Suggestions and Complaints about Fishing : A heartfelt plea

[Fruity_Snacks]

The fish getting away is meant to be frustrating because you always have a sense of RNG to it, but having a stacking percentage doesnt mean you will even get the fish, even if it was a 90% chance. I am going off my own thoughts, the thoughts of other people who also agree with me on this. I have still to catch the Matriarch which is a lvl 50 fish, isn't timed, always up but is a "rare" fish. I have had it pull off the line over 100 times and have yet to catch it, yet I am lvl 90 with good gear. How does me being 40 levels higher and many ilvl higher not give me some kind of advantage to catch a lvl 50 fish that has been in the game for years? Just seems weird that stats have no weight on this at all is all ^^

All this is fair, just providing answers since for those in the fishing community not a lot of this is new suggestions and has been addressed elsewhere.

BUT THAT SAID - are you using Precision Hookset on Matriarch, or Powerful? This isn't SUPER well conveyed in game, but some big fish require precision hookset even though they are !!! bites. 100 times escaped isn't unheard of, but is VERY MUCH in the outlier category of things.

[Deveryn]

Like I said, all the things in the post are suggestions, not demands. And with the announcement they are adding a seperate inventory for the Island Sanctuary items means they must have something in place to have a seperate inventory. ^^

The key word is separate. Think of it like house storage or the cache in bozja. It won't be accessible outside the zone.

There's a lot of bait out there. Anyone looking to fill their log is best served by taking things one region (expansion) at a time to minimize clutter. All bait is easily accessible from the same region.

[Calysto]

I agree with most of that (and made suggestion in that way in the past)

I caught most of my backlog of fishes ; so the tacklebox is no longer an issue for me ; but I used to have more than half my satchel taken by bait.
I get both side : it's annoying, but once you're done with it, it would be a waste of memory in the long run.

[KairyDragon]

10. Fish Pulling Off The Hook
I get it, it is realistic that you aren't guarenteed to hook a fish. But when you have tried multiple times over multiple irl days/weeks/months, having the best stats in the game, penta melded with every buff you can to help... and a lvl 50 ARR fish still pulls off the hook for the 300th time, it's frustrating to say the least. Having maybe a stacking percentage to your ability to hook a fish (maybe like the fish is wearing down and getting tired) would be greatly appreciated. Also maybe a skill with a very long cooldown that reinforces your line to help with securing difficult fish? I don't know how would be the best way to deal with this, but when it feels like melding and stats have no effect on fishing and it is just purely RNG always, it really is offputting to do.

This. Please, this needs a desperate fix. I don't understand why catching these special fish is so dependent of RNG.

BiS and only managed to catch the Priest of Yx'Lokwa twice; BiS and Greater Serpent slipped off the hook twice. I've been doing multiple windows for two weeks now, and this just shouldn't be a thing (and yes, I'm using Powerful Hookset properly).
I can understand that these fish aren't supposed to be easy to catch, but there should be way more weight on your stats (level, gear, perception, and gathering) than RNG for them. The blue fish while ocean fishing I give a certain allowance for since I know that ocean fishing is a floating casino of fish, but the rare fish outside of ocean fishing really shouldn't be determined by whether or not you win the fish lottery that day.

[mariannef]

Desynth still works on a handful of fish, but is subject to desynth skill ( CUL) and RNG

[ShadowNyx3]

The patch where fish become guaranteed catches with high enough stats is the patch where fishing loses all fun and becomes a mindless activity with zero emotional reward.

No fish should ever be a guaranteed hook. The struggle of not knowing which attempt might be the one you finally catch something is what makes fishing highly emotional and rewarding enough on its own merit. I have popped off more intensely and emotionally for catching some fish than I have for clearing savage and ultimate raids.

That's not to say that every fish is perfect and fun. There have been some truly miserable legendary fish with absurd conditions, namely Lancetfish with how it trapped you in one zone for hours on end if you actually wanted to have a reasonable chance at getting your intuition from two Mora Tecta catches. I never want to see anything like that where players are prevented from leaving a zone like that.

But even with such conditions, I wouldn't want the catch to be guaranteed. If I knew how to catch the fish and was guaranteed to get it just by executing the proper actions, there would be no story to tell about my struggle and no emotional attachment. I will vehemently oppose any suggestion to remove the struggle from the best side activity this game has.

[Fruity_Snacks]

... fish with absurd conditions, namely Lancetfish with how it trapped you in one zone for hours on end if you actually wanted to have a reasonable chance at getting your intuition from two Mora Tecta catches. I never want to see anything like that where players are prevented from leaving a zone like that.

For what it's worth (and to add more to the 'fish is ok actually'), there is no in game mechanic that forces you to stay in the zone. You don't have to lock yourself in the Tempest, you just have to catch double Mora Tecta's which are really not as uncommon as folks make it out to be.