Rare spawns and how to get them

Many of us at one time or another decide to camp a rare... whether its for your Hunter, a rare drop, or those uber rare mount drops... This guide is for all of you who are new to the glory of rare camping, some etiquette, some tips, and what to do to annoy the opposing faction’s campers (cause doing it to your own faction campers is just a n00bie move that basically creates a lot of nerd rage, don’t be THAT n00b please). Some of us (yes I have been camping the ridiculous rare Aeonaxx for 3 weeks only to watch it go to a horde and then despawn on a fail attempt by a n00b alliance) are die hard pet and mount players... we will willingly give up gear, levels, and end game content to camp a random rare whose timer is still unknown and makes all of us really angry... so for you new rare campers, make friends with us veterans and we might all go on with WOW happier and a mount or pet more to our list.

Camping Etiquette:
-Do your homework before camping, the “Oh look MMO Champion says there’s a rare in Deepholm that drops a mount... lets check out... “ Is not the right kind of homework... For those of you that have failed this particular rare spawn because of its “bug” then you are a camping n00b... read up on it, might make your life easier and those of us watching you fail less infuriated. We’d rather see you succeed then fail miserably at what we consider a well known mechanic to the fight.

-Don’t camp another person’s spot... (unless of course its of the opposing faction)

-Ask around, if someone says they’ve been there for 9 days, they probably have been, and lets face it, those are the crazy campers, let them do their thing, come back after they have ragequit or been successful.

-When asking around, it doesn’t hurt to make friends... you’d be amazed out how teamwork for camping a rare makes life easier and less stressful for all involved and can net a rare faster. For some of us, we have dedicated friends on both sides scouting and discouraging wherever possible to give us the advantage... be prepared.

-Add known campers to your friend list... this way you can find out if they’re in the zone whether you can see them or not... Helps to see your own faction competition.

-Do not be THAT guy that kills a rare a hunter is trying to tame... if its a tamable mob and there is a hunter... they are likely not killing it for an achievement but instead taming it... slaughtering while it is being tamed is as awful as it gets. (a good way to verifying taming status- do they have another pet out?? cause if not then YES they are taming it.... BACK OFF)

Opposing faction annoying awesomeness:
(So you hate Alliance or you hate Horde... I don’t necessarily advocate being a total punk BUT I do often enjoy annoying the opposing faction while they are camping the same rare I am after.... so here are some fun things to do while you wait)

-Create a worgen... when a horde is around, sit right next to them and let the male worgen roar drive them away, either that or they must turn their sound down to save their sanity thus missing the npcscan sounds. (A willing worgen friend is also sufficient... especially if they keep annoying them AWAY from you, much better for your camping spot)- Just remember when you’re alone to go back to human form, cause the roar will make you mental in the long hours of camping.

-If they are camping a rare hunter pet... get a friend who has (or if you’ve been lucky to get already) the pet to randomly show up at an opposing player’s camp spot... their npc scan will give them a false alarm. This requires them to log off and clear their cache... do this often enough at random intervals and you will drive them away.

-If you happen to make a friend of the opposing faction (who may have at one point gotten that uber rare while you watched in anger) then use that person to discourage their own faction … false trails, false spawns, or “hey I just got this at the other spawn location, take a break for a few hours”... Evil yes, effective yes, fun, even more so .

In the end be gracious about someone else’s victory (even if on the opposite side, cause that enemy today could be your friend tomorrow getting you that much closer to your rare- thank you Real ID for cross faction chat, life is beautiful)

Know that for us crazy campers, we camp while at work, we lose days of sleep, and basically neglect all other real life responsibilities until we get our rare... Call us names, in reality we don’t care, we’re crazy. So enjoy :-)

And just in case you’re wondering if you’ve hit the crazy rare camper status, here are a few things to identify yourself:
-You randomly check your npc alert just to “make sure’ or really just to hear the sound you’re hoping for when your rare spawns.
-You know everything there is to possibly know about the rare you are camping, even speculated spawn sites/times/etc and participate in your own speculation as you wait...
-You have a very very long friend list of all potential competition and know where they are at all times.
-You are a frequent and religious follower of all discussions being led on your rare... yes you are even calling it “my rare”...
-You lose sleep, countless hours of sleep, and sometimes even dream about your rare.
-You have come up with your own nicknames for the rare... usually not nice names, names you yell at random intervals in an effort to draw out the stupid spawn. There are also the rare moments of poetry or songwriting that occur while waiting... yes... you are crazy.
-You know of every server reset, you harrrass all successful campers for every minutia regarding their success in an effort to boost your chances and knowledge. 

If any of the above sound like you... I hate to tell you, you’ve entered crazy rare camper status. Good luck to you... it only gets worse!