I don't know how you managed it, but you somehow made fishing MORE boring.

Fishing is meant to be boring to those who never fished before.

Make it exciting. Float in the water and see how many fish you can catch before a shark bites you.

Sail around in only a rowboat, cargo crate and bait.

You the player make it boring by doing the default way of playing.

@burnbacon you'd make an exciting game dev.

You: Makes boring game.

Player: complains game is boring.

You: I made the game boring, you're supposed to make it fun.

Lol

I think the value of these fishes could be justified if they served a dual purpose - In the past, some players have suggested a Chumming mechanic, so maybe the treasured fish variant could be placed in a group on the ocean's surface to attract a sea monster like a meg or kraken. Similar to how you can sell the Vault Keys or use the key to do a vault for a bigger reward. It could also attach a purpose to why the Hunters Call pay a lot more for these fish.

As for new fishing mechanics, players have suggested nets, changing up what fish are available on a given day of the week would give it more variety as @WolfManbush said. Being towed along by a fish while in a row boat might provide a different playstyle, similar to the horn of fair winds, which could satisfy "the one that got away" stories. Maybe a bigger can fish come and snag the fish you got on a pole to liven up the sandbox?

Maybe they need a Merchant Animal Crate Style voyage, where you are tasked with delivering different types of fishes to an outpost/seapost which you can get via a message in a bottle quest. On top of that maybe there should be some rivalry that could develop between the Merchant Alliance trading company and Hunters Call, as both are soon to have animal voyages and have different goals as Merchant Alliance get orders for the animals by customers and the Hunters Call may be perceived into tapping into that market. Which might lead to the storage crates being designed to not carry fish anymore as disagreement spirals and the Hunters needing to come up with their own crate to store fish.

@AlexRogansBeta I found a ranked list of fishing games made last year, Sea of Thieves is at the bottom - https://gamerant.com/best-fishing-games-ranked/ so maybe it's better to try and scratch the fishing itch by playing something else in the meantime. Maybe the mechanical depth will come in the future.

I think getting lvl 5 emissary going on giant Meg hunts is really cool. And fighting those is anything but boring.

As for the fishing quests, leaving bait out of them is pretty weird.

They could have had the fish take forever to bite your hook if at all unless you had the right bait equipped.

There are a lot of things that can be said here, no fishing has not become "more boring" they haven't changed fishing, they have changed hunters call. You talk as if the "original" fishing has changed, but it is the same as it has been for the last couple of years. The voyage is a separate field, with its own pool of fishes. There is 1 commendation directly connected to it, and it does not contribute in any way to other fishing commendations. Sure its not the best voyage, but what would be? There are a lot of factors different players want to keep. Legendary hunter of the sea of thieves for example. Add in a fishing voyage including normal fish and this rare title will degrade in value. The challenge you get from regular fishing, from bait and region isn't meant to increase the value or rep of the fish, simply the difficulty. You wouldn't normally fish for the sake of money. I believe these "Treasured fish" are meant more as a guideline for newer players to explore more content from hunters call. Compared to the other factions it's harder to get into, now that the faction has a level cap of 500 you need a new way to earn rep (and money) through them, the other voyages coming later in the season will help with this aswell. If you want fishing, not sea of thieves fishing but ACTUAL fishing, with dynamic lures, bait, and capture method, play another game.

I'm going to be brutally honest here, you expect too much. This is a PIRATE game, not a fishing simulator that will have 100+ fishing features, details and equipment related to it. We are already lucky enough that they decided to update the faction. In a way, Rare is finally looking out for the older players. Changing it in this way kept the rarity for the commendations and rewards connected, while adding more variety for reputation through the company. Just like the current main Tall tales, each fish are a step towards a greater end reward. That is the incentive, not it being "fun" or "exciting", you do it for the reward at the end!

No, fishing in Sea of Thieves is perfect. It's simple, yes but it is also relaxing and rewarding. It's straight to the point with no bad mini-games (like in many other games), and no insane mechanics. It is just simply put, you fish... It's great!~

Since hunter's call is a proper trading company right now, it follows the same game design as the others and for good reason. Their fishing voyages reward new fish that act like a treasure chest and i can see why they made them not only simple but with fixed loot. First of all, these are the most basic voyages the company has to offer so it makes sense that there is zero to little difficulty and don't forget we are getting more features in the following month like the meg hunting voyage. Second, since fish act like proper loot they should be recognizable by players. We can clearly tell the difference between a castaway chest and a stronghold chest. The same rule applies to the new fish and from a gameplay perspective this is really important for decision making. Let's imagine you are being chased and you have time to only sell 2 pieces of loot. It is crucial that you are able to identify which are the most valuable items from your loot pile. Same goes for stealing loot. We already have regular fishing which involves knowing where to fish, using the right bait and catching a variety of different species. Some even consider it the hardest grind in the game. Not to mention that the majority of the community wanted hunter's call to become something more than fishing. I am all about constructive critisism but this seems like nitpicking...

@wolfmanbush said in I don't know how you managed it, but you somehow made fishing MORE boring.:

I don't have a problem with it because what the game needs more of is retention.

Getting people through the new and ultra casual stages into the experienced and less casual stages.

I have a bajllion hours in this game, this content shouldn't be for me, I'm far outside where their aim should be.

Getting more people attached so they become a bajillion hour player would be a positive thing. A part of that is offering new and newer players something simple to work up from.

Just wanted to pop in and say I agree with this sentiment. Let's also remember, more of the season is being released in a gradual rollout over the coming months. Let wait and see what the entire Hunter's Call rework looks like before passing judgement that the revamp is bad, eh?

@gamingdragon006 my only problem is no man's sky added 10x the fishing content in a single side update than sot has added in its entirety. I don't understand how we didn't get new fish types using the different baits in each area during the fishing season.

@veronik5682 oh, Ive been watching the game get easier and more mindless for years. Day 1 Patch wearer here, and I have continuously griped about the simplification updates. The rebalancing of world events to make them easier for solo players stands out (an update I dubbed "May as well sail solo", sung to the tune of "we shall sail together"). But that was hardly the first.

There was a time when they were fleshing out the world and making it more interesting.

Increasingly, they've made it more and more like a mobile game. And, I mean, I get it: the mobile game market is bigger than Hollywood. But I wish the devs prioritized fun like they used to.