Fishing takes way too long

  • gaseousxihro

    I spent the last 3 minutes fighting to reel in a fish worth 25 gold and minimal reputation.

    Let's talk about adjusting reel times so I can actually catch another fish without my trophy fish burning. I think the time it takes to fight fish could be reduced by half, especially given the meager reputation and gold that MOST fish turn.

    For the record, one of my first catches was a muddy wildsplash, which blew away my expectations on what fish were worth. I have not seen one again because I'm too frustrated by the fact that a small fish takes over 2 minutes to fight.

    In short: Make fishing and cooking compatible with each other by shortening fishing time. Solo sloop life is already hostile enough to my time schedule, and no, none of my friends actually enjoy this hellscape of a game but me. Make my life easier!

    Thoughts?

    EDIT: Some considerations based on conversations had -

    • Hunter's Call quests (the obvious one)
    • Additional cooktops on larger ships
    • Variable value of fish, as all other turn-ins. Increase the general value with this update.
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  • MarsMayflower
    Captain
    Insider

    tip, don't fish and cook at the same time. it doesn't work in this game and it doesn't work in real life.

  • gaseousxihro

    @marsmayflower Good tip, but keep real life out of my fantasy game.

    The map has a built in GPS for your ship so I don't buy the realism argument anyway. It's a big ol' cop out that people try to use to justify bad game design and mechanics. The game is full of magic, hissing skulls, megalodons and undead armies.

    Fishing would be more fun if you could actually viably fish and cook as a solo player without a grind that dwarves hitting level 50 in the Merchant's Alliance at launch. I've been here since launch and I just want ONE update that makes me feel like I should come back to stay.

  • Qabic
    Marauder
    Insider

    I have got fish that are worth up to 1k you just got to go looking for the good fish that are on the sea!

  • Clayboy828
    Commander
    Insider
    Founder

    @gaseousxihro I think they should just get rid of the mechanic that makes fish worth more when they’re cooked. The Hunters Call can cook their own fish!

  • Capt Kanna
    Master
    Insider

    @gaseousxihro so you wanna come back to the game if you could fish and cook at the same time? I am not buying this troll post.

  • Schwammlgott
    Champion

    @gaseousxihro why don't you first fish and when you sail away you cook it? And don't cook the cheap fishes...that's not worthit...

  • D4m0R3d
    Ship Mate
    Insider

    yea i think instead of having to fight the fish 3 times it should only take 1 reel. trophie fishes could then be 3 reels, and maybe other rare fishes that you can only get in certain places take 3 reels, cause yea fishing for 3 mins to catch a 25 gold worth fish is a bit of a yikes.

  • D4m0R3d
    Ship Mate
    Insider

    @qabic when its a puny fish that sells for 25 gold it shouldnt take 3 mins to sell, yea fish that sell for 1k i would love to spend 5 mins fishing to catch that, its just a waste of time to spend so much time to only make 100 gold. you know what i mean?

  • MrsMoooooose
    Seafarer
    Insider

    I was super underwhelmed with the value of the fish, haul in a big fish then sell it and its worth bucklies. Sadly Im a sucker and keep fishing because its relaxing

  • Bulganzi
    Castaway

    Fishing for type is the best method I’ve found to get fish that are worthy. The 4th fish in the reputation list for each species is the rarest. The 5th, the nocturnal. Knowing what a bonedust plentifin looks like and fishing for those instead of the Olives will net you more money and experience, but will take longer. Timing cooking also helps, a fish takes 35-45 seconds if I recall correct.

  • Schwammlgott
    Champion

    @bulganzi sagte in Fishing takes way too long:

    Fishing for type is the best method I’ve found to get fish that are worthy. The 4th fish in the reputation list for each species is the rarest. The 5th, the nocturnal. Knowing what a bonedust plentifin looks like and fishing for those instead of the Olives will net you more money and experience, but will take longer. Timing cooking also helps, a fish takes 35-45 seconds if I recall correct.

    The rare isn't always the 4th in the list...on some it's the 3rd...
    Just look what the 2nd grade needs, if it's 3 fish for that, it's the rare one

  • Bulganzi
    Castaway

    @schwammlgott
    Yes, absolutely. A much better way to differentiate the rarity of the fish is to see how many you need to make your next grade. The lower required requisition is the rare fish. In most cases this appears to be the 4th fish. I however still have some to find, so I cannot conclusively determine that in all cases it’s the 4th.

  • Joe Krakatoa
    Commander
    Insider

    Since when was living the pirate life about convenience?

    Especially for a lone wolf pirate.

    Tell us about how you have a real life, a job, kids, a mortgage, and you just want to catch fish while cooking in a timely manner.

    The sea is a cruel mistress.

  • Galactic Geek
    Seafarer
    Founder

    Fishing is the easiest thing to do in the game. There's (typically) no danger, and it's certainly not a challenge. That's why many of them are so cheap. The most I have received for a fish so far is only about 500g (for a trophy stormfish), but you know what? I don't care! It's fun, relaxing, easy to do, they can be used for really good food instead (my wounds are magically healed!), and there's plenty of fins in the SoT!

    Want more gold? Do something else. This isn't for that.

  • MarsMayflower
    Captain
    Insider

    @gaseousxihro arrr, then give me a tractor beam for me ship and a time stone for dealing with those black hearted pirates. oh, and a 500hp inboard engine

  • Koschmarrr
    Marauder
    Insider

    There's really not much incentive to fish + cook for gold unless you just enjoy it. I've been getting my fish from shipwrecks. In fact, fish has made those much more valuable to stop at.

  • Clayboy828
    Commander
    Insider
    Founder

    @barnabas-seadog said in Fishing takes way too long:

    Since when was living the pirate life about convenience?

    Do you just copy paste this into every thread? Haha there’s nothing wrong with wanting some quality of life changes.

    Some of us do have lives outside of sea of thieves and trimming the fat never hurts.

  • Joe Krakatoa
    Commander
    Insider

    @clayboy828

    Many QoL suggestions stem from a modern day perception of life.

    Improvements to game mechanics, like Barrels 2.0 are one thing.
    Degrading the overall wonkiness of the game, like an iron sight on the harpoon, are a different matter.

    I like interacting in a world that has huge wooden ships powered by wind and sail, and feels like a bygone era.

  • Clayboy828
    Commander
    Insider
    Founder

    @barnabas-seadog so iron sight beads on a flintlock are ok, but put it on a harpoon and its degrading?

  • Joe Krakatoa
    Commander
    Insider

    Who said iron sights on flintlocks are ok?
    Rare made two weapons with sights. Until recently they weren't so common.

    But for the sake of the thread, maybe fishing does take too long.

  • Clayboy828
    Commander
    Insider
    Founder

    @barnabas-seadog I got it. They limit the time it takes to reel them in depending on which ship type you’re on, like the amount of time it takes to dig up a chest. Sloop is quickest fishing, then brigantine, then galleon. Balanced.

    Same goes for cooking times.

  • gaseousxihro

    I appreciate everyone's feedback with constructive ideas, rather than calling me a troll for some reason.

    I'm simply asking for an adjustment to reel times to make it more enjoyable. Those of you out there who have the time to hit level 50 with the Hunter's Call at the current pace that fishing affords, I admire your spare time and not your sarcastic hostility.

    I spent my young years grinding levels in Runescape, so I know what a grind feels like. This is just not currently enjoyable as programmed and is entirely salvageable, in my opinion.

  • gaseousxihro

    @lysergicaa said in Fishing takes way too long:

    @gaseousxihro so you wanna come back to the game if you could fish and cook at the same time? I am not buying this troll post.

    I said to myself in November that I'd come back for Arena in early 2019, understanding that there are a lot of cool mechanics to come.

    The extended ship damage is great, but it makes it more dangerous for me as a solo player. I can live with that.

    The harpoons allow for extended maneuverability and engagement, which is awesome, love it. They also make the game more dangerous for me, and I am ok with that.

    Fishing, the one passive reputation activity available to players with a small time investment (I have a job and a mortgage to pay) requires far too much attention and time as it is currently implemented. The fish's fight time seems to be decided by RNG, no matter the size of the fish. You can't tell me that a guppy will outfight a shark, and if you can't agree with that maybe you're the troll.

  • gaseousxihro

    @clayboy828 This would put a lot more sloops on the water, since a two-man sloop would become a cooked fish supply chain. Having someone to cook the food makes a huge difference.

    Maybe one solution to that problem is to add more cooktops to larger ships? Right now I would imagine galleon fishing is bottlenecked.

  • Oroku
    Master
    Insider

    I just made a separate post about fish prices, but I’m on bored with with what your saying.

    Despite how easy it is to fish the insanely low prices and low XP makes fishing pointless once you get up to about level 20. Doing literally anything else is vastly more profitable.

    It’s the exact same problem the Merchant alliance had when the game came out. Gold Hoarders and OOS were fun and pretty straightforward to make lots of gold and level up. But merchant was a huge painful grind.

    The factions should feel balanced. We should be making the same money and XP in roughly the same amount of time. Regardless of it being digging up a chest, fighting skeletons, fishing, catching chickens, what ever. Hunters Call shouldn't feel like a chore when OOS or GH feels like you’re actually accomplishing something.

  • Corvum Mortis
    Seafarer
    Insider

    It doesn't take too long to get all of the cosmetics you want. At that point, experience and gold are pointless.

    This game is about the experience. If you don't enjoy doing something, just don't do it.

  • Oroku
    Master
    Insider

    @corvum-mortis said in Fishing takes way too long:

    It doesn't take too long to get all of the cosmetics you want. At that point, experience and gold are pointless.

    This game is about the experience. If you don't enjoy doing something, just don't do it.

    That’s copout answer if I ever saw one. What if the cosmetics I want is the Killer Whale ship that’s locked behind the Hunters Call levels but it’s going to take me the same amount of time to get it as it took me to get PL in the first place?

    And yeah the game is about the experience, all games are, that’s literally what video games are for. But if the experience is just a boring unrealistic grind that stops being fun after the first twenty hours of doing it, then why should any of us play this game over any other one?

    Rare wants us to play their game, so they should make all its parts an enjoyable experience. I love fishing in this game, I don’t love catching hundreds of fish to turn around and get maybe a couple thousand gold and half a level.

  • gaseousxihro

    @oroku said in Fishing takes way too long:

    I just made a separate post about fish prices, but I’m on bored with with what your saying.

    Despite how easy it is to fish the insanely low prices and low XP makes fishing pointless once you get up to about level 20. Doing literally anything else is vastly more profitable.

    It’s the exact same problem the Merchant alliance had when the game came out. Gold Hoarders and OOS were fun and pretty straightforward to make lots of gold and level up. But merchant was a huge painful grind.

    The factions should feel balanced. We should be making the same money and XP in roughly the same amount of time. Regardless of it being digging up a chest, fighting skeletons, fishing, catching chickens, what ever. Hunters Call shouldn't feel like a chore when OOS or GH feels like you’re actually accomplishing something.

    This person gets it! Change is a good thing. Adding a variety of methods to get to your goal is always best and the Merchant's Alliance is a perfect example. Maybe the Hunter's Call needs to have missions and I'd start to feel differently about the time it takes to catch fish. As it stands, not only is fishing a time sink, it also involves you to scour for bait which is even more time required to make any meaningful catch.

    That being said, why are fish sold at static values? While it seems there is vast market fluctuation on chests, skulls and trade items, how are fish always valued the same?

    Maybe the average values of fish should be increased, and set to a randomized range like other treasure. Shorten the fishing time and in one fell swoop you've effectively balanced fishing in my eyes.

  • Corvum Mortis
    Seafarer
    Insider

    @oroku per your own statement, the reward is the specific cosmetic. Why are you looking for rewards along the way? Desirable things should be a grind... It should be difficult. Otherwise everyone has it.

    And you don't all deserve a trophy! Work for it!

  • DaddeeSmash
    Marauder
    Insider

    Just wanted to drop in a note that Splashtails fight harder than anything else and are worst the least.

    I feel like ghat was an intentional design choice too.

    Once you dont need more Splashtails, youre better off just pulling in your reel and saving your bait as soon as you see one spawn.

  • DaddeeSmash
    Marauder
    Insider

    @gaseousxihro galleon fishing is the best way to do it tbh. 3 people fish while one cooks and everyone always has something to do.

  • Clayboy828
    Commander
    Insider
    Founder

    @gaseousxihro well, theoretically a full crew sloop (two man), brig, and galleon would produce the same amount of fish if you get the balance right. If you had one man cooking on each of the ship types, that would leave 1, 2, or 3 men fishing on each, respectively. Sloop takes 20 seconds from bite to boat, brig takes 40 seconds from bite to boat, and galleon takes 60 seconds from bite to boat. Trophies can take a bit more. Should be fair no matter what ship you’re on.

  • Oroku
    Master
    Insider

    @corvum-mortis Another copout answer. The grind, everyone is expected to grind, video games are nothing but the grind anymore.

    The grind is a poor substitution for content. It’s fluff that developers put in the game to keep you putting in the hours. It is not, and I repeat, NOT a challenge.

    A challenge I can handle, (beat this on hard mode, do this without dying, get to the end with out using your special what ever item.) That’s fine, challenge is good. Grind is not, do this easy task a thousand times for a hundred hours is not fun or challenging for anyone. That’s why every single video game with overly ridiculous grind is full of people either A. complaining about it to get it changed. B. Finding work arounds or straight up cheating to beat the grind. Or C. just giving up on the game to play something else.

    A challenge would be finding and killing the Shrouded Ghost. Or fighting a Skeleton Fleet in a Sloop like we had to back when Skeleton ships were first added. That stuff is great, it’s hard, and fun, and not everyone’s going to be able to do it. What’s not fun or challenging is doing the same mostly menial task tens of thousands of times.

    I don’t think everyone should just get a trophy or achievement or all the best of the best cosmetics. But put them behind a challenge, NOT A GRIND.

  • gaseousxihro

    @steveboddy said in Fishing takes way too long:

    @gaseousxihro galleon fishing is the best way to do it tbh. 3 people fish while one cooks and everyone always has something to do.

    If I could reliably expect 3 random people to join me cohesively on a fishing journey, then I would agree with you. Alas I have no friends willing to jump into the game due to cumbersome mechanics and game design.

    Maybe they should add a Fishing Trawler ship that is ill-equipped for combat, but would allow random players to enjoy the benefit of fishing and cooking productively with random players.

    Random thought, but I want to point out that while I talking about poor game design, I'm not ragging on the OVERALL game design because I love it and think there is fantastic potential. We just need to turn some dials to enhance the experience.

    Side-note: Splashtails be damned to the deepest depths.

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