The new fishing mechanics need adjustments

Suggestions
#1

People should be talking about this. Right now it feels like the new strength attribute added to fishing mechanics are a step back due to poor balancing.

Before the latest patch that added the new fishing gear, fishing was manageable. Sure your wrists would be injured fishing every so often, but at least it felt borderline acceptable when dealing with the amount of reeling needed, the amount fish would move away from your lure when reeling, and how fast it took to stress your fishing line, and how fast it took for that fishing line to go from red back to white.

After the latest patch changes, fishing is just a huge pain. Everything is harder when it was already something that took time and effort. But now you need fishing STR gear just to fish regular fish like minnows and catfish. Meanwhile fish, while you reel them in, can teleport 5-15 feet away from where they were (again without STR gear). Where is the logic in that while you are reeling in fish? It’s just a big struggle to catch regular fish now without STR gear. I thought STR gear was something you needed for rare fish, not most other common fish now.

I get you added STR to all the fish with this update, but most players don’t even get any fishing gear until later on in the quest line. So for a good amount of their experience fishing, will be just flat out terrible. Especially for something that should be somewhat relaxing though time consuming.

Biggest issues:

  1. The line turns red twice as fast, or even faster while taking twice as long to reset back to white. So it feels nearly 4x more difficult and is noticeably worse across the board.
  2. Fish are able to “get away” in ways that defy physics and logic. Jumping 5-15 feet away while you are reeling in feels like a minigame gone terribly wrong. I understand STR is intended to minimize this…but the fact it can randomly teleport makes it feel like something that needs to be reworked.
  3. Without strength gear, fishing minnows, a fish that should be relatively weak strength requirement wise (assuming minnows are very light fish), is 3-4 times slower than before.
  4. You don’t get STR fishing gear until way late in the fishing quest.
  5. What happened to fishing rods that wouldn’t snap as easily?

TLDR: Strength attribute added into fishing has completely messed up the balance of fishing pre-fishing gear and even with it, people are using strength potions just to get back to par.

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#2

This is really interesting to read, because Minnows, Sunfish, etc. have a Strength rating of 0. The only thing the Strength affects is how frequently the fish will jerk. With a Strength rating of 0, they are jerking literally exactly as often as they did before. They certainly shouldn’t be teleporting 5-15 feet away. Is anyone else seeing that with Sunish, Minnows, etc.?

We also didn’t change at all how quickly the line turns red, it’s exactly the same in every respect as it previously was. The only thing that has changed is there is now a small delay between when you stop reeling, and when the line begins to turn back from red to white.

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#3

I haven’t experienced any issues with common fish, but then again I’ve been wearing fishing gear that has strength built in.

Some of the rare fish can be a pretty epic battle, even with the fishing gear.

#4

I didn’t fish minnows in a long time but i’ve had eels on my pole that acted exactly like the perch fish(jumping away like crazy) that was there at the same time. Maybe there’s a correlation?
But in General i hear lots of ppl complain about fishing being way “slower” since that Patch.

#5

See that was my thought too. Minnows shouldn’t have to fight so hard (a full reel before it goes red, moved a minnow like 2 feet). Imagine catching a minnow 40 feet away and having to spend 3 minutes to reel in that fish almost non stop (besides resting the line) just so it doesn’t swim away. Catfish are just jerking like crazy (on occasion) even when reeling. One time it made 6-8 jumps and I just put the fishing pole away. Feels like fighting rare fish.

Maybe its not the line turning red faster, but the fact that you have to reel a lot more, and so you gain so little distance between every red resting period for the line.

Honestly there shouldn’t be any delay from turning red to white (but I guess if this was needed to fix the line bug then maybe you can make balance this out by giving more room for the line to turn red), and this entire interaction just feels like way more effort than before.

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#6

Okay, yeah I mean maybe the delay thing is just making it way harder overall than I realized it would? Anything is possible. All I know is at least code-wise we didn’t make it turn red any faster, and we didn’t make it reel in any slower, all of that is untouched from pre-patch. Could just be one of those things where one thing made everything else seem harder.

#7

Considering nobody has strength when they start to fish, and strength was added to many fish types, could that also play into it? You said that minnows and sunfish have 0 strength, but what about Eels and catfish, ridgebacks, snails ,etc?

If STR only affects how frequently it jerks, something else is affecting reel speed because the reeling is definitely slower, STR being a factor or not.

Like I said, some fishermen were using STR potions to reel in fish faster.

Another thing regarding the red line cooling down slower is that I used to be able to keep my hand on the reel and hold it there while the line cools off. Now, I notice that the micro movements from holding the reel actively will interfere with the cooldown on the line, making it so that I have to fully release. While this is a minor point, it also adds up to just things making fishing harder. It’s like the mechanics checks to see if there is any movement at all on the reel before counting down to allow the line to cool off.

#8

If it is taking more time for the line to turn white from red, by the delay “when the line begins to turn back from red to white” there is an increase chance that the fish will move away.

Now if fishermen cast their lines far out, getting a catch from afar would be more tiresome. Wondering the amount of times that someone stops reeling in their fish.

On a side note doesn’t the fish moving away also cause the line to turn red? If this is the case then the line might actually be turning red faster because now it is more often that these two will get stacked upon each other.

A slight suggestion if any of this is the case is to make it easier to reel in fish when they are far away and to make it more difficult as the fish approaches. How much harder than it is now is a different question.

#9

The reel speed and how fast it turns red are not affected by STR of the fish or the fisherman.

However, if it is jerking less often, then that means it is less likely to move farther away from shore when you have to pause to let the line go back to white, so it makes sense that STR would make it easier to reel them in “faster” from that perspective (and that’s how it’s supposed to work). I’m just being clear that the reel speed itself and how fast the line turns red or turns white is always the same…again, probably just a perception thing. If it seems easier it’s natural that it might seem like the line redness is the root cause even if it’s not really.

#10

The reason why its not a perception is because while maybe nothing has changed code wise, the hours that some players have spent fishing before the patch and after, its just super obvious to people who have spent some amount of fishing before the patch.

Maybe in a month people will be used to the “new” slower fishing, but right now any experienced fisherman can easily tell the difference.

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#11

I have to say thank you for responding to our questions =D

I don’t mean to argue just curious how it works, it is also late for you and at the moment you don’t get anything in return for staying on forums besides player love and loyalty.

Supposing that the fishermen don’t have STR armor. The fish have the same chances as jerking as before the patch. However there is a delay in the reel turning white from red so fishing would take longer. This is fine if it add 10-20 seconds more per fish I guess.

My question is does the fish jerking, moving away, make the line red? And are the chances of the fish to jerk away higher when not reeling as opposed to reeling?

If yes to the first question I wonder if what players are experiencing is a double stacking of the red line. For example the fishermen letting the line turn white and while that is happening the fish begins to move away and the fishermen at the same time reeling it in. This would mean that it is turning red from both the fish moving away and because of the reeling. This would end up causing a feedback because the quick turn of it becoming red would make the player wait again for it to turn white.

(P.S. Edited the second question.)

#12

No the line turning red is solely based on whether or not you are reeling it in and the speed at which you are reeling it.

I’m not saying there isn’t a difference overall in the speed of catching fish or the difficulty, merely that the line isn’t turning red any faster and the speed of reeling hasn’t changed. We’ll do some more looking into it and see if some changes need to be made overall.

[spoilers] Explain fishing to me
#13

Thanks Riley. Really appreciate the quick responses!

#14

I noticed this too. Took me like 5 minutes to reel in a sunfish. Kept moving so far away while reeling it in…at one point, I couldn’t see the bobber anymore - I thought I was about to get disconnected.

#15

I have the same issue with fishing right now, feels like it’s going red faster and is a lot slower going back to white, which causes the line to snap due to being in a habbit of fishing how it did before the update happend. I can no longer watch Netflix while fishing without snapping the line (which means I no longer watch Netflix :frowning: )

#16

Yah… I’m a bit more worried about the new players.

The faster jumping function ads a new challenge, that I like as a experienced fisher, but I remember thinking fishing used to be hard even with the old system. Now I find players I’m trying to teach have new problems I never experienced. Like the fish running away so far that they can’t see the line, and I find myself encouraging tossing short, and un-equipt your rod if it goes to far away.

do miss netfishing

#17

Overall, I find the differences subtle and I can deal with them. However, I have a couple quantitative comparisons. These are true for many of the basic fish (sunfish, bass, catfish, minnows, eel).

  • Before the fishing patch, I could get through 1.75-2 lures per basic fishing potion. Now, I can get one or two casts on a second lure before the potion runs out.
  • Before the patch, I could wait exactly 3 vibrations after the line turned red before I could start reeling again. Now, I have to wait between 6 and 10 vibrations, which gives the fish more time to run away.

It is definitely frustrating to have the fish less than two feet away from the shore and then have it go schizophrenic and jump 20 feet away over the course of a couple rest periods. It can take a full minute of reeling to get it back from one of those episodes.

However if I hadn’t spent so many hours fishing before the patch, I definitely wouldn’t have noticed the difference. It is very subtle and definitely not game-breaking.

You guys are doing a fantastic job and I’m always amazed how responsive you are and how quickly you are developing the game!

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#18

i fished yesterday for cloak fish at the stones in lucian. i drunk the aged potion for an 20 minutes effekt.

there where no problems, that the fish jumps so far away. yes, there were movement but not realy wide moves. i reeled the line in until it gets red, then let it go for 1-3 seconds. in that time the line went to white. then reeling 3 or 4 rounds and let it go again for 1-3 seconds.

yes, its f*** when you throw the floater far away and the fish bite directly. than its a long way to the bank.

#19

I have full fishing gear and I feel like it does take more time to reel in the basic fish and some of the others like eel. I think something is definitely going on.

#20

I also feel like fishing is broken after the latest update. Its definitely not relaxing or enjoyable like real fishing with all that reeling.

I noticed after the upgrade the fish swimming really far out. So far I have fixed it by never releasing the reel. I used to wind then release until the line turns white. But now doing that the fish will swim really far away.
If I just stop winding but hold the reel it doesn’t seem to swim away as much anymore.

1 Like