Where the Wild Things Are in Patch 5.1

[Lisaara]

Daaaaang! He's such a cutie!

[Kyria]

Looks like Krasarang wilds, I am not too surprised! I wonder if you have to do the quests to see the tracks? I haven't done a thing in Krasarang yet.

I get that. But most of us are here precisely because we love finding things

If you see comments from people not wanting to search without more evidence it's usually because of burn-out. Most of us have scoured the world so many times sometimes we need a break

*raises hand* Maybe I should not have so open about my jadedness Like others, I had spent hours scouring every inch of Pandaria not knowing what I was looking for, where to look for it, or if it was even active yet (it was in game files but I wasnt sure about it being active on the PTR as of this build). If Kalli and Caelan found these tracks by stumbling onto them without nary a hint or direction, simply by "pounding the pavement", then certainly all my hats off to you guys!

Why, thank you! We did in fact find Bombyx without any direction whatsoever. We spent hours upon hours looking through every zone, and we nearly gave up more than once. Then a few hours ago, I went with my gut instinct, flew into Krasarang for what must have been the fifth time, looked down, and saw... well, Kalli will inform you all of that when we're not both dying of sleep deprivation, hehe. It was a bit of a miracle, really! We weren't even totally sure he was in, to be honest.

[Lisaara]

Hats off to you guys!

what must you do to track this beauty anyway? Besides deprive yourself of sleep.

[Meggers]

I'm curious what the tracks ended up looking like...I hope they're appropriate.

[Quiv]

i have a badddddd feeling this is going to be quest phase dependent.

[Kalliope]

Sorry about the delay - sleeping was absolutely necessary for Caelan and me after watching Bombyx for hours and determining that he's pretty much unmappable.

Yup. Unmappable.

Bombyx takes pretty much every tracking mechanic we've seen and kicks it up to 11. His pathing is erratic, to say the least. He twists and turns. He doubles and triples back over the same ground, sometimes with small differences. He makes sharp turns without leaving any tracks or indication that he's done so. Worst of all, he will stop randomly and sit still for varying amounts of time, making flaring him more difficult than any other rare.

On top of all this, his tracks are Heavily-Chewed Silkweed.



That's right, his tracks do not indicate which direction he's walking in. Not only that, but there are many silkweed nodes in the area, which makes tracking even more difficult. The chewed silkweed is just a tiny version of silkweed to begin with and it blends in well with the landscape. Due to Bombyx's completely random pathing, you can often find a single track or as many as....well, I logged in to see 17 clumped up near each other just now.

Yup.

There is so much guesswork involved with even flaring him out that a guide to his tracks will only get you to his general area....where the real fun begins!

He's level 90, so if you're up for the most challenging tracking tame of them all, you'd better hit the level cap prior to 5.1. On the plus side, he doesn't seem to be impacted by phasing issues, since I haven't really touched Krasarang Wilds.

I'll get a map up soon; I'm getting a video prepared as well.

For anyone who's complained that the tracking tames aren't challenging....well....they haven't met Bombyx.

[Quiv]

YESSSS I dont even want a worm but I shall try my hand. This sets a precedent though, I bet we will be following trails of poop before long.

On the plus side, he doesn't seem to be impacted by phasing issues, since I haven't really touched Krasarang Wilds.

Woot! I havent either.

[Zangor]

go figure he'd be in krasarang where the alliance and horde forces will also be arriving in 5.1.

[Ziarre]

Oh god. They must have seen people mapping the routes of the others...

They have our number now.

[Zangor]

if the silkworm got kicked up to 11 imagine what the spirit beasts will be like! can someone say up to 99!!!! OH MY GOSH!

[Ziarre]

I think you're right. So far the tracking seems to be a hit, almost entirely preventing non-hunter griefing.

/remembers getting into a fight in general with a DK over Loque'nahak

[Kalliope]

if the silkworm got kicked up to 11 imagine what the spirit beasts will be like! can someone say up to 99!!!! OH MY GOSH!

Like I said last night, I draw the line at picking up spirit beast poop.

[Kalliope]

Oh, and one more thing: TINY BURROWING FEETS.

But Caelan found it; I'll let her tell you. xD

[Kyria]

Oh, right! The feets!

BEHOLD.



... Okay, so as it turns out, it's pretty impossible to capture this in a screenie, but silkworms now have their own precious burrow! Instead of just sitting on top of the ground and kicking up a storm of dust like they used to, they now faceplant into the dirt and wiggle their chubby tails back and forth to squeeze themselves into a tunnel. It's truly precious. Kalli has some footage of it in the upcoming video, though, so don't take my word for it!

[Meggers]

YESSSS I dont even want a worm but I shall try my hand. This sets a precedent though, I bet we will be following trails of poop before long.

On the plus side, he doesn't seem to be impacted by phasing issues, since I haven't really touched Krasarang Wilds.

Woot! I havent either.

Ugh no more poop...I don't want to participate in some blizzard devs scat fetish anymore. D:

[Zangor]

so now Kun-Lai, Krasarang,and, Jade Forest have 2 rates meaning if logic has any part to play in the spirit beast placement then they will most likely show up in either Dread Wastes, Townlong Steppes, or, Valley of the Four Winds! so exciting because the spirit beast will most likely match the zone in some way! perhaps we will finally see an insect spirit beast!

[Vephriel]

so now Kun-Lai, Krasarang,and, Jade Forest have 2 rates meaning if logic has any part to play in the spirit beast placement then they will most likely show up in either Dread Wastes, Townlong Steppes, or, Valley of the Four Winds! so exciting because the spirit beast will most likely match the zone in some way! perhaps we will finally see an insect spirit beast!

I would be so excited for a Dread Wastes insect/arachnid spirit beast, you have no idea.

[Melissa]

if the silkworm got kicked up to 11 imagine what the spirit beasts will be like! can someone say up to 99!!!! OH MY GOSH!

I was talking with Loki earlier about how the spirit beast tracks might only be visible while you're dead... It IS a spirit, right?

We kinda agreed that'd be insane... It suddenly seems a bit more likely after this silkworm

[Vephriel]

if the silkworm got kicked up to 11 imagine what the spirit beasts will be like! can someone say up to 99!!!! OH MY GOSH!

I was talking with Loki earlier about how the spirit beast tracks might only be visible while you're dead... It IS a spirit, right?

We kinda agreed that'd be insane... It suddenly seems a bit more likely after this silkworm

That would be a really cool idea, but (luckily?) I don't think it's feasible. Say you die and run around as a ghost until you find tracks. Then what? You can't use your abilities while dead, so you can't flare or tame or anything. If you find the tracks you can't resurrect right there since your body could be way behind while you ran around searching. If you res you can no longer see the tracks to flare out. Unless they put in some specific mechanics for hunters to use while dead. Not that I'd put anything past them, but it seems unlikely.

[Loki]

if the silkworm got kicked up to 11 imagine what the spirit beasts will be like! can someone say up to 99!!!! OH MY GOSH!

I was talking with Loki earlier about how the spirit beast tracks might only be visible while you're dead... It IS a spirit, right?

We kinda agreed that'd be insane... It suddenly seems a bit more likely after this silkworm

Yeah, I suspected that they wouldn't actually use the tracking mechanics when we first heard about them, but they might go with some crazy insane stuff after this.