Fishing and a few new ideas

[Grethor]

So everyone is seeming to like fishing, but the process seems a little too slow for some. So here are a few ideas I had to both speed things up and add a little more to fishing:

1) Upgrading fishing gear;
- Add a rare uber that can upgrade fishing gear in the same manner that the Immoral Kings upgrade regular gear. Personally I like the idea of a Kraken that can be fished up. Kill the Kraken and there is a 1 in 20 chance it will improve one of your pieces of fishing gear. The Kraken has the same chance of being spawned regardless of what gear you are using.
- Make multiple levels of gear. In order to fish you have to have at least the basic Line, Rod and Reel. Add Improved, Expert and Master Levels to each one. Each level of gear improves your chance at getting one specific variety (Rod improves chance of catching bait, Line improves the chance of catching Monster fish, and the Reel improves the chance of Catching Jedi fish). Each level of improvement halves the chance of catching that specific variety (so an improved Reel would make the Jedi fish 1 in 10,000 instead of 1 in 20,000, Expert would drop it to 1 in 5,000, and Master would drop it further to 1 in 2,500... Ect)

2) Lures;
- Bait increases the overall chance of catching a random fish. Add an NPC that allows you to convert bait into a lure in order to target a more specific fish. You could have 3 different lures, but only one active at a time, and when a lure is in use bait isn't. For example, you trade in 5,000 bait to get a lure that specifically increases your chances of catching bait. Lures listed below:
- Multi-hook lure (5,000 bait) - Bait
- Rattling Lure (10,000 bait) - Monster Fighting Fish
- Spoon lure (50,000 bait) - Jedi Fish

3) Broken Fishing gear;
- Add a very small chance that fishing up a Kraken can break one part of your fishing gear. You would then have to reacquire that gear and reimprove it. Or you could pay a significant quantity of bait (say, 100,000 bait) to have it repaired at the cost of one improvement level (basic gear of course doesn't count and cannot be repaired).

4) Random "Junk" Finds
- Occasionally while fishing you can find non-fish items. Have a small chance (say 1 in 2,500 or 1 in 5,000) that a random drop item (CS, CC, Phial, Timber, Stone, Essence, etc.) can be fished up.

Important Notes:

Kraken are ubers, and count as such for monthly beast counts. Kraken should spawn on the same plane as the person fishing. They should be roughy the same power base as the TAW.

Any thoughts?

[Grethor]

Also, just as a reminder from the chat on Feb 25, the item Fisherman's Creel.

Allows Fish bonuses to stack for time (i.e Multiple Jedi fish will add time together, so catching 2 Jedi fish in a 4 hour period will result in 8 hours of Jedi), but enables the catching of any fish in the time frame and if the alternate fish is caught (Monster Fighting Fish in the case of Jedi) you lose all accumulated time for the other fish and the new fish overrides the old.

Pros: With a little luck one can feasibly keep a constant fish bonus going, with an occasional alternation between Jedi and Monster fighting fish. Also catching multiples of one fish in a short time can give you bonuses that last quite a long time.

Cons: Catching 5000 Bait (which counts as a "fish") clears all timers and bonuses. Catching the alternate fish can eliminate a lot of accumulated time for any given fish.

You could also throw something like a 2x catch chance on it if you want.

To keep thing in line with Fishing Quest progression make it "catchable" on a higher plane (Time Temporal or Aaru would be a good area) or outright purchasable for something around $20-$25.