I did finally manage to narrow down the PH and spawn Quillmane a few times today and got a cloak. The biggest issue with Quillmane hunting isn't that the PH can be any type of mob anywhere in the zone. The real problem I encountered and was able to figure out was that there are several other named cycles with the same type of PHs on the same 78 second timer. This includes Groi Gutblade, Synger Foxfyre, Gnawfang, High Shamans Grisok/Phido, Ren'rex and potentially Grizzleknot aswell. Groi and Synger always have a lion PH that spawns in the southern half of the zone. High Shamans have escaped splitpaw gnolls and possibly also lioness/mist wolf/shadow wolf? couldn't confirm that as I had Phido spawn relatively early and left him after that.

First thing we did when we got to the zone was pull and AOE down basically everything in the zone that wasn't a static or obvious non-PH. I had to keep killing 78 second respawns until all those named were up and leave them, eliminating those respawns as potential Quillmane PHs. This is difficult on green especially as theres still usually about a dozen lowbies in zone killing around KFC, Splitpaw, etc. Groi also dies to Aviaks and then you have new lions spawning again which is a PITA. If the zone is empty what you can do after your AOE pull is then pull the gnolls around splitpaw and AOE them down so they respawn after all the other trash in the zone, putting them at the top of the Track list. Reshuffling your ranger's track list is the key to finding quillmane.

Once you have AoE'd down the zone, all the 78 second timers will respawn first. Have your ranger run in a big circle around splitpaw hitting track and going and grabbing everything that respawn after 78 seconds but before the 6 minute respawns are spawning. You will find about 4-6ish of these spawns. Only one is the Quillmane PH. Hold those spawns and do not kill them till the entire zone is respawned. Then have your buddies (hopefully you aren't attempting this solo) pull all the gnolls around splitpaw and AOE those down. Once those respawn, then kill your pack of 78 second respawn timer mobs. Your track list is now properly sorted. As long as you don't leave the zone or relog the newer spawns will always be on top of the list just above the splitpaw gnolls. You will slowly filter out the other named cycles as eventually groi, synger foxfyre, etc all spawn. Leave them up. Eventually you will narrow it down to the quillmane PH.

Its not all over here though. The Quillmane PH can spawn seemingly anywhere in the zone and even max track ranger will not always see it immediately when it spawns. However, the quillmane PH does always eventually roam through the middle area of the map at some point not long after spawning, and if you keep running your wide circle around splitpaw when that spawn enters your track range it will be on top. It took me about 5 hours from zoning in, figuring this all out and spawning QM. She dropped cloak first kill and then legs both times after that.

The other thing I think was happening is that the "PHs" are still triggers, meaning QM will spawn immediately upon death of a trigger, and the PHs respawn timer will keep running even once QM is spawned. So even once QM is spawned you still need to keep your timer running from the last kill and the PH may be up again before QM is even dead (This is unconfirmed but 2 of the times I saw Quillmane I found her on track within 5 seconds of killing a "PH", and after the first kill lost track of the PH since I started a timer upon her death but couldn't find the PH respawn on track for over 5 minutes after she died, as I think it had already respawned before she died and I missed it.)

Nilbog I hope you're reading this and see how absolutely absurd and non-classic you've made this mob for "reasons". Would be nice if players had the ability to just pull the trigger on non-classic changes to the server for no reason at all like various devs have done.

Finally, a thinking man and not just a complainer!

One solution to the Track missing QM issue - use Bard charm and /pet attack Quillmane after killing the triggers.

Aside from that, while your method is a bit different than mine, I'd call it more elegant and reliable. Well done.

The drop rate of the cloak vs the leggings was slightly off. I mean, it wasn't off by much, but likely exacerbated the issue of overall rarity when combined with fewer kills.

That part has been reevaluated and the change will be in the next update.

As far as the spawning method, I do not see anything wrong with it, and aligns with the 'evidence', anecdotal evidence, as well as what the former developer said in the linked video.

I also reviewed how many Quillmane kills occur on the servers on a daily basis; there are many. The amount of cloaks on the other hand, I agree needed adjustment to get to a better place.

So, the loot table should function better after next patch.

Fixed, pending update

That was actually what I was going to post - that the droprate should be upped a tad.

Other than that, I think it's fine. I killed it a dozen times yesterday.

Thanks 'bog.

I agree, since I have been working at it, I have 11 kills I think and 3 cloaks under my belt so far.

Any chance you could as least clarify which version of the classic spawning method you are using? There seems to be several different version or accounts of classic quillmane spawning methods. However, most of the classic information on Quillmane spawning suggests the placeholders can only spawn south of splitpaw on fixed points (albeit many), but it appears post-change on p99 at least that placeholders can spawn on any point on their roaming paths, including far north in the zone, which evidence (and most of the posts in this thread) suggests should not be happening.

retract this statement, after a few more days of trying to figure out the spawn we figured it out and everything seems to be working properly, thanks Nilbog for the change and making this classic, fun camp once you figure it out.

It's not too bad once you figure it out, and honestly it was nice to have a new mechanic we had to figure out for a minute. It was the most nostalgic feeling I've had on P99 in a while.

agreed. very fulfilling feeling when you do figure it out too. It did take us a while, probably 3-4 days of 6-8 hour sessions each but we have it 100% figured out now

main thing now is that it does require a 200 track ranger, where as the old mechanic didnt really require a tracker, though it did help