Legendary Aninals Bugged Or Just Super Rare?

[PVPNOOB]

Hey Good Afternoon to all, I am just wondering if any of you guys and girls are having problems finding legendary animals in free roam? 
 

I have heard a few rumours going around, one being that if you are Rank 15 or higher Naturalist then legendaries will not spawn due to a current bug and the other being that they only spawn in solo lobbies. Well I can honestly confirm that I am Rank 12 Naturalist, I have spent 2 whole days in a solo lobby and I have not seen one legendary animal at all. 
 

I have also made sure that it has been raining/stormy and that I am at the correct spawn locations for this weeks new alligators but honestly, even in a solo lobby and not a Rank 15 I have not seen one in 2 days.

The question is, do you think they are in fact bugged at the moment or just super rare? I mean 2 days of waiting for them to spawn doesn’t seem right even if they are super rare.

I was also really hoping we would get all legendary animals added to Harriets missions, but with the 2 new alligators for this weeks event, they are definitely not available from Harriet. Do you think we will be able to launch them from Harriet in the future like once they are all done with the weekly dripfeed? Although it doesn’t look promising because this weeks 2 released animals have not been added to her missions.

[PVPNOOB]

Oh man, I do apologise for the typo in the title

[HuDawg]

I've found ZERO legendary animals in public sessions.

 

I've found 7 in private lobbies..  And i was level 16 when i 1st saw a free roam legendary.

 

 

For the animals to spawn.  Try hanging around slightly outside its spawn area.    You'll see a yellow question mark pop up on your GPS.  They don't seem to spawn if you're right on top of the spawn area.  

Its still a random spawn..  Just like random free roam events/strangers.

[James Hickok_1837]

Despite i decided to ignore the naturalist role i came across and killed some of the animals just by playing in free roam public sessions. Never play solo sessions bcoz of lack of other players so i dont know about them Yesterday i came across Tatanka Bison near my camp in heartlands ( i didnt see the icon but i heard the screams of the animal so i went after the sound and after a few steps the yellow question mark appeared) and got a legendary puma skin from the event : protect animal which i won. 

Since the update i came across:

Teca gator, boar, 2 x bison (one in the north where the snow is and he had 4 adds) and fox - maybe not many but i aint looking for them anyway. 

[DaMahn96]

Have had a problem with finding the free roam legendary animals from the start. Have noticed that the ? mark will pop up when I "first" enter an area if is going to. Traveling around or waiting doesn't get it. Leaving and returning to the area worked once in about 20 tries.  Read a suggestion elsewhere that if the ? mark isn't there at first, leave the session by using the "Online" button in the main menu and then hitting "Free Roam". This will change servers and bring you right back to the same area. Instead of waiting, you get a new chance almost instantly. Have I tried it yet...........No............but am seconds away from doing so. If I can find this forum again will report back.

[Kean_1]

13 minutes ago, DaMahn96 said:

If I can find this forum again will report back.

Well, unless you're an interdimensional traveler caught between parallel worlds with alternate realities and no way back, we should still be here.

[James Hickok_1837]

13 hours ago, DaMahn96 said:

Have had a problem with finding the free roam legendary animals from the start. Have noticed that the ? mark will pop up when I "first" enter an area if is going to. Traveling around or waiting doesn't get it. Leaving and returning to the area worked once in about 20 tries.  Read a suggestion elsewhere that if the ? mark isn't there at first, leave the session by using the "Online" button in the main menu and then hitting "Free Roam". This will change servers and bring you right back to the same area. Instead of waiting, you get a new chance almost instantly. Have I tried it yet...........No............but am seconds away from doing so. If I can find this forum again will report back.

Changing servers - bcoz that is what you described worked from the start and its the best way to find animals or gather plants for potions and collections. 

If the animal isnt where it supposed to be just keep switching servers. Works the best - always. 

[DaMahn96]

Found my way back.............Changing servers did not work for me and I spent hours attempting it.........Did come across another suggestion.........get in a solo session.............and clear out all random events...........will let you know how that goes.

[James Hickok_1837]

On 9/18/2020 at 9:41 PM, DaMahn96 said:

Found my way back.............Changing servers did not work for me and I spent hours attempting it.........Did come across another suggestion.........get in a solo session.............and clear out all random events...........will let you know how that goes.

weird. It always work for me. Sure i have to change server 5 times sometime but it works. 

What platform are you on? 

[DaMahn96]

I'm on a PC and have spent about 700 hours on the game. I'll take your suggestion to heart and try again. One question, when you change servers where are you? Have you left the animals area or just stayed there?

Got to admit that my patience needs work. Do  love this game though.

[STN357]

One thing that's worked for me, was trying a different approach whole thing to find the most difficult of the legendary animals. It took me two weeks to find every animal but I've had them all, not without a ridiculous amount of angst and making the same mistake.

 

My two most difficult animals to find were there Emerald Wolf and the Boar in Blue water Marsh, the Cogi Boar!

What turned the tide for me was changing the approach by simply coming in from a different place. Sounds simple but it worked and now I'm able to spawn my toughest legendaries without a problem.

 

For example, in O' Creagh's Run, I would repetitiously come up from Emerald Ranch and ride North and complete the circle around the lake in a clockwise motion and I'm certain I completed that cycle at least 300-500 times during the prescribed times. One of my crew mates mentioned he was able to get it to appear while he rode the train on his way into the area. From that point on, I came in from the East on the train tracks and it had been one of the most consistent spawns that I have. It worked out well.

 

The same was for the Cogi Boar, I'd spawn into Lagras with hopes of getting either the Sun Gator and/or the Cogi Boar and I'd come from West and start at the southwestern most spawn spot on a clockwise path. Nothing. I then came from Van Horn and headed south on a counterclockwise route and nothing. I then spawned my came in Roanoke Ridge and travel from the northwestern most camp heading south and I got it to appear multiple times. 

 

Those were my last two but I really wish I would've done it sooner, it would've saved me a day or two in trying to find these things.

 

Lastly, it's not that often that I would place my camp inside the same 'county' as the legendary animal. I would place it in the neighboring county. I hope this helps others out in completing some of these legendary hunts! I have 33/33 pelts as of a few weeks ago. Happy hunting!

[DaMahn96]

Saw this on another forum. 2 guys did a lot of statistical work to come up with this. Several others have verified that it looks good.    1.... A spawn is when the question mark is changed to a paw. No matter what happens after that in the encounter......2......Once a spawn has taken place, you will be on a cool down period of 1 game hour (48 real min.) whereby "NO" LA's will appear.......3.......You will also be on a cool down period of 72 (yes 3 days) real hours whereby no LA's of the species you spawned (eg. gators) will appear. The LA's gotten from Harriet count in this. Just passing this on. Have no idea personally how good this is. But thinking back, could explain a lot.

 

[STN357]

That brings so many things to light why it took so long to get it because I was opportunistically killing every question mark thinking that I'll just get past the 48 minute cool down. Not knowing that I'll need another 72 hours until I get another one. Hell I thought that that doing a mission with Harriet in between the spawn times would alleviate the time....f m face in 💀! That's crazy! 

[STN357]

4 hours ago, DaMahn96 said:

Saw this on another forum. 2 guys did a lot of statistical work to come up with this. Several others have verified that it looks good.    1.... A spawn is when the question mark is changed to a paw. No matter what happens after that in the encounter......2......Once a spawn has taken place, you will be on a cool down period of 1 game hour (48 real min.) whereby "NO" LA's will appear.......3.......You will also be on a cool down period of 72 (yes 3 days) real hours whereby no LA's of the species you spawned (eg. gators) will appear. The LA's gotten from Harriet count in this. Just passing this on. Have no idea personally how good this is. But thinking back, could explain a lot.

 

I was reading that on the larger forum as well but wasn't sure the validity of it all. 

[DaMahn96]

This really does work.Tabulated everything I did for the past three days including looking for a bear for hours right after I had spawned one. What a waste. In the past six hours six hours , I've gotten 4 LA's to spawn. More than in the past two weeks combined.