I hate fishing

Not just in the game, but in real life, I dislike fishing. I taught my daughter how to fish. In the space of three weeks she caught more fish than I’d caught in three decades. In real life, I no longer go fishing. In the game, however, even though it is to me one of the most grueling, miserable grinds there is, I fish. I’m pushing my main onward with the specific minimum goal of 310 – and I strongly suggest the same of every priest.

Oh, and you’ll have to learn to cook. For what it’s worth, cooking is easy. Oh, sure, all the guides will tell you to combine it with fishing, but… if you like to fish, you’re going to catch more than enough fish to max cooking. If you didn’t like – or don’t have to – fish and you don’t mind spending some money, it’s as easy as powerleveling any other profession — and a HECK of a lot cheaper. The hard part is getting the main ingredient – the food. On the climb in levels you will ALWAYS have food drop – this meat, that organ, some bit of gooey potential goodness. Of course, fishing guarantees meat every 20 seconds or so…
The rewards for your fishing and cooking skill are the buff food. For example, you’ll hear the glory of the Golden Fishsticks extolled across the lands – and they are very, very nice. +44 to healing. +20 to spirit. They’re in such high demand, however, that you will almost never find them on the AH. Instead, you have to catch your own raw material – golden darters – from streams in Terokkar.

Or there’s my personal favorite – Blackened Sporefish, which has a lot lower level fishing and cooking requirement (though still outland), and gives 20 stamina and 8 beautiful MP5. sigh.

But you need to cook and eat buff food earlier. It’s the same principle I espoused in the other posts about small enchants and oils – if you’re not doing these cheap and VERY easy buffs, you’re impairing your progression. “No thanks, I’ll fight with one hand behind my back. Thank you anyway.” 4 stamina and 4 spirit while you’re level 5. Level 15 you can have +6 to each. At level 20 there are foods that’ll add +8 to each. Folks, at level 70 I’m still pleased to put a +12 stamina enchant on something, and the buff food is great with +20 stamina or +20 spirit. Proportionally, what’s available at lower levels is HUGE. If you’re passing it by… why?

Well, I can guess. Because fishing is boring. And sidetracking for that meat – which even though you can eat it doesn’t mean you can kill it – is a pain and usually not part of your quest series, so it’s boring too. And cooking seems so boring and you have to fill your bags in regular stacks, while an enchant takes no space. And…

Don’t care. Take up cooking. You don’t have to take up fishing right away – the “big bonus” for we priests that’s only available from fishing doesn’t happen till we can make Nightfin Soup (8 mp5) from a level 250 recipe – cookable and consumable at level 35 – and we have to be able to survive low 50s level areas to catch the rather difficult-to-catch fish.  [Hochopepa reminds me of the Raw Greater Sagefish, which can be cooked and eaten sooner, caught much easier – but are “only” 6mp5 .] Which means not racing to keep it maxed is understandable. But by the time you’re 60 you should start, and if you’re 70 it should be one of the BIG THINGS you are trying to get caught up on. Which means, as with so many other things, that if you’d done it in small steps along the way you might not be sitting for hours doing nothing but watching a bobber…. click, cast….. click, cast…. click, cast….

I hate fishing. 270, and an eternity to go.

~ by Kirk on September 19, 2007.