While it can be annoying to level up a secondary skill, and sometimes much more time consuming than we would like, it can be fun as well. One of these skills will often be fishing, which most of the time awards special items or buff foods. However, the fishing experience isn't always so enjoyable.
Thankfully, a number of games have gone out of their way to make the MMO fishing experiences more fun. From offering competitions, to world drop mounts, they reward players who stick with the game. For some players, the fishing is actually one of the highlights of the game, and something that they aspire to master. Whether that mastery is in the form of collecting rare items, or gaining the maximum skill cap and a fancy title.
World Of Warcraft
World of Warcraft is likely the game that most people turn to when it comes to MMO fishing experiences. While it used to be an intense grind to get anything you wanted, in recent years fishing has risen to the top and has taken on a life of its own. Many people play the game just for fishing, but it also ties in with raiding and PVP, making it a worthwhile skill for anyone to have, and this is something that many other games have failed to accomplish.
Physical Items You Can Get
A huge number of cosmetic and useful items drop from fishing. Food, trade skill items, hats that make you seem just a little more interesting, and even reputation items can come from fishing in this game. Overall, players are able to fill their inventory with a large number of useful and interesting items if they know where to look. There are even full outfits that help you fish better and quests that ask you to fish things up to get rare transmog items.
There is a super adorable sea turtle that allows for quick travel in the water that you can only get from fishing, making it a great idea to work on this skill if you are a mount collector. This mount doesn't stop functioning outside of a specific zone, unlike other underwater mounts, making it extremely valuable for total mobility in all zones.
At this time, there are more than 20 pets from fishing in World of Warcraft, making the fishing skill a pet collectors dream. Most of these are cute sea creatures, and a number even come in their own bubble. Looting some of these will also grant you an achievement, making them a double hitter for many players.
Competitive Experiences
There is a weekly fishing competition that is one of the only ways to actually get everything that you need for a full set of Bind on Account heirloom items. There are also a few areas where fishing competitions are held, giving great benefits to anyone looking to shore up their items.
Finally, there are a number of achievements that give a large number of points. These take you all around the world, and will often result in players ending up a large amount of gold by they time that they have completed all of the achievements.
Aion
The fishing experience in Aion is actually pretty hilarious. You gather fish like any other resource, with your hands. You hover them above the water and suck up fish to you. Overall, you are less fishing, and more using magic. This makes the experience a bit more seamless but is also hilarious when viewed through the eyes of a new player. After all, who expects to be sucking fish up into their hands?
However, you still get a good number of items from fishing.
An added bonus is the ability to see what fish you are going after. Instead of hoping that you catch the right one. This lets you actually farm fish with very little down time. Not many games have adapted this, but we wish they would. However, spawns are a bit static, and it can be hard to get everything that you need, making it difficult for players to really want to invest in the game much more than they already have.
RIFT
Rift has an extremely dynamic world of fishing and is one of few games that truly blends the experience in with other game elements. Players are left to battle through a world filled with monsters while having challenging weekly and daily quests. The rewards from these experiences are quite enticing, leaving most players more than willing to work towards them. This can be frustrating when players aren't into the idea of fishing, but it has led to a large population of the game actually utilizing the fishing skill.
FFXIV
The totally re-done crafting professions of FFXIV are impressive, but fishing might be one of the best. With many different levels to progress through, the fantasy world is one of the best places to kick back and enjoy yourself. A large variety of drops come from fishing, and fishing is so profitable that players often find themselves power leveling the skill just to reap the benefits.
It is even possible to get quest items from fishing. These items sell extremely well and often make an afternoon of fishing more than worth it.
World Of Fishing
As the name suggests, this is a game that focuses completely around fishing. Everything that you do in the game is connected to fishing, and all of your upgrades and play time to towards building actual skill and upgrading your kit. It is one of the most immersive fishing experiences to be had, and one that most people aren't aware exists.
The game doesn't offer much of anything outside of fishing, but it does offer a variety of ways to fish. Everything from boats to piers is fair game, and different fish can only be caught in specific areas around the world. This provides a great incentive for players to actually look into different parts of the globe.
The game is extremely relaxing and without anything to distract you from fishing it can be surprisingly pleasant.
