2023. A look ahead.

Photo by Jess Bailey Designs on Pexels.com

2022 was a weird year for me. I faced a number of health challenges, which really put a damper on my gaming. Also, when I did have the time to play, I played an absolute boatload of RimWorld, which cut into my MMO time. Nonetheless, Elyon did come up as one of my most played games on my Steam Replay. You can see how I felt about that over on MassivelyOP.

It was not a great year for my MMO gaming. That’s what I am trying to say.

So what is on my plate for 2023? I am going to play a whole bunch of tiny F2P MMORPGs on Steam to write about on MassivelyOP. I also intend to revisit some older games and write about them here and there. Likely candidates for the old game tour are EQ2, LoTRO, DDO, and Ryzom. Maybe Istaria as well.

Yes. Ryzom and Istaria are still out there.

I hope to get on a schedule of weekly (plus) posts on this blog. I am also going to work on some other blogs and possibly a podcast about my other hobbies, as well as working full-time at my new job starting in February. I may have overfilled my plate, but I seem to do better with a full plate, at least in terms of mental health, so that’s what I am going to do.

Elyon: Another One Bites The Dust

Players in NA/EU have until December 7 to enjoy Elyon before it gets tossed into the MMO graveyard. Sad, as always. Sad, but predictable.

Not MMO: RimWorld is the worst best game ever

Or is it the best worst game ever? Really, it could be either. All I know is that it has mercilessly consumed over 1200 hours of my life, and I still haven’t completed any of the potential “end game” conditions. Not even the somewhat easier ones I added through mods. I have gotten damned close but the horrors of the Rim are always one step behind. And one step ahead.

I said it is not MMO, but like everything else with RimWorld, there’s a mod for that:

As with Skyrim, it is the modding community that lifts the game to glorious new heights, even though I enjoyed hundreds upon hundreds of hours playing each of those games in their plain vanilla state.

So, why am I writing about RimWorld again on my MMO blog? Friends, I was so close to getting to the crashed ship. I sent my rather large colony there in waves. That was my mistake this time. I had one caravan wait for another that was struggling, and then both caravans starved instead of one. I tried settling down to scrape some food together. That did not help. Some colonists starved anyway, and that triggered others to go into a murderous rage. It was a spectacular failure.

That is all.

Over a year away? Already?

I feel a little like Rip Van Winkle waking up after a hundred years. I’m back, but I am really out of touch. I have spent most of the last year working from home on a contract basis, dealing with my son’s first year of school with his severe ADHD, and playing RimWorld with whatever time I had left. That wasn’t a lot of time either.

But now I am getting back into the MMO scene. I recently got ELYON (does it have to be in all caps? Is that a thing?) and downloaded Lost Ark.

I had been debating getting a founder’s pack for Lost Ark, but then time got away from me. Now I am contemplating a starter pack. I will probably give it a try first as I still haven’t even logged in and ARPGs are really hit-or-miss for me.

Elyon doesn’t seem to be doing too well. Ten or fifteen years ago, it would have done fine. Maybe not great, but fine. With the new range and scope of online multiplayer options, a run-of-the-mill MMORPG just doesn’t cut it, especially if it gives you the distinct feeling that you need to keep your arms and legs inside the car at all times and remain seated until the ride comes to a full stop. That’s not a dealbreaker for me, but I totally get why other people would not dig it.

Elyon does have a small furry race. If you know anything about me, you know I am a sucker for the small and the furry. (I am not a furry in real life, but I play one in MMORPGs.) I feel like my Chua in Wildstar was about as close to a character that represents (graphically) who I am on the inside that I have ever had.

I will be writing more about that elsewhere soon, I am sure.

Anyway… HELLO! What are you playing? What should I be playing?

The Black Desert Transfer is NOW.

As of February 24th, 2021, Black Desert Online will be published by Pearl Abyss instead of Kakao, so if you want to continue your account, you’ll need to do a transfer. You can do that HERE. There are instructions for Steam users HERE. The transfer period runs January 27th, 2021–May 31, 2021.

Kakao Cash will not be transferred, so get in there and get it spent before February 24.

I have done it. Just follow the directions and you’ll be fine. Happy Transfer!

2021 Gaming Plans

It’s coming up on that time of the year when people do their retrospectives and set new goals. I am going to skip the retrospective and get on with the goal setting.

Play more, write more. If I am going to write about games, it would be helpful for me to play them. If I am going to play games, I might as well write about them.
Try something new every month. A new game, a new class, whatever it takes to keep things fresh and moving along.
Give DC Universe Online and Champions Online a fair shake. I have started both, but they are both just sitting on my hard drive waiting for me to come back to my little newblets.
Persuade my husband and mother to give video games a try. I have been trying to do this for a few years now, but maybe this will be the year.

I hate to commit to anything more than that, given the unpredictability of life, the universe, and everything.

What’s up? (Personal stuff, mainly)

I am going to spare you the “2020 sucks” opener here. Don’t get me wrong, there’s a whole lot of suckage going on. But everyone knows that.

So, moving on. I haven’t been playing MMORPGs much lately. That’s pretty out-of-character for me. I just haven’t been feeling it. It might be burn out, it might just be a mood swing. Who knows? I’ll undoubtedly be back in MMOs eventually. In the meantime, I’ve been playing just a little bit of a bunch of other games.

I have been playing Oblivion and Skyrim. (Yes. Oblivion.) And even though I finished the main story and many other quest lines in a playthrough long ago, I feel like somehow I have a better grasp on the game now. After countless hours in Skyrim, I have a better feel for The Elder Scrolls games in general. I definitely prefer the Skyrim controls, but it took me no longer than 15 minutes to adapt.

I have played a little bit of Among Us and some Phasmophobia as well. It’s not like me to be so close to “on trend.” I usually come around 2 or 3 years late. You can play Among Us on mobile for free. I bought it for PC after trying it on mobile. Both games are definitely worth the money and the download.

Rimworld is still occupying some of my late night playtime, but I am not playing it quite as much as I had been. I think when I get a new day job, I will get the Royalty expansion and start again. (I shouldn’t have spent the money on the previously mentioned games either, but I just wanted to play with my friends and family, so there are no regrets about that at all.)

No Man’s Sky has pulled me back in. I loved the game from day one, while other people were hating on it because it didn’t meet their expectations. Not having expectations, I loved it for what it was. The updates since then have been stellar, if you’ll forgive the pun. It was an ugly duckling but has turned into a beautiful and much more popular swan. And all of those updates were free. It is truly a completely different game. And I still love it. I just wish I could devote more time to it– longer play sessions, a little more frequently. That’s just not what my life allows right now.

And that’s about it. I have been feeling the urge to play more city/colony building games, so I may yet drop into Tropico 5, Frostpunk, Banished, and/or Dawn of Man. I already own all those and a few others that may yet be called up from the minors. I am in no position to shell out money for anything new.

Late at night when I am too tired to play anything, I check out other games on YouTube. Godhood looks like it might be up my alley. But first, I need to scramble around and find money to live on.

Re: YouTube — I also watch a lot of house building and renovation videos. I love some of the art channels. I like those channels where people make stuff out of resin. Watching ribbons of resin shoot off while they are spinning something on a lathe is just soothing to me. I almost feel like I want to shout out some of my favorite channels here, but then I would want to link them, and I am too tired to do that right now. I feel like one of my other blogs might be a better fit for that, though. My favorite game channels ought to be here, though. Some other time.

I am off to bed so that I can jump into the upcoming week with both feet. I would promise you that I’d post more often, but we both know that my good intentions aren’t worth much when chaos reigns in my home.

Black Desert Burn Out

I was excited for the release of the Hashashin class and the second season, but by the time I got to the end of the first season, I had burnt myself out. I just can’t make myself do it right now. The last part of the first season was intense for me, so the thought of grinding it all out again just does not appeal to me at all. It’s like eating a gallon of chocolate pudding; at first it is delicious and seems like a good idea, but at some point you lose your taste for it. By the end, there’s nothing you want less. It’s all tummy ache and regret.

To everything there is a season (server) [BDO]

I have spent a great deal of time playing on Black Desert Online’s first Season server. That’s the Mystic I have been playing in the picture above. The season will end on August 26, and I still have so many things left to do. It seemed like I had plenty of time when the server started. It turns out I also have a family and obligations. The time just melted away. I probably won’t achieve all I wanted to before the lights go out on the first season, but I have hit a new high level and a new level of gear with my seasonal character, so I will count it as a success when she is converted into a normal, non-seasonal character.

And then it will be time to start preparing for the next season. There’s a new class, the Hashashin, being introduced at the same time. He’s some sort of desert assassin. Pre-creation for the Hashashin class and new seasonal characters starts on August 26 with the release of the class and the new seasonal server on Sept 2. I will be one of thousands of Hashashins on that server. The seasonal server seems to be the way to go to grow a character up in a hurry.

(Source: https://www.blackdesertonline.com/news/view/4196)

The Big News Edition

Phantasy Star Online 2 has launched on Steam. This is great news for people who found the Microsoft store frustrating. There’s also a major overhaul coming in 2021 called PSO2: New Genesis. It will be a stand alone game, with the original PSO2 remaining in operation as well. You can read about it here.

Final Fantasy XIV also had some big news. In addition to the new 5.3 patch (which I haven’t really investigated yet), if you own the Starter Edition (the base game), it will be upgraded on August 11 to include Heavensward. The free trial will also be upgraded. This is a great time to try to convince your friends and family to come check it out with you.

Over in Black Desert Online, the Summer Season server will be ending sooner than originally announced. The new end date is August 26. The second season will coincide with the release of the new Hashashin class on September 2. Pre-creation for the new season characters and the Hashashin class will start on the 26th. There are generally some rewards for precreating characters, so if you’re interested in being a desert assassin, you’ll probably want to jump on that. You can grab the details here.

None of those links are affiliate links or anything. It might have been nice if they were, since I am currently unemployed and could use a little cash. Strangely, being at home all the time with my family hasn’t freed up a lot of time for writing or gaming. We are adjusting to this new normal now, accepting that it is here to stay, so I hope my family will back off and let me do things other than pay attention to them 24/7.

With the gaming time I have managed to scrape together, I have been playing Black Desert. I have really enjoyed playing on the season server. Having a deadline to do what you’re going to do in game adds a new facet to the game that I like a lot. I am playing a mystic, so this is a new class for me as well. If you’re looking to jump into the game, you could try out the season server– it is very much geared toward the growth of your character, and your character will convert to a regular character at the end.

It might be just as well to wait for the new season, though. I will be rolling Hashashin for the next season server. So will everyone else. That’s how new class releases work.

My husband is calling and the kids want dinner. Back to real reality.