Go Fish...

Discussion in 'General Discussion' started by Prada, Jan 29, 2021.

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  1. Prada

    Prada Avatar

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    Let's look at "fishing"...

    Unlike fighting with a polearm, casting a spell, or slaying a dragon; this is something that most if not all of us have done IRL. At a minimum, we probably have a decent understanding of how things should work, intermingled with some basic expectations, the logic of it all...right?

    I grew up on the water IRL. I probably started fishing at the age of 2.

    If I were to straw man "fishing", how could I logically make sense of it? How could I make it "feel right" and add "fantasy and creativity" to it in a game?

    Like so much in life, fishing is a function of time, people, and money...with a great deal of LUCK added in for good measure! But when you think about it, you have to take care of some absolutes before you become eligible for the LUCK part...

    AKA...you cannot arrive at a mud puddle, armed with an aquarium goldfish net and a bucket of iced down beer, wearing flip flops...a surfing shirt...and pair of Costa Blackfins(my personal favorites); on a major thoroughfare in Manhattan during RUSH hour; and expect LUCK to deliver a 550 lb Hammerhead shark to your ice chest.

    So one might approach this from the perspective of what it would take, in order to arrive at a point, where LUCK could actually deliver such a fish?

    Rod: Something akin to a long baseball bat with rollers :)
    Reel: Gonna need a big reel for enough big line for a big shark
    Line: Gonna need some big line
    Hook: Huge Hook for HUGE FISH. various materials and designs
    Bait: Artificial-All sorts of Fish- Animal Meat of many types
    Attire: Hat-Sunglasses-Gloves-Waders
    Boat: Better not be inflatable
    Map: Specialized Charts and directions for specific areas

    And that is for a shark!

    It is NOT impossible to catch a Shark BTW! It requires little LUCK, but does require you to be arrive at a point that you are equipped for catching one, right place, right time, right tackle, right bait...

    It requires a great deal of LUCK to catch a HUGE Shark! An average common shark, not so much...

    Would the same preparation apply for catching a Small Trout? Well...yes and yet a RESOUNDING NO!

    Basically the sunglasses and hat are ALL that apply to both...

    Tackle should be readily available, bait should be specialized and readily available, players could make custom rods, reels, artificial lures, sunglasses, hats...and even fishing boats!
     
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  2. Turk Key

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    Good post.
    This activity was designed for the game by someone who obviously never fished. I can understand this and don't complain about the absurdities in our "fishing simulation" That said, I hope that when they finally get around to fixing this system, they have a developer who has fished work on it. If they don't have such a person I hope they ask for player input. On the other hand, no one can program the luck component. I am 75 years old, and have fished my whole life. Freshwater, Salt water, all over the world, tens of thousands of hours total I guess. But my grandson who is not even a teenager has out-fished me already. He has caught world class black bass and alligator gar. He has caught bluefin tuna, black marlin, you name it. He set a 100 year old record catch in the local boy's camp fishing hole. Is that luck? or am I just lousy?
     
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  3. Prada

    Prada Avatar

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    Thanks for sharing Aldo... I picked fishing, because it is something most have an expectation around, and there has been soooo much social focus on it in game with tournaments etc.

    I had a T-shirt from Cindy Carp years ago... It depicted a guy standing in the back of his boat with a long receipt that stretched to the ground, and his wife saying something like..."So we spent $67,472.28 at Dewey, Cheetum, and Howe Bait and Tackle, to catch a fish that is on sale for $1.79 a pound at the market."
     
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  4. Oakenhammer

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    Don't forget time of day and season as impacting variables.

    On one of the livestreams during the earlier development of SotA, Richard and Starr discussed fishing in UO. The actual game mechanic was you toss a line in the water and you had a 50/50 shot of getting something. Players didn't know it was this simple and generated all sorts of lore and superstitions around what was necessary to get the best results. It was something that was pleasantly unexpected. I think for fishing in SotA, they were trying to bring in some of that magic, but also code in some realism (e.g. different water types).

    The fishing system can certainly be expanded and I love your ideas on all the different types of gear and equipment that could be used to improve chances of getting a particular type or size of fish.
     
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  5. Sorgin Txakal

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    Well, of all the mechanics I have witnessed in game, fishing is the only one I would believe that was actually tied to the weather, seasons and day/night cycle

    The player's guide does state (just like fishing IRL), "Time of day influences the chance to catch a fish. In the mornings, the chance to catch fish is highest. The evening also gets a bonus to catch fish but not as great as the morning. Afternoon and night have the normal baseline fish chances."
    • Effort to subdue the catch/interact with it is definitely lacking though.
      • Sharks do not come quietly, I've seen videos of people spending hours fighting a shark to try to reel it in
      • Mosasaurs in theory should be an enemy monster that comes out of the water and has to be subdued before you "catch it".
      • Ideally you should have to be wary of disturbing Crocs or other predators in dangerous fishing locations.

    The biggest issue I have witnessed in fishing is the direct limiting of drops per day/week of some fish.

    This could be used as an interesting system to simulate spawning seasons, but in its current state it just causes fishers to be disheartened when someone catches a once a week fish that invalidates any reason to participate in the fishing contest for the rest of the week.


    As to some of your other points:


    * Rod: Something akin to a long baseball bat with rollers :)
    - There are multiple different rods, some of which can be crafted, the best rod to use in lava fishing is a crafted one


    Reel: Gonna need a big reel for enough big line for a big shark
    - This would be a nice immersion add, deeper rod crafting mechanics - but the problem is creating things better than the prosperity tools, which seems to be an area Catnip generally shys away from. So this would apply to lines and hooks as well.

    Bait: Artificial-All sorts of Fish- Animal Meat of many types
    -The bait system is off to a pretty good start, but unfortunately is very limited in usefulness. Blood leeches are theoretically the apex of shark fishing bait, but I have never seen any evidence that any bait ever functions better than bait squid in any circumstances.

    Attire: Hat-Sunglasses-Gloves-Waders
    - Not necessarily, but fishing buffs&enchantments would be greatly appreciated as the only fishing items/gear are the pax ring and very limited streamer cloaks (for some reason).

    Boat: Better not be inflatable
    -Fishing expedition is a great adventure scene, but yes hopefully we will have more boat scenes and naval gameplay in the not too distant future.

    Map: Specialized Charts and directions for specific areas
    -Fishing nodes currently function as fishing hot spots, but it would be better IMO if they moved around or randomly appeared, but could be predicted with maps and/or listening to the rumors of fishing merchants.



    Personally I would love it if fishing were made into a more engaging activity, but considering it is one of the more popular activities in game currently, it is probably lower on the priorities of the devs to mess around with.
     
    Last edited: Jan 29, 2021
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  6. Beaumaris

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    And yet 6 of the top 13 posts in this forum (as of this post) were about fishing.

    The sheer focus on fishing on these boards, both in terms of dev hosted events and otherwise, is what has caused me to largely tune out here.

    Fishing is great, but this isn't Shroud of the Fisherman. It would be great to hear and see events around the lore of the .... Avatar.

    The Dev team should wake up on this. Players can host fishing contests. The devs should host only what they can host that makes the game special.
     
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  7. FrostII

    FrostII Bug Hunter

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    I just looked, and I don't see that "6 of the top 13 posts in this forum (as of this post) were about fishing".
    But you're right, fishing is big lately.... I think because the adventuring loot is crap, and crafting is damn frustrating...
    We (some of us fisherpersons) need some sort of challenge or goal, and at least fishing contests give us the promise of a decent reward for our time spent.
    Anyway, that's my take on it............ ;)
     
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  8. Prada

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    I am flippant, irreverent, and a great many other things I am sure...

    Question is... If you are going LEAD with FISHING, and make it a THING that all new players are going to experience as part of official events...maybe making it awesome would be a good idea? Just sayin...
     
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