Vendor-Fish prices are WAY too low.
Hello, I'm a fisherman.
I got it to 50 even before any other battle, field or craft job, so I guess you can say I love it.
I'm not really happy with all the "It's just for fun and waiting queues" thing, but since 2.1 we also got the chance to obtain Treasure Maps and a few of the things we fish actually sells good and has some use to craftsmen, so I'm not dissatisfied.
Actually, I make easier and faster money on the Markets with Fishing than I do with Botanist (which is also maxed out). I assume that is because we fisherman are a selected few, and most people don't pick up a job which seems useless!
Or maybe much get to 50 just because how awesome the hat is?
Anyway. I can sell good on the market even during this crisis, so I'm fine with just Red Coral, Sharks and Raincallers.
But I really don't understand the logic behind the vendorfishes.
Three things, in particolar.
1: Normal Vendorfish.
Around level 10, I fished up things that you could sell to vendor at 8 gil.
At level 50, I fish up things I can sell to vendor at 20 gil.
As a combatant, you get around 3.000 gil for a single WP run, which means more than 30 gil from each monster you kill.
But each kill is much faster than fishing up something. In fact while you get 3.000 from WP in around 20 minutes, you get 3.000 for fishing in about 2 hours.
That NOT counting the cost for a bait (Caddyfish Larva is 9 gil a fish, which cut your gain to around 10 gil a fish). If you use a tackle you take twice the time, so I don't know if that's a gain.
Plus I had the impression that fishing gear gets damaged more for each fish than Killing a mob does to battle gear, making repairs more expansive.
It's not even close to be remunerative.
You could then use LeveQuest and LeveQuest fishes to increase gains, but you have to pay allowances for that. So you earn more by selling Leves fish on the market and using allowance for other fieldcraft or battlecraft leves.
Now you could say "Fishing is just for fun filling your fishing log!", but why give a vendor value to fishes then?
2. Mooched Vendorfish.
Mooching requires two things: twice or triple time, and luck.
Luck is in the form of 15% HQ chance on fish, which means 3 fish out 20 are HQ. And that fish, have to be the right one for mooching.
When it comes to Double Mooch, you have to get 15% out of another 15%, which means something close to 2% chance. And still, you need to start with the right fish.
After all that, you sometimes get a fish who have no use for no one (Boltfish is required for a Leve, but that's it) and a fish you can sell for... 22 gil. I'm not sure, but Double Mooched level 50 fishes may get to 24 gil.
So, mooch is cool, but after I catch it one time for my log, it becomes a waste of time. So I have to choose between ~20 gil of HQ-non-mooched fish and not be cool, or be cool with mooching but just gaining ~22 gil.
To be clear, I always choose the cool choice, even if it's a loss.
So, in my opinion, you should be able to sell mooched vendorfish at AT LEAST twice the price the non-mooched vendorfishes are sold. And at least triple that amount, in the case of Double Mooching.
After all, mooched fish have the fish I use to catch it in its belly! I don't get it back!
3. HQ Vendorfish.
This is a problem about everything HQ, not just fishes.
But while Botanist and Miner can get up to 50% chance of HQ on occasions, fisherman can't get Beyond 15% ever.
That should make HQ fishes rare, by a roleplaying point of view, around x7 times NQ fishes. You see that is true when you notice that on Players Market, HQ is often sold between x2 and x10 the NQ value.
Now, I'm not asking for the moon, but since I fish up 3 HQ fishes out of 20, don't you think that rising the vendorprice at level 50 from 22 gil to 24 gil is not enough?
There are quests, in the Fisherman Storyline (which is, by far, the funnier storyline in the whole game!) where clients specifically requires HQ.
And I get just +10% value? I fished up this Vampire Lampern, which is mooched, HQ, which means around 2% chance to happen, and I gain only 20% more than selling a common NQ Silverfish with no mooching at all and no need for HQ?
Just to be clear, this is not a rant.
I would just like SE to know that they are too considerate on money they give by honest means, and that fishes are a perfect example of that.
A Double Mooched HQ fish is something so rare to get (0.3% chance!), that I should get a parade when entering Limsa Lominsa with it. Not just ~27 gil, which is x3 time the bait value!