Is Fishing worth it for PvE and economy?

Is it worth keeping Fishing in the long term?

In most cases, yes — if you see Fishing as a support and economic profession, not as “easy gold all the time”.

Wowhead's Fishing overview makes it clear that it has two major uses in WotLK Classic:

• food Cooking
• provide ingredients for Alchemy

This alone puts the profession in a very useful place for any player thinking about raiding, consumable maintenance and the market.

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Direct benefits for PvE progression

Fishing is valuable in PvE because it helps:

• supply individual food
• produce material for feast
• reduce spending on consumables
• maintain autonomy before raid/dungeon

If you play PvE frequently, the profession stops being a “minigame” and becomes part of the character's real logistics.

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Economic potential in different phases

Hottest raid phase

fish linked to strong food or feast tend to spin better

Warmer phase

profit may fall, and then Fishing will once again shine more as a personal utility than as a gold mine

Parallel markets

Pygmy Suckerfish and other fish with uses outside of Cooking may hold value at specific times

Wowhead's Fishing guide also reinforces an important detail: selling raw fish can yield more than processing, depending on the market.

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Comparison with other secondary options

Cooking

almost always talk directly to Fishing

First Aid

It's more situational in the endgame

Fishing

has a more constant role to:

• consumable
• light farm
• auxiliary economy

So, among the secondaries, Fishing is not the most explosive — but it is one of the most sustainable in the long term.

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Time cost versus return obtained

This is the decisive point.

It pays off more if:

• you play PvE frequently
• want to reduce spending on food
• likes quiet farm
• use the profession with a defined target

It pays less if:

• you hate repetition
• want gold very quickly
• does not use Cooking
• does not follow the server market

Fishing tends to reward the consistent player better than the impatient player.

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Criteria for deciding to keep or exchange

Keep Fishing if:

1. It fuels your PvE
2. you like the easy pace
3. Server Market Still Buys Your Fish
4. you use the profession as part of the account

It loses value to you if:

1. becomes just dead time
2. you don't use Cooking
3. the server is saturated and you don't want to deal with it
4. the return no longer matches your routine

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Minimum recommendation

Fishing is worth it for PvE and economy when:

1. you use the profession to supply consumables
2. understands the raw fish market
3. combine it with Cooking
4. Accepts more stable return than explosive

In the long run, Fishing pays off more as a useful and reliable profession than as a promise of miraculous gold.