[Fishing] MoP: Inland & Coastal Fish Speculation

  1. Druidmoon <Investigator>, 11 months ago:

    First, this is just speculation! But based on the use of (mostly) actual fish species by Blizzard for the new MoP fish, I think it is possible to use this information to guess whether these fish will be caught in Inland or Coastal waters as all previous fish have been divided in this way.

    Inland Waters (freshwater species)

    Golden Carp - First caught. (common catch)

    Jade Lungfish - First caught.
    Jewel Danio - First caught.
    Krasarang Paddlefish - First caught.
    Redbelly Mandarin - First caught.
    Tiger Gourami - First caught.

    Coastal Waters (seawater species)

    ?? (common catch)

    Giant Mantis Shrimp - Expected to be caught by fishing, not yet available.
    Reef Octopus - Expected to be caught by fishing, not yet available.

    and possibly:

    Emperor Salmon - First caught. (live in the sea but migrate to rivers and used as such before in game)
    Spinefish - Expected to be caught by fishing, not yet available. (to balance things!)

    There are the three quest fish which can be regarded separately and found where their normal relatives live.

    Flying Tiger Gourami - Expected to be caught by fishing, not yet available.
    Mimic Octopus - Expected to be caught by fishing, not yet available.
    Spinefish Alpha - Expected to be caught by fishing, not yet available.

    The reason I have put ??? for coastal common fish just think Cataclysm and Murglesnout/Sharptooth. I just don't see them having carp in seawater!

    The split then is a little uneven right now so perhaps the two remaining uncommon fish will go in the sea to balance things. Not really sure if any of these could be called 'common', so it makes more sense they add one for coastal waters.

    I am sure it will work out a little differently, or totally if they go for zone wide fish (I hope not). But it's good fun doing the detective work on the possibilities and these makes sense from what there is to date.

    Notes:

    For those who do not have beta access, currently all fish can be caught in both inland and/or coastal waters in each zone. The only zones where this is not currently the case is where a zone has no coastal waters (Vale of Eternal Blossoms for instance)

    I think that they will divide it as they have done historically during the beta for two main reasons. They always have done it this way, which adds nuance to each zone, helping to provide individual zone identity/interest.

    Secondly, unless they have no plans to continue with both the Limnologist and Oceanographer achievements, then they will need to separate the required fish (not yet added to the achievements yet) for these; i.e. freshwater and saltwater species respectively.

    Now some way into the beta with game confirmed catches and datamined information (fish in recipes etc.) we have a reasonable idea of MoP fish with perhaps two remaining unidentified ones yet to be named (shown as 'Uncommon Fish 3 and 7' on Wowhead)

    Having seen the icons which El added here plus four more found by Wowhead yesterday, there are now 12 in total. This tallies with the 10 known plus 2 unknown. it can change and probably will, with other minor catches such as a herb (think Azshara's Veil), rare catches. But here is how I see it breaking down;

    This is based on checking the actual habitat of the fish species via wikipedia. So for instance, Paddlefish live in freshwater if you check the link to Wikipedia. The only exception so far are Spinefish which have no obvious comparison so are probably 'fictitious fish, swimming in a fictitious world...'

    p.s. As a reflection of the detail to which Blizzard go in choosing and designing the fish, I read on Wikipedia about danio fish (ref. Jewelled Danio) that;

    The name "danio" comes from the Bengali name dhani, meaning "of the rice field".

    From what I have seen in Pandaria so far, it reflects the attention to detail evident throughout.

  2. el <Nat Pagle's Love Child>, 11 months ago:

    The Coastal/Inland split seems to require specific zoning to be created just for fishing, which in the past has either been forgotten entirely (Northrend's distinction between named and unnamed coastal areas) or forgotten selectively (such as post-Cataclysm Winterspring). Hopefully they'll manage an accurate split in Pandaria.

    I'm not surprised to see more inland fish than coastal: While Pandaria is surrounded by coast, most of its zones face away from the coast - surrounded by cliffs, not beaches. Only Krasarang Wilds has an entirely open coastline. The Jade Forest and Kun-Lai Summit have a few areas where the cliffs give way to beaches. Meanwhile Townlong Steppes, which looks like it has a lot of coast from the map, has almost no water-level access at all.

    Icons are quirky, because there are now 3 that look almost identical. At least one of those will presumably be for Spinefish, an item which was first data-mined as an Alchemy reagent, and then as a (Halfhill) grocery bag item. Don't read too much into unused "Uncommon Fish" - from memory there are still a dozen similarly named items in the data files from the WotLK era.

    Jewel Danio is the most curious item. I caught some in the Vale of Eternal Blossoms before the map boundaries were redrawn. That's not only locked away behind gates, but had higher base skill than everywhere else - evidently intended as the most difficult location to fish. Jewel Danio is used in the 2 Pandaren Banquets that are currently not linked to cooking specialisations, and still offer a 275 buff (compared to 250 from the specialisation feasts). Initially I assumed they were placeholders, work in progress, and would disappear. But both feasts are still in the data files, still attached to the cooking profession. One possibility is there will be a high-level raid feast, with the recipe accessible through a difficult path.

  3. Corgi <Angler>, 11 months ago:

    Meanwhile Townlong Steppes, which looks like it has a lot of coast from the map, has almost no water-level access at all.

    Yes and no. If you run north from the westernmost (Alliance) flight points, there's a spot along the cliffs where it turns in a little, then there's a coastal shape like a wave or a horn. Right about where it turns in is a switchback path to the water. You can fish from the bottom there, or from the path landing on the opposite side, or a few other slopes along the cliffs. Of course, you'll have to swim back to the landing once you're done.

    There is also a long gorge that splits the Steppes from the Dread Wastes, which turns into that even longer inlet. If I remember correctly, the geology is the same all around the Steppes coast, with the ramp-like strata.

    Further north up the coast, there's a bit of proper beach that gets split between the Steppes, the Summit and the Sea. Very odd boundary.

    (Edit for markup error - oops)

Reply

You must log in to post.