Black Desert Online

A Return to BDO – Where do I start?!

stargrace March 6, 2024 1 Comment

It has been about 2 years since I last played BDO, and while they’re celebrating their 8th year right now, I decided I had enough free time to squeeze in a little game play – except I have absolutely NO IDEA what I am doing. A lot has changed in those two years.

What I did manage to learn is that seasons never end, so you can pick up a seasonal character any time you want, and I also learned about this “new” (to me) tool bag, that allows me to put my gathering tools in a bag I can equip to alternate tools instead of constantly switching. I followed the guide by GrumpyGreen (thank goodness they still write guides, I loved their stuff before and I still love it) and finished it easily enough. That freed up a bunch of inventory space which I was VERY happy about. Inventory management is still a nightmare, maybe even more so now because I have so many items that I simply don’t know what to do with and I don’t know what they’re used for.

I also found out I had components to create a dream horse! What! I have never owned one before, having never really dedicated the time towards breeding horses (though I do have a nice stable of my favourites) and I have no idea when they gave this out, or why I had it. I decided to go with Pegasus, female, and I named her Fluttershy, of course.

What am I going to do next? I’d like to get my shai to 61 (she’s 60 at the moment), and then work on cleaning out my inventory, which is probably one of my favourite silly things to do. I am not sure if I want to create another seasonal character (I’ve done it a few times in the past) but I might ‘just because’. Eventually I’d love to clear out some of the quests I’ve been carrying around (for years) and try to learn what else has changed since I’ve been away. It feels nice to be back! I won’t be giving up WoW any time soon, but BDO can be played (well, life skills at least) fairly passively, one of the reasons I love it. There’s room for both in my day to day, hopefully!

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

BDO – Seasonal Fun

stargrace March 18, 2022 No Comments

I know I have too many BDO accounts (the total right now is three for those of you keeping track at home) but I have to say, this is probably one of my top favourite MMO of all time. It’s just that good. Anyway, I decided to cut down playing all three accounts and I’m trying to focus on just one. I swapped my 60 tamer for a newly boosted 60 guardian in the season, and I’m hoping to finish off the achievements they have before it ends, but one of those achievements is to kill 5k mobs and that one I’m a bit reluctant to get started on because ew.

Like most games I play I tend to spend all of my time crafting or doing life skills, so going out and slaughtering bad guys for a few hours doesn’t exactly speak to me. That being said, I have been having a LOT of fun in game. Artifacts were added, and new content releases just a few short weeks from now. BDO also recently celebrated their 6 year anniversary, a huge congratulations on that milestone!

I am unsure as to whether or not I’ll participate in the next season event. I think I have more than enough characters by now, and running through the same content at ultra fast speed has never really been my thing. I’m quite taken with my Shai, and I play very little else (the guardian is a close second, and the lahn is my combat character of choice). Next? Maybe working towards a dream horse…

Happy gaming, no matter where you find yourself!

Leveling up In BDO

stargrace January 7, 2022 No Comments

I’ve continued to play BDO this month alternating between my two accounts every 30 days so that I can remain on the Olvia servers (no PvP happens there). My winter season character (a dark knight) is level 58 and just finished the chenga tome quest. Next I’ll work my way to 61 by using some of the very popular leveling guides, and I’ll attempt to finish off my season pass. When 30 days have passed, I’ll swap back over to my other account, and continue playing the season there. All in all I’m pretty happy with my progress, life skills are moving, though some certainly move faster than others. I still have not even touched hunting yet, mostly because I’m not sure I’ll be able to do it or be any good at it. I hear it’s pretty annoying. Still, it’s on ‘the list’.

I’ve done a lot of AFK fishing, afk combat, and cooking. Alchemy is something I’m really interested in, but getting components is annoying. I haven’t started doing too much trading on this second account, but I made up for that with bartering which levels VERY slowly. In fact after 23 barter trips, I’m still at beginner 2. Ouch.

I’m excited about the new winter zone being added, and while I can see how people would experience burnout and want to play different games, I’m still enjoying myself and trudging along. Maybe when I reach guru in all of my life skills I’ll want to take a break. Until then..

Happy gaming, no matter where you find yourself!

I’ll Packa my Alpaca

stargrace December 29, 2021 No Comments

Even though the adorable alpaca mounts are temporary (we hope that they will release a permanent version once the new winter zone releases for good) of course I had to rush right out and do some ice fishing to collect one.

It was a quest I don’t ever want to do again.

You grab a fishing rod from Crio in Velia, and then you head SE a ways into the bush where you settle down to do some ice fishing. When you catch a fish you physically move your mouse around in circles, either clockwise or counter clockwise depending on which way the reel has to go. You’re supposed to keep the fish in the center of some marking and move both clockwise and counterclockwise as the fish moves – but it’s REALLY difficult and sore on the wrist. My only tip is to move from your shoulder to prolong the issues you’re going to encounter.

You have to catch two of each type of fish. There are three. It took me 30 attempts and then some. Each rod only has 30 attempts, so I had to run all of the way back, grab another rod, and continue trying to fish.

There was nothing fun about this quest.

That being said, my Shai does look absolutely adorable riding her Alpaca – and it’s also incredibly slow so the chances of me actually using it are pretty slim, besides the fact that this version of it will be vanishing in February, so I’m not even really sure what the point was.

Picture of course for cuteness.

Let’s Go Sailing

stargrace December 28, 2021 No Comments

It was time. I bought myself a boat from the central market, and I wanted to teach myself how to barter. From the start, it’s pretty simple. Under the life tab of the UI you have a barter screen. On it you’ll see different objects listed, starting with one that comes from on land. It’s usually node obtained or harvested or something like that. I think my first one was some red stones. You take a number of those red stones (or 6x the amount listed, as you can typically complete 6 of those particular trades) and look to see who is accepting them. Then you sail out there and they give you another item in return for your trade. You take that item, look at the list again, and sail to the next location. In BDO there are 5 trades, and then you can either sell the final item for silver or you can exchange it for crow coins.

Coins can be spent on various things and you get the picture of how this works. After 21 trades I’m still at beginner 2 bartering, which is pretty low. I did a bunch of sailing quests and I’m at skilled four for that, at least. There are dailies (also known by players as sailies) to do that will help you get that sailing experience, and you earn some for riding around where the map doesn’t work.

I have a lot of work ahead of me. I dedicated storage space to a few islands so I can drop off excess barter items (you are limited by the weight your boat can carry, so you may not be able to perform every transaction that you have access to) and I unlocked a lot of trade nodes at least. It is one of my least favourite life skills so far, but it might get better in time, I’m not sure.

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