In this series, I talk about various aspects of The Lord of the Rings Online. This series is meant for newcomers, but may also help veteran players find more to love about the game.
Have you ever wanted to go fishing but didn't want to deal with the mess of tackle, bait, and slippery fish? Well, now you can -- from the comfort of your computer, with the beautiful landscape of LOTRO around you! In this entry we'll take a look at LOTRO's only hobby -- fishing -- and all related topics!
Hobbies
Way back in 2008 with the Book 13 Update: Doom of the Last-king (which brought us Forochel!), the developers introduced the Fishing hobby to the game. There have been a lot of suggestions for additional hobbies on the forums, but so far we just have the one. The fishing hobby allows you to equip a fishing rod and cast a line pretty much anywhere you can find a body of water. Different areas are harder to fish than others, and you'll have to level up your fishing skill in order to improve.
Hobby Masters
Naturally, you'll need to visit a Hobby Master to purchase your first fishing rod. The game will offer you the opportunity to learn about fishing as early as level 5 in the starter areas. There are 3 different quests to introduce you to the hobby, depending on your location. You can do all 3 as long as you don't finish one before accepting the others, but that's a bit excessive for a low level quest. The developers probably had bigger plans for the Hobby Masters when they first introduced fishing, but you're only going to need to visit this NPC if you've misplaced your fishing rod or are starting a new character.
Equipment
There are 7 different fishing rods available in LOTRO, each with a bonus to the fishing skill after the basic one. The basic one is available from all Hobby Masters. The next four are available as Woodworking craft recipes. The Rohirric fishing rod is available for 100 Silver Tokens of the Riddermark (East Rohan). The Exquisite Elven fishing rod is available for 45 Tokens of the Lake and Rivers in the Strongholds of the North (Dale, Erebor, Felegoth).
How To Fish
The fishing skill is like any other skill that you use in your skill bar. To assign it to a slot, you'll need to open your Character Panel, click on the Hobby button at the bottom, and from the panel that opens simply drag the hook and worm icon to a slot in your skill bar. In order to use the skill, you'll have to equip a fishing pole -- this will displace your main hand weapon into your inventory bags, so be sure to keep track of it and even put a lock on it so you don't accidentally sell it!
There are a lot of junk items you might pull up other than fish, so be prepared to pull up a lot of weeds or trash items that you can sell to a vendor for a few coins. On the other hand, there are a variety of special fish you can catch: some you can craft with if you are a Cook, some you can give to a taxidermist to turn into trophy decor, and others count towards deeds that will reward you with titles and flashy decor items.
Was this entry helpful? Let me know! The series continues next Monday!
Leveling Up
The Fishing skill can be leveled up by 10 points per day (indicated via Advancement text in the chat window, or by your Hobby panel skill bar which will be yellow if you've met your daily limit), and has a maximum level of 200. In theory, and if you're dedicated, you can max out your fishing within a month.
However, you're at the mercy of the randomness of catching specific fish to complete the fishing deeds in the game. It may take you a very long time before catching, say, the 50-pound Salmon!
Quests & Festivals
There aren't a lot of quests for fishing in the game, but the ones that exist will keep you busy. They range from level 5 up to level 99, taking place from the starter areas all the way to Gondor. I personally find some of the ones in Rohan and Gondor to be overcomplicated to the point of making me dislike fishing, but I've forgiven the developers since they're reputation-building quests. Some of those higher level quests will require specific spots and specific actions -- and even fighting right after you've fished something up -- so be prepared to re-equip your weapon from your inventory!
The Summer Festival (now merged with the Farmer's Faire) has a big fixation on the fishing hobby and you'll find yourself fishing up all manner of stuff for hobbits, and lots of fish in the starting areas -- but not just any fish! There are special fish you're asked to catch, and extra special fish can be traded or bartered for festival tokens.
The Summer Festival (now merged with the Farmer's Faire) has a big fixation on the fishing hobby and you'll find yourself fishing up all manner of stuff for hobbits, and lots of fish in the starting areas -- but not just any fish! There are special fish you're asked to catch, and extra special fish can be traded or bartered for festival tokens.
Crafting
If you're a Cook, you're probably sighing at the fact you have to level up yet another feature of the game to acquire your ingredients. (Because cooking and farming and gathering from the wild just aren't enough, now you have to cast a line to catch fish!) On the plus side, there aren't a great many types of fish that can be used in Cooking, and nothing requires a higher level than Supreme (as far as I know, anyway... feel free to correct me if I'm wrong!).
Titles & Trophies
Rather than be relegated to telling stories about the one that got away, you get to trade in a lot of fish for trophies you can hang up in your home -- or complete deeds to receive impressive group-sized decor. Additionally, you can show everyone in your travels that you've earned your bragging rights by displaying a variety of titles earnable by catching specific fish in specific places. Once you catch the first fish that counts for any of the deeds, the deed will be visible in your Deed Log.
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