Matsya Questions (2024)

I know there are already many posts about Matsya but I am recently trying for Shaper's Shawl.

I have a few questions.

1. There are two east bridges in Vunkerl Inlet (S), so which one is best to fish Matsya at?
2. I get line breaks 70% of the time with Fishing capped (110), Ebisu Fishing Rod +1, Fisherman's Tunica, Tlahtlamah Glasses, Fisher's Torque, Fisherman's Gloves, Fisherman's Hose, Waders, Fisher's Rope, Noddy Ring, Puffin Ring, and Fisherman's Belt support. I do not have the stall moglification though. Would getting the stall / mega moglification help with Matsya line breaks? I do not have problems with time on the line currently.
3. Do you have less chances of getting Matsya if someone else is trying to fish for them at the same time?
4. There is a bold claim on wiki.ffo.jp that it may be easier to get Matsya at night, but I don't believe it. It is unfortunate some Japanese players believe it too. 5. Some say Shaper's Shawl isn't that useful anymore for crafts below 70 because of a 2016 update that increased skillups significantly (like 25% for crafts 1-60). Is that true as well? I think they are pointing to Kitron Macaron being more useful, perhaps?

If the mog fishing stall has any effect on line breaks it can't be significant as I remember line breaks beeing quite frequent even with the stall setup in the moghouse.

On bismark matsya go for 20k each, which is pretty cheep as they go for 60k-200k on higher population.
Shapers shawl from inside the belly quest is listed as VR (1%), assuming that's correct you'll have to catch about 100 matsya for the shawl. On bismark the shawl would have to save you 2.000.000 Gil during skill up to break even which is probably the case, but...

That's completely ignoring the hustle of gathering dwarf pugils or drill calamary. The only sources I know of are the mog garden and login points. Both rather slow and for the later you also have to deduct potential profits you could have made from other login point items.


Imho the worst part about this item is you can't send it to mules. You'd pretty much have to cap fishing + guild points + fishing torque + ebisu quest on every character you want to benefit from the skill up rate increase of the shawl.

As you mentioned the skill up rate has been buffed quite a bit and macrons even further increase the gains.
Mog bonanza (I don't know what items it competes with at that rank), mog garden matsyas, gobbie chest(?) and bots aside (are there mog garden chore bots?) I'd say the juice isn't worth the squeeze.

I would not suggest trying to fish up matsya anymore either.
I camped AH while leveling various subcrafts for them. It was honestly more a trophy item as skillup rate is bonkers now: Especially during a crafting skillup campaign.

even above 70 just get a https://www.ffxiah.com/item/26223/patissieres-ring and use kitrons, crafting in adoulin if possible. skip the shawl.

if the shawl is just a trophy item, it helps to have another character fish up and hold 3 monsters to eliminate the chance of that wasting bait. you'll have plenty of lost catches and line breaks as is.

Has anyone actually wasted the time to test if the shawl stacks with those other items anyways? You would hope everything stacks but you never know...

The adjustments and additions made the Shawl far less attractive than it used to be. Matsya line snaps are horrible and the bite rate is even worse. One fish/hour is probably generous, so the shawl would have to potentially make up for several days of playtime.


Worth before the adjustments if you were leveling main and several/all sub crafts. Anymore, it's only worth the satisfaction you get from knowing you did it.

The wiki.ffo.jp page on Shaper's Shawl said there was testing but the source link is broken.

32%(25% base +7% kitron) * 1.25 (shaper's shawl) = 40% skill up rate

https://www.bluegartr.com/threads/112258-Shaper-s-Shawl-Testing old testing topic as well

Don’t forget Midras’s Helm +1 exists which also bumps skill up rate a smidge too. Yes, it’s not as strong as Shawl’s testing, but it’s far less effort than fishing Marsyas and rolling the dice.

Shapers used to make a big difference because getting more skill per synth mattered when you were using limited quantity player farmed ingredients from the AH. These days, on top of the higher base skillup rate, most crafts also have a viable path to ~90 using vendor materials alone.

RNG is RNG, but I'd bet money most people could level a main craft to cap and every sub craft to 70 in less time than it takes them to fish up a Shaper's. Totally not worth it unless you want it just because.

Crafter's torques on the other hand are an RNG grind that's still useful.

Well, I already happen to have fishing 110 with many subcrafts 0 or low-level, so I think shaper's shawl would not be that hard to get. I have tried but so many line breaks that it is not too fun. I am wondering if I need that stall for mega moglification or not for max available fishing skill in 2024. I have yet to get synergy to adept or close to it as well, but that is another issue.

it won't make any appreciable difference. the fish just doesn't like being caught :)