Project Lore

Fishing is casting its lines into changes coming for Patch 3.3. In addition to that handy-dandy weekday Kalu'ak Fishing Derby that will be coming to a server near you (and bringing heirloom rings along with it), we'll also see a more subtle change that I can only now begin to appreciate after recently fishing up a Weather-Beaten Journal and learning how to Find Fish. You see, like cooking, fishing is another profession that I've been putting off leveling, and in which I am only now beginning to immerse myself. What, exactly, is said change? Well, buried within the Kalu'ak announcement, Blue Poster Slorkuz added this little nugget:

...in patch 3.3.0 you never catch trash from fishing pools, regardless of skill.

I guess that means I don't have to worry about activating my special fishing hat between fishing nodes, since my skill level either way is irrelevant, as long as I aim my cast correctly. It seems like a pretty innocent change. Personally, I'll be happy to be carrying around less driftwood and sickly fish in my bags, and perhaps taking a little less time to complete certain fishing dailies, if I can find the right fishing node. But as expected, there's always a down side to changes as well, and some players on the WoW forums are questioning whether the boost to finding fish is going to drastically change the auction house market for our scrumptious catches. One player suggests that Blizzard takes delight in ruining others' fun by making fishing and the leveling process too easy while they had it harder. Blue PosterWryxian fires back that Blizzard often doesn't know how players will react until they actually make the announcement, so simply talking about upcoming changes isn't trying to trample on anyone's parade. The discussion continues, and Wryxian confirms how the new mechanic will work:

The change coming in 3.3 means that instead of getting a grey item from a pool, you will instead be guaranteed to get a fish of the same type as the pool, irrespective of your fishing skill level. Yes this will mean a character with level 1 fishing skill can fish up a Deep Sea Monsterbelly, for instance. Currently you need around 480 fishing skill to start fishing Deep Sea Monsterbellies from one of their pools. ....Those who enjoy fishing for fishing's sake can do so and get some useful rewards while doing it, or at least stuff they can sell. Those who only level up fishing so they can get high level fish can now get what they want (the fish) without having to put in the time investment first.

Looks like both sides have valid points. How does everyone with maxed out fishing feel about the changes? What about those of you, like myself, who are just getting on the boat?