Friday, August 3, 2012

Rare Pandaria Hunter Pets - A New Kind of Challenge

If there were one thing in MoP Beta that I had been biting my nails in anticipation for, its rare hunter pets. Well, we've finally got em' ...and with a fun new twist! These pets need to be tracked down...literally. These beasts have long, windy patrol routes where they will leave tracks behind them as they walk. Each rare has their own unique track, and here's the kicker...the pets are completely stealthed.

The only way these beasts will become visible is for them to walk through a flare. Hunters Mark can be applied to them while they are in the flare to help aid in tracking for that particular hunter. Another interesting thing to note, is that both tracks and the pets are only visible to hunters! (Hunter's prayers have been answered by the gods of WoW!) ^-^

Their tracks do not stay up indefinitely; the furthest ones behind disappear one by one as new tracks are created where the beast is walking. Currently the tracks are a bit buggy. On Beta right now nearly all tracks need to be followed BACKWARDS in order to find the beast making them. Some of the tracks also spawn in under ground, and others float strangely over the terrain making them even more difficult to find.

The most difficult tracks for me to follow were Patrannach's Barely-Visible Tracks and Savage's Bloody Tracks. The reason for this was because they blended in so well with the terrain, and because each had occasional missing tracks. One thing that help out a LOT when looking for any of the tracks was to put ground clutter on the lowest setting.

So far there are nine pets altogether, with at least one in each zone. They range in level, with the lower level ones naturally residing in the lower level zones. They are currently classified as elites with golden dragons around their portraits, and although they do hit hard most people shouldn't have trouble with them. (I tamed Savage with a level 85 hunter, and he still didn't get me lower than 60% health without a frost trap or deterrence up.)

So without further adieu, let me introduce these new pets in order by zone. ~

Click on the name of the rare to be taken to the page on that particular pet with extra screenshots, maps, video and far more information.

Jade Forest

Name: Glimmer (Water Strider) **Exotic pet
Track type: Flooded Tracks
Rough location: Near The Arboretum and down past the Temple of the Jade Serpent


Name: Savage (Cat)
Track type: Bloody Tracks
Rough location: Through Forest Heart and past Dawn's Blossom



Valley of the Four Winds

Name: Patrannache (Crane)
Track Type: Barely-Visible Tracks (and they really are BARELY visible...)
Rough Location: Middle of the zone, east of Halfhill moving up into the Gilden Fan, also the far western end of the zone


Krasarang Wilds

Name: Bloodtooth (Turtle)
Track type: Muddy Tracks
Rough location: The shoreline and tiny islands in the south of the zone


Townlong Steppes

Name: Rockhide the Immovable (Basilisk)
Track type: Worn Tracks
Rough location: southeast of Fire Camp Osul




Kun-Lai Summit

Name: Bristlespine (Porcupine)
Track type: Puzzling Tracks
Rough location: Through a large part of the Yaungol Advance, moving past Westwind Rest, the Kota Base Camp, One Keg and the Grummle Bazaar.


Name: Stompy (Goat)
Track type: Heavy Tracks
Rough location: Northeast of Winter's Blossom traversing the mountains. I found him on Mount Neverest.


Dread Wastes

Name: Hexapos (Water Strider) **Exotic pet
Track type: Mysterious Tracks
Rough location: Along the coastline - the Stinging Trail up to the Chittering Coast


Vale of Eternal Blossoms

Name: Portent (Quilen) **Exotic pet (Comes in FOUR different colors: purple, blue, green and red)
Track type: Dusty Tracks
Rough location: Patrols through the middle of the zone, from Mogu'Shan Palace all the way to the western end




I'll be posting videos of tracking and finding each of these pets soon. I do have them up on my YouTube page already though for anyone who just HAS to see them now. =P

Eventually I'll have these guys mapped out as well, but I don't like posting anything unfinished so that may be a little while.

In the meantime, if your playing Beta and are looking to find these guys right now, a great resource is the forums over at Petopia. There is a great thread with a ton of helpful information here. Sneaky Sams also has some nice maps started on her blog, check it out here.

All in all, I have to say I am VERY happy with these new pets. Not just because they all look great, but I just love the fact that hunters will actually have to HUNT down these pets. It's about time! As frustrating as finding a couple of these was, the hunt itself was still very enjoyable. Once those tracks are found your definitely in for a heart-racing time!



19 comments:

  1. A couple of days ago, I noticed an Alliance Hunter just shooting flares in a particular spot for quite a while. Now I know what she was doing :) I read about the hunter rares on a couple of other sites and missed the part about the tracking business at first.

    I LOVE that they did this for rare loving hunters like myself but that also means that I'm going to have to be on my hunter for quite a while just to see these beauties. I agree with some on other sites who have stated that these look fairly ordinary but the cat and quilen will be the ones to have (for me at least), and prob the strider too :)

    Great job on finding them all :D

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    1. Haha, I could see how that might look a little puzzling to a non-hunter. People not in the know are going to think we're nuts. "Look at that hunter just playing around with their flares....wait, there's another one doing it too! Crazy huntards..." ;)

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  2. Finally, what a great idea. No more wanton carnage of Hunter pets! I think I need that goat.

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    1. That was the saddest thing about the Molten Front/Hyjal rares, some people straight up stated that the 25g - or even worse, hunter's tears made it worth killing them. Heck even the ones that people killed inadvertently, not knowing that they didn't drop any loot were a shame. This should take care of all of the above. I am one happy hunter for sure!

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  3. I think it's an amazing idea, a treasure hunt with a pet at the end. Also I need that white tiger.

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    1. I LOVE the white tiger model. That one, and the pink crane are my favs. If they don't change the models I think the white kitty will probably be the toughest one to come by. On beta he was the one I noticed the most people looking for.

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  4. Hello Euphyley, I just found your great blog through Cymre's post on the rare pets, it's such a fantastic resource!

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    1. Thanks Sneaky, I love what you've got up so far as well. Keep up the good work! =)

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  5. Thank you very much for this very informative blog. Because of your blog I have a hunter of both factions AND I have tamed ALL of the Spirit Beasts on the Horde side and am getting there on the alliance side.

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    1. Congrats on all of your fuzzy new friends! I'm glad I was able to help you out. ^-^

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  6. Yay! I've been wanting a pet with horns for ages! I still want a Giraffe but I'll settle for the goat, tyvm.

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    1. Omg, if we could tame giraffes as pets...I'd never need another pet again!

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  7. Hello guys, and particularly the awesome host of this site. Suomi on ihana and all that!
    I wanted to take the time out to thank you for your hard work and dedication. I have caught all of the pets aside from glimmer whom I have been having phasing issues with I guess, but he doesn't really do much for me! Infact, I only knew of the turtle, basilisk and marticar wannabe waterstider today after checking back on the site - and had caught all 3 within about 2hours tops. Mr Paladin Pinky Crane was by far the hardest/most enjoyable to finally catch - the tracks were a PAIN but the buzz and feeling you get when it appeared on my screen from a long 2 hour trek at 4am was intense! I think I was probably the first on my server (Moonglade EU) to get Savage, but was disappointed to see its not a unique skin after all - couple of zones later you can find the same skin on http://www.wowhead.com/npc=60875 summit prowler, but of course I will still keep Savage nonetheless!
    Happy hunting, and thanks once again. All the best! :)

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    1. Thanks for stopping by and congrats on all of your tames! I feel the same way when I've been tracking one forever and the hard work finally pays off - such a good feeling. I definitely prefer getting rare pets this way than just sitting around and waiting for them to spawn in. ;)

      Although the Summit prowlers do look a lot like Savage, they are in fact a different color. They are technically "grey" where Savage is white. If you stand them next to one another you can see the difference. Their eyes look different too if you look closely. I guess they'd make a good substitute for people having trouble finding him!

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    2. Hmm, well yes thats true - I should have stated they are ALMOST the same, but the eyes Savage has are beautiful it has to be said! Kiitos paljon :)
      But yep, the feeling is awesome when you finally see them come in to view!! Love it :)

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  8. I can't wait to get to work taming these new lovlies. I'm a bit sad though at no more stable space with this expansion. I don't know which of my pets I'd be willing to let go as I've spent considerable time camping for many of them =/ And was I the only one disappointed to see the Thundermaw wolf? So very very very close to looking just like Skoll who I camped for days before I finally tamed. It just made me very sad :(

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  9. Its took me about 2 1/2 weeks but i was able to track and tame 4 of these
    1 Petrannache
    2 Savage
    3 glimmer
    4 bloodtooth
    I love that they added this it was a painful grind but totally worth it having these guys they look amazing!

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    1. Grats on your tames! I agree, It's nice for hunters to actually have to "track" their pets - and what a great feeling when you finally nab em! ;)

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  10. I can confirm that there is 1 more coming in 5.1. Silkworm named Bombyx, spawns in KRasrang Wilds between Dawnchaser Retreat and Temple of the Red Crane. Tracks are called Heavily Chewed Silkweed and they don't point in a general direction. I'll have more info soon

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