Deconstructing the Merlin Update in Fisch and the Alien Mystery
This content drop introduces the substantial Merlin Update in Fisch, which restructures quite a number of core features of the progression, economy, and mysteries at endgame. It comes with a massive main narrative quest focusing on the wizard himself, a fair number of quality-of-life improvements, and a mysterious object that has crashed and is hinting at things to come.
Speaking of seasoned players, the nuances of the rebalancing changes are completely useless unless one can master the new mechanics governing the quest, as efficiency becomes ever more vital in this fast-paced world.
Merlin's Quest: Shards, Rewards, and the Gilded Staff
The primary narrative thrust of this update is the new quest Merlin is going to start at his now-ruined hut on Sunstone Island.
Quest Trigger: He smashed his magic orb, he says, and now powerful rifts have been made all over the island. You should start entering them and bringing back little broken shards.
Rift Mechanics: Jagged stared most of the time right in front of his hut and again in the main ladder. Each of the rifts is color coded and corresponds to a given shard. When you enter, you will find yourself in a simple contained obstacle course (often easily flown by glider) designed to lead you to the shard.
The Four Shards and Exclusive Rewards
The four specific shards must be collected, and each provides for a unique cosmetic or utility item at the return to Merlin. The quest is a standardized way to gain those invitations:
| Shard Name (Color) | Rift Color | Reward Upon Return | Description / Function |
| Embers (Red/Orange) | Red/Orange Portal | Magic Orb Title | A special title for your player profile. |
| Roots (Green) | Green Portal | Magic Bobber | A cosmetic bobber skin. |
| Tides (Blue) | Blue Portal | Enchanted Book Lantern | A new, very conspicuous lantern accessory. |
| Nebulous (Purple) | Purple Portal | Gilded Staff | A cosmetic skin for a secret rod. |
The Gilded Staff Mystery: Of all the rewards, the most exciting is the Gilded Staff which corresponds to the Nebulous shard. Even though it is called a rod skin, it does not yet apply to any other known, obtainable rod. This is very suggestive that the Gilded Staff is meant to be a skin for a yet-to-be-discovered secret rod which will pertain to or be another aspect of this update's larger mystery (further outlined below).
Personal Analysis: Rift Spawning and Efficiency
My rift farming experience turned out to be quite simple, albeit interspersed with waiting times. This is because portals spawn randomly based on a timer (and perhaps despawn if the correct shard is collected). The key is to remain on Sunstone Island and keep a close watch on the area for efficiency. Fortunately, minor Admin Abuse style item spawns are present in rifts for the small bonus while waiting for that specific colored portal you need.
Major Rebalancing and Quality-of-Life (QoL) Shifts
Beyond that, the changes in the economy and the player experience have greatly affected resource management through the Merlin Update in Fisch.
Aquarium Economy Nerf
The most profound change is the aquarium system, which used to be a multi-million currency-per-hour underground streaming system; now, it is a humbling hundreds of thousands per hour. This was a deliberate action against the over-blown in-game economy.
New Quality of Life Improvements at Aquariums: The following features were introduced to help players optimize the gases:
Equip Best for Money: Automatic selection of the fish that yields the highest cash rate.
Equip Best XP: Automatically selects the fish that maximize experience gain.
Show Cosmetic Fish: Allows easy viewing of cosmetic-only fish.
General Quality of Life Improvements:
Disable Cutscenes: Players can now disable various cutscenes in the game through their settings options.
Crate Multi-Open: Users may select and open multiple crates at once, thus eliminating the need for rapid clicking or detection of auto-clickers.
Daily Rewards & Luck Boost: All new daily reward tracks have been implemented. The feature will let players watching brief advertisements (up to five times a day) earn temporary luck.
Hunt Fish Rebalance: Many of the older "Hunt Fish" challenges have been made more difficult to catch, elevating the challenge level.
The UFO Mystery—Teasing into the Next Phase
The installment of the Merlin Update in Fisch has a lot of unsolved mystery—the biggest that seems to connect at all to Merlin's magical quest, hinting that maybe this is just the tip of a larger, multi-stage narrative that will play out in time.
The Crashed Alien Ship
Now visible at Roslit Bay, just near the lighthouse, near the wreckage of the UFO. It has been completely burned away, obscuring the view, creating an impressive, new landmark.
Current Status: Currently unknown as to what the object really does, and there are no immediate interaction prompts or confirmed starting steps for a related quest.
Speculated Association: The leading theory indicates this UFO is that from which the secret skin of the rod is derived: that is, the Gilded Staff skin was meant for whatever rod the alien quest at some point yields.
The mystery fits the developers' previous styles of how they treat big updates in terms of content: something is broken down into subsequent phases, much like the "Brick by Brick" quest line. Thus, Merlin Update in Fisch remains the sole cause of internal rewards and rebalancing, while the UFO serves as entry to the next challenge, which should be even more complex.
