH. Hold those spawns and do not kill them till the entire zone is respawned. Then have your buddies (hopefully you aren't attempting this solo) pull all the gnolls around splitpaw and AOE those down. Once those respawn, then kill your pack of 78 second respawn timer mobs. Your track list is now properly sorted. As long as you don't leave the zone or relog the newer spawns will always be on top of the list just above the splitpaw gnolls. You will slowly filter out the other named cycles as eventually groi, synger foxfyre, etc all spawn. Leave them up. Eventually you will narrow it down to the quillmane PH.

Its not all over here though. The Quillmane PH can spawn seemingly anywhere in the zone and even max track ranger will not always see it immediately when it spawns. However, the quillmane PH does always eventually roam through the middle area of the map at some point not long after spawning, and if you keep running your wide circle around splitpaw when that spawn enters your track range it will be on top. It took me about 5 hours from zoning in, figuring this all out and spawning QM. She dropped cloak first kill and then legs both times after that.

The other thing I think was happening is that the "PHs" are still triggers, meaning QM will spawn immediately upon death of a trigger, and the PHs respawn timer will keep running even once QM is spawned. So even once QM is spawned you still need to keep your timer running from the last kill and the PH may be up again before QM is even dead (This is unconfirmed but 2 of the times I saw Quillmane I found her on track within 5 seconds of killing a "PH", and after the first kill lost track of the PH since I started a timer upon her death but couldn't find the PH respawn on track for over 5 minutes after she died, as I think it had already respawned before she died and I missed it.)

[eisley]

Originally Posted by Robot [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

words

Finally, a thinking man and not just a complainer!

One solution to the Track missing QM issue - use Bard charm and /pet attack Quillmane after killing the triggers.

Aside from that, while your method is a bit different than mine, I'd call it more elegant and reliable. Well done.

[eisley]

I spawned him about five times last week, then stopped, confident I had found enough triggers. It wasn't mass AoE, it was killing one mob, then Quillmane spawning.

The server was in the dark for a long time on the old code too. The problem with mass AoE is, sure, he'll spawn every once in awhile, but you won't really know why. It's best to be more.. precise about it. Go when the zone is near empty. Preferably a bard and ranger so you can cover the zone quickly, and use bard charm to pet track.

[-TK-]

I agree with Eisley after messing around with this myself over multiple sessions, both as a solo bard and with a ranger duo. If you take the time to research all the posts linked here and elsewhere on the internet about the old QM spawns it looks like they wrote it similar to how people have described it in the past on live. Rng+bard does seem to be the ideal combo now. It can be very time consuming to find the right spawn, but it's doable. They also don't appear to have changed the drop rate. I think my personal record for consecutive leg drops before the nerf was 16 or 17 in a row, but you could spawn him quickly so it wasn't so bad.

[Croco]

Originally Posted by -TK- [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

I agree with Eisley after messing around with this myself over multiple sessions, both as a solo bard and with a ranger duo. If you take the time to research all the posts linked here and elsewhere on the internet about the old QM spawns it looks like they wrote it similar to how people have described it in the past on live. Rng+bard does seem to be the ideal combo now. It can be very time consuming to find the right spawn, but it's doable. They also don't appear to have changed the drop rate. I think my personal record for consecutive leg drops before the nerf was 16 or 17 in a row, but you could spawn him quickly so it wasn't so bad.

So basically it should be even easier to spawn QM now if Nilbog truly made it classic. Coming straight from the original dev who wrote that code back in the day.

https://youtu.be/sRLeVEuuLXM?t=1193

Should be a % chance off a single ph that has a whole list of possible low level mobs to spawn. Can't get any better proof than this.

[-TK-]

Originally Posted by Croco [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

So basically it should be even easier to spawn QM now if Nilbog truly made it classic. Coming straight from the original dev who wrote that code back in the day.

https://youtu.be/sRLeVEuuLXM?t=1193

Should be a % chance off a single ph that has a whole list of possible low level mobs to spawn. Can't get any better proof than this.

I'll watch that video when I can, but essentially yes. It seems like it's a single spawn on a shortened timer (as Eisley mentioned) that can spawn several different placeholders, but it has a huge path on which it can spawn so finding it is much more difficult than the previous mechanic and why that 2nd person is super helpful. I went through all the links and data in this thread and found some supplementary posts on the web that led me down that path and I've had some success with this approach since the change.

[eisley]

Originally Posted by -TK- [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

I'll watch that video when I can, but essentially yes. It seems like it's a single spawn on a shortened timer (as Eisley mentioned) that can spawn several different placeholders, but it has a huge path on which it can spawn so finding it is much more difficult than the previous mechanic and why that 2nd person is super helpful. I went through all the links and data in this thread and found some supplementary posts on the web that led me down that path and I've had some success with this approach since the change.

Yep. Precisely.

My suggestion is that once you spawn a Quillmane, have the Ranger get the next spawning mob and go to it, Highsun and follow it for a half hour. Use Zilz and /loc and map it's path out in MSpaint.

Kill it. Next spawn, do it again. Repeat this a few times, killing it immediately when you get a known spawn route. When QM pops on its' death, you can confirm that map and move on.

It took a lot more work to get it sorted, but at this point, I consider it no harder to farm than before. I got 3 in a few hours the other day.

[Robot]

Originally Posted by eisley [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Yep. Precisely.

My suggestion is that once you spawn a Quillmane, have the Ranger get the next spawning mob and go to it, Highsun and follow it for a half hour. Use Zilz and /loc and map it's path out in MSpaint.

Kill it. Next spawn, do it again. Repeat this a few times, killing it immediately when you get a known spawn route. When QM pops on its' death, you can confirm that map and move on.

It took a lot more work to get it sorted, but at this point, I consider it no harder to farm than before. I got 3 in a few hours the other day.

I am going to have to disagree with this entirely. It is MUCH harder due to the fact that the PHs can seem to to be almost anywhere, with a much wider variety of types of spawns. It also now requires more people. You now need at least 2 max track rangers to split the zone in half. We have tried everything suggested here. We got one single quillmane spawn when we first showed up to try and figure this out. It spawned within 5 minutes of killing PH's in the south half of the zone. Since that first spawn we have spent over 12 hours trying to get a quillmane spawn with not a single spawn. Every time we thought we had it figured out and narrowed down to the single 78 seconds respawn, after a few kills like this, the next spawn (or quillmane) didn't show up 78 seconds later and we seemingly lost all progress. We have tried mass AoE'ing, we have tried literally everything, multiple bards, you name it. This was much easier to do before and literally could have done solo by any pet class with pet track or a single max track ranger.

If anybody has any more info other than vague info like find the place holder then just hit track 78 seconds later, please do share. Because it is most definitely not that simple seeing as how a max track ranger cannot see the whole zone. You would need multiple spread out to cover everything. Screenshots of GINA maps with routes and spawn points, % chance of different PHs, would be a tremendous help if anybody has started to map any of this out and has it saved.

We are super frustrated trying to figure this out because as people have said, it shouldnt be too much harder than before but I find it very highly unlikely we were just on so bad of a RNG streak that we didnt pop a quillmane for 12 hours.

There also seems to be conflicting info on what the "classic spawn mechanics" were like. I see several claims that the PH could only spawn in the souther section of the zone between the west wall, KFC, Hermit, and Splitpaw. But I am quite certain PHs are spawning north of splitpaw maybe even as north as the NK bridge/Centaur village area and that directly contradicts alot of the info I have read in here.

[busted]

https://youtu.be/sRLeVEuuLXM?t=7363

"Humans were not meant to endure" this level of rarity from Quillmane's creator

[Gustoo]

Good helpful tips and exactly as I was described the process in olden days tho I just leveled in the zone and eventually found him by pure chance / luck