Time to Loot Journal: March 2021
Another month has flown by. Before we know it, we’re going to be looking down the barrel of another year done. Yay Christmas! Although perhaps I am getting a little ahead of myself given the beginning of the year always seems to move faster to me than year-end does. Particularly with how NZ frontloads so many public holidays.
In any case, March was a much healthier month compared to last which was nice. I also participated in #MaybeInMarch with The Evil Within 2 which ended up being quite fun!
Otherwise, a relatively uneventful month. Which given the anniversaries observed over March from the last two-years perhaps isn’t the worst thing…
Looking Back
One Year Ago
- COVID-19 officially declared a pandemic by WHO March 12th 2020 — I remember it well, as my team and I were to host a conference that day and it came close to the wire on whether or not we’d allow it to go ahead. It was the last face-to-face conference our company ran for a long time. Even so, it wasn’t until a little later that month that it all started feeling a little more ‘real’ to me.
- First Electric Car for the Family! I started looking at this as an option more seriously back in February, then pulled the trigger on an ex-Demo purchase early March. Ironically, it was only days later New Zealand went into nationwide lockdown — so it was a while before we got to use it very much.
Two Years Ago
- Christchurch Mosque Terror Attack took place on March 15th 2019, and ultimately the death toll came out at 51. Fifty-one lives taken for no reason other than senseless hate. I’m based in Auckland, at the time I had team members based in our Christchurch office, not far from where this took place.
Gaming Goals
March’s Goals
- Black Desert Online: Complete the Season Pass!
This ends with the close of March, so it’s now or never. This will entail making it to level 61 and some other gear and kill goals along the way. The gear side I’ve actually already done, the kills might take a bit though as they include boss kills and I’m unsure that any of my existing kills will count.
I chose ‘never’ as it turned out.
Just couldn’t quite maintain the interest required to push through to level 61. I think I burnt myself out a little last month but oddly I was still looking forward to starting it all again this season. Erm. Turns out nope. No Spring season. So I think I’ll be putting BDO to the side for the moment and await the next season when they return!
April’s Goals
- Outriders: Hit level cap, ready for the end-game!
I’ll give myself half credit if I don’t hit that target but have at least played when friends and I are able to get on together consistently. I’m planning on saving this one almost purely for co-op, so I might be limited by that to some degree. - Dark Souls: Remastered — Continue the weekly ‘Playing to a Schedule‘ sessions!
I might shift the post day out a little, but to achieve this goal I must continue to play (and record) each weekend, and have a post written for the session ready to go.
Beyond that, I have no clear idea of what I might set! I want to resume my play through of Dragon Age: Inquisition to be sure but I also want to finish The Evil Within 2. Then there is the fact Evil Genius 2 is currently sitting installed and unlocked on my HDD. X4 was recently had it’s patch 4.0 and expansion release. Cyberpunk might be worth playing now with the mega-1.2 patch. Disco Elysium’s ‘Final Cut’ patch is out. On and on, so much!
So we’ll see. This might be quite an eclectic gaming month, especially with some time off over Easter to fill in! :D
Games Played March 2021
| Rank | Game | Hours | % Gaming Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Loop Hero | 33.0 | 43.5% |
| 2 | World of Warcraft (Retail) | 17.9 | 23.7% |
| 3 | The Evil Within 2 | 6.0 | 7.9% |
| 4 | Valheim | 4.6 | 6.0% |
| 5 | Black Desert Online | 4.3 | 5.7% |
| 6 | Cities: Skylines | 3.3 | 4.4% |
| 7 | Dark Souls: Remastered | 1.7 | 2.3% |
| 8 | Graveyard Keeper | 1.6 | 2.1% |
| 9 | Outriders (Demo) | 1.3 | 1.7% |
| 10 | Civilisation VI | 1.1 | 1.4% |
| 11 | Dyson Sphere Program | 1.0 | 1.3% |
Despite the numerous posts on Loop Hero this month — I’m still somewhat surprised to find it so convincingly occupy the spot of most-played this month. But I’m not sure what I would’ve guessed in its place before looking.
Possibly WoW?
Although having dropped down my play to just raid sessions and the odd Mythic to keep cache loot flowing each week, I can see why it isn’t. Particularly with quite a few raids needing to be canned for various reasons this month!
In any case, what doesn’t surprise me is the drop back to a much more ‘normal’ total hours played.
Less time at home, more time watching shows again. It checks out. ;)
As for the coming month — I expect to see Outriders occupy top spot for April. And then a whooooole raft of other things down below it. Probably still with WoW in second spot — but we’ll see!
The Blog
12 posts (including this one) posted in March. Not a bad number for me of late! Still a bit erratic as to when I was posting though.
Overall though, this puts Time to Loot at 386 posts total. (Hey, my first ever PC was a 386!)
Most Viewed Posts
- WoW Shadowlands: Changing Your Covenant
- Deep Rock Galactic: The Solo Experience
- Humble Choice: February 2021
- Humble Choice: March 2021
- Remnant vs. Dark Souls
The crazy degree of interest in Covenant Changing and how it all works, what exactly you lose, what you get to keep and the like persists, with nearly three times the views as the next post which is much closer in view counts from there on down through the rest of the list.
I couldn’t explain though the continued high interest in Deep Rock Galactic nor why the Remnant vs. Dark Souls post keeps surfacing fairly high up these lists!
