This topic has been around in a few variations, but a "future problem" has become a "current problem", at least for me, now.


I have done it. I hit rank 49 in fishing. Fishing is a dead end currently.

tl;dr: Fishing becomes incredibly painful at high levels.

Funny enough that my "sc competitor" is also at rank 48, because at 49, the pain begins.

Fishing works in the following way: every 5 ranks you gain +1 fish tier.

So at the following ranks, you get the following tiers:



Every 15 fish levels / ranks, you are able to cut off 1 tier if you fish in a well, meaning that if you manage to find a well, and don't 1006 on it, you're getting the fish as follows:



Every fish you find can spawn in a mana, life or rare variation. If we fully ignore rare fishes and assume 0% stacking (meaning you stack all fish, regardless of how good they are), you cannot keep stacking after rank 49, because you get more fish than you have slots.
You get 8 tiers in a well at rank 49 (because the cutoff of tiers just does not... cut it anymore), and you have 16 inventory slots. You still need 1 free slot to get new fish, and 1 free slot for your rod, meaning carrying 7 tiers is the maximum.

I have posted this image for visualization before:



Further pain points:

• You have to cancel 50+% of your fish because you cannot catch it (or it randomly escapes).
  
• You don't get prof for canceling, unlike suffusencing and cooking.
  
• You need good rods (100+ dura), because otherwise fishing is even worse. It has gotten to the point where I can't even fish without an event of 60+% anymore.
  
• Those rods frequently keep losing durability due to lag or 1006s. Yes, there was a safeguard implemented, but that doesn't work 50+% of the time. At least we're only losing dura, not the rod now.
  
• You get less prof per fish(!!) than someone at a lower rank does. So you need more prof, fail more fish, and need to overall catch more fish in order to rank up. Just some quick maths: I am getting roughly 61% of the prof that someone at rank 15 does. Combine that with half the catch rate, and I need 3.22x the amount of fish (attempts) somebody at rank 15 needs, for the same amount of prof, not for a rankup
  
• At rank 49, even in a well, about 70+% of your fish is not usable to obtain cooking prof (my fishing and cooking rank are about 10 ranks apart)
  
• You cannot even fish for lower fish and create a few low stacks "quickly". It just doesn't work, level 1 fishes are as difficult as level 50 fishes, and provide the same loot, but no prof
  
• At lower ranks, you can use the % minimum stacking, and stack the crappy fish (falling below your %) to keep for cooking prof later. At high rank you can't, because you don't have slots.
  

But of course, this would just be a complaint topic if I didn't provide any solution approaches:

• Make each 5 ranks (of each skill?) increase your item slots by +1
  
• Apply full or partial extra equipment slots to item slots
  
• Allow unstacking of items, so that life and mana fish could go to the same stack und unstacked later
  
• Cut off a tier every 5 ranks in a well, not every 15 ranks. Every 10 ranks almost works, until 64, where you're short 2 slots again. This would also tremendously help with cooking prof.
  

I have mentioned these various times, sometimes even tagging paul, but I haven't even received a response whether any of this is even intended behavior.

Would be nice to have a Poll on this... I totally agree with a few changes to these even if I have stopped fishing / cooking, in addition, it would also be good if your* Cooking ranks would increase at a rate to keep within the margins of your Fishing ranks. If I remember correctly, your fishing rank becomes higher than your cooking rank.

EDIT *

This post was edited by izParagonzi on Oct 7 2020 06:00pm

I wasn’t sure what to put on a poll. The point of the topic is to address a problem and there are a few approaches to that. I guess I could have picked the individual approaches as poll choices.

I'm not smart enough for this thread.

You don't have enough item slots for fishing after rank 49, without throwing an entire tier worth of fish, along with the rares.

This is a very well-written post and the suggested solutions seem like they'd work well to solve the problem. I've been messing around with fishing again for the first time in like 9 years and the lack of slots really slows down your progress even at rank 31 with only 7-8 tiers to deal with.

Seems like you found a game problem with a neccessity for change. Hopefully paul will help since youve put so much time into this skill and cannot progress

there are enought slots in the belt, to safe the rest use vault or mules. about a problem gaining exp at level 49 or even fish i cannot say any for the moment.

He is telling us there are not enough slots. It’s pretty straight forward.

Well I shouldn't have an opinion, but I do.

I think that your issue is very similar to that of a lot of people, at the basic level. There are not enough item slots.
I, personally, don't really know if I agree with the need, although I'm sure many would, and I'd gladly accept more.

Issues:
You have to cancel 50+% of your fish because you cannot catch it (or it randomly escapes).
Get a better rod. (Glyphing is worse with the instant fails)

You don't get prof for canceling, unlike suffusencing and cooking.
You don't from glyphing and muting either.

You need good rods (100+ dura), because otherwise fishing is even worse. It has gotten to the point where I can't even fish without an event of 60+% anymore.
Isn't max 350 Dura? So, you're using like a ~90+ EE Fishing Rod. Get a 200+ EE (233+ Dura) Fishing Rod and see how it compares. This is probably a different complaint, having to do with drops.

Those rods frequently keep losing durability due to lag or 1006s. Yes, there was a safeguard implemented, but that doesn't work 50+% of the time. At least we're only losing dura, not the rod now.
This seems like an entirely separate issue, which has already been declared problematic by many for many reasons.

You get less prof per fish(!!) than someone at a lower rank does. So you need more prof, fail more fish, and need to overall catch more fish in order to rank up. Just some quick maths: I am getting roughly 61% of the prof that someone at rank 15 does. Combine that with half the catch rate, and I need 3.22x the amount of fish (attempts) somebody at rank 15 needs, for the same amount of prof, not for a rankup
I wonder how this compares to other skills.

At rank 49, even in a well, about 70+% of your fish is not usable to obtain cooking prof (my fishing and cooking rank are about 10 ranks apart)
The ability to obtain skillables slows with level for all skills. Fishing is the only skill that doesn't require any skillables.

You cannot even fish for lower fish and create a few low stacks "quickly". It just doesn't work, level 1 fishes are as difficult as level 50 fishes, and provide the same loot, but no prof
I just tested this in the pond. Level 1 fish are much easier/quicker to catch than fish at my current level. I imagine yours is similar. It's like this will all skills. Maybe being in a well is different.

At lower ranks, you can use the % minimum stacking, and stack the crappy fish (falling below your %) to keep for cooking prof later. At high rank you can't, because you don't have slots.
Yep... I know... "because you don't have slots".
Have you tried to use the vault as an extra slot, or 2? What about the ol' t-can?


Solutions:
Make each 5 ranks (of each skill?) increase your item slots by +1
Yes, I would hope it would be each skill, what makes this skill special?

Apply full or partial extra equipment slots to item slots
Where would you propose the "extra item slots" be located? Is there going to be a new row?

Allow unstacking of items, so that life and mana fish could go to the same stack und unstacked later
I hope unstacking wouldn't involve splitting life and mana. Stacked items should always come off the stack the same, not how they were when put on.

Cut off a tier every 5 ranks in a well, not every 15 ranks. Every 10 ranks almost works, until 64, where you're short 2 slots again. This would also tremendously help with cooking prof.
So, when fishing in a well, you always catch the fish at the level you are fishing? Seems a bit op.