Fishing etiquette
by John Himes 
Nov 11th 2007 at 4:55PM
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The weekly fishing tournament is taking place this afternoon in Stranglethorn Vale, and I'll probably be in attendance, hoping desperately to catch the last rare fish I need. I'm often intrigued by the etiquette that comes into play in different parts of the game where people are thrust into close contact with one another, and the fishing contest is one of the more interesting examples. For instance, in my experience, most other players will leave you alone if you're fishing from a school, such as the Highland Mixed Schools in Terokkar Forest. I've often seen fellow crawdad seekers flying low overhead, but they have always moved to the next spot once they noticed my presence. On the other hand, the weekly contest seems to be a no-holds-barred match, with people fishing wherever they can, whether or not you claimed the spot first. Personally, I try to avoid fishing in the same school as other people as much as possible, even during the contest. How about you?
The other intriguing dilemma for me involves twinks. If you weren't aware, the Lucky Fishing Hat is a quest reward and thus has no level requirement to wear. This alone makes it desirable by twinks in the lower brackets, since there are few other readily available hats at that level. What makes it especially attractive to them, is the nice amount of stamina it has. Because of these factors, there are always several level 19 characters running around the beaches of Stranglethorn on Sunday afternoons, dodging pirates and raptors, trying to catch the rare fish that will award them the hat or boots. Usually they bring along a higher level to escort them around, but sometimes they're trying to go solo.
For me, it's always funny to watch the little guys running from countless pirates as they seemingly aggro the entire zone just by stepping out of Booty Bay, but I can imagine it must be aggravating for them. The other day I was asked by such a player who was in an all twink guild (and therefore didn't have any higher level guildmates to escort him around) if I would protect him while he fished. I politely turned him down. What do you think? Should I have offered to help him out? As far as I know he wasn't offering any sort of compensation. What would you have done?
Filed under: Fishing, Analysis / Opinion, Events
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Saevir Nov 11th 2007 5:15PM
We're having a try on the big bad guy of the Legion himself.
Keep in mind, we need at least 4 warlocks to fear/banish on this fight.
Also, remember to read up on the tactics as this fight requires more coordination than Void Reaver.
Khallah Nov 11th 2007 5:19PM
The fishing contest on PvP realms is a blood bath. People come out in droves to gank fisherman, and to have a shot at winning a fair few bodyguards are a necessity. The other fishermen are the least of your problems!
SJPadbury Nov 11th 2007 5:19PM
My opinion on the twinks is that they'd be much more tolerated if they waited until the contest was decided, since the rare fish can be fished for 2 hours, and all they're doing before then are getting in the way of the serious fisher-people. If someone asked me to cover them for the 1.5 hours from the end of the contest to the end of fish, I'd probably consider it. If they wanted to fish before that, I'd laugh at them. And Opposite Faction, unattended are going to get one-shot if the contest is still on.
Clink Nov 11th 2007 5:42PM
Normally I would never fish from a school that someone is using. However during the contest all politeness gets thrown out the window. After about your third week of attempts you realize that you need every edge you can get and if that means taking from people's schools then so be it. Others will fish from your schools as well so it is not much of a big deal.
Avalanche Nov 11th 2007 5:42PM
Both the hat and boot quests require level 31.
As for not taking other people's nodes during the fishing competition: it's a competition; being polite won't win it for you.
hpavc Nov 11th 2007 5:43PM
Guard me while fishing?
This twink has what for gear? Likely a better enchant total than you do?
Here come the 'run me through sfk' or whatever the current spam phrase is 'sfk plz'
WP Nov 11th 2007 5:57PM
yeah, its tough on a pvp server. ours has horde running up and down the coasts ganking like crazy. no big suprise a horde usually wins the tourny.
Raogrimm Nov 11th 2007 6:13PM
I've won the fishing contest 3 times. (third by accident)
And I can say with all honesty, fairness, and anything else is out the window. Basically its you against everyone else, so don't feel bad if you hurt their feelings, that means stealing fishing holes if someone is already there. Trust me after several months of fishing none stop to get my second win, I basically snapped at anyone who tried to bug me during the contest, its a highly stressful event if your try to win.
Just remember these simple rules;
1. Have an epic mount and crop
2. Use what ever gives you an advantage such as water walk for shamans, for my self being friendly with the Bloodsail.
3. Set your hearth stone to the Booty Bay Inn, as you need to get back fast.
4. Stick to one area, poles respawn regardless if you just passed them, so pick a select stretch of beach and just keep going back up and down it.
5. If someone is fishing a hole, fish it as well as every fish counts, doesn't matter who it is unless its a GF, wife, or someone who can punish you for the intrusion on their fishing hole by way of RL pain.
Outside of that, good luck and take lots of advil.
Teni Nov 11th 2007 6:28PM
Oh, there's no need to help a twink. The definition alone means he's got a rich highbie funding the twink gear; surely the higher character knows friends who can help. The twink was just being lazy.
Teni Nov 11th 2007 7:37PM
This is a response to Avalanche. Avalanche, go look up some Level 19 twink guilds. A good number of them are wearing the hat and boots. I don't know where you got the information but you are misinformed. The boots require level 19 to turn in, and the hat level 16.
Brasson Nov 11th 2007 6:37PM
I managed to pick up the rod by fishing only at unoccupied nodes. It's not just respectful, it's also fairly logical. Every time you dismount, you need three seconds to remount. If you only get one Tastyfish every time you stop, you're going to be running around more than you're fishing.
Methuu Nov 11th 2007 7:00PM
One tactic is to have friends occupy a stretch of beach and "pretend fish" the pools. They will cast and reel in before a fish bites and hence keep the pool full until the dedicated angler of the group is done with his pool and moves to the one where his friends pretended to fish. This is done to discourage others from fishing in these pools. If you see three guys already fishing one pool, you are likely to move on.
Hence, if you see many guys of the same guild around, it might be even your advantage to fish where they fish, the pool might be actually untouched :-)
slunk Nov 11th 2007 7:28PM
When the tournament first came out, my wife tried it solo and got ganked by some fishermen. The next week, we took about 10 bodyguards. We kept the alliance on rez timers, needless to say, she won.
I've been trying for myself lately. We don't require an escort. On our server, no one ganks during the tournament anymore.
My wife and I've both had level 19 twinks talking shit to us, because we are trying to steal their hats and boots. These people tend to fish from your pool aswell. These people, we intentionally fish from their pools. Otherwise, everyone else is pretty respectful and leave occupied pools alone.
I've met one level 19 twink who was respectful. I took care of an alliance that was ganking him, because he had warned me previously of an alliance in the area.
The contest is still pretty competitive. Today, an alliance one. I was two seconds to late, otherwise, I would have won. Five seconds later, three horde showed up.
There are still some servers where fishermen respect each other. If it's your first time, see how the fishermen treat each other during the contest, before you make everyone devolve into twelve-year-olds.
Urthal Nov 11th 2007 8:00PM
Back when I was still bothering with the tournament, Ttwinks were under this misconception that each week, only one of each rare fish would drop. That was their excuse for fishing before someone actually won the tournament. Despite several polite attempts at enlightenment, their tiny little brains would take none of it.
Rainnajax Nov 11th 2007 11:55PM
I did the contest today for the first time and I have to say I was appalled at the lack of respect. I even had one toon ask me why I was there as a level 46 and that I could buy better gear. Isn't the point of a contest to give anyone who is eligible an opportunity to compete? While I did not win and did not really participate to win (I have a full cast on one of my hands), I wanted to try. There need to be some sportsmanship involved and many players exhibited poor sportsmanship. Maybe Blizzard needs to set some guidelines to the contest?
Shinijumi Nov 11th 2007 11:41PM
I was disappointed in one aspect of the tourney today... I don't mind sharing pools, as it's a contest, but one fisherman brought a friend who swam out and deliberately positioned his toon over my bobber, making it hard to click with any timing even if I changed camera angles. I feel that was simply rude, fish-griefing if you will. Nothing else really bothered me though.
Basic Nov 11th 2007 11:59PM
I've finally won the fishing derby twice and have seen all kinds of griefing. Faction pvp isn't usually an issue, but same-side griefing including reportable offenses is rampant.
Warlock Nov 12th 2007 12:06AM
First off, about the pool ninjaing, yes, I still consider it rude during the contest. I /spit on people who do it to me. It's also incredibly stupid, as you pretty much guarentee you will lose if you do this. As was pointed out above, that's fewer catches between dismounts - wasted time. I've won TWICE without having to steal from other players, so there you go. (the second time I was not even trying, it was funny).
Now as for twinks, they frequently piss me off during the contest. They seem to be some of the rudest players around. I've seen ONE twink who was curtious enough not to ninja my node - most will grab whatever they see with disregard to who is on it. I've gotten some of the dumbest messages from them (the Alliance ones anyways). Some will /rude me after they start fishing my pool (I'm supposed to just give it to them??), once I was asked why I was in "a zone that was too low for me" (hypocracy for the win!), and others have generally chewed me out for basically "fishing where they want to be fishing" as if that makes sense. So yeah, screw twinks. I hope every patch that they'll add level requirements to those items to screw them over.
In any case, I still need my stupid Fishing Hat. Once I get that I can leave behind all the lameness that is the Fishing Tourney forever :P In the mean time, I'll probably keep catching two Queenfish each week because the drop rate is stupid (two weeks in a row! I have friggin' 4 Eternium Lines in my bank -_-)
evestraw Nov 12th 2007 1:07AM
if i see a twink fishing i just ambush them
i hate twinks
Chris Deke Nov 12th 2007 3:58AM
Yeah I had my first shot at the contest this last sunday and I was appalled at the number of players complete devoid of both morals and brains. It makes sense that if you have 1 person fishing a pool thats 5 fish per dismount/remount. If lots of people try and spam the same pool it slows EVERYONE down not just the other person. So seriously, anyone who goes there next week? Get your own damn pools. I wont fish yours, stay the hell away from mine.
As an aside, i was sitting on 39 fish when it was won this week. The last 4 pools I had been at I had jerks run up and start fishing to empty them and also kept fishing up goddamn stranglekelp so my frustration levels are quite high right now, but my point stands.