Who actually enjoys the current fishing system?

[Celtil]

I know this isn't exactly a revolutionary topic, but who seriously enjoys the current fishing system? I've been fishing all day because I want to like it, I want to finish the fishing log, but looking at the system as it stands it just seems so broken.

My main complaint is on the special fish in each fishing hole, I understand they're supposed to be difficult, but the current system involves zero skill, doesn't feel engaging or rewarding, and is just the worst type of rng hell possible. Between time of day, weather, weather chains, and mooching (sometimes up to a triple mooch) it just seems like an unintuitive mess, even with a wiki.

But what's worse, is that even if you get the stars to align, you're there at the right time of day, at the right weather, mooched the right fish, you divined a strong vs a weak bite (big fish can have either one, with no visual indicator for which it should be) and you see that "!!!", you still only have a roughly 50/50 shot of actually catching the thing, regardless of how good your gear is. Even in ARR zones with EW gear, you can do everything right, and the game just decides "nah, do it again." This isn't challenging, this isn't engaging, this isn't rewarding, this is just frustrating.

And when I say "get the stars to align", in some cases, this is hardly an exaggeration. Look at the Ealad Skaan in Longmirror Lake, it requires a thunderstorm to clear skies weather chain, and can only be caught between 23:30 and 00:00 ET. A whole 90 seconds of irl time. This gives it a total uptime of under 0.1% according to ff14fish (the only website that can divine this unintuitive mess of a system.) While is is the most extreme example, there are plenty others with a sub 1% uptime, as I write this, the Suiten Ippeki wont be able to be caught for another 12 days. This isn't fun, this is sadistic.

Meanwhile, the spearfishing rework is the exact opposite. It's not an rng hell that requires more grinding than the average EVE player does in a year, it's engaging, skill plays at least a little bit of a factor, and it feels rewarding when you start being able to tell different fish apart based on size and swim speed. It's not ground breaking, but it's genuinely fun. It's honestly shocking how to totally opposite systems can exist in the same exact gathering job.

I don't write all of this to sound toxic or to say that the game as a whole is bad, I love this game, I have a stupid amount of hours in it, but I can't understand why these design decisions were made. Not only were they made, they were reaffirmed with every expansion, with the average uptime only shrinking with newer content. So not only did someone look at the system and said "this is fine" they said "this isn't sadistic enough."

As the title says, who actually enjoys the fishing system as it currently stands?

[ServerCollaps]

I enjoy it

[Kesey]

I enjoy it as well.

[Celtil]

Do you two mind telling me why exactly you enjoy it? It just feels like a bad slot machine simulator imo.

[Kesey]

I enjoy the thrill of big game fishing. Going out into the world and seeing the people in the zones pass me by while I try to catch exclusive fish; the idea the zones feel lived in. Fishing isn't stressful and sometimes is a nice break from constant combat found in raids and dungeons.

The thing about fishing is it's an activity of patience and if you aren't a patient person, it might not be for you. Because if you can look past the patience aspect there are a lot things to enjoy out of fishing.

[Arohk]

As the title says, who actually enjoys the fishing system as it currently stands?

I hate fishing any any MMO, its boring and a waste of time, all you do is wait, and waiting is not good gameplay.

[Illmaeran]

I enjoy it because it's a no-brainer activity which can net useful things (Chili Crab anyone?) while my attention's off in la-la land. The RNG and different variables can make targeting specific fish challenging, I agree. That's one reason I've chosen to not go after certain achievements; I have no patience to farm a single fish for days at a time.

[Leley]

I like it. It's fun and chill.

[Anhra]

Fishing is the ONLY Job Squeenix did right.