Fishing the High Seas... 1 week later...

[Muu Bin]

One week after release, here are my thoughts on the Fishing aspect of the booster pack:


Artwork:
Nice artwork on the new fish designs. Almost 70 new named fish species and while there aren't 70 individual designs to match the names, there are plenty of new looks to warrant applause.

And the new ships... pretty impressive as well. While I like the idea of painting your own ship, I am still undecided about the available colors. I'll still have to play around with it a bit. If we can paint the hull and deck, then why not the sails. And for that matter, why not be able to change the style of the sails. Right now I am thinking custom housing menus...

Ship Movement:
Really like the smooth movement. Also love the ability to click on the wheel and take control with the mouse. A little disappointed with the same character movement problem while walking on a moving ship. Still choppy. Would be nice if this got fixed as well. Not sure how much of an issue it is when fighting pirate battles but for fishing, it hasn't bothered me since I have always been used to it. One idea I would have like to have seen added is the the ships would slow down in speed as we filled the hold - similar to a blue beetle getting fatigued when its backpack is full and you are riding it. It would make life more interesting if you had just finished a long day of fishing and came across a pirate ship while heading into port with a full hold. Probably couldn't outrun them...

Hold Storage:
Good thinking on this one since we'll need something this large to work on all the Fishmonger quests.

Fishmonger Quest:
Really like the concept of this. Different fish to catch; different numbers of fish; and combinations thereof. This is where it ends for me. After the first week, I have found this to be the worst grind I have ever experienced while playing UO. If the intent was for these quests to take a long time so that the rewards were slow in coming, they hit the mark. Perhaps I need more time and more quests to make a better opinion but in the ones I managed to get and then complete, all with the exception of one were for crabs or lobsters - and I am certain we all know how long these ones take. Which takes me to the next part...

Lobster Traps:
Like the concept. New type of fishing with new critters to fish up. What I don't like is the rate that these things disappear. Why not be able to drop them in the sea and come back for them. Treat the areas they are dropped in like veins of ore for mining (or trees for lumberjacking). Drop your traps and get plain lobster/ crab (just like regular ore/ logs) or get the named types which randomly spawn in the sea. There are a lot of possibilities here with this one. But the biggest fail with the traps is the fact they go poof! They made it so the fishing rods never disappear or break or eventually wear out. Why change it with the traps? Make it a gold sink and a time sink? At least improve it so that we don't have to buy hundreds of them just to catch enough for one quest. Is there any way to make the traps have a number of uses AND be able to stack? Likely this can't be done... One last thing on the traps... PLEASE MAKE THE CRAB FISHERS AVAILABLE ON THE SAME DOCKS AS THE FISHMONGERS. The last time I looked, I could only buy the traps at the Floating Emporium and no where else.

Fishing Quest Rewards:
Not really sure about these rewards as I haven't really had a chance to use or even see all of them. But looking at what others have posted and what is in the publish notes, there doesn't seem to be much of an incentive to do these quests if you are in it simply for the rewards. The bait, for instance, works some of the time (as it was intended to I guess). The lava pole and lava traps will just allow you to get the rare lava fish. And the power scrolls will give access to fish up the rare fish. These fish can be turned into fish pies which then give buffs to a multitude of different stats and skills. Good for PvP and PvM. Oh yes... some of the new rare fish can be turned into trophies and mounted on your wall at home. And last but not least... the rare books... 4 of em no less... I think a bit more thought could have gone into these ones. At least give them some better or new art for a book. When the first one popped into my pack I thought I had a book left over from an EM event the previous day. The reward books are a big FAIL.:gun:

Summary:
New fish. New quests to turn in new fish. Get reward:
Powerscroll = chance at rare fish.
Rare fish = fish pie for buffs or wall mounted trophy.
Other rewards - lava pole/ trap - allow access to lava fish. See rare fish above.
Bait = better chance at obtaining rare fish. See rare fish above.
Other rewards - Order of the Dragonfish Handbook (4 volumes). Deco item with same artwork as NPC bought books.

So... unless you are into the fish pies and maybe some deco, I don't see there being much return on time invested doing these quests as they currently stand. While the grind on the actual fish quests might be tolerable, the lobster/ crab ones really have to be tweaked to be enjoyable. In the end I am going to be pragmatic about all of this and while the scales seems to be tipping over into the negative, I am hoping that with some fixes, they move back to being more positive.

One last thing. I have read in other posts and will reiterate here that there needs to be a timer on ships being at any dock - not just the floating market. In due time, these will become so crowded due to the fishing quests that people won't be able to get close enough with their ships to complete the quest. This also goes for the serpent pillars to get between the Lost Lands and Britannia. I saw a screenshot in another post where ships had completely blocked access to the pillars. Paging a GM to move them just isn't in the cards since they barely and rarely respond anymore. (I stayed 9th in the queue tonight for over 2 hours until I gave up).

I'm sure I missed some things but it's late and I'm tired. Thoughts? Constructive ideas?

 

[Gunga_Din]

Nicely done.

If I was a dev i'd do this:

(1) Remove the Crabs/lobsters from quests. Nobody likes them.
(2) Increase fish buffs to 1 hour to make them of any use.
(3) Decrease the lesser fish to about 10 (each with unique graphic and hue)
(4) Make sure the Fishmonger quests keeps track correctly, has some sense of direction, a way to check your standing, quests increase in difficulty and give out power scrolls at 20/40/60/100 quests. The rest of the rewards can remain random.
(5) Make the lesser fish weigh 1 stone.

Most people want to get on with fishing up the new fish and raising their skill to 120. Nobody wants to grind out mindless quests. Sad thing is, u didn't even need to add in power scrolls. Just get us out fishing the new rare fish in their difficult location.

I wanted to start collecting the rarer fish but at this point, lol. Wish I tested this quest during the beta but my time was limited so I did the pirates and practiced with the new boats.

 

[B_Barracuda]

Fishmonger Quest:
After the first week, I have found this to be the worst grind I have ever experienced while playing UO. If the intent was for these quests to take a long time so that the rewards were slow in coming, they hit the mark.

i have to disagree here. fishing quests can be quickly done if you have found the most efficient way. i see no use for the rewards though, and a powerscroll i still haven't received yet.

Lobster Traps:
Like the concept. New type of fishing with new critters to fish up. What I don't like is the rate that these things disappear. Why not be able to drop them in the sea and come back for them. Treat the areas they are dropped in like veins of ore for mining (or trees for lumberjacking). Drop your traps and get plain lobster/ crab (just like regular ore/ logs) or get the named types which randomly spawn in the sea. There are a lot of possibilities here with this one. But the biggest fail with the traps is the fact they go poof!

i also consider lobster fishing a nuisance, but i have found a way to be more efficient too (thanks to the fact that areas won't be fished empty anymore since the release of the booster). it still is annoying that traps vanish fairly often.

Fishing Quest Rewards:
Not really sure about these rewards as I haven't really had a chance to use or even see all of them. But looking at what others have posted and what is in the publish notes, there doesn't seem to be much of an incentive to do these quests if you are in it simply for the rewards.

i fully agree here.

in general i very much like how the fishing skill was enhanced. i am sure that some tweaking is going to happen in the near future, and that the devs are aware of the current flaws. meanwhile i will continue to increase my fish stock...

 

[Bethany_lg]

I am gonna add my two cents as well because I spent my weekend fishing. And after completing some 40-50 quests, in my mind, that should be more than enough trips around the world and back again to earn a 105 scroll. And I did not, nor do I have any idea when or if I will.

It's leaving me scratching my head because I imagined we would be doing something similar to the imbuing power scrolls. They were very easy to earn for a skill that in my opinion is way more powerful and comes with the bonus of massive earning potential.

The quests are enjoyable for the most part, for me anyway. Except I think the number of new fish is so many that it does become a grind. The boats are neat, but I would be happier with a fishing vessel. Same hull size, but smaller so we can fit more at the docks. I certainly don't need cannons on my boat...now let me launch a fishing net from them and I might change my mind. So I guess, it's more thumbs up for me than thumbs down, but for the casual fisherman. They are gonna get frustrated...In time I am sure all the fish we need we be on vendors and what not, but that seems so opposite of what fishing is supposed to be. We should just be sailing around the world, catching some fish and gaining a .1 every so often. No hurry to get to 120, but at least be able to start the process.

 

[Gunga_Din]

Exactly, start the process lol. I just want to fish but the quest got in the way. arrrgggg.....'

I mean I can still fish, but I wanted to start collecting all the rare ones.

 

[Muu Bin]

Gunga:
Agree with #2 and 4.

As for #1, I think if they did some serious re-tooling the crab/ lobster traps would work. Maybe allow us to drop 10 of them and come back later to collect them. They'd either be full, half full, or empty. It might allow us to drop some on the way to one city so that they might be ready to pull up on the way back.

#3... I think 10 is too little. Maybe somewhere in between

#5... I think the weight was given to them to cut down on scripting. Not sure how that they would accomplish this but it is just a guess.

Barracuda:
I agree with your statement that the fishing quests can be done efficiently if you know how to do it. From my own experience, however, every quest I got, with the exception of one, was a crab/ lobster one. That is where my frustration was at.

Bethany:
Agree with everything other than the cannons. You'll need them once those pirates try to attack, or even privateers! And oh yeah... tossing those nets from the new ships... Leviathan, Krakens, and Scalis (oh my!).

Keep up with the comments because we need to give constructive feedback to the devs so they know where we stand with the new booster - what we like... what we don't.

Thanks

 

[R Traveler]

Any benefits to have 120 fishing except for rare fish only (deco and pies)?

 

[Lord Frodo]

One week after release, here are my thoughts on the Fishing aspect of the booster pack:

Lobster Traps:
Like the concept. New type of fishing with new critters to fish up. What I don't like is the rate that these things disappear. Why not be able to drop them in the sea and come back for them. Treat the areas they are dropped in like veins of ore for mining (or trees for lumberjacking). Drop your traps and get plain lobster/ crab (just like regular ore/ logs) or get the named types which randomly spawn in the sea. There are a lot of possibilities here with this one. But the biggest fail with the traps is the fact they go poof! They made it so the fishing rods never disappear or break or eventually wear out. Why change it with the traps? Make it a gold sink and a time sink? At least improve it so that we don't have to buy hundreds of them just to catch enough for one quest. Is there any way to make the traps have a number of uses AND be able to stack? Likely this can't be done... One last thing on the traps... PLEASE MAKE THE CRAB FISHERS AVAILABLE ON THE SAME DOCKS AS THE FISHMONGERS. The last time I looked, I could only buy the traps at the Floating Emporium and no where else.


One last thing. I have read in other posts and will reiterate here that there needs to be a timer on ships being at any dock - not just the floating market. In due time, these will become so crowded due to the fishing quests that people won't be able to get close enough with their ships to complete the quest. This also goes for the serpent pillars to get between the Lost Lands and Britannia. I saw a screenshot in another post where ships had completely blocked access to the pillars. Paging a GM to move them just isn't in the cards since they barely and rarely respond anymore. (I stayed 9th in the queue tonight for over 2 hours until I gave up).

Nicely done.

(1) Remove the Crabs/lobsters from quests. Nobody likes them.

I am at the point that I wish they would put 5 uses each on these. For every crab/lobster you catch it uses up 1. Most one trap could hold is 5 and when you empty it it goes poof or if they are left for 1hr. Timer needs to be there or people will take up spots and never check them and also put a limit on the number of traps a person can drop, say 20. Right now the RNG loves me and I have %50 sink rate. Way to high.

 

[Gunga_Din]

Any benefits to have 120 fishing except for rare fish only (deco and pies)?

Thats about it. The pies aren't worth it and u would only want 120 for decor or fishing events. For me its about getting the largest of each rare for bragging rights, but I doubt thats gonna happen for me now.

 

[R Traveler]

Thats about it. The pies aren't worth it and u would only want 120 for decor or fishing events. For me its about getting the largest of each rare for bragging rights, but I doubt thats gonna happen for me now.

Just waste of 20 points, compared to 100 points for GM item ID

 

[B_Barracuda]

Gunga:I agree with your statement that the fishing quests can be done efficiently if you know how to do it. From my own experience, however, every quest I got, with the exception of one, was a crab/ lobster one. That is where my frustration was at.

that's bad luck! i found a way to make crab/lobster fishing quite easy. i usually put 8-10 traps into the water at the same time, and when I pull them out, i empty them and immediately put them back in (or a new trap of one was lost). Works quite efficiently, but it cannot be macroed.

The boats are neat, but I would be happier with a fishing vessel. Same hull size, but smaller so we can fit more at the docks. I certainly don't need cannons on my boat...now let me launch a fishing net from them and I might change my mind.

great idea!

We should just be sailing around the world, catching some fish and gaining a .1 every so often. No hurry to get to 120, but at least be able to start the process.

thats exactly the way i see it. i still think that the fishing powerscrolls must be easier to be obtained. fishing is quite a useless skill anyway, so why make it so hard? i think the devs will have to change that.

The pies aren't worth it and u would only want 120 for decor or fishing events.

not so sure about that...
I find pies that increase Melee Damage by 5 for 300 seconds, increase Defence Chance Increase by 8 for 300 seconds, increase Stamina Regeneration by 3 for 300 seconds etc quite useful, especially since you can eat them without needing a free hand.

 

[Gunga_Din]

not so sure about that...
I find pies that increase Melee Damage by 5 for 300 seconds, increase Defence Chance Increase by 8 for 300 seconds, increase Stamina Regeneration by 3 for 300 seconds etc quite useful, especially since you can eat them without needing a free hand.

Useful for PVP which is horrible in UO. But for PVM, I would rather have buffs like Lord of the Rings where u eat one and it will last at hr so u can actually get something done instead of checking every 5 mins if the buff is up.

300 seconds is insulting.

 

[anna anomalous]

i find the pies useful. on top of the fact you can get buffs without a free hand, the low buff time is better for us fishers as customers will often run out quickly and require more. if they lasted even an hour, depending on the player, they might only need 2-5 fish pies to get them through a few days of playing. where as 5 minutes makes them need a lot more pie.

 

[B_Barracuda]

are you a cooking fisherman too?

 

[Lady Mal]

The problem I see if they take a timer off traps so that you can check them an hour later, is the sea becoming littered with them, left by other people with the same idea, or perhaps just those same type of people who enjoy leaving water barrels everywhere.


As for the pies, I wish pies stacked. Same goes for the messes of fish.

 

[nightstalker22]

I certainly don't need cannons on my boat...now let me launch a fishing net from them and I might change my mind.

Aye! A weighted net that can pull in multiple fish with the occasional s.o.s. deco items. One at a time with the pole is fine, but real fishermen use a net!

I play on Siege... cannons and equipment are very expensive there. 3x Prodo prices... The new ships cost 450k and 600k.

Fishing with cannons would be a great gold sink: fuse, charges, matches, ramrod, swab, and weighted net ( made with bola balls and acid proof rope?)

The net itself would have multiple, numbered uses.

 

[Shelleybean]

I'm sorry to say that I am for the most part disappointed. The solo fisherman was ignored in this booster. The majority of the quest rewards are simply bait to catch rare fish. And a lot of the rare fish are to be caught in dangerous places where a lowly fisherman is not likely to go alone. Furthermore, if you have no interest in the fish pies, what’s the point in completing the quests at all?
1)The fish pie buffs only last 5 minutes. I will not go through that effort for a 5 minute buff.
2) Fish are too heavy, making wish I hadn’t bothered to upgrade.
3) Lobster/crab traps are tedious. Not only do you need to watch them like a hawk, they’ll probably vanish anyway. Only being able to buy them at the Sea Market adds to the tedium. But I guess it doesn’t matter since the reward is going to be more bait.
4) Sos loot wasn’t upgraded. This is the one thing fishermen have been requesting for over 10 years.
5) No other soloable sea creatures were added, nor was loot for water elementals or sea serpants improved.
Right now I’m only trying to finish up a quest so I can empty the hold of my ship. Once that’s completed, I think I’m done with the booster.

 

[Gunga_Din]

Excellent pts bean. Thats exactly what they should have concentrated on. I emptied my 2 ships , told a friend to take them and then put my gargoyle + tokuno ships into the trash barrel. I kept my orc ship pieces, that was fun to do with a group, but don't know what to do with it at this point.

 

[Lord Frodo]

My first 6-part fishing quest and reward.

 

[Tyranissa Wrath]

Spent an hour trying to fish up Grey Snappers - got one. Next Fifteen minutes, got three more - then along came a shard outage, and a ten minute roll back. Lost the three additional fish. I'm finished with this quest crap. I simply do not have the time...

 

[Gunga_Din]

Spent an hour trying to fish up Grey Snappers - got one. Next Fifteen minutes, got three more - then along came a shard outage, and a ten minute roll back. Lost the three additional fish. I'm finished with this quest crap. I simply do not have the time...

Yep, your not alone. I give credit to those still doing the quests. Your a better man than I.

 

[Lorddog]

My first 6-part fishing quest and reward.

what does the no-trade mean?

 

[Silverbird]

You cannot pick the crate out of the hold and you cannot sell/give to another player.
Otherwise clever players would collect those crates on one char and deliver only the fast ones with another char. (Not caring for the repuation loss on the first char.)

 

[Bethany_lg]

Just a little update because fishing has always been something I enjoyed doing, but served zero purpose for the most part. I keep collecting and storing MIBs hoping for an update like t-maps got...I'll keep my fingers crossed on that.

One of my other passions in the game is BODs, I have an entire castle devoted to the organization and storage of them. This fishing quest system is feeling very much like the BOD system. I am enjoying the process because I have that kind of mentality...sorting and gathering and trading. But the rewards are less rewarding, and the rarity of even the lowest powerscroll eludes me.

There will be some die hards that will try and conquer this thing. To be the first for bragging rights, some of us just gluttons for punishment. The bait rewards I don't even understand. I'd rather have ones to help me catch the 20 fish or crab I just used on the last quest and need to restock again. There seems to be no info on where to use each of these baits...unless you hunt here. Make these rare books useful...inform me where fairy salmon habitat is.

And I have had a total of 8 missing crates so far...at one point I had 5 active quests and nothing in the hold. Seems like I read somewhere we were penalized for cancelling them so I waited but eventually I had to cancel them.

I don't know, I think there is a lot of promise here, but it was too rushed or not thought out enough. I think it was awfully smart to add the storage to the booster, because standing alone it isn't worth the money or effort so far. I hate that i feel that way because I really wanna be back on the high seas again. "Bethany" is my fisher, my oldest character, and I've enjoyed playing her again, but 70 quests in and still no scrolls. I wanna play her passively and still be able to get something out of it...only way that's gonna happen is massive hours or an incredible amount of luck if my results are typical.

 

[Petra Fyde]

May I draw your attention to the note at the bottom of Mesanna's post about the current publish on test center?

These are just the few notes for Test Center, next week with the Origin notes we will be adding Anniversary Items, Halloween Quest, Next step in the live Arc, and MIB’s.

 

[Silverbird]

Well ... i actually just finished fishing up 50 sos and 5 asos in hope for a fishing ps. Probably excactly that might happen only becourse I tried that out without success. (A variation of murphy's law)

 

[Bethany_lg]

AS I said, I'm keeping my fingers crossed. My t hunter has enjoyed the heck out of the new map system. It's been fun and challanging and I am hoping they do as good a job with MIBs.

My intent is not to bash the booster, but share my experience with it the fishing aspect. If you wanna power through it, Spend excessive amounts of time you might be able to advance to the next title and next step in the quest chain. Or I suppose the other option is wait until things become available and then buy them in luna. But with the drop rate I am experiencing it's gonna be a while and expensive.

It's not like it used to be...when skill gain takes forever, on prodo shards anyway. Bethany has been a GM fisher since '98 or '99. When imbuing came out people were 120 in a couple days. I'm not in any rush to become legendary, but Bethany is a pretty tough cookie and fighting and fishing sounds fun. But I need to get past this first part that is seeming horribly time consuming and tedious for no good reason. Not trying to rush from 0 to 120. I'm trying to be able to start with 100.1