Sometimes you just need to kick back and relax, even in Eorzea. Dealing with the constant Ascian schemes, party finder woes, and world ending calamities takes it out of you. What better way to unwind than with a spot of fishing? It’s probably one of Final Fantasy XIV’s most relaxing activities, and is much more substantial than fishing in other games. You get an entire skill set to use in your pursuit of the biggest fish, and Patience/Patience II form a small part of it. You’ll unlock the first version (Patience I) at level 15. It increases your chances of catching a High Quality fish by 50% while reducing Hook efficiency by 40%. The effect lasts for 60 seconds. Patience II unlocks following the level 60 job quest for Fishers, and basically offers a souped up version of the original. It’ll buff your chances of catching a High Quality fish by 80% and reduces Hook efficiency by 75%. Hook efficiency is just related to your chances of catching anything in the first place. So basically, using Patience massively increases your chance of catching a High Quality fish, but decreases your chances of catching anything at all. You’ll learn some skills that can temporarily negate that factor eventually – but that’s generally how it’s going to work when using Patience/Patience II. It’s important to note that Patience/Patience II are far from the most important component of catching High Quality fish. They can give you a little bit of a push, sure. But it’s going to come down to how much Perception your character has at the end of the day. Perception is the gathering skill that determines your chances of discovering a high quality fish, and it can be improved by acquiring better gear. And I know this can all seem a little confusing at first for new Fishers. Unlike Botanists and Miners, Fishers don’t get an onscreen representation of your High Quality rate. But keep improving your Perception and getting comfortable with your skills, and you’ll be reeling them in in no time.
Why Use Patience/Patience II
Simply put, you’re going to want to use Patience/Patience II when your goal is catching high quality fish. Obviously we always want to catch the highest quality we can, but there are times where we need to catch specifically High Quality fish in order to move forward in our job progression. Catching High Quality fish is also important for Scrip Exchange – if you want to get the best rewards available for the gathering job, you’ll need to get the hang of hooking them. Of course, if you just want to relax while fishing, this isn’t going to be as much of a concern. But you will get more out of it in general by gearing up and collecting High Quality fish. Fishing isn’t typically as profitable as the other gathering jobs, but you can make a little bit of money from it. And as usual, High Quality items will sell for more than Normal Quality, so bear that in mind too.
When Would I Use Patience/Patience II?
Generally you want to pop this skill when you’re specifically out for a High Quality fish. A lot of people seem to think that Patience II is largely pointless with the right gear, due to the prohibitively high GP cost compared to Patience. But as ever, your mileage may vary. If you’ve got plenty of GP to spend, go for it! As mentioned before, using Patience isn’t nearly as important as having decent fishing gear. So if RNG isn’t being kind to you, make sure you hit the Market Board or trade in some scrips. Patience isn’t a massive game-changer, but it can have a positive influence on the quality of your catches. If you’re looking to score points in the Ocean Fishing activity, you can employ Patience to maximize your chances of pulling in rarer fish. Or you can use it in combination with certain hook skills and Ocean Fishing mechanics to catch up to four rare fish at a time! So you can’t rely on Patience to catch High Quality fish all the time – you’ll need to work on your gear to improve your chances there. But it just might tip the odds a little in your favor if used tactically. Don’t spend all of your GP on it all of the time. But if you’re already pretty close to catching HQ fish anyway, then Patience can get you over the threshold.
