User:EtherealMutation/FishingGuide

The Quest Completionist's Fishing Guide
This is a guide on fishing and its associated content. The goal is to get from 0 to 110 while finishing most of the quests that require it. This guide was made possible largely because of A Genuine Fishing Guide by IconicIdea, which forms the basis for the.

A Quick Round of Answers
Q: Should I take up fishing?

A: The simple answer is "probably not". Yes, it's weird to lead a guide with a statement like that, but it's true. It's a very simplistic mechanic with a minigame that's equal parts boring and frustrating. About half the fish have no in-game use and the other half don't sell reliably any more. Fishing is mostly a self-contained system.

That said, if you decide to master Cooking, you'll need fishing to have a reliable pipeline for making Sublime Sushi.

Q: Why this guide, then?

A: For people that enjoy seeing numbers go up, finishing quest lists, and otherwise finishing content. This is also a great activity for listening to podcasts and music since it's a very basic, minimal activity to keep yourself occupied. Since this involves a whole lot of 10 second delays, it's pretty easy to get in a rhythm of looking back and forth from doing something else.

Q: What should I do before I start this guide?

A: Level up to 99 and get as a minimum the Item Level 117 Sparks of Eminence gear. Unlock your Mog Garden and do all its quests. Get access to all areas by finishing Missions, finishing the Kazham Airship Pass Quest, etc. Get all Survival Guides and Waypoints (both Adoulin and Proto). Get your inventory size to 80, place enough furniture to get Storage to 80, and unlock Mog Locker, Mog Satchel, Mog Case, Mog Sack, and Mog Wardrobe. Do the same on some alternate characters on the same POL account.

Optionally: level Alchemy and Woodworking to 70. Level Cooking to at least 35.

Q: What gear should I get?


 * PELICAN RINGS: Seriously, don't even bother doing anything until these come up in a Repeat Login Campaign. When they do, get two of them. That will triple your skill-up rate. They have 180 charges and you likely won't use them all unless you do something really wrong.
 * Halcyon Rod: You'll be using this rod for most fish until level 50.
 * Hume Fishing Rod: For when you don't use Halcyon.
 * Lu Shang's Fishing Rod: You'll be using this rod exclusively past level 50. Just buy it: the quest takes way too long and most servers don't have nearly enough Moat or Forest Carp being sold to get it in any reasonable time frame.
 * Bait will be mentioned as we go along, but these in particular are not available from NPCs and should be purchased from the Auction House or Bazaars:
 * Lizard Lure: This is extraordinarily rare, so if you see it and it's not too exorbitantly priced, buy it.
 * Frog Lure
 * Shrimp Lure
 * Robber Rig
 * Rogue Rig
 * Optional: Fisherman's Tunica Set: Gives a total of +4 Fishing skill.
 * Optional: Trainee's Spectacles: Gives +1 Fishing skill while you're below level 40.

Q: What should I do with all the fish?

A: Keep the stackable small fish that are worth Guild Points, sell the large fish to an NPC. Exception is if it happens to be a Guild Points item. Moat Carp and Forest Carp will all go towards The Rivalry - The Competition.

Q: Any other things I should know going in?

A: You can cancel any cast without incurring a penalty. Fish that are 8 or more above your skill cap will show up as a variant of "You don't know if you have enough skill to reel this in." while those that are 7 or less will show up with "You have a good/bad/terrible feeling about this one." Despite that message, if you're using the appropriate rod and get the stamina to zero, nothing different will happen. Fish that are significantly over your level (~25-30), even if you deplete the stamina to zero, have a chance to cancel out with something along the lines of "your skill is not high enough to reel in this catch."

Except for one fish very early on right at the start, you only want to reel in catches that have the text "Something catches the hook!" One exclamation mark means a small stackable fish, three means a large fish with randomly-generated weight and length. In the absence of other factors, you want small fish so your inventory doesn't hate you. The message "You feel something pulling at your line." refers to items, Cobalt Jellyfish, and Bonefish. "Something clamps onto your line ferociously!" means you have a monster that will attack you after you fish it up. You do not get skill for monsters or items except the two fish mentioned.

You get skill-ups by either successfully reeling in or depleting a fish's stamina to zero (regardless if you actually get to keep it).

Before We Start
As mentioned above, level at least one job up to 99 and get access to all (or at least most) areas.

Unlock Records of Eminence and in the Fishing category, set all available categories.

Go to Port Windurst HP #1 and talk to Thubu Parohren on the dock. While you're there, buy as many Insect Balls from the shop as possible.

Go to Port San d'Oria and talk with either Joulet or Gallijaux to start The Rivalry - The Competition.

Buy a Halcyon Rod from the Auction House.

Level 0-11 - Moat Carp and Cobalt Jellyfish
Moat Carp (Level 11) in your Mog Garden Pond using a Halcyon Rod and Insect Balls.
 * Depending if you got the optional armor, this may prove difficult to start out with at 0. If that's the case, go to Port Bastok and fish up Cobalt Jellyfish for 2-3 levels using a Worm Lure or Fly Lure.

Depending on whether you got the skill gear and how good you are at the minigame, you may need to get 2-3 levels from Cobalt Jellyfish in Port Bastok. Don't bother using your Pelican Rings if you decide to grind a few levels on them.

The main fish you want to get here are Moat Carp from your Mog Garden Pond. There are no items, no monsters, and nothing else bites