July 2024

Black Desert Online – Some QoL Changes!

When I want to game, but don’t really have the time or maybe I’m out of spoons, the game I jump to is almost always BDO – this game has a lot of AFK / passive game modes that make it absolutely worth it to get my gaming fix when things are a bit rough. It has also been quite some time since I played, and a lot of QoL changes have taken place that I am completely in love with.

First, I created a Dosa, my first male character (my one issue with BDO is that classes are still restricted by gender). I made a season character – but seasons have changed now, they’re no longer static dates that rotate, you can create one when ever. I had a scholar in the works (the newly released class before Dosa) but decided that I didn’t want to continue with that, for now. Anyway, apparently life skills are now family (account) wide! That was one of the first changes I noticed. This is a fantastic change, I used to swap characters all of the time and I’m very glad it went account wide. On that same note, harvesting tools are also now shared across your family, another VERY delightful change.

One of the less favourable changes that happened is the hotkey for fishing, it’s ‘ now (the key beside enter) on QWERTY keyboards, other languages might have it elsewhere. To stop fishing, right click and move back to battle stance. Confusing, I actually had to watch a video on how to fish since the changes took place.

There’s been a bunch of other changes too, things I haven’t managed to wrap my head around yet. I don’t know what artifacts are, how to use them, or what to do with them. The same can be said for the transfusion window. I do have bits and bobs scattered all over the place, so I’m taking my time and sorting things out and figuring what I want to work on – when I don’t have the time to actually pay attention, I set up for some AFK fishing (there’s an event going on at the moment) or some mount training.

BDO has never been the easiest of games to get into, there’s a LOT to it, and the cluttered UI easily scares people away – but – I think learning the mechanics slowly is doable, and I really love how beautiful the game is as well as the incredibly robust life skill system (crafting). There’s apparently a new life skill releasing this year and I’m excited to see that, too. Plus, the game doesn’t require a subscription and the expansions are always free. Sure, there’s lots of ‘please buy this’ in the shop, but I’ve honestly never felt that pressured, they give away so much for free.

In any case, I’m enjoying my return and hopefully I can figure out what else has changed given some time. As always, happy gaming, no matter where you find yourself!

Back to Warcraft, and Making Gold

As is my way, I’ve been wandering around for a few months now and haven’t really played much world of warcraft. I didn’t like Plunderstorm, and I didn’t enjoy the Pandaria Remix, either. I’m not a fan of removing players from the world and sticking them on their own servers, or time limited events. Breaks are good, and I do tend to take breaks from Warcraft, knowing that eventually I’ll wander back. It helps that I only spend in-game gold on my subscriptions, and I stopped feeling ‘guilty’ over my wandering ways years ago.

Anyway. This week I wandered back. It was Timewalking (Pandaria, go figure) so I completed that with my paladin, which is the character I think I’ve settled on as my ‘main’ for The War Within. I also happened to return when Snail Fight! Was up in Legion, so I spent the rest of the evening leveling up the 214 pets that have just been sitting there. I managed to get the list down to 100 or so that still need leveling. Doing that got me another level 70 character (my alliance rogue over on Argent Dawn) as well as 50-61 on a Warlock over on Hyjal. Almost all of my alts have been leveled exclusively through pet battles, my method of choice.

Sales this week were sporadic because I couldn’t decide if I was honestly returning to the game or not. At one point I had stuffed all of my AH items back into banks across Azeroth only to pull them out and put them for sale (again) the next day. The API has been down since the 27th of June, so TSM & sniping in general have been restricted to a per-server basis rather than region wide. It’s not unusual for this to happen, especially when an expansion is being worked on – the API has gone down in the past, and I’m confident that it will get fixed – eventually.

Wandering away from Warcraft lets me appreciate the things that it lacks, as well as the things that I love. I still haven’t found a community within the game, and that’s always the main downfall I have with it. I stick to my own happenings, doing my own things. My sporadic and random play time doesn’t lend well to static groups or raids, so I fit in when / where I can.

Anyway, that’s enough reflection for tonight. It’s nice to be back, and here’s hoping sales continue to swing upwards as I get back into my routine.

Happy gaming, no matter where you find yourself!