5.2: are we suckers?

[Piaevo]

I have nothing to add but this...
haha

Fishing is boring as hell...
But this is what I did. This past DMF I raised my fishing skill from 0 to 600. At the DMF. In the process I got a Sea Pony at skill level 173.

I am now excited that I can get a turtle mount from fishing....It sucked putting the time in to do it.
First night a few hours, then an hour or two over the next few days.

[Gilneas]

I know this may surprise you, but there are people who enjoy fishing. There are people who enjoy archeology. There are people who enjoy doing the beasts of fable daily (I do). Not everything is going to be appealing to every person, so they try to make a lot of different things for people to do. That means that some times there will be things they add that you don't particularly enjoy. The carps are probably not for you, if you don't like fishing and/or the rare collecting aspect of pet collecting. They need to add something for the fishers from time to time and doing so made sense with their patch 5.2 changes. Also, I've read people asking for them to put in more rare pets that you have to spend time getting. This is likely a response to that as well. Had they made them cageable that really would have defeated the purpose. They are a rare, cool thing for fishers and dedicated pet collectors. Will they at some point make them cageable? Maybe, after they've added something new.

[Gwenolyn]

I also have to agree with the OP here. It's fine that they made them stupidly rare, but why in seven hells did they make them un-cageable so we can't even trade duplicates?

I don't think you'll get duplicates.

But I like the fact that when I see someone with a carp, I know what they did to get (though for some it's just luck). And we can strike up a conversation about it. I kind of like that I know you got it yourself, instead of wondering how much you paid. Not for all the pets, but for some it's ok with me.

I farmed the Hyacinth back in the day, running/swimming from ship to ship... and someday I'll say remember when I fished for hours for those darn carp... good times

[Caniki]

I enjoy fishing, and I enjoy archeology. I don't enjoy PVP, and I don't have the time to commit to a normal-mode raidgroup. I'm enjoying fishing for the carp a few minutes each day, as a I fish for the Nat Pagle rep fish. If you spend three or four hours a day fishing you'll be as grumpy as someone who spends three or four hours a day doing dailies.

As half of the NPC say this expansion "Slow Down."

[Poofah]

Also, if every pet was easy to get (no drop rate pets etc) then pet collecting would be a little less interesting.

Also, I've read people asking for them to put in more rare pets that you have to spend time getting. This is likely a response to that as well. Had they made them cageable that really would have defeated the purpose.

I keep seeing this misconception, so I just want to be crystal clear on these two related points:

I have no issue with pets being difficult to get, but

drop rate is not the only way to make something difficult to get.

Also to the last point, being cageable would have no effect on the drop rate and therefore no effect on scarcity, so if the purpose was to make rare pets then I'm not sure how this would defeat the point.

But I like the fact that when I see someone with a carp, I know what they did to get (though for some it's just luck).

The nature of statistics means that you have no idea how much fishing they did to get it: it might take 10 casts, it might take 10000. You can read the other carp thread on this site or the wow forum thread to see that that's the case.

If the carps were tied to an achievement such as 'catch 1000 Jade Lungfish', then you'd know what they did to get them.

I know this may surprise you, but there are people who enjoy fishing.

I probably shouldn't have harped on fishing in the OP, because this is the minor issue. The major issue that I'm complaining about is the RNG aspect coupled with being non-tradeable.

[Ishildur]

I don't mind the carp, that seems reasonable to me. It's meant to be a long term goal obviously, something you don't just do in one day but over weeks or months of casual fishing. It's like the turtle grind, I didn't start on the turtle fishing thinking "oh god, I'm going to be fishing for hours trying to get this thing as fast as I can" because it simply wasn't viable strategy. Instead I fished for dailies or for cooking mats or while waiting on people and eventually got it. It would be nice if they were tradable though I do agree.

Now the fabled beast daily, being a daily, is intended to be done in a day. The problem I have with that is I timed my run. Bee-lining only for the fabled beasts ignoring everything else that popped up the fastest I could do it was a bit over 30mins. That feels unreasonable for a single daily compared to other dailies in the game. Not even comparing it to other pet dailies, just comparing it to say the island dailies there's far more time spent on this daily than others. I mean this is longer than doing most scenarios! Even if it has a higher chance of stones it's still just too much as it is. I did it 5 times, getting 2 pandas from bags. After doing it that many times I saw the last panda on the auction house and thought "y'know, 10k is probably worth not spending 30mins of precious game time on a single daily that may yield as little as 3 bandages and grey vendor furball.".

IMO it is a daily that really needs to be broken up into (at least) two dailies, with it being random which one is being offered each day. With the fabled beasts required for each daily split between regions in either north/south or east/west split to cut down on the bulk of the time spent on the quest - the travel time. If it was kill 5 or better yet, 3 of the beasts a day for a bag I would do the quest. Even if they lowered the chances of stones from that bag as they probably would have to considering the lower time requirement.

[Tycchoe]

Speaking as a person who has a level 5 who has caught the Giant Sewer Rat, walks by the fountain in Dal flipping her Coin, and also has the Turtle mount.

This. Except I don't have a level 5 flipping the coin.

I'm not going after them either and I'm a person who fishes.... a lot (although the new megaspawn fishy thing has killed the market because everyone and their brother can fish stacks and stacks very quickly).

I'm serious.. it's bad karma to go after stuff like that. It's like when you can't find your keys. As long as you're looking for them you won't find them. When you stop, there they are right in front of you.

[Ryazan]

https://twitter.com/mumper/status/312739276834078720

We hear the feedback on the fable bag, have some ideas to help. More info soon.

Ok, our cries are heard and "something" is on the way.

[Mastr]

As a avid collector who only needs the 5.2 pets I am very disappointed in the new carps. I could understand one RNG horrorgrind per expansion, but FOUR of them at once??? That is just too daunting. I despise fishing, it is tedious and takes no skill whatsoever.
PLEASE make them cageable! I'll grind dinosaurs till the cows come home and trade with anyone who has an extra carp. Keep one pet uncageable to keep the fisherfolk happy, but FOUR uncageables??? With a 1/4-5k droprate?

[Talmar]

I agree about the Carps. Will I do it? Yes. It will take me years though. I use to fish while waiting for Raids to get together before LFR. It took me all of Wrath and half of Cata to get my Giant Sewer Rat.

I just don't see me acquiring these pets until the end of the xpac when I have leveled all my alts and have nothing more to do that's interesting.

I could see adding 1, maybe even two. But 4 is insane IMO. Or make 2 of them 1/4k and BoP and the other 2 1/1000 and BoE.

[Whiplash]

It's just part of the never-ending WoW cycle. When you have been around WoW for a long time, you get used to it.

The new release (5.0) is exciting and new, and builds a lot of goodwill towards Blizzard for a job well done.

The first patch (5.1) builds on that. Players are still working on the new content, and the additional content builds on that.

The second patch (5.2) marks a transition - time to cash in on some of that goodwill. The next release (6.0) is still a long way off, and the new content (5.0) is no longer new. But you have 15-18 months to occupy the players, and probably only one (5.3) or two (5.4) more patches planned (and lead planners and devs are working on 6.0 now). So they mix in some grindy, RNG-based content into the second patch to make it last longer (they can always nerf it later).

That is why you see another cycle - people who play WoW for about 6 months after a new release, then disappear for the next year-and-a-half, only to reappear in the next expansion. Sometimes I think *they* are the smart ones...

[Basti]

I do not mind working hard to get a certain pet like what I did just to have my Spectral Porcupette. At least in that case I know I will get it once I gathered 999 Giant Dinosaur Bones (and yet the Spectral Porcupette is tradeable). At least there is a very clear goal and I know that the grind will end at a specific point. I can decide to kill 100+ elite dinosaurs in one day or do it over a couple of months.

In the case of these carps, one could go on fishing for hours, days, months, or even years and get none. Why they decided to make these pets non-tradeable is something that will be very difficult for me to understand. I agree with the Poofa, if Blizzard should still prefer these carps to be non-tradeable then these carps should be tied to achievements instead.