In the past few weeks, I thought I had finally fallen out of love with Rift. It was to a point where I did not even log in anymore to get my daily artifact (they changed the system now where you get nicer bonuses for logging in, but that’s not why I went back). Then I suddenly felt the urge to continue building in my dimension. I figured that that’s something nice and since I really don’t like this “old-fashioned” combat anymore, I would at least focus on something. But then I found myself out in the newest region, the Planetouched Wilds, playing through a quest chain with bookahnerk. And while the combat really is boring, it’s just great exploring this world! Rift is one of those games with no loading screens between zones – at least those who are on the same “continent”, like in World of Warcraft. There is something amazing about being on top of a mountain and just looking down to see all the players running around or the NPC doing their daily work. In other MMOs, those mountains can’t always be used to climb on because they are there to avoid having to deal with “invisible walls” as they restrict this zone from the next and you can only switch to another zone at specific points which let you enter after a loading screen appears.
Then poor Guild Wars 2 was on my list of games I would go on “hiatus” for a bit. There has not been any new content in quite some time and while I liked the new maps at first – some of them, at least – it felt repetitive going through the zones over and over again. While the recent patch has not given us new content (and if I interpret them correctly, there won’t be any new content until July?), they did some other much needed changes which revived the game in general for me. You can now play WvW and the Edge of the Mists and get a reward track like they introduced in sPvP. I also completely forgot that you can unlock Hero Challenges in Tyria through playing WvW which means that I can slowly unlock my alts’ elite specializations without having to visit all the PvE challenges. This alone is motivation enough for me to play the game more often again!
This leaves Wildstar and Black Desert Online. My two newest MMO-addictions. Wildstar has amazing combat and I actually prefer it over Guild Wars 2 – well, in some areas, at least. But once my medic hit max level, I actually did not really know what to do in the game. I still have much exploring to do, so that is something, but I still felt… lost. Now that they introduced the new zone, Arcterra, that’s different. I haven’t played much on it yet, but I certainly will! And Black Desert Online – it’s a bit funny, actually. My first character got this quest chain for a mount and that’s all nice, but I switched to playing a Valkyrie instead and I can’t find that quest chain for her and she’s still running around on foot and that’s annoying me enough not to continue playing the game at the moment. I want to go to the bigger town and explore that and play there and quest and level, but I also want to find out where I can get that mount. It’s not even anything great like a noble steed. It’s a donkey. But still, I want it. :(
On top of that, I actually don’t have that much time for gaming! I “stole” some and ignored other things that need to be done for a day or two recently (chores mostly :p), but I can’t do that all of the time. So I guess I should decide which games I want to focus on. But they all offer something unique that I want to experience.
Nerdy Bookahs 
Mounts in BDO are account wide, along with pretty much everything else. So if you stable your donkey on one character, you should be able to take that donkey out of stable with another. Just make sure you do so in the same town, stables and warehouses (banks) are local. For that reason I think they may only offer the mount quest to your first character. I only have one myself, but from what my friends have told me, that’s how it works!
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But with my first character, I have a button in the upper left for said mount. With my second character, there is no such button. So I thought I’d have to unlock that ability first somewhere maybe… on the other hand, my first character may sit on said donkey. So would I have to put the donkey in a stable first? – I’m such a noob. :)
But I’ll have a look at that later. Thank you!
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Yes, think of it more like a “real” animal. It’s always somewhere- if you’re not riding, it still exists somewhere in the world. The button top left just means you can call for it or locate it if you forget where you parked.
Every town has a stable though where eventually you can keep and even breed multiple horses. So log on to your first character, find a stable and drop it off. The stable is where you would have needed to register the donkey and will be a horse icon (I think) on the town map.
After you’ve stabled your horse, log in to your second character and go to the same stable in the same town. There you should be able to take it out and have a mount! Where you stable a horse is where you have to return to get it, they don’t magically appear in another town like you’d expect with the way banks and such usually work in MMOs. Everything is tied to a specific location- houses, warehouses, crafting buildings and workers, stables etc.
Also, donkeys have a lot of stamina but horses tire more quickly so you’ll want to have some carrots on hand to give them more stamina otherwise once you reach zero they will only walk and it’s really annoying if you’re not near a town.
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Just like the auction houses in WoW were separate back in the old days. :p I had already figured it out with the bank etc., but not so much with the mounts as I had just logged off without giving it a second thought as I had decided to play a different class instead. But thanks for the tips. Now she’s properly equipped with a little donkey. :)
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I actually didn’t get in to BDO and stopped playing after 2-3 weeks, but talking about it again, I may have to go back and give it another try! I’m in the same conundrum though, I already have too many games on my list of MMOs I want to play.
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I am in the same boat. I started logging back in Everquest 2 to take screenshots for the 30 Days for ARPil event. Next thing I know I am back at work at an old decorating project and making plans to level my characters.
Then there is Final Fantasy XIV which I was already planning to give a try again some time this year. But my friends decided to play it now for some reason. That and some beautiful screenshots I’ve been seeing of the game have been tempting me to hasten my plans. The only problem is that if I do so I would probably pressure myself to play it at the cost of every other game just so I could keep up with them. Something I really don’t want to do.
There is also Guild Wars 2 but that one is easier to resist since the game changed so much since I last played it would take me some time to absorb all the stuff that is new to me. There are also some group content I’d like to do but since I am allergic to pugs and have no friends on the America side who play anymore that would be a tall order.
And don’t even get me started on single-player games!
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Oh yes, I deliberately left out the single player games. ;) Because most evenings, as much as I would like to play an MMO, I’m sitting here being so tired that I can’t do much, while still feeling the urge to play something. So I often find myself play some games that a turn-based etc., so that it doesn’t matter much if I actually do fall asleep (but going to bed at 8pm isn’t an option, obviously, so I force myself to stay awake)… or games like Prison Architect, Cities Skylines and so on where it doesn’t matter if I let it run for a bit without interfering. ;)
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Decisions, decisions…
Sometimes it feels like being a world leader is easier than deciding which MMO to play and negotiating time to play it in.
Currently I’m focused on Ark, but I’m visiting GW2, and then ESO itch has been stirring up, and want to try more BDO… Dang it, I’m losing focus again. Send help :(
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Hehehe. I have to admit, I sometimes wish I could have “the” one MMO again like I did with World of Warcraft during Burning Crusade. I had tried out Lotro at some point, but had decided that playing a second MMO wasn’t good as I had enough to do in WoW and not enough time, so I sticked to that one game. Come to think of it, maybe I was just smarter back then. ;)
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