Fishing in ARR

[lvicious]

From a friend of mine on another forum:

"foxclon: ok next one, in ARR how is fishing? please explain

yoshi-p: the best way is to try it out but talking about the concept. I used to fish as a child, but for mmo there are times i want to chat and stuff so using the armoury system we wanted people to change to fisher and change gear to that water and fish. It’s made so you don’t need optimal gear but anyways we have it made where it’s not where it requires action.
it’s something where players can enjoy fishing in fresh water, sea water.

Seems like it requires little thinking at all.

I have to say, fishing is a really big part of the game for me. If they dumb it down this badly, the rest of the game better be friggin awesome, else I can't see myself playing it."

.. and unfortunately I agree. It is very disheartening. If fishing is just nothing more than simple automated afk commands I won't play the game. Foolish statement on my part. I will play the game no matter how fishing turns out but I am hoping for much better results as the beta moves along.

[Akubikumo]

I'm really having a hard time believing they would dumb it down that far. Then again, we dont really know what an unleashed Yoshi is like. In 1.0 he was tethered to the old ways, maybe this young turk is going trample our traditional way of life? Does he understand how beloved the fishing actually was (despite its flaws and numerous detractors)? I just cant imagine fishing without jigging....sounds like a big wtf to me. But then, we really dont know anything beyond this one, ill-explained comment...

[LlenCoram]

I'm really having a hard time believing they would dumb it down that far. Then again, we dont really know what an unleashed Yoshi is like. In 1.0 he was tethered to the old ways, maybe this young turk is going trample our traditional way of life? Does he understand how beloved the fishing actually was (despite its flaws and numerous detractors)? I just cant imagine fishing without jigging....sounds like a big wtf to me. But then, we really dont know anything beyond this one, ill-explained comment...

This is why I'm hoping for more. My thread in the Fishing section of this forum has put the question forth as well. We have both threads, both gaining a lot of support, and both of them with very well thought-out responses and requests. Hopefully a dev takes notice.

[DardGhalawad]

I'm very sad by this. I liked fishing cause it was a challenge. T.T

Fishing in 1.0 was about skill, research and "alot" of patience.
Making it to mini-game system like cast and wait will make the purpose of the unic DoL class are, pointless.

[Silversnow]

Personally I had more fun spearfishing than actually fishing in 1.0. It at least had me moving around instead of zombie like eyeballing that fail mini game that actual fishing had. From the small amount of details he gave its almost sounding like the fishing from back in the NA FFXI launch days. My memory is a bit fuzzy on the fine details but I remember it being equip and cast. Yet it actually was fun in that I could relax with friends and chat while fishing. There was fishing gear, bait and poles. You could technically use whatever but you really wanted to use proper pole for the water type you were casting into and also bait to target the fish.

Before anyone knocks it you need to realize that if this is exactly the system they are going for then they have actual statistics and feedback from XI on how many people used and liked/disliked that system. From what I remember they added some mini game to it after a while (for bots?) but it was just lame and killed fishing chat.

I'm a bit dubious on exactly how much they are unlinking it from the crafting though. In XI I can only really remember it being cooking and turn in only in XI but am to lazy to check if there wasn't a random alch use. It worked though.

Going to have to look and see if there are any youtube vids from launch.

[LlenCoram]

Personally I had more fun spearfishing than actually fishing in 1.0. It at least had me moving around instead of zombie like eyeballing that fail mini game that actual fishing had. From the small amount of details he gave its almost sounding like the fishing from back in the NA FFXI launch days. My memory is a bit fuzzy on the fine details but I remember it being equip and cast. Yet it actually was fun in that I could relax with friends and chat while fishing. There was fishing gear, bait and poles. You could technically use whatever but you really wanted to use proper pole for the water type you were casting into and also bait to target the fish.

Before anyone knocks it you need to realize that if this is exactly the system they are going for then they have actual statistics and feedback from XI on how many people used and liked/disliked that system. From what I remember they added some mini game to it after a while (for bots?) but it was just lame and killed fishing chat.

I'm a bit dubious on exactly how much they are unlinking it from the crafting though. In XI I can only really remember it being cooking and turn in only in XI but am to lazy to check if there wasn't a random alch use. It worked though.

Going to have to look and see if there are any youtube vids from launch.

The chatting argument, when applied to the system we had in XIV, is baseless. I never had a problem chatting while fishing, and many others have said the same. I don't know about others, but chatting isn't my main goal when I fish, fishing is my main goal. My biggest problem with this is that the plan does sound like the old XI fishing, without the minigame. Is it really a good idea to go to a system so old that the already-old FFXI doesn't use it anymore? I don't think it matters much if they have stats from who liked it in XI, the fact remains that many will find it absolutely, mind-numbingly boring.

Taken separately, sure, I can see that maybe he wants fishing to go the easy route and allow us to chat, for some reason. That actually might be fine (I'd still hate it) because at least then the fish might still be useful. However, he's saying that fishing won't be useful at all in the economy. If that's the case, then fishing as a hobby has to have something more to it than just "cast and chat." You can't build a hobby out of boring your playerbase to tears, not without some form of payoff. Without a tie to economy, a boring fishing is going to be dead in the water. No economic tie but a fun fishing system, or a boring system but with strong ties to the economy. You can't have both.

I'm willing to give you the benefit of the doubt though, given your knowledge on the area. I'll admit, I never played the older XI fishing system, but as someone who's used to the actual player input involved in the XIV system, I'm very hesitant to what's been proposed.

[Tiago]

FFXI fishing was the $hiz! I loved it... Actually... i think i spent more time on fishing that doing any other content. And i played for around 6/7 years.

The mini-game of fighting the fish.... The boat rides.... the Gil Seller MPK'ing...... the Pirate's Chart Quest...... Brigand's Chart Quest........ Sea HORROR (I miss you so much!!!!)..... Pirate attacks.......... Lu Shangs Breaking during rides........... Going into Zaldon to have our fish gutted to see if there was a Mercurial Sword inside of it...... Monster Catching (YES!!! I loved fishing for Devil Manta..... even tho it was so hard of a drop.... and a pain to fish... but i miss doing it :\)........... Fishing will never meet my expectations in this game if its as we got told it will be....
Yoshida-san, please make fishing better!!!!! FFXI Fishing system was great and challenging!

I just hope, that they later on, decide to implement a better fishing system, since they might not have time for the release to make a better one together. Fishing in FFXI, like i said above, was awesome and good content where me and alot of friends spend time doing. Also it should affect economy (not in the way it will, where fish will be so cheap, that ppl will stop doing it), just like all other food affects it (dodo meat, etc) where ppl gotta actually fight mobs to maybe get this drop... If fishing is as easy as it sounds, people will afk and fish, or just keep pressing enter and fish....

Please, Yoshida_san, give us a good, funny, exciting, aamzing, cool fishing system!!!!
I didnt level up my fishing because we were told it was going to be revamped and wanted to lvl it then, but this is so mean that i dont care about leveling it anymore :/

[Akira_Tenshi]

does anyone in this thread have any hard evidence or personal experience with how fishing works in 2.0 upon which to base this outrage?

No, none of us will be able to see how fishing works until beta phase 3.

[Aenarion]

No, none of us will be able to see how fishing works until beta phase 3.

Which is a worrying sign all by itself.

[lvicious]

1 more day left and even though with all the worries about dol and fishing I am truly excited to start playing again and cannot wait for official release of 2.0. Negativity even from myself lately doesn't help the situation and as a pretty decent hardcore fisherman in 11 and 14 I can say I will keep playing no matter what but I'd be lying if I wasn't worried about DoL and fishing and hope for the best.

Give the game an honest chance and I think we are all going to be pleasantly surprised and overwhelmed with a wonderful experience. To do otherwise is a disservice to Yoshi and his team and ourselves. If fishing really has issues then we'll be given a chance to express that to Yoshi even if it isn't until phase 3. He listens when the masses speak and we have a pretty loud voice me thinks.

Beta tomorrow! I cannot wait.