It took me four hours to catch one fish, and the server reset before I could pick it up

[omgwtfbbq (DayZ) 1069]

AND IT WAS INCREDIBLE.

 

People are always complaining about how there's nothing to do in DayZ other than survive (even though that is the entire point of the game). A handful are always complaining about the lack of an "endgame" and how the game needs one and they'll stop playing because they're bored...but the implementation of fishing is exactly the kind of thing DayZ needs more of.

 

Instead of the linear path most people take when playing DayZ of "run to place with loot, get loot, maybe shoot one or two people then complain on the forums about not having enough things to do", lately I've been having fun with not even bothering to determine what city I'm in, picking a random road and following it until I hit another town, then repeat. The stress of trying to think of what to do when I get all the gear I need is gone, because I'm not looking for anything in specific. I just travel relatively aimlessly, and I pick up whatever I find along the way.

 

And then I found a fishing hook. The legendary item. Just as rare, if not more rare than a canopener. I had never fished before. I now had a mission. 

 

This is the exact mindset I should have when playing DayZ. I should fixate on one goal that won't necessarily make the game instantly easier, but takes time to achieve a small, situational reward that is beneficial in the long run. In other words, something to do that I don't have to do, and will make me want to play more when I achieve the goal rather than go on the forums and complain about not having anything to do and starting another thread called "dayz endgame".

 

STORY FOR THOSE INTERESTED, OTHERWISE, THE PART ABOVE THIS IS MY POINT:

 

The first thing I needed was a stick. Not just any stick, a very specific type of stick (for some reason). An ashwood stick. From ashwood trees. Thankfully, by this time, I already had a firefighter axe on me, so there was no need to go hunting for one. However, I didn't know exactly what ashwood trees looked like (because I try not to Google answers to things like this because I'm so fucking hardcore), so after chopping the shit out of some random forest trees, I realized my axe was damaged. Now I needed a pickaxe to mine some rocks to sharpen my axe. After an hour, I found one. So after resharpening my axe which can only be sharpened once at a very specific interval of badly damaged condition and no higher, nor can I repeat the action to get a better condition, I went to find the sought-after tree. Finally, after another 45 minutes or so, I found the tree. With a sigh of relief, I felled the fifteen-foot majesty which yielded one stick. The perfect fishing pole. With no more inventory space, I grabbed the stick in my hand, tried attaching the fishing hook, then found this physically impossible, likely due to the possibility of crossing an event horizon of some sort. Server reset. I stopped for the day, then found later while talking to my friend that I needed to have worms on the hook before attaching it to the pole, and worms can only be dug up using a hoe or shovel. 

 

With the newly gained knowledge that my in-game character has a crippling case of ADHD and is incapable of digging with their fucking hands, I spent another hour and a half sifting through sheds full of hats, looking for a shovel or hoe. I eventually found a hoe, and then had the realization that I required four melee items to get to this point. (Axe for trees, pickaxe for repairing axe, fishing pole for fishing pole purposes, and a hoe for worms) I joyously threw my fishing pole at the nearest zombie, who proceeded to begin eating my shins. After shooting their face, I picked up the hoe, dug up twelve worms which had to be carefully divided into sets of four, rather than eat a can of food and use the empty can to hold like thirty worms, then combined the worms with the fishing hook. I meant to throw the hoe at the same zombie's face, but it had disappeared so the nearest wall had to suffice. I picked up the fishing pole, combined the fishing hook with bait and the pole, and paused. Three and a half hours led up to this moment. I held my creation over my head against the wind, then had to immediately drop it because another zombie decided to start eating my ass. Once dispatched, I grabbed my fishing pole, then ended up running for another half an hour before I found a puny pool of water that was more reminiscent of rain accumulate than a pond or river. Either way, I could fish in it. Thirty seconds later, I sucessfully pulled in a fish. Opening my inventory, the fresh fish sat on the ground in all of its glory, and as I made space in my inventory, and dragged it into my backpack, the message No message received for 10 seconds appeared. Well, shit.

 

 

TL;DR Try fishing. (I didn't get the fish. Or the food I put on the ground to make space for the fish.)

Edited August 3, 2014 by omgwtfbbq

[frosti 2165]

Fishing is end game.

[soulfirez 901]

I love fishing and it is a very viable food source for when canned food becomes alot rarer. keep your axe to cut ashwood when you want to fish, every now and then when you find a garden hoe or shovel collect a few worms toss the shovel away. Wear a boonie hat to put your fishing hook on , so really all you need to carry is rope because the axe your already going to carry for you melee and the stick you throw away when done fishing.

 

But wait how can i pvp if i am off fishing in some small lake that sucks etc etc hello survival game try it you might like it lol..

[Dagwood 680]

Someday, this will be dayz. Isn't it glorious? I stumbled upon a boar earlier tonight and it quickly darted away. The majority don't appreciate that kind of thing, but it's what makes dayz worthwhile

[sai (DayZ) 137]

I'm imagining a child playing with a fork pretending it's a spaceship. 

 

Verrrrum verrummm, this is fun!!

 

................

[alferret 45]

4 hours to catch a fish? In my youth I spent a lot longer than that and only caught a cold, mind you the server didn't reset just my mates taking the pith.

Seriously tho, when dayz becomes a true all-round survivalist game and everything becomes more scarce and living off the land is the only way to survive then this will probably be the greatest game of my lifetime. (Little sad really but I am 47)

[leviski 2152]

I really hope to see the game veer off the "spend days looking for tools to do the most trivial of tasks"

[sai (DayZ) 137]

I really hope to see the game veer off the "spend days looking for tools to do the most trivial of tasks"

The trivial tasks are fine, The issue is how long it takes to get a fish vs other food. If a fish kept you alive for a couple more days then that would be fine, but it won't it lasts what, 20 min? something short anyway. 

[Hetstaine 10852]

For some reason some of the water sources seem dodgy when it comes to catching fish. The one just below Vybor, 034/068 gives me nothing after 30 minutes, tried it three times with the same result. The pond below the mil base at 041/051 gets me fish within five minutes.

[escobert 112]

Fishing hooks and can openers are hard to find? I have 2 pristine hooks and find openers all the time :P Just need to find the damn stick for the rod.

Edited August 3, 2014 by escobert

[GrappleX 354]

Fishing hooks and can openers are hard to find? I have 2 pristine hooks and find openers all the time :P Just need to find the damn stick for the rod.

 

If you have an axe, there are dozens of ashwood trees near vybor, great place to get sticks.

 

There are a couple more scattered throughout the northern areas, but are few and far between.

[klesh 2423]

A bad day fishing is better than a good day working.

[leviski 2152]

The trivial tasks are fine, The issue is how long it takes to get a fish vs other food. If a fish kept you alive for a couple more days then that would be fine, but it won't it lasts what, 20 min? something short anyway. 

I would still say fishing is pretty trivial.

 

Ive gone fishing before down at my pond with nothing more than a stick and a shoe string with some corn rigged onto the end and caught a few small fish.

 

I see no reason to need to find -A special stick -Strings of some sort -Hook (The hook is okay but the rest isnt) -Shovel and an axe just to make a fishing rod. thats a bit overkill.

[sai (DayZ) 137]

I would still say fishing is pretty trivial.

 

Ive gone fishing before down at my pond with nothing more than a stick and a shoe string with some corn rigged onto the end and caught a few small fish.

 

I see no reason to need to find -A special stick -Strings of some sort -Hook (The hook is okay but the rest isnt) -Shovel and an axe just to make a fishing rod. thats a bit overkill.

I agree, should be able to just snap a branch off a tree and find string, even just use string. Whatever just options, it's needs to be more realistic. 

[DeatHTaX 1217]

Personally I think in the next patch they need to make food, ammo, and loot in general WAAAAY more scarce. And also increase loot respawn times (not like it'll matter. servers will just stay on a 2 hour restart or some retarded shit like that) I think this will force more people to utilize the survival elements that have been implemented into the game.

 

Not only would this help maximize the survival aspect of the game, it will also increase the amount of people using the crafting systems, fishing, chopping, etc, which will increase the chances of finding potential bugs with all of those things and getting them reported.

 

Can't find the bug if no one is really using the newer features.

 

But of course, 80% of the community will simply cry because they can't get their phat loots and pvp with their guns that they have 200 rounds for after only looting and scavenging for an hour

Edited August 3, 2014 by DeatHTaX

[RagedDrew 209]

I find hunting more rewarding than fishing, I get how people like it, but I just can't get into it on DayZ. I was a big fisher on my World of Warcraft days but not here.

[omgwtfbbq (DayZ) 1069]

I agree, should be able to just snap a branch off a tree and find string, even just use string. Whatever just options, it's needs to be more realistic. 

 

Like I mentioned in the story, it's a bit ridiculous how I had to find an axe to completely cut down the very specific tree I needed. Even when cut down, the tree gave me one stick, not three hundred.