A Dragon of a Problem with Big Fishing

[Zohnax]

Is fighting RNG like this really a "challenge" though?

I guess you could say the challenge is finding the determination to endure a lot of disappointment and spend a lot of time trying to fight the RNG.

[Canadane]

I am not saying there should not be any challenge, but rather the challenge is far too extreme. If you hit every almost every window for "months and months" that's pretty harsh for one fish. There is a thread on reddit posted today after someone finally caught their Ruby Dragon saying, "I've been at 203/204 for over a year now... ...But just now..." and they posted a picture of having caught it. If you read through the comments, there is a lot of similar sentiments. This person reports being after it for six months. Another person saying attempted often since 4.5 (when it released) and it escaped three times before they caught. Another still, "I've been hunting this since March with no luck."

If the Ku'ers escaped a lot less frequently or could not bite themselves, great.
If the Ruby Dragon bit more or could not escape, great.
If the windows were more frequent than averaging 2-3 per week, great.

Adjusting any one of these factors would make this fish a lot less punishing for a lot of people. However, the way it stands now is worse than HNM camping was in FFXI; which the XI Devs actually replaced some of the HNMs with force spawn items instead in some recent years.

See I just don't see the issue with an outlier like this. It's probably the worst one to catch for sure. But I don't think this is a bad thing.
There's gotta be that 'one that got away' afterall, it's a very fisher like thing to have. This was also my mindset when I was going on for about a year or so without it as well.

What I would like to see is it being able to display in an aquarium though. All the trouble it's worth and you get a muddled picture of it on a frame...

[Espritduo]

What I would like to see is it being able to display in an aquarium though. All the trouble it's worth and you get a muddled picture of it on a frame...

Eh, gimme that bad boy as a mount and now it is worth all the pain. You may just get your wish in 5.3, though. They mentioned adding a lot more big fish to aquariums, and the image they showed in the prelim notes looked a lot like Xenacanthus, another SB legendary.

[Zohnax]

See I just don't see the issue with an outlier like this. It's probably the worst one to catch for sure. But I don't think this is a bad thing.
There's gotta be that 'one that got away' afterall, it's a very fisher like thing to have. This was also my mindset when I was going on for about a year or so without it as well.

My opinion on an outlier was the entirety of the Nepto Dragon questline. If they did something like that every expansion, that might be more engaging. But a year or so without Ruby Dragon? In a game that is supposed to be more casual-leaning? OOF

[Garnix]

The RNG is not that bad for the Ruby dragon IMO...
There are many fish on which you would actually spend a lot more time because of the RNG. (Or at least I did)
The Ruby Dragon main 'issue' is its uptime.

[LegendWait]

My opinion on an outlier was the entirety of the Nepto Dragon questline. If they did something like that every expansion, that might be more engaging. But a year or so without Ruby Dragon? In a game that is supposed to be more casual-leaning? OOF

I'm in the exact same situation, I've tried getting The Ruby Dragon since 4.5. Its been over on year and a half. I've gotten all others fishes (including present 5.3 fishes). I plan my weekly schedule according to the spawn windows, I'm not joking! This is way harsher than any other fishes out there

[LegendWait]

Still failed today