Fishing. Fishing? Almost every mmo has fishing? Why? *cough* No idea. It's not important why. However, how ES does "fishing" isn't with a WoW fishing pole. ARRRRGGH! There. I said it!

But we don't care about *cough* other games, do we? So let's talk ES:

1) ES3: Morrowind - weapon in hand and plunge in. You'll get 3-5 slaughterfish right away or they'll get you. Start hacking and skinning.

2) ES4: Oblivion - weapon in hand.... etc.

3) ES5: Skyrim - No underwater fighting. *sadness* But if you get close enough, you can grab any fish you want (and there are plenty of different types) right out of the air or water (so long as you can hold your breath long enough and there are no slaughterfish chewing on you.)

Fishing Ideas for TESO:

1) Spear fishing - sharpen a branch and let's get some fish in shallow water

2) Net fishing - make a net and drag it behind yourself in shallow water or set it up across rapid water to catch swimming fish. Maybe drag a net behind a small boat on a lake.

3) Pole fishing - strip a branch and attach a spool of string to bait fish from land or boat

4) Noodling - Stick your hand in a dark cave and see what wants to eat your arm. Nothing says manly like using yourself as bait for the big one.

5) Mr. Miyagi's way - swim around and catch it (Skyrim's way)

6) Trap fishing - make various kinds of traps that can catch various crustaceans, fish, etc. Trapping maybe added as a hunting skill for small game like rabbits, raccoons, foxes, etc. besides sea creatures.

Lastly, where is the allegory in fishing and the artistic direction of TESO? Simply this: the fishing poles in the TESO gameplay video looked stripped right out of the hands of WoW players--modern-resembling fishing rods with reels and loops along the rod for the synthetic line down to the plastic bobber.

I get the uneasy feeling that far too much of TESO additions to make ES an mmorpg are ripped ideas from other mmos whether those elements fit in ES or not. It's fine to take note and inspiration from other mmos, but ES doesn't need everything other mmos do or have "just because" and what is implemented better have ES mechanics and lore/atmosphere/background in mind and not look like a WoW rip-off--even if it's just "fishing."

ES is a great game that deserves a unique ES artistic direction not jammed into a generic mmo mold that is outdated and failing.

K, rant's over, I'm going to "catch" some fish--Yes, with my hands (until they come up with something that doesn't look like it came from Bass Pro.)