Took me 45 minutes"? That's a bit dramatic, don't you think?

Yeah my stuff ALWAYS waits til the worst moment to give up too. Like they're saving it up. At least your phone went out fighting, mine just slowly stops charging or the screen gets all weird. That's a way better story than "yeah it just stopped powering on one day.

Direct sowing definitely has a learning curve but once you get the timing right it saves a lot of hassle. The damping off thing you mentioned is a good point - I had a whole tray of peppers rot out on me two years ago and switched to bottom watering after that. Might be worth trying a heat mat next time if you go back to starting indoors.