A New Salty on the Way

While I was mired by misfortune on some of the Fishing achievements on Koji, I am equally amazed by my good fortune on Rai. I dusted him off only a few weeks ago but have had surprising luck.

Last week at the Fishing Extravaganza, I was quite surprised to catch a Rockhide Strongfish on one of my first casts. This is among the rarest fish in the game. It is only caught from pools during the Extravaganza, and has a lower catch rate than the rare prize fish. It also happens to count towards One That Didn't Get Away. On Koji, it took thousands of casts in various areas before I had the fortune of catching a 15lb. Mud Snapper, so this came as quite a surprise. I had good fortune on Anguish as well. I got a 15 pounder on him in a few hundred casts, probably between 3 and 500, I wasn't counting.

That isn't the only hard achievement, however. It was probably just the one I had the worst luck with. Another tough one is Mr. Pinchy. On Koji, I think I caught 4 Mr. Pinchy's, using up 10 wishes before I got the pet. Rai, my first pool. And there he is. Of course, I was quite surprised. But remember, there are five potential results of your wish, remember how many Furious Mr. Pinchy's Koji got. How about that. Rai's now sporting a little lobster pet.

Okay, Okay. That's pretty serious luck. There is one achievement however that is certainly the bottleneck of the Salty title. That of course is the Extravaganza. Many have complained that it should be removed from the Salty title and given its own title since it is so based on luck and there are so few who can get it (52 a year). So, here I am. It's Sunday, my 2nd Extravaganza since dusting off Rai.

Yea. I can't really believe it either. All that stands before me now are a number of traveling achievements, like Northrend and Outland Anglers and Scavenger, as well as some very time consuming ones, namely the coin master achievements. Those however require no luck, no skill, just time. Heck. Rai's 72, he isn't even a Grandmaster, he can't fish in Dalaran! Give it a week, I'll probably have a Salty old Troll.

Ol' Salty Part III

Having finally completed my mission, I'm feeling revitalized and again up to the task of aiding all you fisherpeople with the daunting task of being called Salty. Today will still be fairly simple tasks, but they are getting more time consuming (and mind numbing). So let's begin, shall we?

The Coin Master
First up on our plate is an achievement that is simple to do but will take a long time to get done. To complete The Coin Master, you need to complete three other interrelated fishing achievements: A Penny for your Thoughts, Silver in the City, and There's Gold in That There Fountain. All three of these achievements have basically the same goal and are done in the same place so will be treated as one.

These nifty little coins are fished up in only one place, the Eventide Fountain in Dalaran. Getting to Dalaran isn't all that easy. If you are level 74+ you just talk to a person in Crystalsong Forest. Mages can learn to port there at 71, but I'm not a mage so can't go in-depth in that. I think the quest is in Dragonblight. However, you can get a port from a mage at any level, a much easier path. However, it isn't quite that easy. Dalaran requires one of the highest fishing skills, a minimum of 430 to cast and 525 to stop getaways. This will probably be one of the last achievements you'll be doing unless you've already leveled up your fishing extensively.

But back to the coins. The Eventide fountain is located in southern end of Dalaran, in the Eventide district, between the southern bank and Violet Hold. It isn't the easiest to fish in the fountain, it is very small. Expect to get a line of sight error not too infrequently. Also there is an issue if your bobber lands on the far edge where it looks like it is actually inside the stone of the fountain. You'll instead catch from the sewers loot table as opposed to the fountain. Once you are able to get to Dalaran and high enough to fish there, it is pretty simple enough. Just keep at it in the fountain. You'll catch random coins, copper, silver, and gold, previously owned by well known (or sometimes not so much) players in the history of Warcraft.

One more thing to note is that gold coins are special. Copper and silver coins are essentially junk, they can sell for somewhere in the range of 60 copper but that pretty much equates to worthless. However, if you 'use' a gold coin, you throw it back in the fountain and get a 'lucky' buff, which increases your chances of catching coins for two minutes. Again, there isn't really any skill for this or advice that I can give, just persevere. It took me a long time to finish, I needed just one of each copper, silver, and gold for a long time, but eventually you'll catch em' all!

Old Man Barlowned
This achievement requires you to complete all of the fishing quests given by Old Man Barlo, who is beside the pond east of Shattrath City. I am pretty sure that you are required to be level 70 to get these quests. Every day, Barlo will randomly give one of five fishing quests. A couple patches ago, the quests were changed so that you get the drop you need almost always, if not always on the first cast if you are in the right place, making these much quicker to do.
Bait Bandits: This one requires you to catch a Blackfin Darter in Terokkar. You can fish in any of the lowland waters (meaning not the ones only reachable by flying mount) excepting Slimyr Lake, the lake that Barlo is at. The closest places are two small pools just east and west of Cenarion Thicket.
Felblood Fillet:Next we go off to either Hellfire Peninsula or Shadowmoon Valley. The fillet can be caught in either. In SMV, you can catch it in any of the icky green lava throughout the zone, it's all over the place. In Hellfire, the only place to fish is in the Pools of Aggonar, to the north. It is tougher to catch here since the areas are small.
Shrimpin' Ain't Easy:This one will take a little longer, but it's still simple. Head over to Zangarmarsh. While you have this quest, instead of catching Barbed Gill Trout, you will catch Bloated Barbed Gill Trout. These act like clams or any other "treasure item" in that you open it. Inside will be 1-2 shrimp and sometimes some junk seaweed. Keep at it till you get 10 shrimp.
The One That Got AwayNext we're off to Nagrand to catch the World's Largest Mudfish. This can only be caught in two bodies of water: Skysong Lake to the northeast, between Garadar and the Throne of the Ancients, and Lake Sunspring, to the west, east of Sunspring Village.
Crocolisks in the City: This one actually takes you to Stormwind, where you need to fish up a crocolisk in any of the canals. This is technically the "easiest" as it can be done with 1 skill, but this quest is exceptionally rare. I've only gotten it a few times. Also note however that the rewards for this one are slightly different than the others in that you have a very small chance of getting one in four baby crocolisk pets. However this will be very rare as they are quite a rare drop themselves, and getting the quest to begin with is very rare.
The skill needed to complete these quests vary a good amount. You can do Crocolisks with any skill. Felblood Fillet is next which is pretty low, followed by Shrimpin' if you fish out of the far eastern bodies of water. The Darter in Terokkar is higher still while you need pretty high skill (by BC standards, mid 300s+lures/rod) to catch in Nagrand.

While we're on the subject of Outland, let's take a look at Mr. Pinchy's Magical Crawdad Box. This is a difficult (as in time-consuming) achievement that has caused a good deal of grief. You need level 70 and a flying mount to do this (you can get summoned to the pools by a warlock but that's kinda unrealistic). In Terokkar, there are raised bodies of water only reachable by a flying mount. Those are Lake Jorune, just NW of Stonebreaker Hold, Lake Ere'Noru, SE of Allerian Stronghold, and Blackwind Lake, the big lake in Skettis. In these bodies of water, certain pools, Highland Mixed Schools, spawn. These require high fishing, 500 to stop getaways. In these pools there is a very rare chance of catching a bind on pickup blue item called "Mr. Pinchy". Note that since it is bind on pickup you will be queried if you want to pick it up or not should you catch it. If you aren't paying attention and cast again before saying yes, you will lose it so be sure to be paying attention so that you don't waste your catch. Lake Jorune and Ere'Noru are uninhabited, so are the safest places to fish, but there aren't many pools that can spawn in either location. Skettis has the most pools but you will likely have to deal with Skettis Surgers, perhaps some arrak'oa and Kaliri, but since you're already 70 they won't be problematic.

Now even when you finally catch Mr. Pinchy, you aren't home free yet. When you 'use' Mr. Pinchy, he grants you a wish. One of several things can happen. A level 70 aggressive mob, Furious Mr. Pinchy will spawn that you must dispatch (or I guess run away from). Benevolent Mr. Pinchy may spawn, which is a 10 minute guardian (he helps you in battle). You may receive an item, Mr. Pinchy's Gift, which contains up to 5 Super Healing and Super Mana potions. Mr. Pinchy's Blessing is a 2 hour buff of 500 health, persisting through death. Lastly you may get a Magical Crawdad Box, which lets you summon a crawdad companion. This is our goal, what completes the achievement.

This, like many fishing achievements, can be very time consuming. Catching Mr. Pinchy in the first place is quite rare. When you do, you have only a chance of getting the pet. Also an important thing to note is that Mr. Pinchy has a 2 day cooldown between wishes, so it can take a while to even make your wishes. It took me I believe 4 Mr. Pinchy's and 10+ wishes before I got my pet. So good luck!

That's all for today. Sorry My posting is so sporadic, hopefully it will be more frequent soon.

Does It Sound Strange to Anyone Else?

So after thousands of casts and lots of irritation, I finally got the title Salty today! I followed both paths of my past post, having given up in Howling Fjord but instead trying for the rare fish in the starting zones. I'll go more in-depth when I pick up the Old Salty line of posts, but needless to say, I finally got it! Hurrah!

I still just think it sounds weird. Maybe that is its fatal attraction.

Tacking onto that...

In regards to my mini-rant about Fangtooth Herring:

The fishing achievement "One That Got Away" is the only roadblock between me and becoming an Accomplished Angler and earning the Salty title. I'll go into this in-depth in a future post but the gist of it is that you need to catch one of various "rare fish" that can have a rarity that they can't be accurately calculated. Most only drop from open water. The Dark Herring however can drop from Fangtooth schools, which I would believe makes the chances much more better (since a Dark Herring drop would replace a Fangtooth Herring drop). Well... I've done thousands of casts for this dang fish. I don't have a fish counter but I've seen how many stacks have gone through my trader to the AH... it is ridiculous and I've really lost heart. It is such a shame that this achievement is so unfairly random and based on pure dumb luck. I am almost at the point of giving in since the reward is nothing but a pointless title, but it is hard. The other achievements represent the culmination of so much time and effort that I would hate to give up now but I am really considering it...

Ol' Salty Part II

Okay so the first part didn't really explain anything that wasn't blatantly obvious. If "1000 Fish" is too cryptic for you, well I commend you on being able to play at all. The posts will get progressively more in-depth, culminating with the ones that require the most explanation. Today's achievements are pretty obvious too but at least require a little guidance.

Today's posts are all about pools. Yea later posts will be about pools too but this is about the basic pool achievements.

The Old Gnome and the Sea
Successfully fish from a pool. Simple enough. I'm sure pretty much anyone who's picked up a fishing pole in WoW has done this. They are all over the place. Though even this can use some tips. First off, go your Video then Effects menu. My computer is pretty poor so I have pretty much all of my graphics at the minimum. If you plan to fish from pools however, you should raise your Spell Detail a bit. I find that raising it three "clicks" from the minimum so that the slide is under the e (at least for me, I'm not sure if this can vary for others). This will make pools easily visible. Raising it higher can add even more effects to them but I find it unnecessary. After this is done, just practice with pools a little. It really surprises me how often I see people fishing at pools (the Extravaganza for example) and their lure isn't in the pool. It doesn't have to be dead center, it usually won't be. But it is easy enough to tell if it is on the edge of the circle or just outside of it. Once you fish a lot you'll be able to tell easily. If you are ever unsure, I say just recast it until you are. You could be wasting upwards of 20 seconds to catch something you don't want, and in a situation like the Extravaganza that could be critical, and in any other situation it's still a waste of time. Okay, moving on.

The Scavenger
These are junk nodes. They generally contain a box or some other randomness like Stranglekelp or various potencies of Rumsey Rum. They can actually be quite profitable, though come BC regular fish became much more worthwhile.
Steam Pump Flotsam: This is the only one of these junk nodes found outside of the Old World. To be specific, they are found in Zangarmarsh. This pool can appear really anywhere in the zone on coastal waters. Note that the water has to be deep enough to swim in, not the rivulets that cover the area. Just scan the coasts, you'll find it soon.

Floating Wreckage: This can come from higher level Old World zones, specifically Feralas, Tanaris, and Azshara, either inland or on the coast. The best spot that I have found by far is in Feralas on the coast and the connecting river.There are a ton of pools down this area and chances are good that one of them will be a floating wreckage. If not, you were just unlucky and can come back later or you can fish out the snapper, blackmouth, or eel pools and wait for a respawn.

Schooner Wreckage:This one is fairly difficult to find. It only spawns in Ashenvale, Wetlands, or Stonetalon Mountains. If you are Alliance, I would recommend Wetlands since fishing waters are right outside of Menethil and it is an easy, open coast. Ashenvale I wouldn't recommend. They may spawn there, but I don't remember ever noticing pools on the coast, so you would have to look for them in the rivers which isn't so easy. I believe I got mine in Stonetalon, which isn't that bad. There is Mirkfallon Lake in the center of the zone as well as the rivers in Windshear Crag. Both are fairly easy to navigate and pools seem fairly common.

Waterlogged Wreckage and Bloodsail Wreckage: I stuck these together because they are both found in Stranglethorn Vale. Well waterlogged wreckage can also be found in Desolace, Dustwallow, Alterac, and Arathi, but I think STV is easiest and it is near the bloodsail wreckage too. It is easy enough. Waterlogged wreckage is found in waters north of Grom'Gol, and bloodsail wreckage is found in waters south of Grom'gol. Red is bloodsail, blue is waterlogged.

Fish Don't Leave Footprints
Learn to track fish. This is done by reading a Weather-Beaten Journal which has a chance to drop, as it so happens, from the chests found in the aforementioned junk pools. Getting this prior to The Scavenger would have made it easier, but it isn't always the simplest to get. The chance of it coming out of one of the chests is reasonably low. However, it has been reported that it has about a 50% drop rate from Curious Crates. These are fished in Outland, but are a random drop from any pool-they don't drop from a specific pool like the other chests. Even if the drop rate is low, I think that it is easier going for the junk nodes in the Old World, I recommend the coast of Feralas for floating wreckage. There are just so many pools there that your chances aren't that bad. Also if you've managed to raise your fishing high enough to fish in Outland, are 70+, and still haven't gotten this, it can also be found in the bag of fishing treasures from Old Man Barlo's fishing dailies (but that's for another day).

Okay that has been a lot of explaining. The next ones have a lot more requirements but are also a lot simpler.

Outland Angler
Bluefish School and Mudfish School are both found in Nagrand. I recommend searching Lake Sunspring, south of Sunspring Post, or Skysong Lake, north of Garadar. They can also spawn in rivers and the waters surrounding Halaa, but they seem much more random compared to the simple coasts of the two lakes.
Sporefish Schools are found in any waters in Zangarmarsh
Brackish Mixed Schools are found in the waters of Zangarmarsh or Terokkar.
Schools of Darter and Highland Mixed Schools are both found in Terokkar. Darter schools are found in the lowland waters, reachable by anyone. Highland mixed schools are only accessible with a flying mount. They can be found in Lake Jorune, on the cliffs west of Stonebreaker Hold, Lake Ere'Noru, on the cliffs southeast of Allerian Stronghold, and in Blackwind Lake, the waters in the heart of Skettis. It is in these pools that Mr. Pinchy is found, but that's for another day.

Northrend Angler
Borean Man O' War Schools are found in the coastal waters of Borean Tundra.
Dragonfin Angelfish Pools are in the inland waters of Dragonblight.
Fangtooth Herring Schools are found in the inland waters of Howling Fjord and I hate them so, so much (stay tuned for my rants and whines regarding One that Didn't Get Away)
Glacial Salmon Schools can be found in Grizzly Hills' inland waters.
Glassfin Minnow Schools are found along the river of Crystalsong Forest.
Imperial Manta Ray Schools are in the coastal waters of Howling Fjord, Borean Tundra, Dragonblight, and Grizzly Hills.
Musselback Sculpin Schools reside in the inland waters of Borean Tundra.
Nettlefish Schools are in Sholazar Basin inland waters.
Deep Sea Monsterbelly and Moonglow Cuttlefish Schools are interesting because they technically aren't in any area, but rather in the Frozen Sea, the waters surrounding Northrend. The pools surround glaciers off the coast of Unu'pe in Borean Tundra, or on the southeast edge of Howling Fjord, near the river's mouth. These are most easily reached with a flying mount but lower levels can swim out to the glaciers and jump on them as well, but it can be difficult to do. There aren't many spots that are low enough to jump onto.
Edit: To tack onto that, even though these two pools are in the Frozen Sea, they are located in areas where you are not getting timed on fatigue. If you see the fatigue timer pop up, you're in the correct area (and you should probably move... or you'll die)

Well that's that... wow that went on way longer than I expected. Wonder if all posts are going to be like this. I was hoping it could be more short and sweet but so it goes.

Ol' Salty

Yes, my first real post on my Shaman/Death Knight blog is unrelated to either. As we progress through the lives of Koji and Anguish, you will see that WoW has hooked me in a lot more aspects than just killing things. Two in particular are fishing and achievements.

I can't really explain my interest in either. Fishing I don't find particularly entertaining. It is sometimes boring, and recently (which I will get to momentarily) can be extremely tedious. It does have financial benefits; you can get pretty good money from fishing; but I have lots of money and have nothing to spend it on. Regardless, I am hooked on it (no pun intended... I hate puns). I can't explain it, but I keep on doing it, on both characters.

Achievements are another interesting subject matter. Aside from a few achievements, like the ones that offer titles, mounts, companions, or other little nifty toys, they are just for show, there is really no utile benefit (excepting the black, plagued, and violet proto-drakes, they are 310% speed). I have never really compared mine to other people, though I'm sure there are many who have friendly competitions with them. Regardless, I like aiming for achievements. When they were implemented, I went back and did all the old world dungeons, I did the exploration, and have done a lot of the old world quests for Loremaster, though that's on hiatus for the time being. Regardless, they too have a hook that I can't really explain. Good job Bliz on a creative concept.

Getting back to what this is all about, fishing and achievements. Specifically, the fishing achievement: Accomplished Angler. Reward: just the silly title "Salty". No pretty rod, nothing else. Yet this is an achievement that I have worked a lot on. It isn't an achievement that requires skill at your class, though you do need to know a fair deal of tricks to get some of the more difficult requirements. The biggest thing it requires is patience. You will be doing a whole lot of fishing, a lot just sitting in the same place, perhaps for hours on end, until you get that one rare catch. Worth it? I sure don't think so, but I'm going after it anyway.

I only started really working on this achievement when I won the Stranglethorn Fishing Extravaganza a few weeks ago. I had won it on 2 or 3 old characters but Koji is fairly fresh, I started him only a few months before WotLK (though I already had a shaman in the past). But I digress. I only started then because that is probably the hardest part of the achievement. There is one winner a week, 52 winners a year. That makes it pretty rare. Maybe that is some of the allure of the Salty title.

Just to get our feet wet today I'll be focusing on the few simpler requirements that don't really need a guide. Over the next few days I'll go over them all in depth. Here is what we're looking at.

Let's just go down the line of easy ones.

Grand Master Fisherman: As it says, become a Grand Master Fisherman. You'll be attaining this eventually no matter what, you need that skill for Northrend. Nothing to worry about.

The Old Gnome and the Sea: Successfully fish in a pool. You'll be fishing in pools, most likely a lot of them. Nothing to worry about.

1000 Fish: Hmm, I wonder what you need for this one. If you are starting fishing fresh, you'll definitely get this along the way. If you already had max skill going into WotLK, you'll still definitly get this along the way. I don't think it's possible to have such good luck that you can finish all the achievements without thousands of casts.

Okay yea, that was all blatantly obvious, sorry. I thought I would be able to cover a few more than that without any real thought, but I'm sure you all want a break, this got a lot longer than I expected. No worries, I'll be going into the other ones soon.