TLDR: MOAR FISHING!!
Back before the SL launch, I posted the following thread which outlined the entire history of fishing in WoW, how it changed between expansions, and what my hopes were for the future in Shadowlands. Over months, other players commented with fantastic ideas for how things could be expanded or how new features might be added:
Sadly, my hopes were dashed, and nothing exciting ever developed for Shadowlands fishing.
- We’ve got bait.
- We’ve got zone-specific fish needed for cooking
- We’ve got a new pole (that was purchased, not earned)
- We’ve got a new rare fish in ZM (that is useful for precisely one recipe)
And that is all.
My people, as we approach a new alpha & beta season for the Dragonflight expansion, I am tapping on the microphone at the lectern once more, with a goal of generating discussion of the hopes and dreams for Angling in Azeroth in 10.0 and beyond.
There have been SO many fantastic ideas floated on these forums for how angling could be improved.
- Explosives made for fishing that would enable large catches when thrown into a school.
- Lures, rather than bait, that could generate a school of fish.
- Fishing pole transmog.
- Fishing equipment to include clothing, trinkets, toys, pets, & enchants.
- New “boat” toys like the Angler’s raft that players can use to fish in open water.
- More cosmetics for fishing such as bobbers, hats, clothing, and tabards.
- A new fishing faction akin to the Anglers.
My purpose with continually beating the fishing drum is that I enjoy fishing in this game. I enjoy working for achievements for fishing in this game. I’m not alone in that, and every new expansion is an opportunity to voice my desires for fishing in future iterations of the game while encouraging other players to voice their own. I don’t want fishing to be forgotten or relegated to the “not important enough” pile due to lack of speaking up. So…I’m speaking up.
Here are my hopes for the Dragonflight expansion:
1.) Give us a Fishing Faction.
The Tuskarr are coming back for Dragonflight, and these are a fishing people. PLEASE give us something fishing-related with these people as we cross paths with the benevolent walruses for the second time.
2.) Give us a New "Raft."
Let us earn new fishing vessel toys like the Anglers’ Raft. Themed vessels we can sit on, fish from, and traverse open water with. I use my Anglers’ Raft ALL the time. Having new ones to work toward would be a huge motivator for those of us who love this feature of the game.
3.) Give the Fish Relevance.
Like with the fish oil in BfA or the necessity of the fish for all cooking in WoD, please make fishing an economically viable secondary again. Make the fish matter in your designs.
4.) Give us Fishing Gear.
Let us have fishing hats, shirts, gloves, or boots that look like fishing gear and give silly or novel bonuses related to fishing. Give us enchants or battle pets or toys that enhance our fishing skill or provide some kind of fishing-related boost when equipped.
5.) Give us Fishing Cosmetics & Achievements
We haven’t had a fishing achievement title since Salty. Give us a new one! Give us some achievements to work toward that will reward the player with any of the aforementioned gear rewards.
And give us more cosmetics that project to other ingame anglers that we’ve done a thing. When I run across a person who knows what my Salty title means, it feels good. Back when it meant something to have that water bug mount, it felt good to have people know what we’d done to earn those. Give us a new round of that.
After listening to the initial interviews on what’s coming up for Dragonflight, I’m encouraged at how the pillars of the game seem to be designed for a return to our home planet with great care given to requests the player community has been making. It looks really good.
But I’m also concerned. Archaeology has been acknowledged as something that won’t be prioritized in the initial launch. New battle pets (to include ducks) are coming, as always, but nothing broader was discussed. This brings me to fishing, which I haven’t seen anyone ask about or mention, yet…and it’s important.
Please don’t let fishing get left behind and totally unaddressed for a third expansion in a row. You don’t have to reinvent the wheel. You don’t have to change how fishing “works” in order to give us new fishing content. Just look at the 2020 post where I made this plea for Shadowlands: WoW fishing was good at the start and got progressively better and more interesting all the way up to Legion. Please, for the love of Azeroth, put fishing on the to-do list for Dragonflight.
/starts to walk away from the lectern and then turns around to awkwardly say, “Thank you,” before exiting stage right in haste.