Hi! It's been a while since my other blog post. Since then, I've changed my character name from Linda Evangelista to Erik Lehnsherr and moved from Mateus over to the Cactuar server! One thing that hasn't changed is that I'm still hunting! Let's get to it.
This blog entry will be about all the various resources any savvy hunter should know. Please read on if you'd like that gentle push from being simply someone who goes to hunts to a hunt leader and scout! If you would like to know more about hunt macros, please take a look at my other lodestone blog entry about them.
First things first, let's familiarize ourselves with two basic mechanics of the hunt.
#1: All A and S ranks have variable spawn timers. This means that every time an A rank is killed, a timer starts ticking down until the next time they respawn in the field. However, this spawn timer is not a *fixed* time, but rather a range. The spawn timers may also vary depending on the expansion.
For example, Vochstein, an A-Rank located in the Peaks, respawns roughly anywhere from three (3) hours to five (5) hours since it was last slain. This information is received courtesy of the
FFXIV Consolegames Wiki linked here, where you can see a table of relative spawn times for yourself.
Note that this rule applies differently for B ranks! They respawn very fast (5 seconds) since the last time they were killed. This means if you are doing your weekly clan hunts, you do not have to worry about respawn timers for your B rank hunts.
Knowing about spawn timers is important so that we, as hunters, have a rough estimate of when to scout for hunts again! There is no point looking for Mr. Vochstein if we know that it's only been 1.5 hours since he last died!
Keeping tabs of the last time a hunt died is an important part of hunting effectively and efficiently. Many hunters utilize
Ariyala's Hunt Tracking website as a centralized location to mark when a hunt has died on their server. Note that Ariyala counts down from the *minimum* spawn timer. And a disclaimer, Ariyala is a FFXIV fansite, not a third-party application or program.
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#2: Hunts appear randomly at fixed spawn points. New hunters generally screen the entire map when in reality, hunts will appear at specific places. You get this sense over time when you realize you're fighting the same A/S ranks at similar locations! As a resource,
Cable Monkey of Goblin server has compiled a set of hunt maps with spawn points labeled.
Any experienced hunter will have some loose form of a scouting route that they take when they are on the lookout for hunts. You can skim/study the maps to get a general sense of where to look, so that you are hunting efficiently. Work smarter -- not harder!
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These are very fast tips and resources that I have for you today. The next blog entry will be all about S ranks and the conditions of which to spawn them. Happy hunting!
