Fishing is actually a great way to judge the creative development team's capabilities, because in theory it should be low cost content, but if done correctly, it can really participate and end up being a pleasant user experience. Fishing has been an add on to many MMORPG and has brought an unexpected amount of joy to several players in various guises and this low effort activity has a place that ultimately makes it a worthwhile consideration for a game like Guild Wars 2. For GW2, fishing could open up a bunch of new doors, like increasing cooking's level to 500 or adding to artificer for oils etc. 

 

Fishing provides a number of benefits to any MMO brave enough to plunder the great deep. Purely from a gameplay standpoint, this exercise can add so much to a game. Final Fantasy 14's fishing methods are actually quite complex, including your own action bars, abilities, different lures, gear, and a whole bunch of other things that can be very interesting once you reach the point of madness. World of Warcraft has had fishing in various forms for years and the act of kicking back and hunting for Bertha or Bubbles in an open body of water provides an area of the game that pretty much anybody can start out in. 

 

The low entry for activities like fishing doesn't always have to mean a lack of progression either. While some games require crafting components and use fishing as a gold sink for bait shoppers, others embrace the AFK nature of the sport. While Sea of Thieves might go for a surprise Kraken attack, Black Desert Online actively embraces the AFK.  There are a number of ways it could work and not all of them have to end up easy.

 

Fishing doesn't just bring us an option to do something easy while we AFK. It makes so much sense for a game that pushes the player to explore the world to have a reason to so find something else new and interesting. We can go to different places and enjoy the fun of fishing. As beautiful as these views and vistas of the open world are, I don't always take the time to enjoy them, do you?