Another entry in the misadventures of Linny the non-gamer attempting an action RPG. Or maybe it’s the Linny training program into 
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.
