Spawn tables and you
by Eliah Hecht 
Dec 17th 2006 at 2:24AM
I'll admit straight off that the post I'm about to link to is a bit old -- it's from September. However, it deals with a concept that a shocking number of otherwise knowledgeable WoW players seem to be unaware of: the spawn table. We all know about loot tables, the set of items that any given mob can drop. A spawn table is the set of mobs that can spawn in a given area. Basically, the key concept is this: when the server decides to spawn a mob in some particular area, it picks randomly from the spawn table what kind of mob it's going to be. That means that if an area spawns both Moonstalkers and Foreststriders, like southern Darkshore, and your quest wants you to kill Moonstalkers, it pays to kill every mob you come across.Why? Well, let's say you only kill Moonstalkers. Every time you kill one, the server decides to spawn another mob. It looks at its spawn table, sees Moonstalkers and Foreststriders, and randomly picks one to spawn. If it's a Moonstalker, eventually you'll find and kill it. Fine. But if it's a Foreststrider that's spawned, you won't kill it, because you're only looking for Moonstalkers. Eventually, the zone will become entirely Foreststriders (unless you're unreasonably lucky), and you'll be scratching your head looking all over for your quest mobs.
Not to mention, you get more XP per hour killing everything you come across (if you're below 60, of course). Anyway, the good people over at Kill Ten Rats lay it out very well, so go forth and be edified.
Filed under: Tips
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
AcceptableRisk Dec 17th 2006 3:31AM
I don't believe this is entirely accurate. Some spawn points appear to only spawn one type of enemy.
I spent some time the other day collecting Small Eggs from birds in Westfall. There were three spawn locations I would stand in the middle of and I kill the birds coming out every time. It was pretty much constant murderizing for almost an hour. I probably killed a few hundred birds and never once saw anything else spawn there.
Eliah Hecht Dec 17th 2006 3:52AM
Yeah, I've seen other places like that as well. There are a few spots along the Westfall coast that constantly spawn crabs; they're great for grinding. I'd say those are just areas with only one mob on the spawn table.
Daveti Dec 17th 2006 12:57PM
@1: You're missing the point of the article, it's not saying that every area is like that, just that some are and unless you're certain of the nature of the spawn point(s) you're dealing with, it's better to clear everything for good measure. If you need proof of this phenomenon, just look at "Rare Spawns" like the silver dragon golem outside of ulda. The presence of "Rare Spawns" means the table must also be weighted, otherwise he would spawn fully 50% of the time. Spawn tables & placeholder mobs is basic MMO stuff though, does any serious WoW player actually NOT know this?
Thijz Dec 17th 2006 3:10PM
Nice one, I didn't know this but it's very usefull!
Curtis Dec 17th 2006 3:47PM
Anyone who has done the defias quest notice that even though a defias always spawns its not always the same type.
Skuska Dec 17th 2006 5:45PM
Is there a link to the article?
Eliah Hecht Dec 17th 2006 10:14PM
@6: Yes, click the "read" link at the bottom of the article, or the picture.
It's http://www.killtenrats.com/?p=784 at any rate.
kuri Dec 17th 2006 10:36PM
Spawn tables- It's a very simple concept that has been used in every persistent game. The only way you could effectively manage monster spawns, without delegating a region of a map (or specific spawn points) to a specific monster, is by this method.
While it's pointless to try to do the math on how many kills it will take to spawn X monster (you don't know the region size, nor the proportion of monsters present, and it's relatively difficult to count without risking double-counting), the article offers the best (and most beneficial) tip: just kill everything you see. Logic dictates that if you're in the right area, you'll have that monster pop on you sooner than later.
me Dec 18th 2006 7:12AM
The cave in wpl where the Nr pot recipie drops is a good example. On thott you see all sorts of comments about the elementals only spawning at the back of the cave and stuff but actually the whole cave and the 4-5 mobs outside have a spawn table of 3 different mobs, 1 of which is the elemental that drops the recipie. Funny thing is the 3 different mobs are not sociable, so as a rogue I can bow pull the elementals to a corner or up a ramp and they wont pull the slimes with them as they come to me. Eventually I run out of elementals and the slimes are quite slow to kill without aoe (evasion + S'n'D or kill mob and vanish so little ones despawn) so I logout and come back later once somone else has reset all the spawns and the thorium and respawned.