Legendary fish and the upcoming update

[Nilheim]

Dear FFXIV devs,

I'm a big fan of fishing in the game and I was excited when a fellow FC member told me you were planning to bring some changes to fishing soon.

Are you planning to update the mechanics of the legendary fish? I hope you are. Even though it's quite a thrill, the frustration of the RNG is incredible.

I have completely finished the ARR fishing log and am currently working on the HW fishing log. Some of the remaining fish are giving me a lot of trouble, namely Problematicus, Charibenet and Raimdellopterus. Honestly I don't know how you came up with the requirements to catch them but it's nothing short of soul-crushing

Even if we put aside the absurb weather/time requirements for the rarest fish (and it is pretty hard to ignore when you work and can't even try your luck when their window is up), the RNG involved is crazy, especially when you realize that when ALL the insane conditions are met and the legendary fish finally bites, there is a high chance it will go away even if your gear is flawless.

I understand the appeal is to catch all the fish and I was pretty happy when I finished the ARR fishing log. That being said, I wish you would make RNG less of a factor and if that is not possible, at least make the Intuition buffs last longer than 3 minutes... (Kuno the killer comes to mind, it took me a long time to get Intuition, but at least when I got it it lasted about 20 minutes and I think that's fairer).

There is a fine line between a feeling of accomplishment that is fun and one that is overly frustrating and I believe it is being crossed much too frequently when it comes to fishing.

I understand some players who have slogged through it might find it hard to swallow that the fish they struggled to catch might become easier to reel in. That being said, I believe this is a necessary change to keep the fun factor as the centerpiece of the job.

Thank you for reading and enjoy the festivities

[Espritduo]

As a person who slogged through every big fish in the game, I have no problem with making it easier for others. Some of them are absolutely brutal, and the most brutal thing about big fishing is unlike other content, it doesn't become any easier as you level up, get better gear or better abilities. Some of the new abilities do help, yes, but not *that* much.

The other thing is, it is actually harder for new players to catch all the big fish because they are staring at a 212-fish high wall whereas most of us who have done it as the fish were released only have to worry about the dozen or so newest fish in the newest areas. If I was just walking into end-game fishing now I wouldn't know where to even begin. Older big fish should really have their bite rates or catch rates adjusted so it doesn't take as long to get an ARR big fish as it does to get a ShB big fish.

[Zohar_Lahar]

Or cases like the Priest of Yx'Lokwa, who constantly get away.

[Nilheim]

I am starting to lose my sanity with Charibenet: I've done over 20 windows and got a grand total of 2 bites, no catch though of course... I guess I should be grateful I know it exists at least

[Canadane]

If it's made any easier, the satisfaction levels go down.
Big Fishing seems to be the last thing that has gone un-nerfed in this game. I'm looking for more challenging content that has a continuous challenge to it. (LFG Ultimate)

For the record, I'm only missing 3 fish in the game myself. I love actually getting the hook. It being difficult and low chance RNG doesn't bother me in the slightest, that's just how this works.

[Erudito]

Only thing I would like them to do is do something about the pure RNG Chance of failure when you hook a big fish.

I find it absurd that a level 80 fisher with more than adequate gear would still just up and fail to hook a level 50 big fish just because RNG wasn’t having it.

[Elizar_Naki]

I find it absurd that a level 80 fisher with more than adequate gear would still just up and fail to hook a level 50 big fish just because RNG wasn’t having it.

A world of this. Just started trying to catch up on my fishing log after years of ignoring it, alternating between just general catches and big/legendaries when their windows are up. I'm lv.80 in full 460 gear (430 in the other slots, all fully melded but not overmelded), and I still can't catch the lv.40 Matriarch legendary among others. There was one that got away from me in Central Thanalan that CBH classifies as lv.5! That's a 75-level advantage, and the game still lets it get away! That, if nothing else about fishing, is terrible design. If I take MIN out to gather, say, darksteel ore (something I consider an equivalent since it's in a formerly endgame node), I don't have a miss chance anymore; the only question is HOW MUCH I get, not IF I get it. And no, I don't find it "fun" or "challenging" when I can do everything perfectly at double or more the content's level and still fail because RNG.

[Nilheim]

Only thing I would like them to do is do something about the pure RNG Chance of failure when you hook a big fish.

I find it absurd that a level 80 fisher with more than adequate gear would still just up and fail to hook a level 50 big fish just because RNG wasn’t having it.

Yes, I completely agree with this. Even if it is frustrating to never get a bite once in a blue moon and even if some requirements require a lot of work, I think it's part of what makes fishing interesting. The part that sucks is that no matter how perfectly you execute everything and how overgeared you may be, the fish can still get away once it does finally bite. That and Fish Eyes randomly choosing a fish when multiple windows are active (and because it's so GP-intensive) are what make it frustrating. I'm ok with the rest and with keeping it "hard" but the random aspect is what frustrates the most.

[Sated]

The ones with absurd requirements feel so satisfying to finally catch for that reason, though.

I can understand making things easier if they're a barrier to getting to other content, like catching up on levels/story to play with friends, but fishing is an optional activity for those who enjoy this kind of challenge. I know I'd be very disappointed as a new player if I started fishing and learned I was getting a significantly different experience for the sake of ease, as has happened with other activities in other games.

What I do think would be helpful without directly affecting the actual fishing is to take the older expansion baits off the scrip table and make them cost gil (or just further reduce their cost) so they aren't competing with newer content's bait and players can more easily work on all fish if they want to. Not that it's a huge problem but I'm still spending all of my delivery scrips on stonefly larva and it's kind of annoying.

Yes, I completely agree with this. Even if it is frustrating to never get a bite once in a blue moon and even if some requirements require a lot of work, I think it's part of what makes fishing interesting. The part that sucks is that no matter how perfectly you execute everything and how overgeared you may be, the fish can still get away once it does finally bite.

It's definitely frustrating. Last weekend at Prism Lake I can honestly say I earned the catch that trip with how well I was playing FSH to secure two miracle post-window Mooches, but still it didn't even bite that Intuition. Damn if it won't feel good to put that thing in an aquarium once I get it though.

[Elizar_Naki]

I know I'd be very disappointed as a new player if I started fishing and learned I was getting a significantly different experience for the sake of ease, as has happened with other activities in other games.

I agree up to a point, but consider it this way: if you go into, say, T5 at level as a new player, with barely the minimum gear and only moderate experience with the game, you expect it to be a challenge, especially if everyone goes in blind and has to learn as they go. If you unsync it as an established 80 with even halfway decent gear, you expect to roflstomp Twintania with little to no effort. If, as a lv.80 crafter with current-era gear, you go back and try to craft any of those challenging recipes 2.x threw at you for the sake of lucis tools or zodiac weapons or whatever, you'd actually have to try harder to FAIL the craft than to succeed. And repeating my example from earlier, if you go to the darksteel node as a lv.80 MIN with current-era gear, it would be infuriating if the game somehow caused you to miss even ONE strike. Why should fishing be different?

Don't get me wrong: if I was only a lv.50 FSH trying to catch Matriarch (or any other older legendary), then yes, I'd expect it to take longer. Just as I wouldn't advocate the lv.80 legendaries being easier for a lv.80 FSH regardless of how frustrating they are to catch, or how unfair I might consider the requirements for them. But as a lv.80 FSH, ARR and HW legendaries SHOULD be easier, if not automatic catches, once you have them hooked. Your level and stats SHOULD give you some kind of advantage in the catch attempt, just as they do anywhere else. You wanna keep the time/weather/Intuition-based aspects as is, fine; nerfing those would be like nerfing the spawn conditions for old S ranks. But even if those old S ranks rightfully remain a challenge to SPAWN, they can be killed by 1 or 2 lv.80 players (assuming nobody else shows up to kill it in seconds) once they're on the map. Likewise, if a legendary fish has any factors involved in making it available, leave those in place, but the ACTUAL CATCH should be influenced by level and gear. The challenge in every other area of the game is in the CURRENT content, with older content being little more than barely-challenging catch-up work if you do it later. IMHO, the fishing log--even legendaries--should be no different.