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Variance
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How Variance Works
Most mobs in classic EverQuest respawn predictably, usually based on their zone's respawn timer. For instance, mobs in Kedge Keep usually respawn every 22 minutes, while most mobs in the Plane of Mischief only respawn every 72 minutes.
However some mobs don't respawn predictably, and instead have a "variance window". This means that when they are killed they won't respawn in exactly ____ minutes/hours. Instead they will respawn up to ____ minutes/hours either before or after that respawn time.
For instance, Lodizal respawns every 18 hours ... but he has a variance of +/- 1 hour. This means that when Lodizal is killed he can respawn anywhere in a two hour window, from 17-19 hours after he was killed.
Skips
Some mobs (eg. Lodizal or Stormfeather) can skip respawns. This means that the entire window (eg. two hours in Lodizal's case) can potentially pass, without a respawn.
When a mob skips its window, the server still calculates it's "spawn time" within that window, and the subsequent window is based on that time. However, players have no way of knowing what "spawn time" the server picked, which means that the size of the window effectively double with each skipped respawn.
For example, if Lodizal was killed at 6PM on a Monday, and he skipped his next two windows, his window on the third (and guaranteed spawn) would be from 3PM to 9PM Thursday. His window on Tuesday would have been from 11:00 AM to 1:00 PM, and his window on Wednesday would have been from 4:00 AM to 8:00 AM.
However, it's important to understand that mobs will have a higher chance of spawning in the center of their window than they will at either the beginning or the end of it.
| Day | Kill Time | Window | Explanation |
|---|---|---|---|
| Monday | 6pm | ||
| Tuesday | Skipped | 11:00AM -1:00PM | Kill time, + 18 hours (ie. - 6 hours), +/- 1 hour |
| Wednesday | Skipped | 4:00AM - 8:00AM | Kill time, + 36 hours (ie. - 12 hours), +/- 2 hours |
| Wednesday/Thursday | ? | 9:00PM (Wednesday) - 3:00 AM (Thursday) | Kill time, + 54 hours (ie. - 18 hours), +/- 3 hours |
Unclassic Variance
While mobs like Lodizal and Stormfeather had variance on live, some raid mobs on Project 1999 (TODO: which?) have variance which wasn't present on live, due to Project 1999's unique/unclassic raid scene.
Further Reading
This page was created based off of information from this forum thread.
