Spawn camping in TBC
by Elizabeth Wachowski 
Jan 23rd 2007 at 5:45PM
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Desvora of Doomhammer complains on the WoW forums that there are a lot of heavily camped quest mobs in the Outlands, and that it makes it really difficult to complete quests when you're running around with ten other people each trying to get the first tag on a named mob. She names a couple of mobs in Zangarmarsh, which has a TON of "kill the boss/chief/overlord of the wasps/bats/naga/ogres" quests, that she waited at least an hour for.
Drysc says that trying to be the first to tag a mob can "get the heart pounding", but Desvora just thinks it's a waste of time, and that respawn rates should be increased. I sort of agree with her -- having your group wait "in line" with five other groups from both factions can be pretty annoying, especially when everyone is consecrating/hellfiring/arcane explosioning to try and get the tag on the mob before it even fully fades into existence. I haven't had any really long waits, but as a melee player, I'm either left uselessly clicking the air and feeling dumb, or accidentally attacking an Alliance player and being turned into a grease spot.
Have you had serious trouble with any quest mobs?
(And yeah, spawn camping is mostly used to refer to players killing players at spawn points, but since people are tagging these mobs just as they spawn, I figure it's somewhat appropriate.
Filed under: Quests, The Burning Crusade
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Tetelestia Jan 23rd 2007 6:05PM
LFG Cruel's Intentions is something that never leaves my chat window, once I finally got the quest for myself yesterday I waited with about 10 alliance players for him to spawn. I got my dots on asap, and let those guys do all the work. Thank you!
Dex Jan 23rd 2007 6:36PM
Servers are full of players. I think only new servers can solve this problem. Or make like in GW - every party has it's own unique location
Niekon Jan 23rd 2007 6:25PM
it's just not in Outlands either. At the Draenei starting point is a quest where you have to kill something like 10 blood elves turn in the quest and then go kill the the blood elf architect.
a) on a high-population server you spend the time camping one spot and tabbing for the spawns which has about a dozen spawns in the area...
b) and getting a bunch of people standing around in one tiny area for the architect was exciting...
As soon as my server opened up for server transfers I was out of there and onto a much quieter server. Don't mind it in the least ^_^
Carver Bain Jan 23rd 2007 6:29PM
I think it's the Disneyland effect. Once a new ride opens everybody is trying to get on it. To tell you the truth I think that WoW is the new Disney World.
With Azeroth being the Magic Kingdom and TBC is Epcot center.
Carver
Knightwulf Jan 23rd 2007 6:34PM
I haven't noticed that much of an issue with spawns due to this brilliant little maneuver on behalf of Blizz's dev team:
[i]The big news though is that Blizzard has introduced new dynamic spawn rates for Outlands that changes the spawn rate for a Monster based on how many people are in the immediate mini-zone. So when there are 493 people camping the same named quest mob in Hellfire Peninsula on Jan 16, there will be an almost instantaneous respawn of the mob when it dies.[/i]
Variblex Jan 23rd 2007 9:54PM
ahh i click on alliance and 'accidentally' kill them all the time....
the whole 'lets just level truce' has been broken many times on Mug'thol... so it all burn down every alliance I see
Ryan D. Jan 23rd 2007 7:04PM
Hey neat, the comments system has been upgraded, a la Engadget!
I've seen this as well, and been frustrated to the point of Alt-F4 on a couple of occasions since the expansion dropped - it does get the heart pounding, no doubt, but I could play Wii, or, say exercise for that. It gets you worked out because it's simply stressful and aggravating.
Not that I'm above spamming Rank 1 Blizzard over a spawn spot, you know, I'd just rather not have to be a jerk and put someone in the same mood I'd be in otherwise - I probably shouldn't let it get to me, but what's the point of attempting to quest if you have to be cutthroat even (with your own faction) to get something done?
The outlands isn't the best example of this. The friggin' Abominable Greench wins, hands down. That was just a miserable, horrible quest to try and get done.
vetarra Jan 23rd 2007 7:11PM
For one, clicking on the spawn spot is very ineffective. Tab works much better.
Second, it's almost always a good idea if you're solo, just say, "Who needs ____" and then invite them to a group. 5 people trying to tag is much better then just one person, plus it moves the campers along much faster. As soon as the mob is down, it's merely a "Thanks!" and then leave. No fuss, no mess.
Dave Jan 23rd 2007 7:27PM
of course this is going to happen, the expansion just came out last week and there's like 5 million people trying to level up a new toon. Just wait a month and you might have a little more luck.
exilio Jan 23rd 2007 7:56PM
It's bad in the BE starting area as well. They create a quest similar to one that was mentioned for the Draenei, where you have to frigging kill ONE guy! So everyone is having a freaking convention in the spot waiting for this joker to show up.
rpearson Jan 23rd 2007 7:23PM
The camp just south of cenarian refuge in Zangermarsh. There's a named mob (non-elite boss) in a tower that you need to kill.
I got there just as someone had finished it off, and had been waiting a few minutes when two other horde arrived. I said "You guys need boss?" and got no reply. Then the boss spawned, the priest tagged and it and went on his way, leaving me and the other hordie to wait for the respawn, which was about 5 minutes. I teamed up with the remaining dude so we could both get the kill.
That REALLY REALLY pissed me off, since I'd been waiting there for awhile (when you're standing around doing nothing in a video game, 10 minutes seems like an eternity) and I had basically offered to team up with the guy so we could all get it done quicker, but he just wanted to be a shit. I can't think of any other reason why someone would do that.
Poddo Jan 23rd 2007 7:29PM
I've never had any issues with mob respawns. It seems like when there are alot of players in the area, the mob respawns rather quickly. Then again, I am on Malorne, which is very low pop.
Brujo Jan 23rd 2007 7:33PM
If you've only made it as far as Zagamarsh or Terrokar forest is in for a real treat in Nagrand. Once you hit 65 you can start a quest line called the Ring of Blood where you're group has to fight arena-style in 6 progressively harder boss fights. The pain is that you can only talk to the NPC who starts and ends the quests between fights. So there's mad clicking from all the groups (Horde and Ally) trying to be the group that starts their fight.
So, you've got approximately 2-3 seconds (if that) to talk to the NPC. If someone else in you're group managed to turn in his quest for round 2 and start round 3 before you've had a chance to turn in, you don't get to start the quest that round. Then you have people ganking, random ogre spawns running in the ring, etc. etc.
It gets *really* frustrating after awhile.
Niekon Jan 23rd 2007 7:42PM
@ #3 - I nearly fell out of my chair when I saw the DL effect being used in a WoW discussion. Thanks... was a much needed smile on my face after a day in the office.
Baluki Jan 23rd 2007 8:01PM
What is this, Everquest?
I thought the game was made to adjust itself to automatically spawn creatures more often based on how often they're being killed. That's how it was when everyone was killing Twilights down in Silithus for CC rep when that first started.
Also, this problem will probably go away in a month or so, when the initial rush has evened itself out a bit.
synack Jan 23rd 2007 9:06PM
This is a major problem. Perhaps realm splits will help, but it would be a nice move on Blizzard's part to bump up the spawn rate on many of these targets. It is literally infuriating to have people repeatedly ninja tagging your targets, especially those of the opposing faction.
Sylythn Jan 23rd 2007 9:37PM
I think the bosses should patrol - and spawn in random locations so that you can't camp...it'd be slightly more fair.
kuri Jan 24th 2007 3:36AM
I only really experienced this issue in Hellfire Peninsula. My recommendation; stay ahead (or far behind) of the leveling curve.
Nyx Jan 24th 2007 3:52AM
I had a rogue come up to me and try to tag a named quest mob I needed - "ha ha I already finished it, just wanted to be a dick" - not that it mattered, because Explosive Trap is faster than asshole rogues. When I congratulated him on being an ineffective tool, he whined that he just couldn't beat my trap...
What kills me is the sheer number of people who will try to be assholes rather than just say, "Hey, we're both here for the same reason, want to group up?" It won't kill you to split XP with me, and it might save you from having your kill stolen out from under you - I have no qualms about doing that if it's crystal clear someone's trying to do that to me.
Duggie Jan 24th 2007 5:46AM
The problem is that Blizz have set up BC so that alliance and horde are more or less doing the same quests. Therefore everyone is after that one mob. If they had thought things through a bit more and had more seperate quests for both alliance and horde that the problem wouldn't be so bad. Its got the stage now where i've abandoned several quests as i've got better things to do with my time then stand around waiting for mobs to spawn, only to have them tagged by Ne hunters, of which there are bloody hundreds.