SilverDragon

I put a poll up a couple of weeks ago asking people what addon they use to track rares or if they even use one at all. I've gotten a few responses so far, and I'm noticing a trend in the answers. Most people use NPCScan, roughly 20% use SilverDragon and about 10% haven't used any addons at all to find rares. I'm going to leave this poll up for a while, and I'm sure the numbers will change a bit, but ultimately I got what I was looking for.

I honestly thought there would be a few more people using SilverDragon than there are. Those of you out there who aren't using SilverDragon or any addons at all to find rares I'm going to tell you here a few reasons why you should consider giving this addon a try.

First of all, I am not nearly as familiar with SilverDragon as I am with NPCScan, but I have been using it for the past few months and I feel like I've gotten a pretty good handle on it. Let me start off by saying I currently use both NPCScan and SilverDragon. For me they each have their purpose. NPCScan has a wonderful overlay that you can download with it that shows where certain rares can be found that is very close to being correct and it's pretty easy to figure out. If you want more info on NPCScan you can find it on this post. The rest of this particular post however is going to be devoted to SilverDragon. 

Like NPCScan, SilverDragon can be downloaded from Curse.com. It tracks rare spawns in game, but unlike NPCScan, it tracks EVERY rare as far as I know. (That means anything under level 60 is in there too folks!) It comes with a list of all rares, and once you have the addon ready to roll all of those rares just need to be imported before SilverDragon will find them for you. In the screen shot to the right you can see the "Import Data" button under the Data Management tab. When you first download this addon and begin to use it make sure you click that before you start your rare hunting. When you click it you should see a message in your chat box along the lines of "SilverDragon_Config: Imported (number) rares." 

SilverDragon will show up on your minimap, your chocolatebar, or whatever you use as a little red dragon head icon. (Shown in the screenshot below.) When you click on the SilverDragon icon it will show you all of the rare spawns that could potentailly be up in the zone you are currently in. In the screen shot below I am flying through Northern Stranglethorn Vale and there are a total of seven rare spawns. Notice how it also tells you which ones are tamable! I had not yet seen any of these rares since I last cleared my cache in this screen shot. When a rare is found it will become cached and SilverDragon will display that info.

As I'm flying through Northern Stranglethorn my SilverDragon goes off and the white text you see below scrolls up through my screen. At the exact same time I saw the white text, that box poofed into existence on the right side of my screen. According to the notification a rare named Pogeyan has been found. Notice how it says "Click to Target".

When you click that notification box SilverDragon will then attempt to target the rare. If you are moving fast (like on a flight path) it may not be able to target the mob if you have moved out of range. Otherwise you should now be able to see it on your mini map and head in for the kill (or tame). 

Once the rare has been cached, you will be able to see this in your SilverDragon dropdown menu that I mentioned earlier. Notice how it now says "cached" next to tamable for Pogeyan. It will also show that Pogeyan has been cached as a rare that has been found this session (since you last logged in). 

Like NPCScan, unless you clear your cache when you next log out, SilverDragon will not go off again next time you happen to be flying over him. This is because he is still "cached". For more info on how to clear your cache please see this post on NPCScan. 

Unfortunatley SilverDragon doesn't have a map overlay, but for any hunters out there looking for interesting rare pets I have marked where a good chunk of them can be found already in their respective posts. Map overlay aside, I think SilverDragon has a lot going for it. The drop down list of rares in each zone is awesome in my opinion and I love how you don't have to manually add the low level rares. I definitely recommend giving it a try, even if it's just to find rares more easily while leveling a new toon. =)