Family Name: PumpkyPatch
Region (NA/EU): NA
Suggestions/Comments:

Hotspot fishing in the sea hasn’t been worth doing for quite some time. Triple-Float rods are without a doubt required just to obtain below-average silver/hr and they are always sold out. At the time of writing, 4,956 pre-orders are placed at max price(9,300,000). On top of this, fishing mastery is not worth investing in. I have come up with a handful of ideas to improve active hotspot fishing. These are not presented in any particular order and I in no way think they are flawless. I hope that they may bring about positive discussion and provide a space that others may share their ideas.

Mastery Changes

Currently, fishing mastery gives X% chance of a prize catch. Understandably, we wouldn’t want AFK fishing to bring in a high income for no activity. However, in its current state, it feels like fishing mastery was made with only AFK fishing in mind and gives no benefit to active fishing. It attempts to give a reason to harpoon but falls short. The ideas below are some possible additions that could be added to fishing mastery and the numbers are arbitrary.

X% chance to obtain 2 extra fish at sea hotspots

X% chance to obtain an RNG ‘Treasure Chest’ at sea hotspots

This could have things like caphras, hards, sharps, spirit dust, etc.

X% chance to obtain Coelacanth at sea hotspots

This could be just like above with the chest.

Non-Mastery Changes

While mastery changes are the route that should be taken, other changes could be beneficial as well.

Daily Triple-Float Quest

Triple-floats are required to make ok silver/hr fishing hotspots out in the sea. I have had a preorder in on them for months without getting filled. This is because it is simply not worth selling them. Players hold on to them for either regular use or stockpile them for upcoming fishing events. One option could be to make this into a daily quest, increasing the number of rods available.

‘Perfect’ Casts

Perfect casts are nice as they allow you to skip the mini-game and catch fish more quickly, however, adding another benefit to this could be a great way to improve active fishing. It could be an extra fish, a unique fish/item, or a chance at a higher reward.

Energy Casts

With energy casts you have a chance to obtain extra fish, however the chance feels quite low. Combined with the ROI compared to something like gathering, it feels inefficient and borderline wasteful. Realistically, Coelacanth hotspots are the only time you would possibly do this. Guaranteeing 2 fish with a max cast and obtaining up to 5 would be a significant income improvement and make energy casts more worthwhile.

Harpooning

I don’t have a lot to say about harpooning, as my experience with it is minimal. That being said, I don’t think anyone would disagree that harpoon fishing needs an overhaul or at the very least some work. Harpooning is the only benefit to increasing your fishing mastery but still lacks proper silver/hr.

Something that could be nice, but doesn’t equate to increased income, is allowing players to upgrade the fishing boat using a system that is similar to that of the sailboat and frigate into Carrack. The reason is that players cannot use a harpoon on their large ships. This could also be something that could be used for fishing mastery. Having Manos fishing boat gear for instance.

Conclusion

Black Desert boasts a wide variety of activities for players to enjoy. I cannot speak on behalf of the entire playerbase, but I for one would love to enjoy Black Desert's vast oceans while feeling a sense of account progression as well. Thank you for your time, and I hope this sparks a conversation that brings about positive changes for the BDO Ocean community.

EDIT

Here are the numbers for my most recent sea hotspot fishing run. This is obviously a low sample size but does show the current state of active hotspot fishing. The timer was started from the moment I left port in Velia and was ended after selling my fish in Valencia (using magnus teleport). 

Ship: Epheria Caravel
Fishing Level: Guru 12
Triple-Floats Used: 1.75
Time Spent: 2hr 40min
Fish: 

  Coelcanth x9
  Sea Bass x17
  Black Porgy x24
  Grunt x78
  Tuna x34

Total earned:
231,146,146
-16,275,000(Triple-Floats)
------------------------------
214,871,146

90,929,002/hr

There should be alot more variety for making silver in the game. ATM only grinding monsters is profitable.

Anything that ISN'T afk growth should be more rewarding. They already do this with scarecrows versus grinding in real-time. Imagine if scarecrows gave the SAME exp output as actual grinding... we'd be PVPing (if they weren't in safe zones) over scarecrows before we head off to our real jobs everyday.

Anyways, I definitely agree that fishing should be more rewarding if I'm actually doing it.

I was just thinking yesterday morning, Mastery isn't strong enough in fishing.  We get 1% more chance at prize fish for going from 1500 to 2000 mastery.  A prize fish gives you 8m silver, AFK fishing is 1 fish every 3 minutes.  You get maybe an extra 10m silver going from 1500 to 2000 mastery per day.  Since it is roughly 500b silver to get from 1500 to 2000 mastery it would take, 137 years to pay off the mastery costs.  

Now lets say that you don't want mastery to work for AFK fishing very much.  Fine mastery does nothing for Hotspot fishing because you get a yellow fish every cast no matter what.  

My idea was that mastery should effect the value of the fish.  For argument's sake lets say that a certain fish is worth 1m silver.   At 0 mastery when caught it should be worth 1m + Trade distance bonus when sold.   Use the same scale as hunting, at 900 mastery the value of the fish would be increased by 100%, at 1500 increased by 200%, at 2000 mastery increase by 300%.  Only on active fish only, if a fish is caught at any mastery via AFK version it gets no increase even if the cast was at a hotspot.  

I agree that more content should be worth doing. That being said, grinding should be the highest silver/hr. This is because of it's required attention and activity. The more effort one puts in, the more they should gain from it. Active fishing for instance shouldn't pull in 1b/hr, but should pull in at least 500m at a decent mastery level(1500 for instance).