Another entry in the misadventures of Linny the non-gamer attempting an action RPG. Or maybe it’s the Linny training program into @mattclarke’s Path of Exile March 2019 Race. Watch his space if you are a steemian who wants to participate in some gaming fun with steem rewards.
Even though I can tell I’m so going to be bad at it, I am still trying to rewire my brain to finger muscle memory to improve my gaming keyboard skills. I take all this seriously you know (laughing silently). So next up in my training program this morning was watching a youtube video on keybinding. It was a young fellow explaining how to set up your keys efficiently so you won’t get finger strain, and especially for when you are hardcore gaming and want to live.
What he said sounded logical. So I switched my keys around similar to his, thinking I would be so clever. I jumped back into the game to test. It was a fail. The set up was so unnatural and awkward for me, I knew as soon as I fired my ethereal knives that it wasn’t working. My thumb was having spasms, so I retreated back to the waypoint and reassessed.
I thought, maybe I’ll try what I think would work for me. So I chose some combos that I thought would be more logical to my illogical brain. I teleported back in and had another attempt. This time it was even worse. The moment the mobs (I learnt this meant monsters in gamer lingo) came at me, I would attack with my new key set up. Only, I would miss and strike the wrong key, thereby pulling up my character screen in the middle of a fight, and then to compound my stupidity, I’d reset the close all windows key and forgot what I set it to. Again, I had to run back to my waypoint and escape.
So after a couple more attempts when I only half fixed my bad keyboard set up, I was tired and frustrated too. I was dying a lot to the Syndicate. As mentioned previously, this is part of the Path of Exile storyline that I don’t enjoy. It’s basically a group of bad guys that keep appearing in the game in fortresses you need to break, caravans you need to stop or labs you need to raid. I ignore them now mostly, but they always spring up at you. I got killed 6 times in a row. They felt to be harder than the main bosses in the primary storyline. I made a new friend on PoE today who has been playing for a while and he confirmed this. I met him when I was being cranky on the forums again.
Which brings me to my next topic that I’ve also mentioned previously, that being players being helpful. Maybe too helpful! I really like to just complain, it’s more therapeutic to me to have somewhere to vent about the game. And all I ever complain about is the Syndicate. So today was no different. I wondered if my witch was just weak or if the Syndicate was too strong. That’s all I wanted to know. But I got cranky with someone’s attitude on the forum, so I decided to head off and find somewhere else to vent. My new pal PM-ed me and offered to help. A lot of nice PoE players, but I always think it’s sweet when someone goes out of their way to help a CrankyOldWoman. lol
I just wanted an opinion, on my wand and my gear. And to understand if it was my gear or that the Syndicate was just harder than it should be. In the end, this gentleman tried to give me gear. I’ve really been trying to avoid accepting stuff, but he was super insistent. I agreed to have a look in-game since he was so nice. After all, he stepped me through installing a loot filter. Me being so lazy, it would have been a few more days before I got around to reading up on it. Once in-game he tried to give me an essence thingie that upgraded gear as well as the Tabula Rosa you see above. I looked and then insisted he take it all back. I just want to run my game and own all my mistakes. It doesn’t bother me to build a messed up character on this first attempt. I see it as fun. Still, it’s always hard to tell people you were touched by their generosity, but you want to do things for yourself.
Although, I was intrigued by the Tabula. 6 linked white sockets would allow me any coloured gems and support gems. I’ve been hoping that something like this will drop in the later acts, but he said it was rare. That these things were often bought, because to get a 6 socketed item was difficult and could cost on average 300 orbs. Basically more time in-game I didn’t have. So when he attempted a second time to get me to keep the Tabula in my stash, I gave in on that one item.
The reason was he felt my spell interest was unfocused, that I needed to build up a primary skill, which I would consider to be summoning minions. So this tabula would be useful for experimenting the chaining of gems for that skill once I get my energy shields and resists through other means. The Tabula is an interesting item. It has no defence and would be purely offence. But having learnt how difficult it is to roll the correct colour and number of link sockets, I can see why this would be a useful piece for trying gem configurations. I am appreciative to have it be gifted, if only for something different to experiment with.
Then he got sneaky and said he wanted to demonstrate how divination cards worked. Basically he was giving me more stuff! Of course, when I said he should take them back and I was just happy to look,he said he’d just destroy them anyway. -sigh- So I accepted his cards and used them to understand they generated items from Navali, an NPC. I’m not going to vendor this stuff, I was just curious as to what they gave back. I was reading up on vendor recipes today as well. I’m getting more and more selective on what loot I pick up now. As far as gear, unless it’s got a quality stat, a good number of sockets and links, or 3-colored linked sockets, I usually ignore now.
Anyway, to summarise, a lot of nice people on PoE always willing to help. I learnt a few things from my new friend, so the social aspect is always nice too, especially when you are frustrated with the game!
This is a ramble as I’m tired, if you got this far, then thank you for your visit and patience!
16 km jog and walk with my husband after we did our gaming time.
Ha... for a second I thought you were counting all your in game running for Actifit.
Is your husband not interested in PoE? I haven't played it but I did like Diablo back in the day and it seems like the perfect game to friend up in.
I'm sure the Cranky Old Lady knows it'll all take time, especially for a non-gamer.
It's what Diablo III should've been. Plenty of time to learn the ropes before the next, 24 hour hardcore race in early March :)
I’ll make that my first Hardcore. I was going to reply to an older comment of yours I missed responding to, but I think a 24 hour race is a great format. :)
Unfortunately my laptop (SP4) is not up to the challenge... it's amazing for doing spreadsheets on a plane, less good for pulling mobs.
Oh, hubby has said a few times now he’s a little jealous of me playing, that he totally could play PoE. But he feels it might be better he doesn’t get addicted. Unlike me, who has limits on game addictiveness, I do get bored eventually, he can really get too immersed.
His love is Ingress, an augmented reality factional war game. He’s very active in that gaming community. Last check, he was in the leading stats for his faction in Australia, he’s that Ingress nerdy. That game, and me already getting him into Steemmonsters keeps him game busy. I used to play steemmonsters more, but I never feel satisfied with it. So in a couple of days, I’ll be able to give a lot of cards to hubby, which will give him a more robust deck.
So for now, PoE for me, Steemmonsters & Ingress for him. Because our kids are away with the MIL, we’ve gotten a little gamer geeky. We’d play our games separately, then go for a long jog together, then we head out to dinner. It’s nice not having to worry about feeding the children for a few days! Lol
If you have the leisure capacity, have a go at PoE. If you enjoyed diablo, you’ll enjoy this. :)
You could then enter matt’s race, to support and for fun!
I didn't know Ingress had gone all AR! I'm not surprised, but good for them!
Alas, my laptop can play almost no games.... which is disappointing, but also helps me be slightly more productive. It's a Surface Pro 4, so because it doesn't have a dedicated graphics card I just don't bother with anything... I definitely think I'd enjoy PoE, but because I work from home, I need to be pretty careful just how fun I let my laptop be.
I know what you mean. I don’t think this game is too addictive if you don’t have an addictive personality. I haven’t logged for for over 24 hours I think. I’m trying to avoid it until I have space to spoil myself on it. Steem is more time intensive.
And what do you mean ingress has gone AR?! It was always AR....
Ingress has been around since 2014 or so... It wasn't AR back in the day, it was more like a green and black radar looking game where you'd find physical caches that people left for you... like little figurines or badges and stuff. It wasn't points or faction based, it was more like a treasure hunter game where the clues were in the app/website.
Yeah, with work and Steem and training, I'm scared to pick up a good game.. cos I know Steem and training will back a backseat... and that'd be no good. (For you guys, I'd be fine...)
Although I had no idea what you were talking about, this was still an entertaining read! Thumb spasms and all!
Awww, not only do I love your honesty in not understanding, but it made me smile to know you tried.
For the record, I don’t fully understand what I’m doing either! 😂🤣
Ha! I watch my grandkids play games, but have never tried it myself! I am pretty sure my reaction times are not fast enough anymore to keep up. The mob would win everytime!
The hooks have sunk in deep. Love it. It gets crazier when you start getting triggering support gems.
Then the level of customisation goes off the charts. That's my favourite bit :)
Yes, I’m hooked. I can’t say I’m having ‘fun’ in the purest sense. This is like a strange ‘fun’ that feels like when I have to learn a new system for my job. Lol. That’s why I need to vent so much, only I don’t have work colleagues to vent to in a game. I like it for the learning opportunities on how an ARPG is designed to hook players. It’s more that it’s forcing me to work a part of my brain that is extremely lazy. ;)
Triggering support gems? So far they are just ‘support gems’ to me and I pay attention to the chaos damage. I like that we can customise and everyone can do things differently. That’s why I am resistant to builds right now. I want to trial and fail and learn slowly that way.
So at some point a new range of gems becomes available. They autocast spells or attacks when something happens. So you might support ice nova with cast on stun so it happens automatically when you're stunned.
Means more customization options with less button confusion. So good.
wow, someone looks pretty addicted to Path of Exile loool
Yeah, I know right?! That @supersoju is totally an addict! She’s leaving me in the dust of her rapid levelling frenzy! lol. 😉
😂😂😂
I was procrastinating and thought I would check out my mentions....then I saw this 😂😂😂
Glad I did it.
More things to learn. I've never played a game that had this many components.
Great to see you've met some helpful people along the way.
Finding the right keybinding will take some time; the same goes for getting use to it.
Then you have to get use to it again when you change skills around. But it is all part of the game. Do what your fingers feel comfortable doing and which buttons it likes to spam the most.
Awww, thanks for these encouraging words. This is the kind of advice I am often looking for when it comes to gaming. Just knowing it’s not you that find basic stuff difficult. I’ve seen my younger ex-addict brother play in the past and it always struck me as freaky how second nature it was for him to command the keys. So I figured I need some way to fix this key spamming issue or I’l never get better at casting multiple spells.
Yay on helpful people, but it’s more their company and the whining opportunities I enjoy. I really am uncomfortable getting gear from people. I’m innately lazy enough, I don’t want to get reliant on external help too!
There is heaps of stuff to learn. Every time I write one of these, I only touch 50% of what’s on my mind. The divination cards is ahead of me, I’ve not found any yet or know how to obtain them. I did read about them though, so this friend was skipping ahead, and that’s what I need to contain to some extent from all the super nice and helpful people. I want to enjoy and find stuff as I move along and have the fun of newness. But I understand people love to share, especially if they’ve been playing a while, so I try to find a middle ground. :)
Yes there is definitely heaps of stuff to learn. I just learnt something new just then. I wanted to pop online to tell you a skill you might be interested in that I find helpful. I guess you could say it is my primary skill since I've placed the skill in my dominate mouse button. It is called storm brand; believe its a blue gem. Great for quick aoe (area of effect); then linked with a support gem that can give a buff.
After checking out the name of the skill to tell you; I realised the word 'brand' and remember reading this word somewhere. Turns out its a thing and there are skill points you could use to buff them up. So exciting when you learn something new. Now I have more areas on the skill tree I want to put points into. Funny how my initial thought of the massive branching skill tree was negative and now it is positive.
I understand what you mean about enjoying and finding out stuff on your own as you play the game. Learn the new things as they come along. But through other people; depending on the topic; you get to discover more and could lead you to coming up with other great ideas on how to build your own character. Though I must say; I am/was one of those type of people who like to share when I've played a game for a while. I get excited and try to share things I wish I had known when I started the game. I've learnt from it; I try to stop doing it too much because I am just ruining the game for someone else. Learning the game through trial and error at your own pace is the fun part.
Also dont feel bad if you get some gear from people; just take it as an opportunity to play around with the new stats and gear.
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