A Little More BDO

My hands have been giving me a lot of difficulty lately, so my posts have been far and few between. I’m hoping to fill in the missing days as I find the energy, but we’ll see. What have I been up to?

I reached level 20 in Black Desert Online, and I’ve (slowly) been wrapping my head around some of the systems the game offers. One, you’re going to be given so many rewards you’re going to stop opening them and they’re going to be meaningless. I have so many treats and goodies and foods and drinks and scrolls and potions I am pretty sure it’s enough for 100 people. I’ve shuffled some off to alts because I simply couldn’t hold it all, and others I’ve just left unclaimed if they didn’t have a timer.

I have been watching some YouTube videos but not as many as I’d like. Today I did a little fishing, and I dried some fish, and did some cooking. I realized that I own a house, with a kitchen in it. Apparently I knew how to craft once upon a time. I have utterly and completely forgotten everything I know. I keep getting ore and gems and trinkets to upgrade gear, but I don’t have the faintest idea how any of that works, and nothing seems to make sense, yet. I also haven’t gotten into workers, or routes, or trade. I know that’s a thing because my bank was filled with eggs, chicken meat, and potatoes. I’m pretty sure my workers are doing that. I had some beer in my inventory that I vaguely remember supplying them with. Who doesn’t like alcoholic workers, after all.

My seasonal character is now higher level then my ‘main’ – but I still know so little, and the season ends on September 15th which means my character will be pushed out into the world unless I start a new seasonal character whenever the next ‘season’ starts. Do I really want to start fresh right away after just creating this character? Unsure. Probably not. I’ll probably just take things slow and meander my way along trying to learn. I feel like the concepts in this game are harder for me to pick up than EVE Online, which says a lot about the complexity of it. Nothing has really been explained yet, and I don’t know when it does. I have so many items in my inventory (from claim, mail etc) that I have no clue what I should keep or what I should set aside. For now I’m vendoring very little, and I’m sure it will make sense.. eventually.

One thing that has really stood out to me so far is – the community – is amazing. People are friendly, chattering in a few channels I apparently am on (I have no idea what those channels are. One is blue, one is orange?) and I even joined a non talking guild that just AFK fishes. That’s the life for me right there. Anyway, people are polite, talkative, and I haven’t seen any sign of .. well, anything negative. It’s refreshing just to watch chat go by. I am not sure if this changes, but it’s been really nice. Plus, the game is just beautiful, and I certainly appreciate that.

Happy gaming, no matter where you find yourself!

Storybook Halloween SAL

I signed up to join in my very first ‘SAL’ – also known as stitch a long. It’s a Halloween cross stitch, where each day you get a little square to fill in and at the end of the month you have a completed piece. I’ve done a few cross stitch pieces before, but I’ve never participated in a SAL, and I’m really excited about it. The piece is also framed with cross stitch squares, which is what I’m working on in the screenshot above. We got the pattern early so that we’re ready to go when the SAL begins. I decided to splurge and I purchased a kit for this one that came with all sorts of little treats and goodies, but you can also just sign up and do it with your own items, too. It’s all about the community of crafters coming together, and that’s what I love to see.

Nomadic Once Again

I have a lifetime account to Lord of the Rings Online – and I played not too long ago, with Arkenor and a few other Combat Wombats. Problem is I’m a nomadic gamer, and I tend to move on before too long. Sometimes sooner than not. I wasn’t always a gamer who bounced from game to game, but as my allotted time has changed, and my gaming desires have changed, so have the games themselves. Taking a look at LotRO in specific it’s pretty easy to see what the problem in my case is.

My highest character ever was level 44. I was playing last year, but only reached level 20-22 or so. I had a house, but it expired (you have to keep paying upkeep on those). None of that is the problem though. The problem, is that the current cap to the game is 130. That’s a huge daunting number, especially when you’re only level 20. It felt like I could never catch up, could never make sense of the mechanics that were utilized in the game. Chat was basically an entire other language that I couldn’t make sense of, and my bags were overflowing with items that I had no idea how to use or what they were for.

Returning to a game that you haven’t played in a while is an incredibly daunting task. There are few games that I go back to where it actually sticks, and I am sad to say that no matter how many times I try to get back into LotRO – I just never quite succeed.

Time to continue wandering.