Unfocused

At a time when 'stay inside and play video games' is essentially government health advice I find that I've not really been much in the mood to do so.

This isn't me being contrary for the sake of it. At the best of times I only do a couple of hours a day at most of any MMO – even when I was racing through Fallen Earth prior to its shutdown last year I only averaged about 4 hours a day, which is a lot for me. My hours since, in DDO and Neverwinter, have been far fewer and further between, and so far not boosted by the need to stay indoors.

It's not that I'm doing that much else. I'm not. I suspect I'm not alone in being distracted by the awful spectacle of the pandemic unfolding in real time across social media – it's the very definition of morbid fascination.

So I find myself thinking that I should spend more time in gaming, and writing about it, because that way I'll spend less time brooding on the news. In that sense perhaps gaming will be good for my health – mentally, if not physically.

The time I have spent in Neverwinter, as I come up to hour 18, has been fragmented in other ways as well. The second half of Ebon Downs – everything after the temple of Kelemvor – has proven tougher than I expected, and this has sent me back to Helm's Hold (briefly) and Vellosk, which is, so far, not as lethal.

I've also taken a few excursions into Cragmire Crypts – solo – but so far the first boss has killed me every time. The sense of being overpowered that I had for the first thirty levels or so is definitely gone now... at least when the mobs are a level or two ahead of me.

It's very easy to jump back and forth between zones in Neverwinter, but It makes for an unfocused experience, and I feel like I should take a more determined run at just one of the current zones in play.

And do so for more than half an hour at a time.