Hiji Zuru's Advanced Guide to Zoo Keeper Pet Taming: Myths, Urban Legends, and Secret Techniques

Discussion in 'Guides' started by Hiji Zuru, Mar 18, 2017.

  1. Hiji Zuru

    Hiji Zuru Well-Known Member
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    Hiji Zuru's Advanced Guide to Zoo Keeper Pet Taming: Myths, Urban Legends, and Secret Techniques
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    Hello, my name is Hiji Zuru and I am the guildmaster of the Cult of Kek [KEK]. Cult of Kek is dedicated to uncovering the hidden secrets and lesser known mechanics of Ultima Online Renaissance. After hundreds of man hours of research into the spawning pattern of rare animals such as wild boars and dark wolves the Cult of Kek is prepared to release its first findings. If you do not know what I am talking about then this post will get you started!
    http://uorforum.com/threads/the-zookeepers-quest-patch-52-pet-bonding-expansion.4831/

    This guide is intended for experienced tamers of Zoo Keeper Pets. Once you master the basics a lot of these methods will make much more sense and you will likely have seen evidence of them first hand. Beginners will still learn plenty too.

    Also, I want to give respect to the existing zoo keeper pet quest taming guides. I have become very rich due to the current guides on the forums so that is a great place to start if you are a beginner.

    This guide has made me a millionaire:
    http://uorforum.com/threads/a-search-for-rare-animals-zookeeper-quest.9957/
    Thank you @Hlokk


    !WARNING! DISCLAIMER
    The accuracy of this guide can only be verified by Telamon and he has not yet done so and I honestly hope he never does. Simply put this is all unproven theory so take it as seriously as you want to. I stand by all these statements and I use them on a near daily basis. The only proof I can offer you is my extensive record of rare animal sales which can be viewed on the forums.

    http://uorforum.com/threads/selling-zookeeper-quest-pets.19696/
    http://uorforum.com/threads/selling-4-bond-quest-scrolls-partially-filled-zookeeper-quest.22619/
    http://uorforum.com/threads/selling-dark-wolves-90k-buyout-each-soldout-0-available.20401/
    http://uorforum.com/threads/selling-raging-grizzly-bear-s-b-200k.20300/
    http://uorforum.com/threads/one-raging-grizzly-bear-for-sale-150k-buyout.20437/

    http://uorforum.com/threads/wts-silverback-gorilla-s-b-50k.20140/

    !WARNING! DISCLAIMER
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    On that note I really want to take a moment to thank Telamon for developing this entire quest line. It really has opened up a huge new type of playing experience that is really quite fun and has a lot more depth than I think people realize. Managing to fill up a Zookeeper Quest scroll and gather the friends to do the quest is quite an accomplishment and can take many months. I find it to be a very rewarding experience so much thanks. I would also like to encourage fellow tamers to pursue this playstyle. If you like to wander the land of UO this is the perfect play style for you.

    Myth #1: There are two types of spawning methods for zoo pets, not just one. Force spawn and Natural Spawn.
    The first method is widely known and is the primary method spoken about on the forums. It is the method I call force spawning. This is achieved by killing/taming your target animal until the desired rare variant spawns. I find this method fairly consistent on its ability to deliver though it may be influenced by other factors like day of the week.

    The second method is not talked about but it clearly exists but most people often assume it is the work of others or something. But if you recall around to all the spots long enough you will notice that sometimes the zoo keeper quest animals will spawn without anyone working those spots or those types of animals. You will also notice that you may find 3 or 4 rare animals spread across the usual locations suddenly appear in a very short time. I call this Natural Spawn compared to a Forced Spawn. Think about. If you had to program a rare animal spawn program you would want people to naturally stumble onto them regardless if someone is farming them or not. It would make the experience feel more natural.
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    Myth #2: Taming Hotspots and a Global Timer exist. Dusk and Dawn! These are prime times for animal behavior and they exist in the game as well.
    I believe at certain times of the day the game will generate these rare animals regardless of player activity via something I call a Natural Spawn. I have started calling these time slots “hot spots”.

    The morning hotspot is roughly from 8am to 9am PST. The evening hotspot is roughly from 8pm to 9pm. Sometimes a little earlier sometimes a little later. For example we just had daylight savings a few days ago so I am not sure how that has impacted things yet.

    This is based on my extensive tamer journal of my past tames and when I found them. I tend to find 50%-75% of my tames during these time periods. I rarely try to force spawn a rare animal. I only do that for high value targets like savage ostards, raging grizzlies, dark wolves and silverback gorillas. However, these hotspots also have an impact on force tames as well which I will explain in more detail in the next section. But one thing that I can say with near certainty is that there are time periods where natural spawn occurs. If I am playing UO during one of these time periods I make sure to cycle through my rare animal runebooks.

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    How do hotspots and force taming work?
    Let's talk about these time periods in more detail because they also have a second purpose and that is amplifying the effect of your force taming. First of all a hotspot is a time period when a rare zoo animal is much more likely to spawn, either on its own or with your killing or taming. It tends to happen at least twice a day. I rarely tame in the middle of the night so there is a chance it happens more often.

    If you only tame during these time periods you can take advantage of the Natural Spawn and avoid some of the tedious parts of actively taming. However, if you are actively killing and taming this is also the best time period to do so. If can you should try clear as many spawns before the hot spot hits. If you rely on natural spawn only you will get 0 or maybe 1 spawn. If you start 30 minutes before hotspot time you can sometimes get more. This is the method I used to tame 7 dark wolves in a single day. I cleared out a lot of dire wolves before the morning and night hotspots. There is an element of chance still involved though which I suspect may be tied to the day of the week or something like that. There is much research still left to be done.

    How do I know a hotspots exists?
    I have not told many about this story but this is my proof for the existence of a hotspot. I was taming delucia bulls trying to GM taming and right before my eyes a bloodthirsty bull and a majestic hart spawned side by side at the exact same moment. Both animal types had many spawn points open in the area. Then I realized for both to spawn at the exact same time it is likely they share some sort of timer. If they share a timer why not all of the animals? And my experience has continued to reinforce that. Thus, I consider the hotspots to be a global timer across many zookeeper rare animals.
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    Also, if you hang out at the frenzied spawn north of Papua at these times you will notice a high influx of tamers coming through. I think this knowledge is known by others in the community.

    Urban Legend #1: Dubs, Trips & Quads….they happen.
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    One pattern I have noticed when I am force taming is that there is a chance that your target creature such as a a dark wolf will spawn somewhere on the other side of the map even though you might be farming dire wolves in Yew. As a result people don’t often find them so they keep grinding away at their little spot while more and more spawn across the map until by chance one spawns in the small area they patrol. So if you see one rare animal spawned you should stable it ASAP and immediately check all the other locations you know where those type of animals spawn. You will often find more than one.

    Secret Technique #1: Clearing the Cache
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    I can say with near certainty up until now I was the only person on the server doing what I call “clearing the cache”. I first came across this idea when I began to ask myself why sometimes there are double spawns or triple spawns and then sometimes there aren’t. I started to theorize that there was a global counter for each rare animal type. The counter is how many of that animal type exist at any given time. Have you ever hit a rough patch and for some reason can never get a certain rare animal to spawn? That's likely because there are a high amount of that animal in the Moonglow Zoo. Example below:

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    KILL THEM ALL

    I started to notice that in order to get more double and triple spawns you need to go to the Moonglow Zoo and kill all the type of animals you want to find before you start any taming/tracking session. This lowers the global counter of the animals in existence and will greatly increase the chances of a double or triple spawn during the next hotspot.

    Become a Master of the Map
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    I am proud to say I know the map exceptionally well after many hours of wandering the lands. In my early days I would go to the most north eastern corner of the map and methodically travel south running back and forth east to west scanning each inch of the land. You learn where things spawn, where people live, where people don’t live and you will begin to notice when spawns have been disrupted. All these small signs will help you know when and where to go animal hunting and when it will be a waste of your time.

    If you want to take things to the extreme you can use UO Auto-Map and drop custom pin locations at every place you find a rare animal for the quest. This would eventually yield some interesting and profitable patterns and would greatly assist in making some awesome runebooks.

    Keep a Taming Journal
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    Gotta catch em all!
    If you seek more knowledge then you must create a taming journal. Then you must fill it with good data and you will uncover patterns you had no idea existed. Make sure to record things like day of the week in addition to time of day, type of animal and the location.

    Here are some random bits of taming wisdom and habits that I have learned in the process of tracking many rare animals.
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    1. Terra Sanctum is not a very highly advertised haven for gorillas and frenzied ostard. I have tamed both silverback and savage here. Go here often.
    2. If you kill enough dire wolves you will notice a grey wolf might spawn instead. Kill it! They will eventually clog up the spawn and you will get less total direwolves.
    3. Check Occlo sewers much more often than other spots because noobs are constantly killing rats and toads. You will notice that sewer rats and hypnotoads spawn quite a bit as a result. Even if they aren't in the sewer check the t2a swamp.
    4. Either taming an animal or killing it will cause a new one to spawn.
    5. A nightmare is your best friend when it comes to killing a lot of animals.
    6. Create extensive runebooks for the wide ranging and high value creatures like dire wolves and grizzlies. You can recall from spot to spot and quickly cover many spawns. I have 50 locations marked for grizzlies and wolves. This method combines well with tracking.
    7. If you are looking to do this for profit stick to safe areas and focus on animals that you are able to consistently produce through force spawning and natural spawn monitoring.
    8. When killing crocs, toads, gorillas you can farm the hides for decent gold too.
    9. Keep tabs on other players’ activity because they will often be affecting spawns without realizing it. This especially goes for tamers who are training in the swamp, jhelom and the desert.
    10. Wild boars can be tricky. If you need an extra bump go to Cove and clear the 5-6 pigs/boars inside the town. I’ve tamed wild boars inside Cove before. Jhelom and Britain also have quite a few pigs roaming around.
    11. Check the zoo pens frequently and see what animals are new. This is easier if you kill them all. Often you can check other spawns and find leftover rare animals from someone else's work.
    12. I found my first crocodile and silverback gorilla on a remote island. Check everywhere including unexpected and less traveled places that are not on the primary tamer guides. You might be surprised what you find.
    13. Tracking can be overrated. Oftentimes there are so many animals in your general area that it does not let you track anything much farther than your vision anyways. I had tracking for a short time but no longer use it and have dropped the skill entirely. I still find many animals with ease. If you want to make yourself a nice set of very thorough runebooks for taming then I would suggest getting tracking. After that you can drop it if you want.

    Closing Thoughts
    I consider myself very much still involved in the research of this these rare animals and their spawning behavior. I feel there is much yet to be uncovered and I suspect there are other tamers with hidden knowledge who are out there among us. Hopefully this will encourage more tamers to consider researching this topic and help uncover the mysteries of one of the greatest parts about this shard. Praise Kek!

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    Last edited: Mar 19, 2017
  2. Pirul

    Pirul Well-Known Member
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    Praise Kek indeed!! Great guide.
  3. Jakob

    Jakob Well-Known Member

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    I must agree, very well done! Praise KEK!
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  4. Azerothian

    Azerothian Well-Known Member
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    Did you know that KEK in WoW is orcish for LOL? You probably did…
    PaddyOBrien likes this.
  5. NerK

    NerK Well-Known Member
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    Actually KeK = LOL in Korean.. so it probably worked its way in to WoW.
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  6. Jakob

    Jakob Well-Known Member

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    Koreans are orcs?
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  7. wylwrk

    wylwrk Well-Known Member

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    Just the northern ones.
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  8. NerK

    NerK Well-Known Member
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    KEK!
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  9. Azerothian

    Azerothian Well-Known Member
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    Cool! KEK!
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  10. Deacon Frost

    Deacon Frost Well-Known Member
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    2016 the post. ahh memories. watching 4chan drive Shai LaBeouf insane was classic. pretty sure everything you wrote is wrong tho. bosses and zooks are most likely on 1/50 spawn rate.
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    Last edited: Jul 15, 2020
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  11. Pedigar

    Pedigar Well-Known Member

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    Ahhhh those were the days lol. That guy tried everything he could think of to hide his stuff and they kept finding it and putting up Trump flags hahaha.

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