This week’s Shared Topic over at Blog Azeroth was suggested by me (Mwahaha!) and is about the joys, or lack thereof, of fishing. The shared topic runs from March 26-April 1, so get a’typing!

Fishing is an odd sort of minigame in WoW and people I’ve talked to either love it or hate it. So what’s your take on the most grindy of sports?

WoW < Real Life

In real life I love fishing. There is nothing quite like sitting out in the rowboat in Maine, just a smidge offshore, with a fishing line draped over your finger, waiting for a fish to nibble on the hot dog bits you’re using for bait (rod? Who needs a rod?).

So when I found out you could fish in WoW, I was excited! Boats! Fishing! YAY!

…Only not so much.

Fishing had to be one of the most frustrating things I’d ever done in a video game. Nothing but click-pause-click with very little to show for it (this was before you started catching trash on bad pulls). When I hit the point where it was a good dozen clicks per level… my patience snapped.

I ended up leveling it piecemeal, stopping to fish while I was waiting on other people (or between Wintergrasp ’bouts). And then, I was sitting in Dalarn waiting for LFD to pop and I started fishing in the fountain. And kept fishing. And fishing…

The coins are the only achievement fishing I really worked at. I caught the rat while on a daily and spent the rest of the week running around with him out. There was nothing quite so amusing as a shrunken cat running away from a giant mouse. … Come to think of it, that’s still a lot of fun! 😉

WoW > Real Life, Please?

I would love to try and hunt down the other fishing achievement, I really would—but a cool turtle or a nifty lobster-thing is just not enough of a lure to get me to click.

I’m a druid darnit, let me fish as a sea lion! Heck, I’ll even share the bounty with my less furry Azerothian buds—because how much fun would it be if you were zooming through the ocean like a fighter pilot two chomps between you and dinner?

Or at least make fishing more enjoyable, let the challenge be in finding the right place and the right bait and less in how fast we can click the hook. Make fishing easiest in the most beautiful scenery, pull out that real world joy in being out in nature, proving you can catch your own dinner.

Or, you know, give up and go play with the rat.

Elsewhere on the Interwebs

Töki of Transroguerification posted here love to fish and has a few choice spots– including the sewers where the aptly named Underbelly Elixir spawns. (I have a sudden urge to become a firefly just so I can fly around quoting Jayne. 😉 )

Amaranth of Azerothian Vignettes posted here who’s Night Elf is not at all fond of wiggly worms, but thinks the end result it definitely worth it! (nomnomnom)

Cyme of Bubbles of Mischief posted here and is one of those brave few folks who have beaten the fishing achievements into submission and earned the Salty title. And amazingly she still likes fishing! (Although the screenshot of the turtle mount really makes me want to pick up a pole again (and the seahorse-in-a-bubble is cute too!))

Kamalia from Kamalia et alia posted here and is yet another person who loves dropping a line and fishing up some noms. She also wields a mean fish (or three) and has some great screenshots of all the vanity pets, including the turtle mount that I’m now resigning myself to start farming for. *shameless coveting*

Harpy of Harpy’s Nest posted here and hates fishing whilst still loving the fishing pets and has some awesome ideas for new gear (and pets!) in MoP. (Personally I’d love to have a chance for the bird! 🙂 )

Navimie of The Daily Frostwolf posted here and LOVES FISHING! Yet another brave soul with the salty title and screenshots of covetable pets—I think I may have to learn how to love fishing… (Fish ALL the pools!)

dragonray of Azerothian Life posted here and has been in search of the turtle mount for eons, but has managed to snag a wonderful collection of the pets. Much like real life fishing there seem to be just as many good stories about the one that got away as there are successes! 🙂 (Also, best turtle mount picture ever. *solemn nod*)

Akabeko of Red Cow Rise posted here thinks fishing is a somewhat tolerable means to and end, but seems to enjoy it about as much as I do. There’s some great screenshots of the various pets plus one where the sealion seems to be seriously considering nomming it’s buddy. 😉

Mabaho of bikesbabesbytes snuck in at the end and posted here and doesn’t much like fishing (in game or in real life), but has now definitively proven that cows do float. *solemn nod*