Fishing Not Respectful Of Player's Time

[CaptainLagbeard]

Spearfishing is a lot more fun than regular fishing as you don't have to take in all the fish you don't actually want.

But you are still ultimately at the mercy of the RNG as you can't force the fish you want to spawn in...

[Denishia]

I'm going to assume this thread got necro'd in part because of the FishFest fan event two days ago? If not, hey, go check out some of the screenshots and videos from the community of in-game fishers.

And as someone who is working on completing their fishing log (I'm only missing Cinder Surprise, Lancetfish, Coral Manta, Placodus, and Hafgufa) and close to that Big Fish title - yes it is a time sink. The hours I've spent attest to that. And guess what - I don't raid. I don't do Savage or Ultimates, but I feel that Legendaries are my equivalent, with a similar amount of time sent aside for gearing up and buying the right consumables, plotting my optimal windows, and then yes, a lot of cursing(or thanking) RNG. It's a long-term goal and investment, but Soloable, same as going for the Necromancer title. The new big fish each patch are my new raid tiers. And I could complain about job reworks or lowering the skill floor, or talk about animation clipping to weave skills into a buff window, or fearfully anticipate what new devilment the sadistic dev designing this highend content will torment us with next (Tebqeyib Smelt for Spearfishing was an incredibly difficult but rewarding in its difficulty challenge and I fear the next Spearfishing challenge).

I fully expect the capstone skill for 7.0 to be Fish Eyes II, as that skill eliminates the time requirements for fish windows for any ARR, HW, or SB fish minus a few exceptions, so the next logical expansion is to expand it up to ShB.

Someone who did fishing before the introduction of Versatile Lure does not underestimate the sheer QoL improvement that single item is for fishing - it simplifies 90% of the class by being a substitute bait for all fish except the Legendaries (it can even catch some of the Big Fish, though again not optimal gameplay) - and again, going after legendary big fish is as optional to the job as Savage raiding is to combat classes. The questline to unlock them aren't in the job questline, none are needed for leves, custom deliveries, or tribal quests. In fact, as someone who has caught or spearfished almost every single fish in this game - you only bother with that if you are such a completionist that you want to fill out a 1600+ list of mostly useless items and if you are doing that then you kow you are signing up for a timesink and the point of it is the time sink and slow steady grind to that joy of filling those pages.

And Ocean Fishing - I'm 700,000 short of World-Class Troller and don't have the specialist shark/jellyfish/balloon titles, but I have my shark mount and all the minions - and the geat thing about Ocean Fishing is that it is the fastest way to level any job in XIV - fifteen minutes of effort in a causal group raid can take you from level 1 to 25 easily. And plenty of FSH enjoy Ocean Fishing while ignoring the rest of the job entirely.

[Valkyrie_Lenneth]

I finally caught salad yesterday and finished my big fish title.



I still wouldn't change fishing at the high end. And I still stand by my statement that fishing is fine for people not going after the actual endgame aspect of catching big fish.

[Denishia]

I finally caught salad yesterday and finished my big fish title.



I still wouldn't change fishing at the high end. And I still stand by my statement that fishing is fine for people not going after the actual endgame aspect of catching big fish.

Congrats on Salad! I finally caught it Sunday evening, along with two other people at that window, and the days before at least four people at once got it.

And especially congrats on the title! To be honest, Big Fish and Necromancer are the two titles I respect above any of the Legends, because they are commitments without shortcuts.

[Melorie]

I love fishing. I hate this notion that the game should respect your time in everything. We have SO many things in this game where you simply dedicate yourself a week or so and you'll get it, I don't know why letting people have something that gives them a longer goal and it's completely optional is such an issue.

I personally really enjoy the mini-game and the whole community that is built around it. I love how it gives me a reason to explores the maps and enjoy them as something more than just-a-background-for-the-story.

It's perhaps the only content in the game where I can feel proud by something accomplished at lvl 50, 60, 70, even though I'm a higher level. There's no sense that only the very newest content will keep you enganged and be actually hard, given how bad the sync is in this game. It's the closest to horizontal progression we got.

Hopefully it stays that way and for the entitled people that thinks anything that THEY don't enjoy doing MUST be changed to cather their particular need, you have the rest of the entire game for you. That should be enough. If you don't enjoy the act of fishing, you shouldn't want the rod regardless.

[Leifei]

I don't think that fishing in any game is meant to respect your time. Or in real life.

Like... have you ever been fishing in real life? I don't think any activity in existence could beat "sitting by the water for 8 hours straight waiting for a stick to wiggle" in terms of total time disrespected, barring maybe watching paint drying.

Phrasing

[Aneshda]

No don't ruin Fishing. It is good as it is right now.
Even if some Fishes takes more time.
What I would like to see is the chance to make the really Hard to Catch Fishes into Throphies so we can hang them on a Wall.
And they should look like the orginal Fish and not just a 0815 Black / White Painting.

[PikoAliapoh]

What are some ideas you would implement to make fishing more enjoyable?

Grab a cold one, sit back, relax, don't stress if you miss your window and have to try again another day.

Catching a fish isn't the same as walking up to a plant and picking a flower.

[NekoMataMata]

So I agree, but at the same time I also think everyone else has a point. I've never fished irl ever but I'm pretty sure you sit there and wait around for whoever knows how long. I don't know what else you could really do to keep both sides happy.

Also, I've never tried this out, and it doesn't make it a lot less RNG but isn't there a method setting up a timer to go off each time you cast your line, and knowing what fish bit by the amount of time and !s?

[Melorie]

Also, I've never tried this out, and it doesn't make it a lot less RNG but isn't there a method setting up a timer to go off each time you cast your line, and knowing what fish bit by the amount of time and !s?

If you're fishing because you're just, fishing, yes, but specific fishies for achievments require certain combinations of skills/baits, are only allowed at certain times/weather that you have to keep track of, so it's not as simple as "click when !". So it's not always easy to actually just afk and wait for the timer.
IMO the solution already exists, you have other two other gathering classes that require none of this, none of the rng or mini game aspects and are normal clickers.