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5.2: Pandarian Junk Changes

With Patch 5.2, junk will no longer be caught in Pandaria when your fishing skill is too low. Instead of junk, you will catch extra Golden Carp. This change currently only applies to Pandaria: Skill-related junk may still be caught on other continents. The change is fully explained below.

Each area of open water still requires a certain fishing skill to catch (only) regular fish from open water. Before patch 5.2, if your effective fishing skill was below that value, a proportion of your casts into open water would catch junk items, like Driftwood or Weeds. Any Pandarian catch that would have been junk becomes a Golden Carp in patch 5.2. Pandaria's catch tables have not changed, so a proportion of open water catches are still Golden Carp, even when you have sufficient fishing skill.

So, the total proportion of Golden Carp caught = Junk Percentage + ( ( 1 - Junk Percentage ) * Base Golden Carp Percentage ) , where Junk Percentage = 1 - ( Your Effective Fishing Skill / Water's No-Junk Skill ) ^2 , as described in The Role of Skill (Revised), and the Base Golden Carp Percentage is the proportion that of Carp in the water's catch table.

Here's a worked example for the dwarves:

1. Valley of the Four Winds' inland open water "no junk skill" is 700, with a base Golden Carp catch of 59%.
2. If your effective fishing skill is only 600, the Junk Percentage is, 1 - ( 600 / 700 ) ^2 = 27% of the catch due to insufficient skill. This skill-related catch is now all Carp.
3. Next we calculate the regular, non-skill-related catches: 1 - 27% = 73% of the catch will be catches from the catch table. 59% of those will be Golden Carp, so 43% Carp from regular catches.
4. Finally, 27% (due to insufficient skill) plus 43% (due to regular catches) = 70% Golden Carp caught.

Obviously if you are catching extra Golden Carp due to insufficient skill, you will catch a lower proportion of every other fish in the water's catch table. So personal fishing skill and Equipment is just as important as before.

The change has advantages and disadvantages:

• New and low-skilled anglers can fish in Pandaria for Golden Carp. This is especially helpful for new cooks, who use Golden Carp in certain leveling recipes. (A quest that introduces Carp fishing for new cooks is offered by Ben of the Booming Voice, at Halfhill.)
• Anglers will no longer get confused when they catch Scoured Fishbones or Desecrated Carcass - junk-quality items that are part of the regular catch table, and have never indicated a lack a skill.
• However, it becomes much harder for anglers to estimate whether their skill is sufficient, since catching a Golden Carp may, or may not, mean that you have insufficient skill.
• Golden Carp are likely to become more plentiful at the Auction House, lowering prices for those fish.
• There is more than one skill mechanic for anglers to learn - Pandaria's waters use a slightly different approach to other continents. (Outland, Northrend and Cataclysm zones all have similar "trash fish" to Golden Carp, but have not been changed.)

Appendix: Sample Data

Two areas of water were extensively tested, to demonstrate that the standard junk formula still applied, and that the only change was the conversion of junk into Golden Carp. Several spot checks were then carried out in other zones to confirm the change applied across Pandaria.

Vale of Eternal Blossoms' no-junk skill is 825, with 47% Golden Carp in the regular catch.

Valley of the Four Winds' inland no-junk skill is 700, with 59% Golden Carp in the regular catch.

26 January 2013 · Patch 5.2, Junk, Skill, Pandaria, Golden Carp