Leveling, Leveling, and Leveling Again

stargrace September 11, 2021 0 Comments

Goodness me, another BDO post! I’m even writing this one early. That rarely happens.

Yesterday I was getting a small handle on some game mechanics, and I left my character on overnight doing some fishing. She even earned herself a bit of experience, going from level 24 to 25. What holds me back is my inventory (I have 57 slots out of.. I believe the max is 192 or there about). No big deal, it was still extra income while I slept and I have no issues with that.

Besides the help I’ve been getting from the friend I mentioned in the previous posts, another good friend of mine who I have known for many MANY years now (20-ish) also plays. In fact he has over 20,000 hours of the game displayed on steam – keeping in mind that most of that is probably AFK fishing or training a horse or whatever. No judgement here, I’m basically in awe.

Anyway, he offered to power level my seasonal character because I was honestly a bit sad to hear that the season is ending on the 15th, which is earlier than most people expected. I had slacked for so long that I knew there was no way I was going to ‘finish’ my character. So we rode off on his horse to some place across the map I’ve never been to before, and he used his level 61 character (happens to be the pirate looking one, I forget what class that is) to smush mobs while I stood there and tried not to walk into anything that would eat me. Before I knew it, in less than an hour I had climbed to level 55.

Neat.

Now, you might look at that and think “but Stargrace, what is the point of power leveling you’re going to miss so much content!” – no, the content is still there waiting for me. I can go complete it any time. For me, leveling has never been that much fun because things I want to do are always gated by that leveling mechanic. I enjoy games like EVE where I can explore the entire universe and never feel hemmed in by my lack of ‘level’. Being told I cannot do something (I think it was processing that required level 30? Some sort of life skill in any case) is annoying. I will gladly take free levels from a friend any day of the week.

Anyway.

Now I’m 55, I’m still working on the quests I obtained at level 25, but I feel a lot less pressure. Next up I’m hoping to figure out how to enchant this gear everyone keeps talking about. Pen? I have no idea what that even means. I have Naru gear, and I enchanted the weapon to +7 and the armor to +5 and that’s about all I know how to do so far. We’ll see how long it takes me to figure out the rest.

Happy gaming, no matter where you find yourself!

One Inventory Slot to Rule them All

stargrace September 10, 2021 0 Comments

I mentioned in my last post that so far the community of BDO has been amazing – and I want to give a very specific example. When I first mentioned I was looking to play, one community member left a detailed paragraph on life skills for me, with examples of where I should go for tutorials, handy web sites, and other tips and tricks. I appreciated it so much and I was honestly caught a bit off guard.

It didn’t stop there though, they added my family name to friends (it’s Reveurs for anyone looking to add me) and once in-game, they offered to help me out even further if I so desired. They also provided me with a code for +4 inventory slots and let me tell you, inventory in BDO is something I never ever have enough of. I was so thankful! That would be 4 more extra fish I could carry before needing to sell, or 4 more rewards chosen from the onslaught that I keep getting pelted with.

I’ve been watching more videos, and I feel like I’ve gotten a fairly good grasp on some more in game systems. I can confidently fish (on land, I haven’t done the whole quest/buy a boat thing yet) and I can take those fish to a trade manager and sell them. I haven’t min/max the process yet (I’m not selling them at the most optimal locations in other words) but I feel like I’ve got the basics down. I also purchased a ‘Balenos fishing rod+10’ which was recommended from a fishing video I watched. It was 125,000,000 silver which LOOKS like a lot to me, it was about half of my overall cash, but since fishing is something I can easily do when I’m sleeping or AFK (happens often, I’m a busy Mom of two) it was worth the investment. Inventory space is pretty much the only thing that holds me back now.

I also spent some time watching videos on training horses, where to get them and AFK training. I moved on to breeding horses but I was honestly pretty tired, so I’ll have to re-watch those ones.

My character is level 25 – furthest in the game I’ve ever been. I’ve just been following the main story quests, which reminds me a lot of MSQ in FFXIV. I will have lots of time to explore and do all of the smaller side quests another time. Unfortunately this ‘season’ ends on September 15th and I did NOT take advantage of it as much as I had wished, but that’s OK. My original character is level 18, so I’ve already surpassed her by a few levels. I still have more systems to figure out, but like I keep saying, I’m really enjoying myself and the ‘stuff’ I’m learning is coming in bits and pieces. I don’t mind that. It’s when I’m at a complete standstill that things get frustrating.

So what about BDO being a PvP focused game? Honestly, that doesn’t seem to be the case any more. People in channels were talking about how they had only been PKilled maybe twice in seven years, they avoid the end game PvP areas, and these days there are more options on locations to go and I have the feeling that PvP is a little bit easier to avoid. We’ll just have to see where my adventures take me.

As always, happy gaming no matter where you find yourself!

A Little More BDO

stargrace September 9, 2021 0 Comments

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!