Pain points in fishing. What is killing it being really fun.

[Rkey.7019]

First off I want to start by saying overall I enjoy fishing in GW2 and think the first stab at getting it into the game was a great effort and the system is set up for success in the long run. However, as the title suggests, there are some pain points which detract from the fun. They are as follows in my personal opinion.

 

1. Fishing stacks should remain in place when you are forced off a map due to low population. The players should not be punished because the map closes due to low population, this is a terrible mechanic. At no point in any game should a player be punished for something that is entirely out of their control. Why this is even a thing is beyond me.
2. Having the entire fishing pool open to be caught at Dusk/Dawn needs to go. It is simply silly and bad design to allow players a 5 minute window once every hour or more to catch a certain fish and then make every day/night specific fish and non time specific fish available to be caught as well. At most it should be limited to Dusk/Dawn fish and non time specific fish in that catch window.
3. The drop rates are still terrible and there seems to be a hidden mechanic that reduces the chances of catching fish you have not caught yet. Many times now I have noticed this trend, you are left with a single Exotic or Ascended fish to catch in an area but you end up catching 10+ legendary fish before the one you need. There shouldn't be any form of artificial time gating, and if there isn't the drop rates need some major adjustments across the board, there is no reason someone should be consistently catching 10+ legendary fish before ever catching a single exotic/ascended. If this happened once in a blue moon, sure it is probably just RNG, but the number of times this has happened to me alone suggests this is more than just RNG being RNG.
4. Achievement points should be given for at least the first completion of Avid Fisher in each zone. Almost every other repeatable achievement in game gives you points for the first completion, if not more. While some may say points were already given for the first completion, yes technically they were, however, since the normal zone complete and the avid zone complete are both required to complete Cod Swimming Amongst Mere Minnows, these really are two separate achievements at that point.

 

That is all. Thanks.

[Veprovina.4876]

3 happens constantly and I think it's on purpose. It's beyond me why but I have consistently caught up to 7 of each legendary fish but have yet to catch the only ascended fish on the list in several maps... 

 

It's not just rng... 

 

Good list of other issues as well. 

[Chicken Fro.6953]

A lack of an account-wide tackle box for fishing inventory is the worst thing about it for me. 

Edited July 28, 2022 by Chicken Fro.6953

[Randin.5701]

Making it so that higher Fishing Power increases the odds of getting high-rarity fish would be nice.

[AgentMoore.9453]

I've weighed in on this topic heaps and agree with OP's pain points, but overall I think the biggest problem right now with the way fishing was implemented is that fishing is not integrated with the rest of GW2 in the way other gathering activities are. You're either fishing or you're playing GW2, and that sucks.

Fishing requires you to prepare to have fun every single time you do it which, if I recall, was something the devs were explicitly trying to avoid in their designs back when the game was launched. I enjoy the activity a lot, but I often find myself doing something else simply because I don't have the time available to isolate on a boat for an hour working on stacks while events happen around me and players die just far enough away from the shoreline that I can't assist them without losing my progress.

I want them to keep working on this feature as time presents itself, because it doesn't feel finished.

[Rkey.7019]

1 hour ago, AgentMoore.9453 said:

I've weighed in on this topic heaps and agree with OP's pain points, but overall I think the biggest problem right now with the way fishing was implemented is that fishing is not integrated with the rest of GW2 in the way other gathering activities are. You're either fishing or you're playing GW2, and that sucks.

Fishing requires you to prepare to have fun every single time you do it which, if I recall, was something the devs were explicitly trying to avoid in their designs back when the game was launched. I enjoy the activity a lot, but I often find myself doing something else simply because I don't have the time available to isolate on a boat for an hour working on stacks while events happen around me and players die just far enough away from the shoreline that I can't assist them without losing my progress.

I want them to keep working on this feature as time presents itself, because it doesn't feel finished.

 

 I agree with all this too. Simply pausing the timer or adding time to the timer for being in combat on the same map, or for completing an event would go a long way.

[costepj.5120]

I suspect that #3 is a consequence of you maxing your fishing power to the hilt. That might indeed bias the RNG towards the legendary end of the scales (pun intended!)
I do my fishing in short bursts and rarely accrue more than 20/30 stacks in fishing party. Mostly I'm just into the green for a zone, or even still in yellow. I've not had any problem working through the collections.

[deffy.1320]

The rng presently in game is horrendous, as for fishing i want to be able to change my skill key binds and that lil itty bitty tiny arrow icon to spawn ur skiff/boat not sure how u de spawn it either, the skills seem made for a controller not a keyboard, normally really like fishing in games, this not so much so far.

[Zephire.8049]

8 hours ago, Rkey.7019 said:

First off I want to start by saying overall I enjoy fishing in GW2 and think the first stab at getting it into the game was a great effort and the system is set up for success in the long run. However, as the title suggests, there are some pain points which detract from the fun. They are as follows in my personal opinion.

 

1. Fishing stacks should remain in place when you are forced off a map due to low population. The players should not be punished because the map closes due to low population, this is a terrible mechanic. At no point in any game should a player be punished for something that is entirely out of their control. Why this is even a thing is beyond me.
2. Having the entire fishing pool open to be caught at Dusk/Dawn needs to go. It is simply silly and bad design to allow players a 5 minute window once every hour or more to catch a certain fish and then make every day/night specific fish and non time specific fish available to be caught as well. At most it should be limited to Dusk/Dawn fish and non time specific fish in that catch window.
3. The drop rates are still terrible and there seems to be a hidden mechanic that reduces the chances of catching fish you have not caught yet. Many times now I have noticed this trend, you are left with a single Exotic or Ascended fish to catch in an area but you end up catching 10+ legendary fish before the one you need. There shouldn't be any form of artificial time gating, and if there isn't the drop rates need some major adjustments across the board, there is no reason someone should be consistently catching 10+ legendary fish before ever catching a single exotic/ascended. If this happened once in a blue moon, sure it is probably just RNG, but the number of times this has happened to me alone suggests this is more than just RNG being RNG.
4. Achievement points should be given for at least the first completion of Avid Fisher in each zone. Almost every other repeatable achievement in game gives you points for the first completion, if not more. While some may say points were already given for the first completion, yes technically they were, however, since the normal zone complete and the avid zone complete are both required to complete Cod Swimming Amongst Mere Minnows, these really are two separate achievements at that point.

 

That is all. Thanks.

1) Agreed. I don't know why they don't do something like mail an item if you hit X stacks and are kicked because of a closing map as they claim the tech doesn't allow for stacks to be kept between maps. Items are able to have a time-limited factor and become useless after so if the worry is people stacking items, have the mailed item have a window of something like 2 hours to use before it'd deletion fodder. It's not ideal and a roundabout way of doing things but it's better than constantly starting from zero because the maps you're on keep closing.

2) The window needs to be at least 10 minutes if they insist on keeping it. Or 15 (5 minutes before, 5 during, 5 after). You're still pulling from the existing loot table and it sucks to have to drop everything to go fish for 5 minutes and only being able to hit up ~3 pools before the time runs out.

3) Not sure if it is a hidden mechanic or not but there needs to be one where after fishing X times with the appropriate bait in the right pool at the right time, you get a fish you don't have that matches the criteria. Mercy systems are a good thing and given the time commitment to fish, if someone dedicates that much time to fishing, they deserve to get one they need.

4) I suspect they made it this way so people who don't want to fish don't feel like they have to when it's so RNG. But then, they also have a ton of AP locked behind high-end PvP and WvW, so who knows.

[Rkey.7019]

8 hours ago, costepj.5120 said:

I suspect that #3 is a consequence of you maxing your fishing power to the hilt. That might indeed bias the RNG towards the legendary end of the scales (pun intended!)
I do my fishing in short bursts and rarely accrue more than 20/30 stacks in fishing party. Mostly I'm just into the green for a zone, or even still in yellow. I've not had any problem working through the collections.

 

No, this is not it at all. Very rarely am I fishing with anywhere close max power. Fishing power also doesn't only increase your chance to catch a legendary fish, it is supposed to increase your chances to catch fish of higher rarity, which would most certainly include exotic and ascended fish. Saying you need low power to catch those fish is counterintuitive to all information posted about how power works.

Edited July 28, 2022 by Rkey.7019

[costepj.5120]

OK, but you did start by complaining that you lost stacks by being forced to switch when a map closed, which implies you are fishing for 1-2 hours at a time, and so will have top tier stacks (+300). That means fishing power over 900 surely?

[Rkey.7019]

49 minutes ago, costepj.5120 said:

OK, but you did start by complaining that you lost stacks by being forced to switch when a map closed, which implies you are fishing for 1-2 hours at a time, and so will have top tier stacks (+300). That means fishing power over 900 surely?

 

You do realize someone might still be upset about losing even 10 stacks for reasons out of their control correct?  Nothing I said implies anything about how I am fishing. You just seem to enjoy making uneducated guesses about how I was fishing to complete all the achievements.

And to further you seem to have a fundamental misunderstanding of how the power works according to the tool tips and documentation. It clearly states it raises chances to catch all higher rarity fish, not just legendary fish. So one would reasonably assume if a flat percentage buff was applied to catch all fish of a certain tier or higher, the lower of those tiers should statistically still appear more often.

Edited July 28, 2022 by Rkey.7019

[costepj.5120]

My assumption was that you were invested in fishing. (Which I am not particularly). At least invested enough to come to the forum and make a list of things you want changed. Surely someone invested in fishing would at least have all the masteries, a decent lure and some sushi? Then all you need to do is fish for a while on a map to accue fishing party stacks and you can max your FP. If you aren't fishing for hours at a time, why complain about the occasional map switch?

[Rkey.7019]

Just now, costepj.5120 said:

My assumption was that you were invested in fishing. (Which I am not particularly). At least invested enough to come to the forum and make a list of things you want changed. Surely someone invested in fishing would at least have all the masteries, a decent lure and some sushi? Then all you need to do is fish for a while on a map to accue fishing party stacks and you can max your FP. If you aren't fishing for hours at a time, why complain about the occasional map switch?

 

I don't know, maybe not everyone is so self centered that they only care about their own personal experience.

[Omega.6801]

Fishing was a mistake and a waste of resources. But people kept """suggesting""" it until it happened and now we have what we have because it had to be a thing because it's a thing in other games. I still laugh at each of these threads.

[kharmin.7683]

48 minutes ago, lokh.2695 said:

Fishing was a mistake and a waste of resources. But people kept """suggesting""" it until it happened and now we have what we have because it had to be a thing because it's a thing in other games. I still laugh at each of these threads.

First capes.  Then, fishing.  Housing will be next.  (sigh)

[Veprovina.4876]

22 hours ago, deffy.1320 said:

The rng presently in game is horrendous, as for fishing i want to be able to change my skill key binds and that lil itty bitty tiny arrow icon to spawn ur skiff/boat not sure how u de spawn it either, the skills seem made for a controller not a keyboard, normally really like fishing in games, this not so much so far.

You can change your key binds for summoning a skiff. 

 

I've set mine to Ctrl+X for fishing rod, Shift+X for skiff and Alt+X for personal way point (which is still the nichest thing ever with way too long a cooldown).

 

That way I have all the combinations of those mast weird on one key. 

[Veprovina.4876]

12 hours ago, kharmin.7683 said:

First capes.  Then, fishing.  Housing will be next.  (sigh)

Or Tengu playable race... 

Edited July 29, 2022 by Veprovina.4876

[DarcShriek.5829]

19 hours ago, kharmin.7683 said:

First capes.  Then, fishing.  Housing will be next.  (sigh)

You forgot mounts.

[kharmin.7683]

17 minutes ago, DarcShriek.5829 said:

You forgot mounts.

I didn't include mounts in my list because mounts actually add value to the game.

[Travis the Terrible.4739]

5 hours ago, kharmin.7683 said:

I didn't include mounts in my list because mounts actually add value to the game.

Odd way to say monetization but 'ight.

[Hwrs Xander.2845]

7 hours ago, kharmin.7683 said:

I didn't include mounts in my list because mounts actually add value to the game.

Capes for me personally as well, coming from GW 1  😁

[metalmike.8346]

You can get the dusk/dawn fish outside the allotted times, it's just RNG imho for that part. My brother has gotten some outside of those periods as have I. But this 5 mins thing is ridiculous and should be removed or extended time-wise.

[Hesione.9412]

On 7/28/2022 at 12:59 PM, Rkey.7019 said:

First off I want to start by saying overall I enjoy fishing in GW2 and think the first stab at getting it into the game was a great effort and the system is set up for success in the long run. However, as the title suggests, there are some pain points which detract from the fun. They are as follows in my personal opinion.

 

1. Fishing stacks should remain in place when you are forced off a map due to low population. The players should not be punished because the map closes due to low population, this is a terrible mechanic. At no point in any game should a player be punished for something that is entirely out of their control. Why this is even a thing is beyond me.
2. Having the entire fishing pool open to be caught at Dusk/Dawn needs to go. It is simply silly and bad design to allow players a 5 minute window once every hour or more to catch a certain fish and then make every day/night specific fish and non time specific fish available to be caught as well. At most it should be limited to Dusk/Dawn fish and non time specific fish in that catch window.
3. The drop rates are still terrible and there seems to be a hidden mechanic that reduces the chances of catching fish you have not caught yet. Many times now I have noticed this trend, you are left with a single Exotic or Ascended fish to catch in an area but you end up catching 10+ legendary fish before the one you need. There shouldn't be any form of artificial time gating, and if there isn't the drop rates need some major adjustments across the board, there is no reason someone should be consistently catching 10+ legendary fish before ever catching a single exotic/ascended. If this happened once in a blue moon, sure it is probably just RNG, but the number of times this has happened to me alone suggests this is more than just RNG being RNG.
4. Achievement points should be given for at least the first completion of Avid Fisher in each zone. Almost every other repeatable achievement in game gives you points for the first completion, if not more. While some may say points were already given for the first completion, yes technically they were, however, since the normal zone complete and the avid zone complete are both required to complete Cod Swimming Amongst Mere Minnows, these really are two separate achievements at that point.

 

That is all. Thanks.

Having the fishing bar change direction quickly is what annoys me most. I wish Anet would think of people with higher ping, which means we see the change slower, and implement activities that are less affected by this.

[ugrakarma.9416]

On 7/28/2022 at 12:38 AM, AgentMoore.9453 said:

I've weighed in on this topic heaps and agree with OP's pain points, but overall I think the biggest problem right now with the way fishing was implemented is that fishing is not integrated with the rest of GW2 in the way other gathering activities are. You're either fishing or you're playing GW2, and that sucks.

Fishing requires you to prepare to have fun every single time you do it which, if I recall, was something the devs were explicitly trying to avoid in their designs back when the game was launched. I enjoy the activity a lot, but I often find myself doing something else simply because I don't have the time available to isolate on a boat for an hour working on stacks while events happen around me and players die just far enough away from the shoreline that I can't assist them without losing my progress.

I want them to keep working on this feature as time presents itself, because it doesn't feel finished.

yes exactly this:

 

the way fishing is implemented, u fish "better" with a alt dedicated to it.