Hardly an achievement for you master pet collectors out there, but it’s special for me none the less. I’ve spent long days fishing. I started fishing as a little Resto Druid, if you could call me that, way back in Auberdine, where I worked ever so hard to get me my very first +3 fishing pole. Now, I know anyone can get a +5 fishing pole from any fishing vendor just for the asking, but it was a big deal to me at the time.
And fish I did. I hit the skill cap, and was forced to level all the way to 20. Soon, using my newly acquired Aquatic Form and a single gold I’d pain painstakingly begged together off a friend, I ventured through the seas and past level ?? sea beasties to reach Booty Bay. There, I bought the skill book necessary to keep going, and then I fished more and more until the next cap, and fished on for absolutely no gain. Things have changed these days. There are no more skill books. You can buy the next rank at any level with no fuss, items, or quests. You get skill rank ups, even for failing, now that you can fish up junk. The adventure of it, however eccentric it may have been, can’t be repeated. It lives now only in the memories of that quest.
I won’t say I “love” fishing, but it has had a place in my heart here in this game. When the flawed mechanics and stupid people of the game would get to me, I’d put on some relaxing music and watch a little bobber for an hour or so. I spent a lot of time at cap, so the fact that I just made 450 today belittles just how many fish have seen my inventory bag. None the less, fate saw to stop me a moment and say “don’t look at the other characters, yours is special right now”. Shortly after, around my 630ish cast in the sewers of Dalaran sewers, he tugged on my line and greeted me. This is my Giant Sewer Rat. I’m going to call him “Four-Fifty”.
I caught Four-Fifty under the effect of an Underbelly Elixer. Just as I was ready to call it an evening, the potion spawned next to my feet. I playfully scooped it up and drank it, which turned me into a Tuskarr (my favorite new race of whom I would have much rather been the new Alliance race over Worgen). It gives +50 fishing, which puts me at 525 with my Nat’s Lucky Fishing Pole and newly acquired 450 skill level. That’s just enough to reach the “you can’t fail” point for the sewers, so I decided to lazily fish out the 10 minute buff. It was only a few more casts before the faithful moment. So, of course I had to get a picture with tusky.
Here's Four-Fifty giving Calhi kisses. Aww, sewer rat kisses! Wait, druids are the only healers without remove disease. Eek!
Mmm, yum. Critty Kitty gets a really big snack!
It’s sometimes hard to push on in this game, when you’re aiming for pure achievement. Your character looks like everyone else, or at strives to be in end game. It makes it so easy to look around at everyone who has achieved so much more than you, dismissing the hours you’ve spent getting to where you are as nothing more than a weak attempt to keep your head above water. When I play with my friends, I have nothing to offer them but my company, because anything I’ve worked to offer, they have or can get easier and faster. But this is my adventure. It did not start at 80 or 70 or 60. It began at level 1 with a very difficult decision over hairstyle, and continued with learning, exploration, friends and little worthless pets of which I now have 42. They all make up my little experiences. No matter what anyone else has, they can’t experience for me. That’s just something you can’t sell on ebay.
Oh, wow…um… heady. Hey! I got a rat!
On the matter of philosophy, I realize slipped up and forgot your last fortune cookie. Don’t worry, the next meal is on us.
“Writing is not necessarily something to be ashamed of, but do it in private and wash your hands afterwards.” – Robert A. Heinlein
