So for all of you skeptics out there about fishing in FFXI, there has been a lot of good news that has been handed down the pike recently.
For starters, they announced that they banned over 800 accounts that had been in violation of the user agreement. While we didn't see a drastic change in the number of gilsellers that camp NMs, I have noticed that Port Windurst has been freed of a good number of their afk-fisherman. This may purely be coincidence, but it's nice to think that it's not.
On top of that, they are incorporating a new fishing system in FFXI that requires people to pay more attention to fishing and even possibly remove the idea of bots being an affective means to get gil from fishing.
The official post is here:
http://www.playonline.com/ff11us/information/0210.html
Quote:
The fishing system is scheduled for some major improvements.
Here is an outline of the changes you can expect to see.
* New action-oriented system
-The rod will begin to shake wildly when something takes the bait.
-Countering the movement of the rod will reduce the stamina of your intended catch.
-A catch is best reeled in when its stamina is close to zero, so much more attention is required when compared to the current fishing system.
-In accordance with these changes, fishing skill will rise at twice the rate of the current system.
* Strengthening of lower-level fishing rods
-Lower-level rods such as the willow rod will become much more durable.
-Other new characteristics will determine the type of rod best suited for catching certain types of fish.
* Increased effects of fishing skill
-The method for comparing fishing skill and the level of the fish will be improved, making it easier for those with higher fishing skill to catch high-level fish.
* Other changes
-Everyone will gain a new "fishing instinct."
-The "instinct" of those with higher fishing skill will be more accurate.
FINAL FANTASY XI Development Team (2/10/2005)
Things worth mentioning is the fact that your fishing skill will raise 2x faster than it has in the past, and that they are making it easier to target higher-level fish with higher-level fishing skills. Currently you still catch a lot of the lower level fish, even with 80+ fishing skill.
Here is a screenshot of part of the new interaction we'll have with fish. Notice that they have a HP/Stamina bar now.
(
http://www.playonline.com/ff11us/imgs/index/0210.jpg)
If you ask me, I think this is going to be pretty damn cool for fishing, and may even bet more people interested in doing it. The new systems will seem to bring a bit more playablity to the actual skill, making it a bit more fun to do. That was one the bigger complaints about fishing - that it was boring.
I'm not quite sure what this "Fishing Instinct" is, but one possible theory is that it'll help you figure out the kind of fish that bit, or even if it's a monster, or something.
Should be interesting to see.
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