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[Contests] Open forum to past champions: Do you use special potions / gear to win?

12

  1. mart4510 <Angler>, 1 year ago:

    Hi all,

    I have a question for those of you who won the tournament in the past through regular means (ie: won because of a server restart, low number of competitors...etc)

    I'm mainly interested in non-twinks as twinks obviously need to work much harder then level 70 toons:

    - Do you use running or swimming speed potions or do you just rely on your mount to get you places?

    - Do you have guildmates / other people helping you to win the tournament?

    - Do you camp the same pools and patrol them until one spawns or do you just travel up or down the coast?

    - Have you ever won the tournament from solely fishing at the lake and rivers outside of ZG by those venture mining company goblins?

    I am interested in hearing from you and I would like to see what strategies past winners have used. Clearly it comes down to luck... where you are on the map relative to other people... spawns of the pools... etc.

  2. Norrinir <Salty>, 12 months ago:

    I've won Extravaganza twice, although I don't play on high-populated server, we do have many competitors every week. I've tried west coast once, but I've done every other try on east.
    Just note: I haven't tried fishing on Jojamba Isle, so my tips exclude this one.

    - Do you use running or swimming speed potions or do you just rely on your mount to get you places?

    Not at all. Most of the time, you'll be travelling just on the coast. There are very few pools, that are spawned on isle. And even if you discover one, it's usually not worth to fish in it. If you have some Water walking potions, you can of course try to get there. I think, it's really worth only with Swiftness potion or (for me) with Rocket boots.

    Best thing you can do is to get paladin with crusader aura, if you really wish to win. However, simple riding crop is usually enough.

    - Do you have guildmates / other people helping you to win the tournament?

    Really no. You can probably get few people to scout for pools, but I've never tried it. If you really want to win, you can inform few PvPers about possible world PvP there (ganking other fishermen), but that's really desperate solution.

    - Do you camp the same pools and patrol them until one spawns or do you just travel up or down the coast?

    You'll need to be really lucky, if you choose to camp one place. Tastyfish pool spawn only when other one is completly fished. Best choice to keep moving probably. I had luck few times, but it isn't good to rely on this.

    - Have you ever won the tournament from solely fishing at the lake and rivers outside of ZG by those venture mining company goblins?

    I wasn't really trying to fish there. I'm not sure, but I think, that Tastyfish pools don't spawn there at all.

    Other than that, you need luck with tastyfish drop rate. I've had few tries, where I ended with 37+ Tastyfish and 10-15 Stranglekelps, Stonescale eels and so on...

    Good luck with Extravaganza!

  3. Noodleguitar <Salty>, 12 months ago:

    I have also won the tournament 4 times now, also on a quite low populated server, altough there is enough competition.

    - Do you use running or swimming speed potions or do you just rely on your mount to get you places?

    I just use my mount with Riding Crop to get me everywhere. As I am a hunter I also sometimes use Aspect of the Cheetah for pools close to each other.

    - Do you have guildmates / other people helping you to win the tournament?

    Nope, last time I won, I was competing against some of my guild.

    - Do you camp the same pools and patrol them until one spawns or do you just travel up or down the coast?

    I like to go there where the least other fishers are. It makes sence to me that when a whole group fishes out pools in place A, place B will spawn a lot of pools. Always keep an eye on where everyone is going.

    - Have you ever won the tournament from solely fishing at the lake and rivers outside of ZG by those venture mining company goblins?

    Nope, never tried.

    About the gear: I only use my fishing rod, because then on my PvP server I will have a higher chance of winning a battle without the fishing boots/hat for example.

    Norrinir wrote:

    I've had few tries, where I ended with 37+ Tastyfish and 10-15 Stranglekelps, Stonescale eels and so on...

    That happened to me also sometimes, complete Tastyfish pools filled with Stranglekelps and other useless stuff.

  4. Ho0ber <Angler>, 12 months ago:

    Two-time winner here, as well! A great deal of it is is luck. I HATE STRANGLEKELP! :)

    - Do you use running or swimming speed potions or do you just rely on your mount to get you places?

    I use water walking potions, but only to get between Yojamba Isle, and the main shore. I mainly use my mount and riding crop, as stated above.

    Do you have guildmates / other people helping you to win the tournament?

    I won once solo, and once with help. The need for this can really depend on your server. The culture on my server led to very active PvP during the fishing tournament, so having a guildmate just to slow the other faction down can help. By far the most useful thing someone helping you can do is to find the next school for you to fish at, and then cast in to pretend to fish. If your server has good school etiquette, most people will leave your friend alone, and you will have greatly reduced downtime between schools if you automatically know where the next one is.

    Do you camp the same pools and patrol them until one spawns or do you just travel up or down the coast?

    I do camp the same ones over and over, but if they start to fail me, I run away from the island to work the coast.

    Have you ever won the tournament from solely fishing at the lake and rivers outside of ZG by those venture mining company goblins?

    No, but I did win the tournament from solely fishing on Yojamba isle.

    I hope that helps! If you want to chat about it, please feel free to contact me!

  5. Illuthas <Salty>, 12 months ago:

    I won twice :
    mart4510 wrote:

    - Do you use running or swimming speed potions or do you just rely on your mount to get you places?
    - Do you have guildmates / other people helping you to win the tournament?
    - Do you camp the same pools and patrol them until one spawns or do you just travel up or down the coast?
    - Have you ever won the tournament from solely fishing at the lake and rivers outside of ZG by those venture mining company goblins?
    .

    -No,i used my mount
    -Nope,but they said gz when i won :D
    -I patrolled from the bridge of bloodsail (Close to BB) until the next river (west coast)
    -Read above

  6. Jolly Rogers <Salty>, 12 months ago:

    I have won a few times im a druid so i use aqua form and a riding crop just finished off my Postmans set and slapped on a running enchant see if i can beat my record of 17 min win (o:

  7. Upstate <Angler>, 12 months ago:

    This is probably more than most want to get into (and I left out a lot) but I wrote this for myself years ago...

    • Be The Bobber
    • set hearthstone to Booty Bay (make sure it's not on a cool-down)
    • You can use the preset camera positions – 1 high angle for casting and the other low angle for riding while scanning for tastyfish circles. Four quick home-keys and 3 end-keys is optimal for using the fishing line to quickly see where you've cast. Then another end-key for riding; home-key casting, etc.
    • when in doubt (i.e., bobber is right on the edge of the circle) recast – it's better to try again than to waste time catching a rockscale cod).
    • better to ride past a circle already being fished – you can't know how many are left in it and fishing for the last one with less than 50% chance of catching it is a big time-waster. You might even consider leaving a circle you've already caught 2-3 in if someone casts in. [update: maybe better to fight for spots because opposition usually gets the message and steers clear of your area]
    • shut off the ambient sounds so that there is no sound but casting and hooking. If nobody else is fishing the circle you can scan around for circles and use the splash sound to hook the fish
    • scan both directions WHILE mounting – you might see a circle in the direction you weren't planning on going – also, they can even reappear right at the spot where they just went away.[written before _find fish_ minimap]
    • mount / riding camera position / scan both ways
    • cast/dismount / fishing camera position/ cast (with practice you can cast/dismount in a good place)
  8. When you win, take the fishing pole. If you catch the rare fish for the +5 line you're going to want to use it right away rather than bank it and wait for the fishing pole. You're good enough now to win the tournament again soon, but….

  • Morbanth <Angler>, 12 months ago:

    - Do you use running or swimming speed potions or do you just rely on your mount to get you places?

    Mount + riding crop.

    - Do you have guildmates / other people helping you to win the tournament?

    I had a couple of guildies join me just for fun, they killed Alliance fishermen all over the western coast. I was fishing south of Grom'Gol, never got attacked.

    - Do you camp the same pools and patrol them until one spawns or do you just travel up or down the coast?

    I camped the small stretch from the waterfall south of Grom'Gol to the bend in the coast, there's about 5 pools there but they kept respawning constantly. Hardly ever had to move. I also fished every pool I came across and didn't stop fishing even if someone cast in my pool.

    - Have you ever won the tournament from solely fishing at the lake and rivers outside of ZG by those venture mining company goblins?

    Only took part once so haven't tried.

  • Kahless <Salty>, 12 months ago:

    - Do you use running or swimming speed potions or do you just rely on your mount to get you places?
    No. Just my mount. First two wins with a non-epic mount. Mount speed and speed tricks can't help much but walking is a definite handicap.

    - Do you have guildmates / other people helping you to win the tournament?
    Never. But I'm on a PvE realm.

    - Do you camp the same pools and patrol them until one spawns or do you just travel up or down the coast?
    No. I travel up and down but within limits and when I see others moving in the same direction I turn around.

    - Have you ever won the tournament from solely fishing at the lake and rivers outside of ZG by those venture mining company goblins?
    Tastyfish pools only spawn in Ocean waters, not in the freshwater lake or river. Unless something's changed I don't know about, you can't catch them there.

    In my Opinion, it does not come down to luck. There is alot of luck involved yes, but also alot of skill and experience.
    Though since the achievements have come out, I'm sure tournament participation is at an all time high. I don't envy anyone making the attempt these days.

  • Absalom <Salty>, 12 months ago:

    I just wanted to say thank you for this forum and site.

    I attempted the contest for my first time this past Sunday. With the new achievement system out, boredom pre-Wrath, and living on a PvE server that has begun to develop queues, I entered the contest with no expectation but to learn how the whole thing works.

    To my surprise, I won! in no small part to the advice everyone gave here.

    I fished on the west coast between the arena and Grom'gol as El recommended.

    Strategy-wise, there was definite competition and if I were to attempt the contest again, I could have been more judicious about when to stay in a pool and when to leave (a few pools were fished up with 2 other fishermen too stubborn to move on).

    Luck played a part in giving me consistent tastyfish pulls at the beginning of the contest and things really panned out when at the 10 minute mark, I found myself around 3 pools that spawned in the middle of the beach-strip with no one else nearby (too many people fighting over spawns at either end).

    The only potions I used were water-walking potions in the cases where pool spawns were a bit difficult to position around.

    Otherwise, the two other pieces of advice that seemed crucial to the win were the BB hearthstone and deciding which prize you would choose in advance. I can't know for sure, but it did seem like the win was down to the wire with me and 2 other Alliance running to the quest turn-in at the same time. Knowing I wanted the trinket definitely made completing the contest that much faster.

  • Yender <Salty>, 12 months ago:

    Morbanth wrote:

    -I camped the small stretch from the waterfall south of Grom'Gol to the bend in the coast, there's about 5 pools there but they kept respawning constantly. Hardly ever had to move.

    I too used this fishing spot to win the competition. Even as alliance this is one of the best places to fish and I highly recommend you try it.

  • Gummo <The Pacifist>, 12 months ago:

    I don't use special potions/gear, but the new rogue glyph "blurred speed" that lets rogues sprint on water really helps. I've only done 2 serious attempts at the contest with it, first time I had 39 fish when the winner was announced, and the second time I just caught my 40th when the winner was announced. I usually fish around the southeastern tip, starting at the islands by the ships.

  • Yoco <Salty>, 12 months ago:

    I won three times, spread over two characters on two realms. Both were high level characters at the time of their win (level 70 and 68), and both are on pve realms.

    The first two wins were long ago, back in the time when the fishing casting bar was still 30 seconds, but after the initial popularity of the tournament. The last win was more recent, but long before the achievement system increased the popularity of the tournament.

    - Do you use running or swimming speed potions or do you just rely on your mount to get you places?

    Just mount and having 'track fish' active

    - Do you have guildmates / other people helping you to win the tournament?

    Nope. Being high level and on a pve realm, I don't see how guildies would be helpful (except to sabotage others - but I won't go there)

    - Do you camp the same pools and patrol them until one spawns or do you just travel up or down the coast?

    For the earlier wins I mostly traveled, trying to find stretches of coast with few others. For the last win I mostly stuck to northmost coast (avoiding the troll island and its twinks, but definitely including the water elemental island). If you understand how the fish pools work, you would realize that camping a single pool is probaly not a good strategy: whenever any pool is emptied another one spawns, chosen randomly from the 'inactive' pools. If you wait at an inactive spawn spot you are not emptying other pools, so you are not causing respawns. In the extreme case, if you were alone, you would wait indefinitely, because 'your' pool won't ever respawn as long as others are up. No, there is no such thing as a 'respawn timer' - respawns are purely caused by other pools being emptied.

    - Have you ever won the tournament from solely fishing at the lake and rivers outside of ZG by those venture mining company goblins?

    Nope. I didn't even realize there were tasty fish pools there.

  • Analith <Angler>, 12 months ago:

    My favorite spot was Yojamba Isle, by far.

    - Do you use running or swimming speed potions or do you just rely on your mount to get you places?
    I once used up 10 Elixirs of Water Walking, and I had some pots of swiftness on hand too.
    - Do you have guildmates / other people helping you to win the tournament?
    On Maelstrom I had a few people that helped me out, needed escorts. On Sisters of Elune though, totally solo.
    - Do you camp the same pools and patrol them until one spawns or do you just travel up or down the coast?
    Once I found a spot I liked I stayed there. If others moved in, I just went down the coast and back to my spots soon afterwards.
    - Have you ever won the tournament from solely fishing at the lake and rivers outside of ZG by those venture mining company goblins?
    What.

  • Kunjana <Salty>, 12 months ago:

    I won without anything fancy, not even a click-to-cast fish mod or autoloot on.

    All I did was set my hearth to BB then work my way down from the top of the western coast, hitting non-occupied nodes along the way. This was a while ago so there was no Track Fish ability; I had to swing my camera out to keep an eye out for tastyfish schools.

    I would imagine waterwalking elixirs would be extremely helpful, but even without all the new-fangled bells and whistles you can win. Just make sure your hearth is set to BB and don't waste your time with any pool that has more than 1 person at it. Also if you're really dead-set on winning this thing, take advantage of the leveling and exploring WotLK madness and prioritize hitting the tourney for the next few weekends.

  • Sauce <Salty>, 11 months ago:

    I won the competition for the second time this past Sunday, got my trinket and it is awesome. I started this game on a PvP server, within the past year I rerolled PvE so that's the server I do my fishing on. I would say I've only seriously fished the competition about 10-12 times, which is not bad considering I'm on a densely populated server. My favorite spot is the area south of Grom'gol, which El describes in the guide; however, I have helped people win the contest in other locations, so there is no best spot.

    - Do you use running or swimming speed potions or do you just rely on your mount to get you places?

    Mostly mount, but I'm a shaman so I have water walking so that helps a lot for certain pools. In my last win, I was mounted over water for the entire event. Also, I keep a swiftness potion on me to sprint from the inn to the turn in guy just in case.

    - Do you have guildmates / other people helping you to win the tournament?

    Never. All my attempts have been a solo show. I'm not against helping people though as long as there is no foul play (jumping on bobbers, camping the turn-in guy, etc). I coordinated with a guildie on vent, acted as a scout for pools and provided water walking, and that guildie ended up winning. So sometimes 2 heads are better than 1.

    - Do you camp the same pools and patrol them until one spawns or do you just travel up or down the coast?

    I have a certain route that I like to stay on, which consists of "end points" that I mark on the map. So instead of camping a few pools, I do a little bit of traveling. Keep in mind that the extravaganza is a dynamic event, I don't mindlessly run the same route over and over again, you probably won't win that way. I always look to see which direction people are traveling, then try to predict where the pools will be based on that. The majority of my finishes have been with more than 35 tastyfish.

    If you want any more advice, hit me up on the Medivh server. I'm retired from the competition now but always willing to help others win.

  • Kunjana <Salty>, 11 months ago:

    Secretsauce! I think I was standing next to you at the fountain when you made Salty. :)

    Congratulations on that; Salty is an AWESOME title for your name.

  • Sharina <Salty>, 11 months ago:

    -Do you use running or swimming speed potions or do you just rely on your mount to get you places?
    I am a warlock so I don't really get "running" bonuses.
    I just used a riding crop and my epic land mount.

    - Do you have guildmates / other people helping you to win the tournament?

    No. This is extremely important as I am in a guild with a lot of people.
    Absolutely nobody helped me. Most of them don't even bother with the contest and many of them think fishing is boring and worthless. No help whatsoever from those people.

    - Do you camp the same pools and patrol them until one spawns or do you just travel up or down the coast?

    I traveled up and down the coast until I saw a pool that spawned that NO ONE is fishing at.
    Consider that if you "wait" for pools to spawn, this is adding time to your strategy. You will not win using this strategy. You want to minimize time spent "waiting" and spend more time fishing. So you need to move on.

    The strategy I used is KEEP MOVING. Fish at pools where no one is there. If someone shows up to your pool, finish your current bobber and MOVE ON. Abandon the pool. Consider if you stay at that pool, you will fight with the other person or people for any remaining fish. This adds time to your strategy and will make it difficult for you to win.
    Don't get mad because they "stole" your pool. Mount and move on to a new pool.

    Keep moving along the coast and fish where no one is fishing. DO NOT engage the opposite faction. I repeat, DO NOT take time to kill the opposite faction -- this will only hamper their efforts, cause them to get mad, they will come after you. In addition, the time you spend killing the opposite faction is precious time you could be spending fishing.

    You're not here to PvP, you're here to win the contest. If you want to PvP, there is plenty of time for that OUTSIDE of the fishing contest. Winning is 1st priority.

    If you die even once, you've already lost. I'm not even kidding about this. The extra time to run back to your corpse will cost you the win on more competitive servers. I found that on my server if I died, I lost. Those precious few seconds/minutes cannot be wasted.

    Do not stop to help people who are getting ganked -- This is extremely crucial. You want to minimize ANYTHING that could take away time from fishing, including helping someone who is getting ganked. I know that's terrible for "pvp" mentality, but don't help them.

    All you're doing is risking yourself and again, if you die, you've lost it. We're talking about at best a 20 minute window in order for you to win. Every minute counts.

    This contest is every man or woman for him/herself. Remember that and don't expect anyone to help you.

    - Have you ever won the tournament from solely fishing at the lake and rivers outside of ZG by those venture mining company goblins?

    I tried this initially and it failed. On my server low level twinks "hired" high level players to guard them when they fished these 3-4 pools. To me it's a waste of time, but this highly depends on your server. If you find that no one is out there, try it, but I think that eventually you'll get to a point where the pools don't spawn fast enough. This is where this strategy could make you fail because you'll have to swim to the main land and that wastes precious time.

    I won only after several months of attempts, on a Day 1 (2004) PvP server. The contest has been extremely popular on my server since it was introduced, so it was extremely difficult to win during the days of no achievements.

    When I finally went into the contest with a "don't help anyone, avoid ALL PEOPLE" mentality, I won the contest.

    Be sure to set your hearth to Booty Bay. If you die, keep trying until a winner is announced but brace yourself for the loss. If you lose, remind yourself that there is always next time.

    Most of the people who win, at least on my server, win after repeated attempts, frustrations, and the like. Acknowledge that you'll have to endure these hardships to win.

    Remember, fish where no one is fishing. If someone starts fishing in your pool, finish your bobber and abandon that pool. The precious time is not worth fighting with other people for the remaining fish. Move on to a fresh pool. Keep yourself moving and AVOID ALL PEOPLE - HORDE/ALLIANCE/TWINKS - avoid people period. Fish where no one is fishing.

    If everyone is going south, go north and vice versa. Keep in mind the pools respawn regardless if anyone is actually there or not -- so it benefits you to explore areas where there are no people.

    Don't stop to help anyone getting killed (are you here to PvP or are you here to WIN?)

    I should also add here that if you see someone getting ganked, DON'T fish the new pool right next to where the fighting is going on. Go FAR AWAY from wherever that person is getting killed so you don't risk the same thing happening to you. Hardcore PvPers, I know it's hard to think like this, but you're here to win a contest involving fish...you're not here to PvP, you're here to win a contest.

    Avoid any PvPing - if there's ganking, go far away from those people unless you want the same thing to happen to you. Even if you see 2 pools nearby, don't stop and fish those...continue moving until you're far enough away that you can fish safely.

    If you catch 2 fish but you die and it takes you 2-3 minutes to run back to your corpse, that can contribute to a loss.

    Don't bother attacking the opposite faction unless you're sure you can kill them in like 15 seconds or something. I didn't stop to kill anyone during my win. If I had, I would have lost. Don't waste time on that.

    Even then, all you're doing is putting yourself at risk of getting camped by that person and potentially any friends he calls in. By then you've lost.

    Stay positive. If you lose, think about the things during the attempt that contributed to your loss. Try to make sure those same things don't happen again the following week. Take each loss and LEARN from the experience.

    If something happened in this week's attempt that you're sure contributed to your loss, try to adapt so the same thing doesn't happen in the next attempt. Each time you lose, you have valuable experience and information you can learn from for the next attempt. It is important to look back on what you may have done wrong (fishing around too many people, not abandoning pools when you should have) so you can adapt and win.

    -Salty Sharina, Azgalor (US) PvP

  • erin <Angler>, 11 months ago:

    Thank you all for contributing your tips, and the OP for introducing this topic. I've been trying for several months, I'll get there eventually!

  • Toli <Angler>, 7 months ago:

    I just won today and I only used walking on water potions. I stayed on yojumba isle and the isle next to it with the water elementals. No one helped me. Last week the isle had like 0 spawn pts and tons of players there this week it still had a lot of players about 4 but also a lot of spawn pts. I followed what it said on here if another player was there I cast one to two times and then moved on. If I doubted that my bobber was in the pool I'd recast. I just wanted to let people know what I did to win so maybe it would help some other people out in the future!

    Toli-Nordrassil realm

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