@fuba Not nonsense at all. There are certain things that are absolutely needed to progress in the game; progression meaning terminating each of the existing biome 'bosses'.

For example uptiered armor is 'needed'.

Fishing is not.

Valheim is not a pure 'sandbox' game, but rather it is game with linear progression and an end goal which is set in a semi-sandbox environment. For instance you are given the freedom to collect iron ore in a number of ways, but you have to collect iron (read need) to ultimately progress.

And given the above fishing is not 'needed' in that it does not provide anything a player cannot obtain in some other way (unlike iron ore) to aid their progression.

Of course you can play Valheim anyway you want, but that does not negate the fact the game has an end goal and has only certain ways to reach that goal. Everything else is extra. That does not mean those extra things cannot be enjoyable, but they are not needed to reach the end goal of the game as currently presented.

(and if you need an example of a true sandbox game an obvious one would be Minecraft if simply because it has no 'predetermined goal' at all, unlike Valheim in which our goal is too eliminate all the bosses)