I have a serious love/hate relationship with this game. It frustrates me like no other game does and yet, the mechanics and the game world keep sucking me back in. It's like being in a relationship with an ex that you still have feelings for. No matter how many times you get screwed over, you return to see if things will be different this time. So here is what happened this weekend.
On Saturday morning I decided to run the shores of plenty mercenary voyage as a solo sloop. I know...just asking for trouble. However, the voyage went smoothly for most of it. In fact, the only time I had any major issue was on the final chapter, a skeleton ship showed up and shot me off my ship. I swam after it, watching the skeleton ship ram my poor sloop and push it further away from me. It finally sank near Keel Haul Fort but my rowboat and my 4 captain's chests and 1 Grog chest remained floating. I climbed in and finished rowing to Smuggler's Bay. As I approached the Bay I saw another sloop parked in front of it. Knowing I would either have to row my treasure back to an outpost or hide it and respawn my ship, then come and find it again, I decided to be generous and give the treasure to the sloop. I approached, using game chat to tell them not to fire and asked if they wanted to some treasure. I pulled up, docked the rowboat then went ashore to find the last 4 chests and complete the voyage. I restarted the game, got my Mercenary Eye of Reach and logged out for the day.
Sunday night I made the decision to run the Devil's Roar voyage. What was I thinking? Spawning in at Golden Sands, I set sail East on my sloop. I ran into a storm, got shot from Shipwreck Bay shore cannons and lost my ship. I respawned at Picaroon Palms and set sail again. This time I ran into a Kraken near Kraken's Fall (ironically). Lost my ship but I used the row boat to make it to Ashen Reaches. I could have respawned my ship but who knows where that would have put me. I eventually respawned my ship and went after the skeletons at Roaring Sands. Over an hour later and with no more cannon balls or other supplies, I managed to get my skulls and returned to Morrow's Peak. On the way to Ruby's Fall for the last two quests in Chapter One, I came across another Kraken. I used my rowboat to get away as my sloop once again sunk. Finally finished the chapter and then rowed south to Magma's Tide (again, didn't want to respawn my ship and end up half way across the map again). Finally made it and completed the voyage. During all of this a skeleton ship appeared and Meg showed up twice.
The Saturday voyage filled me with such hope and confidence that I hastily decided to do the Devil's Roar voyage. What a difference those two voyages were, not just in location but the game's over all "randomness". Like I said before, love/hate relationship. Guess I'll spend the next few days not talking to SoT, waiting for that Facebook message saying she was sorry and how the next time out with her will be different.
