While doing a bit of leveling last night, I happened upon some Bloody Tracks. Being the pet-crazed hunter that I am, I stopped questing and turned my attention to finding the elusive beast responsible for them. Based on where I found them, I was pretty certain these tracks had been left by Savage, the striped white tiger found in the Jade Forest.
I first noticed the Bloody Tracks in the area where the Jade Tigers are located.
Tracking Down Savage
If you’re trying to track down this beauty of a cat, there are a few things you must know that will help you with your taming mission…
First off, if you want to make the job easier, make sure to change your Ground Clutter setting to Low. This has been stated on many other sites, forums, etc…and now I’m mentioning it again. The Bloody tracks are MUCH EASIER to see with this setting turned down.
Game Menu > System > Graphics > Environment > Ground Clutter
Here’s an example showing why it’s a good idea to turn this setting down. Tracks in the distance can be a lot more difficult to spot if there’s a bunch of 3D ground cover in the way. Also note that the tracks are not targetable, so you cannot use a macro to follow them. I tried. 😉 You must identify them visually.
The tracks right in front of me are bit harder to see on Ultra, with the one in the distance really obscured.
Next, you must realize that the tracks do not always indicate the direction in which this cat is heading.
Case in point…
This can make the task of finding him quite confusing if you happen upon old and new tracks that are close together.
Here’s a screenshot showing Savage leaving his backwards paw print right over an area that he previously just patrolled.
Next, you need to have a general idea of where he patrols. Why? Because it’s rare! has a map that is really helpful. I’ve included it below.
I found that the northeastern paths were the easiest to track. As you move southwest, the tracks seem to blend in much more with the terrain and are much harder to follow – especially in the Forest Heart and near the Gong of Hope.
The tracks contrast nicely with the terrain south of Sri-La Village, making them pretty easy to follow.
Savage is completely hidden from other players, and his tracks are only visible to hunters. When you reach a trail of Bloody Tracks that appear to have ended, there’s a good chance that Savage is right there. Drop a Flare and if he is right on top of you, this will pop him out of Stealth. Once he’s out, you can place a Hunter’s Mark on him to keep him visible.
Apart from actually finding him, Savage is an incredibly easy tame. Although he’s marked as hostile, he won’t attack you even while being tamed.
Also, I’m not sure that other players can even see him once he’s out of stealth. I watched him path between between a Mage and a mob that he was attacking, thinking for sure the Mage would either attack Savage or aggro him with some AoE, but nothing happened. Savage seems to be totally phased out for all classes but hunters.
This likely means that you won’t have to worry about anyone ruining the tame, unless of course a jerky hunter tries to jam you up.
Savage is not marked as a Rare – just as Elite – so I do not know how rare he is. I originally found him last night, but I only stalked him and did not tame him. My stable was full and I didn’t want to abandon any member of my Spirit Beast Stampede Healing Squad. 😉
However…this afternoon I decided to hop on real quick to see if I could find him again, and I did. Quite easily, in fact. This time I tamed him.
Update: I logged on about three hours after I tamed him, and found him again. I tamed him at 12:36pm, then spotted him again at 3:54pm, which makes me think that Savage’s spawn timer is probably 3 hours, or perhaps even less.
Tracking this cat down was mildly amusing, but I’d prefer if Blizzard avoided this method for future “Hunter Taming Challenges”. It’s more tedious than challenging, and there really is no thrill associated with it, in my opinion. Personally, I like the rush that goes along with competing against other players – both hunters and non-hunters.
I think Blizzard nailed it with the Patch 4.2 Hunter Pet Taming Challenges. I liked how they intended for hunters to use various abilities and techniques to successfully tame those beasties. Plus, they are rare, they will kill you, and are vulnerable to other players. To me, that’s what a “taming challenge” is all about.
These new pets can be fun to track down, but I think there should be some more rewarding tames added in the future.
But, this cat is very nice looking and is also the only Pandaren Tiger with this particular model, so I imagine many hunters will be eager to add it to their collection.
If you should decide to go after this new pet, then best of luck and happy taming!
Does savage exist on wow mop 5.4.2? please answer
Tamed 2-6-16 Aggramar
This was my first day farming, and I’m sure it’s easier now than it was at the beginning but I thought I’d toss in a strat that might help. I was having so much trouble staying on top of Savage–I’d catch the tracks, run ahead in camo, frantically look for the next one and get completely lost, even with low ground clutter. So I parked myself at the lake by Dawn’s Blossom and just kept tossing flares. Try to position yourself right on the D on the map, if you can. Zoom out all the way and get yourself a nice wide view of the area. There aren’t many mobs there other than porcupines and the occasional crane if you stand in the right spot. After an hour, he strolled through an active flare and I got him. There’s a pinkish red plant on the banks of the lake–keep throwing flares to the left of that, and he WILL walk through eventually, bad eyesight for tracks or not.
Just letting you all know.. there is a thing called a Dread Matriarch in Dread wases around the Forgotten Mire.. Might wanna try taming it.. It has the same looks as savage.
I am ready to scream with frustration over the 2 1/2 hours I spent trying to track Savage, to no avail. I followed his tracks from his spawning point to the end of his route, and all the way back, fighting off mobs right and left and casting Flare every chance I got. NOTHING. It’s past 3 AM and I’m feeling very bitter. I studied the map religiously, too. *sigh* Better luck tomorrow, I hope?
Managed to tame him today after tracking him for ages. 2100 gmt on Khadgar. some of his tracks still point the wrong way :-/
as of 10-15-12 at 8:20am est on the blackhand server the tracks are still pointing the wrong way from his pathing, and he did attack upon me taming him but he was rather easy once i found him
Tamed him at 2:08 sever time on Kul’ Tiras, if this helps any hunters that happen to be on that server. Found him around the road a little southeast of SRI-LA Village
just follow the tracks, if the tracks stop, use a flare, if he is there he will be visible, if not, keep tracking..
guy from the netherlands. (steamwheedle cartel)
Gar, according to Anj/Drach the fact that the tracks face backwards was the result of a bug that persisted from the Beta/PTR. Hopefully they’ll fix it in a future patch.
BTW, hoping to see you drop by on MG-Horde. 😉
I got Savage last week I found the tame to be different since you have to track him. But it still is a nice cat the only White Tiger. Also got Glimmer the other rare in the Jade Forest, he was much harder to track took several tries following the tracks to get him.
Congrats! I haven’t taken the time to even look for any of the rare tames.
Thankyou for this post, I did not even know this pet existed but I admit to being slow to find things out. You raise a point I am hoping all hunters might help me lobby Blizzard to improve on however. I would like Blizzard to greatly increase the Stable spaces for hunter pets to maybe 3 times what it is now. Most hunters love pet collecting and with only a total of 25 able to be kept it is a tough decision what to keep and what to delete. I would love for all hunters to lobby Blizzard every chance they get so that they might do this. I have 2 hunters just to get extra pets but would love to have all the pets I love just on the one. I do not see a negative affect for other players as you can still only carry 5 but could change them around more and enjoy showing off your collections with other hunters. So how about it Blizzard. Increase the hunter stable space to at least 60 pets.