An Odd Thing To Make Me Reflect

I have not yet wandered away!  I was soooo sick last week.  I never got around to writing my first post, but this Friday my first feature column goes up and I’ve got some plans and some notes already ready to go already!  But in the mean time, I give you something I posted to my guild forums a few weeks back because it made me think quite a bit.  I thought a wider audience might appreciate it!

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So I was out fishing on my druid the other night when I fished up a Ephemeral Fishing Pole. I looked at it in my inventory and realized this would be the first new pole I would use on my main in a long long time. My trusty Mastercraft Kalu’ak Fishing Pole with the +30 fishing has been my go to fishing pole for quite a while. (I never have been able to quite get my hands on Arcanite Fishing Pole, so other poles have shown up, but I never saw a reason to switch because they were just as good.) I went to my achievement tab and looked up Tuskarrmageddon, it was dated 12/9/08. I’m sure I bought that pole as soon as I hit exalted, so that pole has spent most of it’s time in my backpack for over six years.

This lead me to another odd thought. That fishing pole has probably seen more use and been through more things with my character than any other single in game item. It’s a hassle to fetch it out of the bank every time I want to fish, so I keep it on me. Its been whacked against countless mobs heads when I forgot to unequip it. (It’s hard to tell you have the wrong weapon when you’re in bear or kitty!)  Granted, I don’t know if that’s quiet whacking, the mechanics of druid weapons are funky. It was probably was in my bag for the fall of the Lich King and when my guild got Realm First Level 25. It has been there for countless battlegrounds, quests, (Including most of pre-Cata Loremaster) and dungeons, basically all the usual WoW things I’ve done over the years.  It has been with this toon when she was a Tauren, a Night Elf, and now as a Troll.

Academically, I knew the Ephemeral Fishing Pole was waaay better, but there was a degree of the familiar to my trusty fishing companion with its High Test Eternium Fishing Line, even if it is just a bunch of pixels, which are ephemeral in their own way.  I was going to be a little sad to retire it.

Then I looked up to see if maybe I had missed a better pole along the way, other than the Arcanite, since the Ephemeral was sooo much better than any other pole I had seen, and in my research I realized the Ephemeral Fishing Pole, really is ephemeral and after 24 hours logged into game it would be gone.  Well good thing I didn’t hasty with the sell button!

It’s odd to think, that in all that has come and gone, in a game with gear that we know will obsolete every few months, a fishing pole is something that’s been stable. One day, I’ll have a better fishing pole, and like so many other pieces of gear with memories, my Mastercraft Kalu’ak will be tucked away in the bank or void storage. But I’m kinda glad the Ephemeral is going to disappear, but glad it appeared as well.

This is a weird world we play in.

Tags: Deep WoW Thoughts, Fishing, Fishing Pole, Fishing Pole WoW