I’m most likely not alone in this thought. Atleast make it on par with the rare fishing equipment. One is crafted the other takes hours to do the questline for. Is it really that hard to make it the level thats required for the enchants, and give it 3 more skill? Or make it like the heirloom system so you can buy upgrades for each expansion (through fishing currency?). And revamp the artifact power slots to be some kind of achievements for the new expansion "example : “Catch 15 rare fish in X expansion” to unlock one of the old powers, and other achievements to unlock the rest? It could literally be the same upgrade achievements each expansion.
I feel like its a huge waste to not do this, and it can’t be that hard to do. The fishing rod looks sick, and even now (unless you see some lures on AH that currently go for 1-40k on my highpop), you will spend hours to get it.