Let's talk about Hunts - a detailed rundown of their assumed mechanics

[faq]

North Thanalan Minhocao theory:

I think it may be related to the reception of earth crystals from earth sprites. This would explain why the fate *seemed* to have caused it, it wasn't the fate it was the mobs. This would also explain why it can pop when that fate isn't up.

Please test.

[Sadana]

Does anyone know if hunt marks disappear after a certain time if they are not killed and whether this affects the timer or not? Strange question, I know, but I'm curious.

On Atomos, we were having some luck running a hunt party during off hours (nothing this coordinated; there's only so much you can do with 8 people :T ), but it seems some hardcore hunters have caught on and have started being serious night owls (about 1pm to 6pm Eastern Time; 2am to 7 am JP Time). Thus far, we haven't had a chance to get into a JP hunting LS; so I'm not sure how coordinated things are with the rest of the server. If we see shouts of " / ", we know there is an A or S in the area. XDD (just a personal account.)

Do A ranks respond to the hint conditions or are they just on a timer, nothing more?

Do 2 or 3 hunt marks ever show up in one zone at the same time (as in both alive at the same time, not consecutively)?

[Vandesaan]

We do not know if hunt targets will despawn should they stay alive for too long, they simply never do. I am also very curious about this, but I will likely never see it happen.

A ranks spawn on a schedule from when they last showed up in the world, so finding them requires you to either know the previous time it was seen, or be lucky and find it yourself.

It is entirely possible for all three ranks to be up at the same time in a zone, we've gone Hellsclaw -> Bloody Mary -> Garlok within 10 minutes before, and we've killed Mahisha right next to Cornu and Vuokho before.

[Ultimatecalibur]

I do not think that Croakadile and Mindflayer have 32 hour respawn timers. Unless I'm wrong, due to the 37 hour and 20 minute moon phase clock, having anything less than a 32 hours and 40 minute timer would mean that every New and Full Moon one could be spawning.

Because of the clock, Croakadile and Mindflayer pretty much have a 74 hour and 40 minute spawn clock with 4 hour and 40 minute spawn windows and one will always spawn within 18 hours and 40 minutes to 23 hours and 20 minutes after the other has spawned.

[Taruranto]

Mindflayer skips 1 New Moon at least if he spawned on the previous one.

[Sadana]

To clarify, S ranks require both that X time has passed AND the spawn conditions be met, right? So y'all are testing to see how close together you can spawn another in the same region? (example: 36 hours passed since Enraged Boulder spawned; spawn conditions are started at 30 hours next time to see if he shows up sooner.)

[ruinn]

Vandesaan

Can you test this theory in your server if it will spawn WULGARU (SRANK EAST SHROUD) cause it kinda worked (coincidence) in our server.

Need a large crowd (to make noise) or just a small number of players killing trents at EAST SHROUD. We were doing this for like 30 mins then somebody just shouted Wulgaru (x,y). We also gathered Trilium and did FATES before doing this theory (2 hrs) but he didnt pop during that time. He spawned after 3 days and 5 hrs btw. The idea is the same like the condition of NORTH THANALAN SRANK, killing a lot of earth sprites?
Theory courtesy of IT GUILD - The Hack

Ruinn Miqo'te - GOBLIN SERVER

[faq]

Because of the clock, Croakadile and Mindflayer pretty much have a 74 hour and 40 minute spawn clock with 4 hour and 40 minute spawn windows and one will always spawn within 18 hours and 40 minutes to 23 hours and 20 minutes after the other has spawned.

You can make it even tighter since they spawn on the same Eorzean day of the month and time. Mindflayer always spawns on the 1st (first day of new moon) of the month if the timer is past 38 hours and Croak the 17th between 5pm and 6pm.

Gilgamesh spreadsheet has a countdown timer since they have a 74 hour 40 minutes respawn, Croak with a +/- 3 minutes real time.

[Vandesaan]

I do not think that Croakadile and Mindflayer have 32 hour respawn timers. Unless I'm wrong, due to the 37 hour and 20 minute moon phase clock, having anything less than a 32 hours and 40 minute timer would mean that every New and Full Moon one could be spawning.

Because of the clock, Croakadile and Mindflayer pretty much have a 74 hour and 40 minute spawn clock with 4 hour and 40 minute spawn windows and one will always spawn within 18 hours and 40 minutes to 23 hours and 20 minutes after the other has spawned.

The reason it says 32 with a longer duration in parenthesis is because I've heard of Mindflayers and Croakadile within the next moon cycle, but never seen it myself. So yes, we assume they won't spawn until the second moon cycle after the previous spawn, but won't outright deny the possibility.

To clarify, S ranks require both that X time has passed AND the spawn conditions be met, right? So y'all are testing to see how close together you can spawn another in the same region? (example: 36 hours passed since Enraged Boulder spawned; spawn conditions are started at 30 hours next time to see if he shows up sooner.)

Yes, correct. X time needs to pass, and then Y condition must be met. We're always trying to do things 5+ hours ahead of the timer to see if we can shorten it, and we've been able to shave off quite a few hours on multiple S ranks.

Vandesaan

Can you test this theory in your server if it will spawn WULGARU (SRANK EAST SHROUD) cause it kinda worked (coincidence) in our server.

Need a large crowd (to make noise) or just a small number of players killing trents at EAST SHROUD. We were doing this for like 30 mins then somebody just shouted Wulgaru (x,y). We also gathered Trilium and did FATES before doing this theory (2 hrs) but he didnt pop during that time. He spawned after 3 days and 5 hrs btw.
Theory courtesy of IT GUILD - The Hack

Ruinn Miqo'te - GOBLIN SERVER

Good idea, thanks! We tried this with FATEs previously where we had 60+ people gang up on a FATE and the noise from a crowd happened, but it did never have an effect. Luckily, our Wulgaru is due soon so we will likely be trying this now that we have the weekend numbers for it.

[Sadana]

Sorry if I'm asking the obvious, besides one or two, has anyone pulled together fan translations of the scholar hints in the other languages in order to compare them?