Where the Wild Things Are in Patch 5.1

[Eternallylostx]

What indicates what direction the worm is going? Looks like a average bouquet of flowers on the ground

Exactly. There's no clearly indicated direction. You either have to flare wildly around the tracks or hope you see one drop right in front of you... and sometimes, even that doesn't help you.

And this is why Bombyx is the hardest trackable pet to date!

Oh god. It's pat all over again.

[Kalliope]

And this is why Bombyx is the hardest trackable pet to date!

Oh god. It's pat all over again.

Pat just has tiny footprints and a long path. Bombyx is far more difficult, despite his path being a LOT shorter, due to the sporadic stops and starts and doubling back that he does. Even if you see a track appear, there's no guarantee that he'll walk forward into a flare. He could easily sit still or turn around. Flaring on the new track doesn't mean he'll have stayed either.

[Eternallylostx]

Pat just has tiny footprints and a long path. Bombyx is far more difficult, despite his path being a LOT shorter, due to the sporadic stops and starts and doubling back that he does. Even if you see a track appear, there's no guarantee that he'll walk forward into a flare. He could easily sit still or turn around. Flaring on the new track doesn't mean he'll have stayed either.

Looks like we need GC to nerf these tracks to the ground.

Oh, great. More hair-pulling pet tracking.

[Kalliope]

Looks like we need GC to nerf these tracks to the ground.

Nothing wrong with a bit of an extra challenge, especially since there were at least a few hunters who complained that the tracking tames weren't challenging enough (which is a silly assertion if you're using other players' maps, but that's another story).

He's actually pretty fun to track - and the absolutely hardest part (identification of his tracks and general pathing area) has already been done, so really, that makes it easier.

[Eternallylostx]

But he's every where! D:

That's makes me even more determined to find him. Sometimes more challenge is good. I'm not on PTR, so I can't really tell, but it seems like a small area for him to be in.

[Kalliope]

It is pretty small, yup. He just makes it seem bigger with his tricks.

[leaponover]

Awesome job you two!! See, that's the adventurous spirit I'm talking about! You are pioneers!!

[Eternallylostx]

True.

[Quiv]

I loved finding Bombyx. I will be the first to admit that the first lot of tracking was overall easy, and wouldn't mind more difficulty.

That being said, I hope the direction they took Bombyx stops there. It isnt tracking, its "oh he has been here" and randomly start flaring on cool down. All you can do is hope you see a "track" spawn and be quick enough to get the visual. There is no rhyme or reason, its just flare spamming, not tracking.

I would love to see tracking involve more clues and require more analysis and smart judgment. The first 9 was a step in that direction, but very simple and (for the most part) easy. Adding levels of depth to this style would make me happy.

Bombyx style is a nice diversion, but tracking should be based based on reasoning and deduction, not just randomly flaring. Either way, still fun!

Edit: This is terribly off topic isnt it

[leaponover]

I disagree. Portent was easy, and I see his tracks all the time. I still have yet to find a track for Savage. The only other rare I tamed was Patrannache and I tracked him for a solid hour as his tracks disappeared, reappeared, and then there are a few bodies of water. I was going the opposite way at one point because I am never sure which way they were walking and the track disappeared in front of my eyes which let me know I was going the wrong way which was fortunate because I would have been tracking even longer. I lost him several times and then threw up many flares. At one point I flared and there was a pack of mobs all around and I almost kept going until I spotted a red dot on the minimap in between all the yellows and then finally made eye contact with the thing. So, imo anything that takes me 1 hour + and leads to an acceptable amount of frustration is not easy.

If you compare to the challenge tames in Cata Skarr and the crab were easier for me than Patrannache... the spider perusing the ledge took a few wipes before I finally got it so I would say they were equally as challenging. The others were maybe a little bit more. Patrannache was challenging in a different way but still just as challenging. It just didn't stick you with a huge repair bill at the end but still time consuming nonetheless.

[Chimera]

Imo the perfect mesh of challenge tame would be to combine the actual challenge of duking it out with the beast, and tracking it down in the first place. The 10 hunter beasts right now go through territory that wasnt made for such an event, they're just treking through content that is more often then not, actual questing subzones. I would love to see somewhere, not particularly pandaria, new rare tameable beasts get a mesh of tracking prints and then a challenge tame at the end :3 I honestly have no idea how Blizz could do such a thing, im sure they'd have to reserve areas for these challenges alone so they can be performed at any point during their pathing, but it could be a lot of fun

[Kalliope]

Accidentally lost my original reply, but the crux of it was that each individual will find a different beast/challenge to be the most challenging of them all.

[Wain]

Sorry if I missed this in all the pages of excitement, but two questions for the database:

- is Bombyx elite? I think all the others were but his level was just listed as 90. Maybe he's different.
- do you happen to know what his ID is?

Thanks

[Kalliope]

He is indeed elite! As for his ID....*runs to check* *20 minutes later* 67820!

[Wain]

He is indeed elite! As for his ID....*runs to check* *20 minutes later* 67820!

Awesome! Thanks All logged. We're up to 110 rare beasts now, including him. Plus at least 3 arcane wyrms.

[Kalliope]

He is indeed elite! As for his ID....*runs to check* *20 minutes later* 67820!

Awesome! Thanks All logged. We're up to 110 rare beasts now, including him. Plus at least 3 arcane wyrms.

Wow, already?! Impressive.

[Protego]

As far as I care there is more coming to the 5.1 public test realm.

[SpiritBinder]

He is indeed elite! As for his ID....*runs to check* *20 minutes later* 67820!

Awesome! Thanks All logged. We're up to 110 rare beasts now, including him. Plus at least 3 arcane wyrms.

Still hoping that black dragon hawk to show up...

[Mozag]

He is indeed elite! As for his ID....*runs to check* *20 minutes later* 67820!

Awesome! Thanks All logged. We're up to 110 rare beasts now, including him. Plus at least 3 arcane wyrms.

Still hoping that black dragon hawk to show up...

*nods head eagerly in agreement*

[Eternallylostx]

Quick question: When is 5.1 going live? I don't spend much time on the battle.net.