In May 2023, World of Warcraft player and Reddit user Grozez made a bold declaration: he was the "world first" to collect 5 million Lost Sole, a fish released in the MMO's Shadowlands expansion.
Clearly he was not done. Just days ago, Grozez returned with a whopping 10 million Lost Sole to his name.
World First: 10,000,000 Lost Sole from r/wow
"It's been a long journey, but I made it," he says in his latest post. "Just 2 years ago I was at 5 million of these fish but now I can proudly say I have a majority of the world's supply of these fish. Many thanks to all those who helped along the way. My next post will be when I have 15,000,000."
His Reddit replies are a spectacle. "OP is going to singlehandedly crash the Lost Sole market," one player jokes.
"I AM the lost sole market," Grozez replies.
Another player simply asks, "Why?"
"Can't be stopped," Grozez reasons.
It goes without saying that I had to talk to this guy about his fish.
Grozez tells me that he started collecting Lost Sole specifically because they were "extremely cheap" following Shadowlands "and it was something I already had a bunch of, so when I decided to fill my friends guild bank with an item, it was something I could do quite easily."
"Quite easily" is doing some heavy lifting here. Grozez has been at this for about four years, and he estimates he's invested "800 - 900k" gold buying up the fish, having caught "around 110k" the old-fashioned way.
"I haven't fished too many up in the last few years because I'm starting to have a more busy life, and I've bought the rest on the [auction house] or had friends give them to me," he says. I love the idea that multiple people are funneling Lost Sole into this project like fishmongers building generational wealth.
"If people really doubt that my collection is real or not, they need to consider why anyone would spend the time to fake such a dumb thing for so long," he tells the doubters. "If additional proof is needed, I'm more than happy to do a recording of going through all my characters that hold the fish.
"I have no intention of doing anything other than collect these fishy friends, and I have no intention of ever getting rid of even a single one."
I, too, felt compelled to ask Grozez, why? It's a question containing multitudes. Why this fish, in this game, for this long?
Again, Grozez was unshakable: "I simply can't be stopped."
