I finally got the pets, and since I wasn’t playing when BfA was current, the chances of my collecting these pets the conventional way (by grouping) were slim and none.
So, in the interest of helping others to avoid the mistakes I made, I will be sharing my mistakes here, for anyone else who has to brave Mechagon to get the pets alone. Also, I’m going to refute a couple of claims that some have made about this superdungeon. I’m not trying to “call anyone out” for “posting false statements! Harrumph! Harrumph! Shame on you!” Because those statements might have been true once upon a time. BfA was released six years ago. I don’t know how things get tweaked or changed.
First, was the claim that there are usually two or three pets in the green areas of Operation: Mechagon. I have gone in, looked around and reset so many times that my ability to enter instances at all was temporarily suspended. I saw maybe one pet on two occasions out of all those times.
But I will say this. Once I started killing bosses, I noticed that a pet or two will pop up in areas where there weren’t any before.
Someone suggested that the area by the Alliance banner is out of bounds, implying that you will be vaporized if you go there. Not true. You can go to the Alliance banner and you will not be threatened with vaporization.
But I will say this: I did go north of the Alliance banner a short distance before I got warned that I would be vaporized if I didn’t return. I went back to the banner and was safe.
I don’t know how far south you can go from the Alliance banner. But I did find a pet in that direction and was able to capture it.
Again, not calling anyone out for posting falsehoods, which is why I am not using names. These things might have been true once upon a time.
One thing I learned the hard way: Pet battles are not a refuge for being out of bounds. I saw a pet and went to see if it was something I hadn’t captured, but was warned I would be vaporized unless I returned to the “in bounds” area.
And I thought, “What if I just run out there, start the pet battle. Will I be safe as long as I stay in a pet battle?”
Nope. I did engage with the pet and start the battle, but I was vaporized before I chose my first move.
Some pets will simply pop in areas that are out of bounds. Nothing you can do about that.
My first big problem was ilevel. I was a 70th level toon who had done very little to upgrade my gear since level 60. I had a couple of ilevel 300 items from some Timewalking Missions I did, but overall, my ilevel was just under 200.
Consequently, I was chewed up and spit out by the bosses, and any trash mob that attacked took a long time to kill. And if a second trash mob joined the fight, my chances of survival were at least doubtful.
No problem, though. I did a few pickup dungeons and got my ilevel to over 400 in a couple of days. This was more than enough. There was almost nothing that could damage me, much less kill me.
King Gobbamak in the north in Scrapbone Den is a standard fight. He summons a ton of adds, but just kill him and they disappear. And kill him fast enough, and he won’t have time to summon adds.
Trixie and Naeno are just south of Gobbamak in Bondo’s Yard. Again, standard fight. And if your ilevel is at 400+ they’re no threat. Just a minor hassle to kill.
Gunker’s a little different. You will cause him to spawn in the Outflow. To do this, you must kill the three Toxic Monstrosities in the area (which will be marked on your minimap). Each one releases a small, unattackable robot once you kill it. When the three of these robots fire their individual energy beams at a common point, Gunker will spawn.
Again, a pretty standard fight. Just don’t stand in the stuff that forms on the ground, and he’s no more dangerous than any of the other boss mobs.
Finally, the HK-8 Aerial Oppression Unit. The same flying death machine that’s you’ve been warned about at various times. You must kill Gobbamak, Trixie and Naeno and Gunker first. Since you killed all the bosses (allowing a rather conceited gnome to deactivate the nodes), the HK-8 is forced to land to recharge. He’s located in Junkwatt Depot, west by northwest of Gunker.
I was avoiding this fight, because, as far as I could tell, he was indestructible. Nothing I did even minimally lowered his health. Turns out that you have to “hack” the recharging station he’s using.
Pay attention to the messages here. It will tell you which recharging station he’s using and you must hack that one.
First, as you enter Junkwatt Depot, you’ll see the HK-8 hovering, and a giant robot standing under him. Nothing you do will damage the HK-8. The robot is another matter.
Once you destroy the robot, the HK-8 will begin to recharge, and the notifications will tell you which charging station he’s using, north or south.
Hacking was not overly complicated. I found out how by watching this video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=REik2_TJs6E
The video seems to emphasize that you have to hurry. I don’t know what he means by that. I was attempting to navigate around the Alarm-O-Bots descending the ramp so I could get to the charging station. I messed up several times and was zapped back to the bottom of the ramp where I had to start over. Despite this, I still managed to “hack” the station in time once I finally got past the Alarm-O-Bots.
The second time I did this, I was able to avoid the Alarm-O-Bots by standing in the charging station. I mean, I couldn’t even see my toon, because I was actually standing in the charging unit I was supposed to hack. Must be a glitch.
It takes a while to complete the hack, but once you do, the HK-8 becomes vulnerable and defenseless. Just kill it. It says mean things to you, but has no offensive attacks.
The only other mistake I made that I feel I should warn others about is in the arena, just inside the dungeon behind the HK-8 that you can access once you’ve killed the HK-8.
In the Arena, I was attacked by Gnomercy-4U and The Platinum Pummeler.
Gnomercy was no threat to me. And neither was the Pummeler, really, but there is something I didn’t know about which would have made this a lot easier.
While the Pummeler couldn’t damage me, he was mitigating my damage like crazy. I would say he mitigated my attacks to about 1% of normal. I finally killed him, but that fight took over 15 minutes.
I then looked him up on Wowhead, and it seems you have to lure him to the edge, where there are large mechanical hammers. One of them will smash the Pummeler, and stun you for a few seconds, but again, the Pummeler is no threat to you.
Once you recover from the stun, you’ll find that his damage mitigation is significantly reduced.
Once that’s done, you’ll be sucked down the garbage chute where you can explore and find lots of pets to make your own.
But just like on the surface, not every pet appears in an area you can access. And some pets will appear in piles of junk so that there’s no way to start the battle as the area is too obstructed.
Don’t fret, though. You’ll find others.
While I did get everything I needed to satisfy Mechagon Safari, I discovered there was certain breeds I wanted (such as an S/S Clanking Scrapsorter) so I went back a second time, and found everything I wanted.
This concludes my long-winded post. Again, if anyone benefits by reading this and manages to avoid the mistakes I made, I will consider this effort to be worth it.
If anyone else thinks of anything I’ve overlooked, please share.