Fisher needs more love? I think so

I remember in ARR, there were different animations for casting your line. There was one where your character swings the pole around in circles to get the line flying around before finally throwing it out in the water, and then slowly sways the rod back and forth while constantly reeling (river-type spinner lures). I think the latter is still used for Dunefishing, but how often do you seriously go Dunefishing?

Whatever happened to that? It was a cool animation but it was only used for one or two baits which are now defunct because we have a one size fits all bait now that likely doesn't even use that animation.

Also, most fish just seem useless. There's what again, like 20-30 fish per 10 levels (per expansion)? At least? But yet people only care about <5 of those for specific foods? Everything else is merely just used in getting your FSH up to max level. It'd be nice if more fish desynthed into more things that you actually care about (instead of just pigment and water crystals with the occasional thing like Dark Matter from those crabs), for example.

Though on the flipside, actual fishing itself... just seems like they tried to throw noodles at the wall to see what sticks because they were trying to make it more "immersive" and "engaging" when they kinda missed the point of what a good fishing system is really supposed to be.

SOME activities in the game are OK to be less engaging. Some people like to chatter away on their FCs or LSs while fishing, some people like to alt-tab and talk on discord or what not and only tab back when they hear they got a hit on their line. Nothing wrong with that, but SE seems to go "oh, we need more buttons for people to push!"

I would argue otherwise, we need LESS buttons. It should just be "hit a button and wait" because it's one of the only activities you can do in-game while chattering away.

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Originally Posted by Maeka

Though on the flipside, actual fishing itself... just seems like they tried to throw noodles at the wall to see what sticks because they were trying to make it more "immersive" and "engaging" when they kinda missed the point of what a good fishing system is really supposed to be.

SOME activities in the game are OK to be less engaging. Some people like to chatter away on their FCs or LSs while fishing, some people like to alt-tab and talk on discord or what not and only tab back when they hear they got a hit on their line. Nothing wrong with that, but SE seems to go "oh, we need more buttons for people to push!"

I would argue otherwise, we need LESS buttons. It should just be "hit a button and wait" because it's one of the only activities you can do in-game while chattering away.

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I fail to see what you're actually arguing for here. Yes, big fishing and legendary fishing have a lot of depth involved with skill usage, hook-time tracking, and more, but that's the point and its why the people who get into big and legendary fishing love it.

If you just want to afk and press reel every time you hear a bite, there's nothing stopping you from doing that, and you'll probably be able to catch 90% of the "useful" fish that way.


More to the OP's point though, while I love fishing in this game dearly, I would like to see improvements made in a few areas to add some usefulness and open up the class to a wider audience to allow more people to potentially get hooked on the more in-depth aspects of it.

With the changes to desynthesis, I would love to see a return to ARR days of hiding unique items on various fish. Coupled with putting more and more fish on display in housing fish tanks, this would help broaden the market on fish people would have demand for.

Additionally, spearfishing could definitely use an overhaul. One of Stormblood's biggest disappointments for me was that spearfishing was never given the same big/legendary treatment that normal reel fishing has had, and I would like to see that added as a fishing enthusiast. But beyond that, spearfishing hasn't been useful for anything since Snailfish were released for crafting and gathering gear upgrades in 4.1. Spearfishing has the potential to be a more fast-paced fishing experience, which might offer an entirely new niche for people to enjoy alongside being able to catch a wider variety fish that help them in other areas of the game.

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Originally Posted by Maeka

I remember in ARR, there were different animations for casting your line. There was one where your character swings the pole around in circles to get the line flying around before finally throwing it out in the water, and then slowly sways the rod back and forth while constantly reeling (river-type spinner lures). I think the latter is still used for Dunefishing, but how often do you seriously go Dunefishing?

Whatever happened to that? It was a cool animation but it was only used for one or two baits which are now defunct because we have a one size fits all bait now that likely doesn't even use that animation.

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If you’re after surviving fish, you’ll still want specific bait. All those animations still exist. It’s based on the bait or lure type you use, not where you are.

Agree, many similar fish can sensibly be substituted in recipes. They have too many useless fish. Also, in general, there is not enough in-game clues.

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Originally Posted by Maeka

I would argue otherwise, we need LESS buttons. It should just be "hit a button and wait" because it's one of the only activities you can do in-game while chattering away.

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That sounds terrible to me. The abilities are a significant part what make catching legendary fish interesting and rewarding.

I think the ideal solution is if someone doesn't enjoy fishing maybe they should find something they do enjoy doing, like utilizing the new auto-gathering and just selling things in bulk, and use the gil they earn from that to buy the fish they don't want to be catching.

In the beginning of 2.0 Yoshi said he didn't want fishing to be economically important. But you can still make a decent living on ARR fish.

Also there is an aethersand spearfishing fish.

Fishing has been a viable GP-free source of aethersands since SB...which is why Il Mheg's lake is consistently swamped with bots on every single server. It's the preferred option for those who don't want to bother using cordials to increase the number of attempts they get during each window for the ephemeral nodes as you need considerably more luck to get any aethersands without spending GP from mining/botany then you would spearfishing.

That aside, I do think we deserve some better rewards from big fishing then simple titles considering how rough it can be. A special mount like a flying shark would be nice.

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Originally Posted by KageTokage

That aside, I do think we deserve some better rewards from big fishing then simple titles considering how rough it can be. A special mount like a flying shark would be nice.

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I'd love a fishing mount but I'm also wary of attracting people who hate fishing into something like big fishing. If it can be sold it should be fine, though it would feel less special.

I'd like to see valuable/interesting desynth options from rarer fish. Something fishers can either desynth themselves or sell it on the MB like gacha.
Like the pareo/bikini/lei fish. More like that.

I just want a bait inventory, that would be enough to really get me back into fishing other than just grinding up the levels whenever higher ones are ready

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Originally Posted by Chris131289

I just want a bait inventory, that would be enough to really get me back into fishing other than just grinding up the levels whenever higher ones are ready

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AFAIK The dev team is aware of the demand. I think Yoshi P mentioned it when he was visiting a world.

Edit: Found it

https://www.reddit.com/r/ffxiv/comme...ited_masamune/

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Q. I want a tackle box?
A. I understand the demand...

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Thats as much as we are getting at the moment

i just use my Chocobo Saddle as my "Fishing Tackle Box". With the increased amount of space they gave us in our main inventory and retainer inventory it makes me have to ask. What are yall using all this space for?? and before someone says well it's ALL the bait. I have almost EVERY single bait needed for any hole i come across and i still have space in my Saddle as well as inventory. Imo I feel they gave us the Tackle Box by giving the chocobo a Saddle.

As for i saw once asking for less bait. NO!! I thought this would be good at first as well then i started thinking about Fishing holes that have lots of fish that require different baits. Lets take the common Gold and Silver fish that you usually need to mooch. In most spots you can use one specific bait and instead of fighting 5 or 6 different fish you might have to fight off just one other. You lower the amount of baits (say for extreme example they make it like spear fishing Freshwater, Ocean, and River baits only) .now you're fighting literally every single fish in the water to catch a Gold or Silver fish just to mooch. thats how you get cancer

Agreeing

RNG is WAY to big of a role in Fishing. Just today as level 80 fisher with unmelded Facet gear i spent 300 brute leeches and STILL have not caught the stupid Magic Bucket. I know for a fact over the time spent trying to catch it i have spent WELL over 1000 brute leeches and still have not caught it, snag, snag off, fish eyes on or off, patience no patience. i even tried to see if standing or sitting would change it. Yet ages ago when i first tried my friend got it with in 20 tries. Excuse me?

the main issue is the extreme lack of information for absolutely not reason at all besides to be a bag a poo. Fishing log information just says for restrictions Yes or No. If it's yes then tell us what that time, weather, special condition is ffs. You dont even need to go into depth for weather just show the weather icons hes available, for time just tell use when to when, and conditions just say "intuition" or "Fish eyes" whatever. Without this information being give to us the Fishing log can out right be removed and just turned into a button on the main map to switch to fishing locations b/c it isn't telling us anything else. It's my understanding that a Tome is a book that tells you things. Mining and Botany the tomes tell you what it is and we get markers that show us where it even is. With fishing its like oh you now know somewhere at some time with some bait and some other magical stuff you maybe might could possibly have a fish at some location probably... if your lucky. Why? It doesnt add anything and if anything it takes away a vital aspect of the game of immersion... Now i have to search Sky Watcher+ to check the weather is correct and i need Cat became hungry to tell me what the fish needs and though the information is usually pretty accurate at times it can be inaccurate b/c human error so you need another site like Gamerscape which is just a pain with fishing.

I especially dont want fishing to be easier b/c like with Botany and Miner i dont feel accomplished ...buy the tome find spot hit button ok it's yours forever... come back hit spot more that will make fishing boring af

As for what id say needs changes... Mainly Clarity granted the log cant tell us EVERY SINGLE bait that can be used on a fish i get that but with everything else tell us. Yoshi said he wants it to be an enjoyable chill thing to do with friends well it's hard to be chill when you spend hours trying to catch a simple minion and for literally no reason you just dont. Fish like Warden of the Seven Hues I enjoy trying to fish. It's a challenge it's hard but possible to accomplish and not everyone has caught it (quick side not this fish needs its own achievement reward for catching omfg) but whats not enjoyable is though all conditions were met. Time, weather, bait, mooches. We both got 3 idigos 3 firelights but for reasons unknown we didnt see a single Green... That changes the experience from fun and challenging to just now we feel cheated af. Perhaps there was something that changed and we just didnt notice (it was our 5th or 6th try trying for Warden) but since the specifics for green isnt in stone in the game we just feel cheated.

On top of Clarity skills like Power hook and Precise Hook for seasoned fishers yeah we know when to use which but since it doesnt really explain when to properly use which one. Players new to fishing might not understand them as i didnt until someone explained it to me and it made a hell of a lot more sense why i failed at a lot of catches when i was still new.

But again i think the biggest issues we have with fishing are not easy fixes b/c its mainly the RNG factor sure most the fish are useless and you dont make a lot of money fishing but fishing in games are usually never the money maker especially in MMOs. You want money go do crafting or one of the other gatherers they are way easier and quicker. It would be nice to have more glamours desynthed from fish. More over all the AAA fish should be mountable on the wall or at least have a 100% chance to desynth into a non tradeable glamour so the most hardcore fishers can show off they caught it since it probably wont go in the aquariums or they aquariums are full. Hell even let us turn in our Gathering book to Wawalago showing we caught them like an Achievement to get some sort of special fishing glamours or mount. So i guess the other main issue is the effort to reward... I've put a metric butt ton of effort into Magic Bucket b/c i wanted to show it off but after as much effort i've put into it even if i get it ill see it as a huge waste of time... Theres no more reward to fishing nothing they can desynth into, nothing to turn them in for, no reason to catch one... besides of course put it in the aquarium where it looks dead b/c it cant move around...

...i really hope 5.2 brings something good this Boat will bring a lot of fishers together but if they dont give decent rewards itll die out real quick like

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Originally Posted by Choco_Breeder_Twirly

I main issue is the extreme lack of information for absolutely not reason at all besides to be a bag a poo.

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This. Bait and inventory issues aside, this is one of the biggest annoyances when it comes to fishing. They intentionally keep the fishing log SUPER vague for no good reason. Not telling us things like time/weather/fish eyes, or even where unfished holes are doesn't make fishing a personal mystery to solve. It just forces us to google everything.

On a random note now that im paying more attention to it. I especially want to say we dont need less bait because all fishing in Norvandt you only need 3 MAYBE 4 baits per fishing spot... Yes ARR area require 500 per spot but theres also WAY more fish in each one. So once you get the ARR areas fished up you can start bait dumping.

I would appreciate if the bait I used didn't catch 4-8 of the same fish as three other bait. I miss 1.0 fishing where you could choose the depth you want to fish at. Could be as something as simple as spearfishing is where you just set a different jig, instead you set weights to the line. Being able to see a reel on my pole would be nice as well. I have been stuck at Stethacanthus and Ruby Dragon for the last 13 months. I haven't seen a Sculptor either for the last five months. They talked about fishing competition over a year ago. Hopefully they add it to ocean fishing.

would anyone be against just bait being almost removed entirely to the point its just a buff/stance you get by leveling
and bait is just used for all the special fish (bought with scrips,gathered,beast tribe token etc etc)

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Originally Posted by Duskane

would anyone be against just bait being almost removed entirely to the point its just a buff/stance you get by leveling
and bait is just used for all the special fish (bought with scrips,gathered,beast tribe token etc etc)

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Bait/lures help to narrow down the number of different fish you can hook when you're trying to catch a specific one. I really wouldn't recommend removing it considering how many fish some nodes have.

Unless you want SE to greatly reduce the number of fish, of course.

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Originally Posted by Choco_Breeder_Twirly

Agreeing
RNG is WAY to big of a role in Fishing.

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This! When you want to catch a fish that requires a double or triple mooch, with weather and time condition, and you end up catching some other less rare fish... When you have such crazy conditions, you should be guaranteed to get the rarest fish! I've been trying to catch some fishes since I don't know when (HW maybe?) and still nothing.

And once you've fished a fish with special conditions, they should be written in the log. Why should we have to google it again >.<

Hooray. We're getting the flying shark in 5.2.

I just hope it's not tied a grindy achievement and rather something takes a little more actual effort like the ShB big fishing achievement.