Timing mob/NM respawns

[Tawa]

After a week of binge-hunting timed-popped and lotto-popped NMs, I noticed a pattern of when mobs would repop. Apologies in advance if this is already common knowledge, but I couldn't find any posts that mention this.

Using the time according to my clock in Win7, mobs will only repop at :00seconds or at :30seconds, after their respawn cooldown has passed. For example, if a mob with a 5min respawn dies at 5:00:01, it's next repawn time would be 5:05:01, but it actually will not repawn until 5:05:30. If the same mob dies at 5:00:29, it will also respawn at 5:05:30. If it died at 5:00:31, its next respawn would be 5:05:31, but it actually will not respawn in 5:06:00. Note that the seconds they pop may vary person to person depending on if/where your clock is synchronized too. However, there should only be two times a minute when a mob can pop, and these times are 30seconds apart (i.e. for someone else they may pop at :23 and :53).

I measured the ToD as the time you get the message "<mob> was defeated by <player>". I've tested this on over 300 normal mobs in Zilart, CoP, and WotG areas. I've also tested a few notorious monsters like Hyakinthos, Lamina, Goblin Trap, and a few others, for over 100 spawns. For Hyakinthos and Lamina, I made the assumption that they could pop every 5 mins(since that is the respawn time for other Lycopodium in those areas) between 90mins and 120mins after they last died, which was the case every time I was there. In every case, the mobs and NMs would spawn within about 1second of the :00 or :30 mark(probably slightly delayed because of lag). I also made sure to kill a mob at every possible second to make sure that the time I was taking as the ToD was correct.

I do not have any experience with HNMs such as zilart kings or any 21-24hr pop NMs. HOWEVER I was told that this it NOT how it works for kings. Instead, I'm told that for zilart kings, the ToD is measured as the time the body starts to fade away. They will also respawn at the same second as they started to fade, i.e. if its body starts to fade at 8:00:14, it's first chance to repop is 5:00:14 the next day.

Can anyone else confirm my findings with normal mobs/NMs? And am I correctly informed about how zilart kings pop? If both of these are correct, then that also asks the question, which mobs follow which spawn timing?

[EternalSnow]

mhmm

[LordTrey2]

I am pretty sure (from all my camping with countdown alarms on lotto nms) that a 5 min repop mob can respawn anytime between 4 min 30 sec and 5 min 30 sec after death.

[Neoex]

Sounds spot on to me. Noticed things like this in killing placeholders for Eastern Shadow etc. In my experiences the times were not always :00 and :30 on respawns but they were always exactly 30 seconds apart ex. 17/37 18/48 etc, I dont know if you were using that as an example for simplicity.

I am pretty sure (from all my camping with countdown alarms on lotto nms) that a 5 min repop mob can respawn anytime between 4 min 30 sec and 5 min 30 sec after death.

Incorrect, watch the seconds, if the pop is say 5:20:24.. The next pop will either be :24 or :54 second mark, GUARANTEE it

[Tawa]

Sounds spot on to me. Noticed things like this in killing placeholders for Eastern Shadow etc. In my experiences the times were not always :00 and :30 on respawns, I dont know if you were using that as an example for simplicity.




Incorrect, watch the seconds, if the pop is say 5:20:24.. The next pop will either be :24 or :54 second mark, GUARANTEE it

Actually, on my PC it IS :00 and :30. However, the seconds they pop may vary person to person depending on if/where your clock is synchronized too. I suppose I should I have mentioned this in the OP, guess i'll edit that in there.

[Neoex]

I find the number stays consistent until the server goes down, maybe all your samples are within one server cycle and it happened to be 00:30 or maybe my clock is out of sync a bit with FFXI time.

[njitjk68]

Each zone has it's own 30 second interval in which mobs can pop (it changes if the zone goes down for maintenance).

For example, a zone can have repop time set as xxx:15 and xxx:45. As you have noticed if the mob dies anywhere between the interval, then it will repop at next interval after the repop cooldown wears off.

The same applies for kings and every other mob in the game.

[Tawa]

Each zone has it's own 30 second interval in which mobs can pop (it changes if the zone goes down for maintenance).

I thought this might be the case, but in all the zones I tried, it was always :00 and :30 for me. But maybe I just got lucky and picked zones that all had the same timer

I find the number stays consistent until the server goes down, maybe all your samples are within one server cycle and it happened to be 00:30 or maybe my clock is out of sync a bit with FFXI time.

This also crossed my mind, but I'll have to wait for the next maintenance to test for this.

My thought though was that all the clocks for each zone are synchronized to the same time, and the "spawn update" time is either set to :00 and 30, meaning that even after maintenance the times will be the same, or to the time the server is started and the server start time +30, which means the times will change after every maintenance.

The same applies for kings and every other mob in the game.

Does this mean what I was informed about how to time when kings will pop was incorrect? I thought it was a bit screwy that they would create a separate spawn timing system for HNMs, when the lazier thing to do would be to use only 1.

[Mafai]

He is wrong, kings do not follow that rule, they pop the exact second that the name fades off the screen 21-24 hours later with 30 minute windows.

Example:

4:30:05 PM TOF (name fade off screen or a certain status in memory)

Next Day chances @

1:30:05 PM
2:00:05 PM
2:30:05 PM
3:00:05 PM
3:30:05 PM
4:00:05 PM
4:30:05 PM

It does NOT round it up to xx : xx : 30

[LordTrey2]

I guess this explains why when you kill 2 mobs back to back, but the 2nd dies quickly, they often repop together. Well, now i know I only have to pay attention for 3 secs instead of 1 min.

[ZhiGaruda]

This is pretty legit information for anyone such as myself who really enjoys running PT's out of Colibri camp. Just watch the clock!

[Bugpop]

I noticed they generally follow this pattern but I notice that a small percentage of the time mobs will pop a bit earlier than expected or a little bit later than expected (outside of the 30 second interval).

[Kegsay]

Very interesting. Here, have some

[Massimo]

If I remember correctly, when I checked this in the past, it was 15 seconds, not 30. I used to believe it was 30, until I did those tests, too.

[Ocara]

Have you noticed when the NM is going to spawn the timer is later than normal? I'm not sure if it's just me but I always get this feeling when the NM is about to pop cause the spawn takes a little longer to respawn. I've never distinctly timed how long between it but when I keep track of mobs with ability timers (hasso for mobs on 5 min repop, etc) the NM usually pops after the mob would have been in it's place by a noticeable amount.

[Massimo]

Have you noticed when the NM is going to spawn the timer is later than normal? I'm not sure if it's just me but I always get this feeling when the NM is about to pop cause the spawn takes a little longer to respawn. I've never distinctly timed how long between it but when I keep track of mobs with ability timers (hasso for mobs on 5 min repop, etc) the NM usually pops after the mob would have been in it's place by a noticeable amount.

There shouldn't be a difference, outside of Mee/Quu, since they patched them due to RMTness (this is still in effect, right?).

Again, it was probably just random bad luck that the PH died in the early seconds of the :15 (or :30, if I for some reason am mistaken) window.

[Bugpop]

There shouldn't be a difference, outside of Mee/Quu, since they patched them due to RMTness (this is still in effect, right?).

Again, it was probably just random bad luck that the PH died in the early seconds of the :15 (or :30, if I for some reason am mistaken) window.

Mee and Quu have no placeholder now, so it shouldn't matter at all.

[Tawa]

I noticed they generally follow this pattern but I notice that a small percentage of the time mobs will pop a bit earlier than expected or a little bit later than expected (outside of the 30 second interval).

could it just be lag when you're taking the ToD? (i.e. your clock said it was :00 when it died, but it really died at :01, causing the pop to be delayed to the :30 interval). Or do you mean that instead of always popping at :00 and :30 like every other mob, they always pop at :05 and :35 instead? If that's the case, then I have no idea what would cause that, and have never seen it myself.

If I remember correctly, when I checked this in the past, it was 15 seconds, not 30. I used to believe it was 30, until I did those tests, too.

I ran out and tested for this right after you posted, I only get the 30second intervals. Do you remember where/what mob you tested it on that you think had a 15sec interval? It may be possible(though I think unlikely) that some mobs have different update intervals. You should double check them too just to be sure.

Have you noticed when the NM is going to spawn the timer is later than normal? I'm not sure if it's just me but I always get this feeling when the NM is about to pop cause the spawn takes a little longer to respawn. I've never distinctly timed how long between it but when I keep track of mobs with ability timers (hasso for mobs on 5 min repop, etc) the NM usually pops after the mob would have been in it's place by a noticeable amount.

Like Massimo said, you probably just killed it at :01 or :31, causing you to wait an extra 29secs for the mob to pop, then just got lucky and had the NM pop. I know before I noticed the interval thing it would feel like this sometimes, but I know I would get disappointed sometimes when a mob was "late" in popping, only to have the placeholder still pop.

[NynJa]

Quu/Mee are very special mobs. They are a lotto from their PH, however they will spawn before its due to spawn, and it has a pretty wide timing. I've killed the PH, and seen the NM spawn 2 min later, and sometimes its taken a good 13 minutes to spawn after PH died.

Mee and Quu have no placeholder now, so it shouldn't matter at all.

no...

Go to Oztroja and leave all the yags alone, make sure no one else is killing them. The NM wont pop, I found this out the hard way.

[njitjk68]

He is wrong, kings do not follow that rule, they pop the exact second that the name fades off the screen 21-24 hours later with 30 minute windows.

Example:

4:30:05 PM TOF (name fade off screen or a certain status in memory)

Next Day chances @

1:30:05 PM
2:00:05 PM
2:30:05 PM
3:00:05 PM
3:30:05 PM
4:00:05 PM
4:30:05 PM

It does NOT round it up to xx : xx : 30

Wrong, it does not pop at the exact time the name fades off the screen. It follows the pop interval. I guarantee you every single person who camped kings can say it does not always pop at the exact second it died (name fades off screen), but rather anywhere between 1 to 30 seconds after death (Edit: which is the next upcoming zone specific pop interval time).