New Year!

I had completely forgotten about the Wild Pie bonus for Slayer. I ate one of those and took off to the dungeon by Port Sarim, went into the ice cave and killed my first Skeletal Wyvern. Got my revenge from stupidly wandering in there ages ago at lvl 50 or so. Then I used my pingu points from the week on Runecrafting, made a few rounds of crafting Nats and got to 66 Runecrafting. Collected my rewards, Falador Diary done. I also, temporarily, cracked the top 50,000 overall on hiscores. I was at 49,996 last night and knew that wouldn’t last. I woke up this morning, 50,026. One or two more levels should do it.

Last May I started keeping track of my levels on Excel. I did this because I wanted to see how I was progressing, which skills I was neglecting and that I’m a huge nerd and use Excel for pretty much everything. In the last 7 months, here’s how I have progressed:

Attack 74 – 81
Defence 72 – 80
Strength 80 – 86
Hitpoints 75 – 83
Ranged 62 – 77
Prayer 61 – 70
Magic 73 – 82
Cooking 92 – 96
Woodcutting 66 – 81
Fletching 73 – 75
Fishing 98 – 99
Firemaking 53 – 86
Crafting 66 – 79
Smithing 71 – 73
Mining 62 – 73
Herblore 50 – 63
Agility 57 – 74
Thieving 61 – 65
Slayer 58 – 71
Farming 67 – 77
Runecrafting 51 – 66
Hunter 50 – 66
Construction 52 – 63
Summoning 43 – 68
Overall 1567 – 1834

Looking at those original levels, I can tell that I had just completed the Varrock Diary. Close to 300 levels in a span of 7 months sounds pretty good, but at the time, skills like Summoning, RC, Hunting, I wasn’t really working on and some of those skills in the low 50s and 40s are pretty quick levels. Some people would ask why I’ve only gone from 92-96 Cooking when its such a fast skill to get xp in, and I’m so close to a cape. The easy answer, I kind of hate cooking. I find it boring. I don’t have any desire to go buy 5k sharks and tuck away at the Cooking Guild for hours on end. I’ve only ever cooked what I’ve caught and I really only cook when I need food. The cape is nice, but I’m not a big fan or purple anyway. Why do I bring this up? With the new year approaching, its about the time that everyone sets goals for themselves. While we’d love to be optimistic, we also need to take a second to be realistic.

While I’d love to sport that beautiful Hitpoints skillcape in the next twelve months, let’s see what it would take. In the past 7 months I’ve gone from level 75 to 83. 8 levels. That’s a little more than a level a month. As we all know, you need more and more xp as the skills get higher. Even if I continued at that rate, that would still only bring me to the mid 90s. To break it down even further, I look at xp because level numbers can be deceiving. I have 2,820,904 xp in HP as I write this. The magic number for a skillcape is 13,034,431. That leaves me with 10,213,527 xp until 99. Divide that by 365 days and I’d need to get about 27,982 xp per day. Maybe for some people that’s do-able, but I know how I play. I sometimes neglect cb altogether for weeks at a time. That’s not happening.

It kills me when I see people fishing at Piscatoris and they state that they are going to get a level that day. However, they need 550,000 xp to that level. You make roughly 30,000 xp/hr fishing monks. If you break it down, that level is going to take you over 18 hours to get. I love your enthusiasm, but its already 5pm…

That said, for 2009 I’m going to keep my goals pretty simple and not do anything to really burn myself out on the game. I have 14 quests remaining, so I can see myself getting a Questcape. This will also, hopefully, serve as motivation to do quests as they’re released. I’d like to get 75+ and 2000 total levels. These are probably going to be the biggest goals that I have. However, 170 levels isn’t a lot to achieve in the span of 12 months. That’s 13 levels a month, which I feel is attainable. Runecrafting will be a pain, but with the pingu points, and other xp bonuses in the game, I can do it. It won’t be easy, but that’s the point of setting goals, right? With that I think will come 2 skillcapes. I have about 4M xp left til my Cooking cape and over the span of 12 months, I can see needing that much food. That’s roughly 19,048 sharks cooked. That works out to about 1,587 sharks a month. That’s attainable. Getting 75+ will give me 1907 levels alone, putting me in good position to finish out the year with 2000.

As for the other cape, I have a suspicion that it might be Firemaking. As much as I would love for it to be another time consuming, no easy way to buy levels one, like Woodcutting, I’m only 81 in that currently. I don’t realistically see going from 81-99 in a year’s time. My short term goal is the Inferno Adze. In the past week I’ve gotten 84-86 and the experience is super fast. I just use Maples from my kingdom or train it in synch with WC when chopping Yews and chatting to friends. Also if I’m going to get it to 92, I can see myself saying “what the heck” and continuing on with it. I’ve gotten over 2M xp in it this month alone and it wouldn’t be that much of a strain to get the remaining xp.

I wish you lots of luck and happy playing in the year to come! Set some goals, just be realistic about it. Don’t think that you’re going to get from 75-99 Fishing before March because you’re just setting yourself up for disappointment, and you’ll probably end up hating the skill and burning yourself out on it. Take your time, enjoy it! It is a game afterall.

Holiday Time!

Holiday time is here! The Christmas event is out and, well, I still haven’t done it yet. I might do it on the actual day of Christmas as something to keep with the spirit of it. I initially held out because I saw one of the rewards that can be claimed is 20k Woodcutting xp if you have over level 80 Woodcutting. I had 79, so it wasn’t long and 2 days ago I got my 80 Woodcutting. I’m starting not to mind that skill as much as I used to.

I’ve been taking a break from my chores, yes even staves. I felt like it was getting to me a little. It’s ok though, its good to get a break every now and then. Since the skill of the month for clan has been Firemaking, I’ve been doing a lot of that. Since December 1st, I’ve gone from 74-84 and more than doubled the xp I already had in the skill. I really don’t like the skill, it seems boring, however its much easier with friends. Well, as long as there’s enough lanes. I’ve got all those maples in my bank from kingdom, so I might as well use them for something. After I got to 83, I knew the levels would be further away so I decided to get the Fire Gloves and Ring of Fire for the 5% boost in xp. It’s not an overwhelming amount, but it adds up after time. The minigame wasn’t that hard, more just annoying with all the prep work. Once you talk to all the people, give them what they need and load the logs, the actual lighting aspect isn’t difficult at all. I did it a second time with a friend, to show her the routes to the 10 beacons and how to get there quickly. If you bank properly and use a Terrorbird, I was able to fill all the beacons in just a few minutes. After lighting all the ones that I could, it was nice to see that it made me roughly 25k experience. I used maples for the second trip, and with the time put into it, the experience seems similar to just normal lighting. However, I can see it being a money saver if you just use normal logs or willows. If anything, it’s a way to change it up a little bit if you feel regular firemaking is boring you.

I’m hoping that by the end of the month, getting an Inferno Adze will at least be in reach. Then I can sell my Dragon Axe and put that cash towards something else of good use. I know it’s only saving one spot, but you never know when you’ll need the bankspace ;) Plus I love the fact that you get Fm xp while Woodcutting. I like training multiple skills at once.

If I seem sporadic with my goals, its because I am. You can probably read each post on here and I’m always talking about something different. I’ve been neglecting Hunting for Firemaking. I’m kind of streaky as a player. However, I think you need to be a bit like that to get the most out of the game. Sitting doing one thing for 5 hours/day every single day can get to you. I get distracted by clan events, trips with friends, helping someone with a quest, etc. After all that I have sit and go, “ok, what was I doing again?” It’s kind of comical. I also lose my keys a lot, so its not just something that occurs in-game.

I’ve been dying to break into the top 50,000 overall on the Hiscores list. I’ve gotten a lot of levels since I cracked the top 60k and my total is up to 1825, but I’m still just hovering on the outside of it. Everyone must be thinking the same thing and trying to level just as hard as I am J

Happy and safe holidays to everyone!

Burning Down the House

The December “Behind the Scenes” is out, and it looks like there’s two new Achievement Diaries! I don’t know what it is about these things, but I love doing them. The Varrock one motivated me so much to work on my skills and the Karamja one forced me to get my cb up. The rewards are great. Even though the Lumbridge one was low-leveled, the Cabbage-port is great for farming runs, and the run-replenish is great when you don’t want to waste a strange fruit or a Terrorbird scroll.

Last week, questing seemed to take first priority. I can use new Lunar skills thanks to Dream Mentor. I also did Land of the Goblins, Mountain Daughter, My Arm’s Big Adventure, Olaf’s Quest and Dealing with Scabaras. Dealing with Scabaras allowed me to keep my streak alive of dying during every desert quest. I always use guides and the two I was reading mentioned nothing about fighting the priest who deals with multi-combat, poison and disease. They seemed to focus on the fighting of the Scarab, which is lvl 206, but a pretty straight forward-easy fight. I also didn’t notice that instead of withdrawing just a few thousand gp, I had all my cash on me. I lost about $3M which I had been saving for Con & Summoning as well as my Beserker Ring, Dragon Boots, etc. I’ve never understood the system RS uses as to what you keep when you die, but I held onto my Dragon Legs, which are considerably less than a Beserker Ring. It would always confuse me too as to why I’d hold on to a shark opposed to something like Boots of Lightness. That was kind of a bummer, I didn’t make it back in time to retrieve them. It’s alright though, I just shook it off. It’s a game, it’ll be fun. Nothing to cry over, just get back up and do it again. I spent some time fishing to make some more money to get some items back and the rest will come in time. The thing that got me was that after losing all my cash, I had to make money to re-buy my skillcape. It’s weird that you just can’t get that back by talking to the person, like you usually do with quest items. So now I have my cape back and two hoods in the bank. Weird, but whatever.

I have around 15 quests left to do. Not a lot, but not a small amount. I really dislike doing them, so the motivation comes and goes. When I have it, I need to strike while it’s hot. This week I haven’t done any, I need a break. I also hate leaving a quest in the middle of it, so with just a few hours to play after work and a lot of that time dedicated to my daily chores, it hasn’t seemed worth it.

December is Firemaking month in the clan. I need to redeem myself for my dreadful showing during last month’s Farming. I think I only got around 250k xp. All I had were a lot of low level seeds and didn’t get any good ones from my kingdom until 2 days before the end. Figures, huh? I’ve been burning my stock of maples, but I’ve also been trying to stockpile some yews/mages. I don’t mind Woodcutting as much as I used to. As long as I can find an empty world. I usually cut at tree gnome. There’s a mage tree there, as well as the mage I have planted at my farming spot, plus a few yews and the bank is very close. It’s amusing how the xp level of skills vary so much. I’ve already beat my xp from last month, and it’s only the 5th. Whereas it would be the equivalent of months running to the abyss over and over making runes.

I love that the new quest gives 400k xp in any skill. I’m really looking forward to being able to do it. I’m not sure what I would use it on. It would save a lot of money using it for Construction or Summoning. The time it will save for Runecrafting though makes it seem more valuable. That would more than double the xp I have now at lvl 63.

In all the times of checking my kingdom for nests and receiving them as randoms while Woodcutting, there’s one thing I never understood; why are there rings in them? I can understand the seeds and the eggs, but is there also a collection of lost fingers? I don’t mind the normal golden rings, they can be used in Summoning, but its so disappointing when you get a nest and you’re like “Awesome! Nest! Dang, Sapphire Ring.” I guess I could enchant them, but I just seem to keep those things around for Treasure Trails. I have plenty of Dueling Rings, I never use Rings of Recoil, I don’t even know what an enchanted Ruby ring does and Rings of Life drive me insane. I hate it that there’s a chance I might die and all of a sudden I’m tele’d out, when I wasn’t close to death or was simultaneously clicking to eat. 10% of your HP is still easy to deal with when not fighting anything major. I don’t know, I think it’s a control issue I have.

I also, finally, got my Prayer to 70 thanks to some Steel/Iron assignments from Duradel. I’m going to use my pingu points this week for Slayer. The update mentioned needing to kill a Skeletal Wyvern and I know you need 72 for that. Currently I’m only 1k xp from 71, so that should make it easier. Revenge is going to be sweet! Ever since I was lvl 60 or so and mistakenly wandered into that Ice Cave, I’ve had a bone to pick with that thing. Vengeance has been my motivation for Slayer, to kill the Skeletal Wyvern. I’m ok with that. We’ve all had those instances when we were lower levels, and you say lose your Rune Chestplate which you saved so hard for and spent 3 hours in a bank yelling “Buying Rune Plate!!!!!” because it was pre-GE and late at night so not a lot of people were on. I’d love it if you guys shared some of your stories like that, so feel free to!

This weekend, clan trip to Fishing Trawler and the goal is for Path of Glouphrie. I’m not going to have a lot of playing time, so nothing too high. Going to watch the De La Hoya/Pacquiao fight at the boss’s house, so that should be a good one. No idea who to root for. I guess my heart’s with De La Hoya and my money’s on Pacquiao. Eagles go up to the Meadowlands, ugh. Its ok though. The Phillies are World Champions.

I'm Hunting Wabbits

I finally reached the 1800 total level milemarker. At 1798 I had 12k xp to a Crafting level and 9k to a Slayer level. The Crafting level went easily due to some saved up battle staves and gems. The Slayer level, that’s a different story. I’ve been assigned Steel Dragons which take a little while. Throw in a dead Jade Vine, a few clue scrolls and it seemed to be taking forever. I got it down to 1.2k xp when I absolutely had to go meet my friends for a drink. I have no idea how, but somehow I had a penguin point. I don’t remember seeing one this week and I certainly hadn’t gone pingu hunting yet, but I’ll take it. Ran over to Larry, he gives me 1.7k and then the fireworks and that little “ffssheeeeeeew” sound goes off. 70 Slayer and 1800 total. Big Fireworks. I got a Dragon Plateskirt out of the drops too, along with a good amount of charms. It might be slow xp, but I really don’t mind dragon assignments. You spend all your lower levels fearing even attempting to kill them, that I still revel in the fact that there are ways to kill hundreds and not take a lick of damage.

It took me roughly 3 months to go from 1600-1700, and a few days short of 3 months from 1700-1800. Winter is definitely here and I hate the cold. I’ll probably be playing more often. If it takes me 3 months to go from 1800-1900 I will be more than happy. I’m setting a very generous goal of the start of baseball season. That gives me 5 months. Easy levels are hard to come by and I think that’s reasonable. Its kind of appropriate too, the very first game of the season this year is the 2008 World Champion Philadelphia Phillies (“World f’n champs!” as Chase Utley so eloquently put it) on Sunday Night Baseball. A good friend of mine just got 2001 total levels. She’s celebrating the invention of Wikipedia, my college graduation and making comments like “Its full of stars!” while beating obelisks with bones while I am still looking towards the Emancipation Proclamantion, the Civil War and Lincoln’s assasination. That 2000 level barrier has to be so sweet to break.

I hated that my Tears of Guthix were going to a skill that was so easy to train – Hunting. Last week I made myself hunt 1 level a night. It only took an hour usually to gain a level getting from 62-66. I hate forcing myself to do things in the game. It’s a game, not work, and should be fun. Hunting drives me crazy though, its much more intense and faster paced than I usually like. Setting up 4 traps, checking them, replacing them, dropping what you’ve caught… This is probably the lamest thing I’ve ever said but its too clicky for my tastes. I prefer things that you can at least chat during. The reason why I did it was that even though I’m not a huge fan of it, I find the skill very interesting. Its very versatile. I love what it opens up at the higher levels. This is how I justify it – a little work now = a lot of fun later. I love catching imps and I hate it when I spot a Ninja or Dragon impling then I have to call to my friends to come catch it and get their reward. I’m more than happy to do it, I’m not going to let a Dragon Impling just fly away when I see one because I can’t catch it. If someone’s going to get it, at least let it be a friend of mine. Sometimes though I just want to be the one to catch it. I hate to admit it, but I’ve also never used a Chin. It’ll be nice to catch a few and see what they’re all about. One of my favorite reasons though is that I can now use the Spottier Cape. It’s odd, but I have this unusual fascination with being light on my feet. I think that I just hate walking, so I’ll do anything to extend my running ability.

Jaxana was generous enough to extend an invitation to fight Armadyl boss Kree’aara with her friends. I figured it was safe enough with about 10 people. I’m always eager for something I’ve never tried before. The last kill, there were only 3 of us and we got a God Sword shard, which somehow was only 50k each. While chatting, Kree’aara promptly respawned on my head, hit me for 69 & 10 and boom – death. No one was left in the room to bless, but I really didn’t mind at all. I knew that last kill was my last one and got easily distracted when I should have been paying attention. I didn’t really lose anything major either. Bolts, Sara Coif, I have mutliple Armadyl pendants for that very reason. . Lost some Dragon Bolts (e) which I owned for about 30 seconds. Everything is easily replaceable thanks to the GE and it was kind of worth it just for the self-satisfaction of knowing you can kill something big, plus I got my first God Sword part drop. Good enough for me.

I’m looking forward to the long holiday weekend. I’m hoping I can get a few things done like work on Herblore or a number of quests. Still chipping away at the QPs.

I hate to say it, but both of you really need to go. It’s been a fun ride, really. It’s not you, its me.

Disaster Proof

Again, I apologize for the infrequency of the posts. It’s been a rough couple of weeks. You go from the extreme highs of the Phillies finally winning the World Series, to having two people close to me pass away. One being my grandmother. Four straight days of doing nothing but going to viewings, funerals and burials exhausts you to no end. I don’t intend on making this a depressing post, so on with the news.

I’ve ran into a wall with leveling. This happens usually at around this point every hundred levels or so. I get to 1570, 1675 and now 1783 and I haven’t leveled in days. There’s about 12-13 skills where I am under needing 100,000xp in, and I just can’t pull the trigger. I’ve been more interested in my daily chores, farming runs, hunting pingu, mining stars, etc. I’ve been getting xp all around, just haven’t seen fireworks in a bit. That usually happens throughout the week, then a few hours on the weekend is when I usually level. I have nothing planned this weekend, and I’m keeping it that way. For the first time in about a month, I’m going to get cozy with the laptop, a few movies and just chill.

I have been knocking out quests here and there though. I believe I have 20 left. They all seem to be the ones that when you ask people to join, they respond “oh man, I did that one already, its terrible. Good luck!” These being Path of Glouphire, Mournings End Pt2, etc. I just keep thinking, “If I can get through Ratcatchers, I can get through this.” I finished Darkness of Hallowvale and Legacy of Seergaze. I firmly believe that Meiyerditch really needs a new mayor and a community makeover.

This brings up one of my favorite things about Runescape. I have messed up countless times on quests, minigames and just gameplay overall. Runescape is VERY forgiving. I have played games in the past, that when you lose a certain item, its just gone forever. Here we can always get that item back. I’m not talking about dying and having to buy a replacement Glory, I’m focusing mainly on quest items. I’ve played games where when doing tasks, if you mess up or choose the wrong decision, you have to live with it and sometimes that certain task can never be completed. Here, all you have to do is talk to a certain character again. Maybe it seems that RS is geared to a younger crowd, or maybe it just wants to make itself more friendly towards casual gamers, either way it’s a fantastic feature. If I had trudged all the ways through the rooftops of Meiyerditch and then found out I couldn’t complete the quest because I chose the wrong dialogue in Hallowvale, I’d be pretty upset and turned off of the game.

Sure we die and lose items. Most of which can be bought back (they might be super expensive, but its possible), but it seems nothing untradeable, which you would need for a quest, can’t be replaced by merely talking to a NPC. This is also helpful because the war on bankspace is always an uphill battle. Keep the things you might need for clues, teleports, etc, but I went through a mass cleaning and wiped out all the old quest items that I don’t use. Although I did keep the ones I like. No way am I dropping my Blurite Sword, I don’t think you can get that thing back unless they come up with another use for it.

The game allows progress, and for you to progress at your own pace. You’re not locked into classes, servers, etc. You’re not penalized for typing errors, like the text based PC games of the 80s. “Turn door handle,” “Open door,” “Push Door” all met with “You can not perform that action at this time” and frustration before you figured out it was “Press door.” It is a simple game. Yes all you do is click a mouse. But the same goes for every computer game. You’re not actually having a swordfight with someone, you’re using keys and buttons to do so. Simple isn’t always bad. I always hear people complaining about the game needing to be more complex. I’d just rather have an in-depth story line, with the option of performing whatever you want to do at any given time. RS allows that. I like the back story and the details of the quests, but some times I just want to chat and mine some ores.

That’s pretty much all I have for now. I hope you’re gearing up for the grandmaster quest! I’ll be back soon with some updates. Thanks! Happy Veteran's Day!

Millions of Peaches, Peaches for Me

It’s been an interesting few days. I didn’t get much time to play last weekend, too many things going on in real life. However, a quick fever and spending the last 2 days in bed will free up a bit of time. God bless laptops. I had been tired of running out of runes constantly and figure I just need to make a ton of them and get it over with. Since I had some extra time, I decided to do this on the cheap and mine the ess myself. Now some can say its not worth it, much like flax, in that it gives little to no xp, but its just so simple I can’t bring myself to buy it. I mined around 3k ess (I took breaks to do chores, etc) and started RuneCrafting away. A friend or two mentioned they were at the Mage Arena getting Bones to Peaches. I had heard it was pretty boring, so I decided to join while there was company. They had stated it was pretty easy and only really took a day. Must have been a long day for them because it took me significantly longer.

I’d find myself back runecrafting again because that just drains your Laws, Cosmics, Waters and Natures. So I’d be alching, grabbing statues, enchanting, then more runecrafting, then back and forth. I have to say, you need a bit of patience. I took some breaks to do a few quests. Got All Fired Up done and The Feud out of the way. I’ve only got about 25 quests left, which isn’t bad considering I really can’t stand doing them. Although I am starting to enjoy them a little bit more.

I caught an extremely lucky break when a good friend mentioned she needed to do a bunch of alching and mentioned that she’d help me with the Graveyard part of the Arena by hanging out outside and giving me some food when needed. That made it so much faster. Also finding that the Dragonstone in the enchantment area are respawns had me enchanting, depositing and then world hopping. Each one is worth 10 where the normal enchants are only worth 1. I actually enjoyed the Telekinetic Grab statue mazes, however I just wished they had more designs. Doing the same ones over and over again was mind numbing. That said, last night I finished it all and got my Bones to Peaches spell! I guess it could be done in a day, but you just need to have stockpiled a lot of runes, and have a ton of patience. I did get 79 Magic though, and 80 is only 20k away.

I logged in yesterday morning to find a star next to me, that’s always a good sign. First level 7 one I could mine and man, it went fast. Before long about 30 people were there and it was exploding extremely fast. Must have been on the star hunting clan’s radar. Looking for something to do with a friend, she showed me the Dorgesh Khan agility course. Did that for a little while and where I love the xp, I think I’m burned out on Agility for a little bit. I’ll probably go back there soon since I’m not far from a level though.

I did a few rounds of the Great Orb Project as well. It can be a pain when you keep losing, or when you are winning and the other team just logs out. I guess you really need to do it with friends. I bought myself about 25 Nature Altar Teleports with the reward though, that should make it easy to tele to the mining spot near the altar for stars, instead of using Karamja gloves and walking all the way around Shiloh.

Seems like a lot, but it felt like it went pretty slow. I’m glad I’m feeling better and the Fightin’ Phils take game 1 of the World Series! Not only do I want to win it, I want to win it at home. Nothing at the moment could make me happier.

Fluidity Sucks, Sometimes

Ever turn on the radio right and hear the last three notes of your favorite song? Or see the last 4 seconds before the credits of a movie you love on tv? That feeling of “Oh! This is awesome… crap, its over” kills me. It wasn’t until around February of last year that I came across blogs dedicated to the game I had been playing for a few years prior. It actually motivated me to play more. Seeing all these scenarios play out, these social interactions, the discrimination, the bonding, the relationships, etc was fantastic for an avid people-watcher like myself. Runescape – a blog is probably the first I came across that dealt more with the social scenarios of the game rather than just being a tip site or a site offering to “MAKE MILLIONS A DAY!!!” Maybe I’m just in a nostalgic mood, but I still check it from time to time. I see the title, “Fluidity sucks, sometimes” and I know it’s the last post and it’s a bit of a bummer that I didn’t find it until it was almost dead. So whoever wrote that, thank you.

I reach a personal mini-milestone last night getting my Runecrafting up to 60, making me 60+ in all levels. Tears and some pingu helped greatly. 20k xp isn’t a lot in most levels, but that’s a lot of Glory charges! I also finished four quests. Clocktower – how had this one slipped by me? I thought for sure I did it, is there a quest which is similar? Anyways, did that one, Catapult Construction, Hand in the Sand (I know, I know, I should have done ages ago…) and Fremenik Isles. With the exception of Isles, all were really short and should have been crossed off my list ages ago. Isles was long, though not hard. There’s something unsettling about right clicking on something and one of the options being “Decapitate.” I’m just excited to have a new helm and be able to reach the stars and pingu which are on those lands.

I had almost 3M gp so I decided to bite the bullet and do it. I sold my D-Chain and bought a Bandos Chestplate. With that and the helm, my Strength bonus has passed +120 for the first time. That makes me happy :)

The PVP worlds are interesting. I joined one with no items to see what the Fishing Guild would be like. Sure enough, I was killed right at the doorway in about 15 seconds. I’m happy that people can PK if they want, but it’s definitely not for me. I don’t even like fighting other people in the combat rings in their houses. I have no issue with killing monsters, I just don’t like fighting each other.

It doesn’t look like I’ll have much time to play this weekend. Maybe for a few hours on Sunday, but the rest is taken up. Dinners, early Halloween parties, adults trying to still be young and play flag football and have a few beers… Sometimes life gets in the way. And that’s just fine with me.

Also for those who are requesting screen shots and pictures, I'm working on it. I'm not good with technology so the whole screen shot thing has some kinks I need to work out. Just letting you know, your requests aren't going unnoticed.

Superglass - afragelisticexpealedocious

PvP is back! And I am… pretty indifferent. I never PK’d, not my thing. I am glad that the ones that want to now have the option. Maybe this will clear out the forums of all the “BRING BACK PK AND WILDY NOW PLOX” threads, but I seem to doubt it. People will always find flaws in the new updates. In all fairness, I just want the Glory glitch fixed so I don’t constantly have a spear sticking out of my chest.

I’m sorry for not posting in a bit, work has had me spending more time in my car than at the computer. Although, I really have no excuse, if Vaskor can blog from Siberia, than I should be able to do it from a hotel in the middle of nowhere MD.

Do you ever feel like you don’t have enough time in the game? This has been happening to me recently. Even when I’ve had a longer amount of time to play per day, my to-do list just seems to keep growing. I’ve been saving money, I think I want to swap my Dragon Chainbody for a Bandos Platebody. I know that’s money that can be used for leveling, as I normally would, I think it will be a good investment. When you get to higher levels, the stat boosts really seem to come into play. An extra +3 or +4 here and there can justify an extra million gp. If it allows you to consistently hit just 1hp higher than normal, and you’re trying to level somewhere in the 90s in Attack, Strength, Defense or Range, it adds up. With pots and prayer, along with the armor bonuses, you hit 3hp higher, think of the hours you can save in leveling! In that time, you can easily make enough cash to justify the price difference. At least, that’s how I justified it to myself. Maybe my recent Slayer kick has corrupted me.

Back to what I was saying, I’ve felt rushed recently in the game. I’m doing it to myself, and I realize that, its just this weird justification thing going on in my head. Why would I pay for 1k Nature Runes when I can just make them myself? But I know why, its to have that time I’m putting into mining ess and crafting the runes back. I just feel the need to save the money and do it on my own. Maybe the recent state of the economy has carried over into my game playing. I’ve been trying to get a lot of Crafting experience this month which has led me to making a lot of orbs (thank god for Superglass Make!). Since they’re made, I might as well as enchant them, right? This might be another reason why I’m playing like this. If the process if half done, might as well complete it. I love deconstruction, taking seemingly basic things, breaking them down to their simple ingredients then building them back up in an entirely new way, but still having its base core is a fascinating process to me. It might be that it’s the processes that I enjoy, not their products. I subconsciously do the painful tasks of mining ess and making molten glass because that’s what I actually enjoy and the end product is the justification to my madness. I take some sort of demented sense of pride in knowing the things I use daily are things I’ve created. Some things I will easily pay for if they are not readily available. Take drops for instance. I’m not going to only use armor I’ve received as drops. I’d still be wearing a Rune Chainbody if that were the case. I don’t even want to guess the number of Dusties I’d have to kill for the D-Chain I wear now. But something as simple as collecting “x”, modifying it, then making it into the product seems so easy, that why shouldn’t I be doing it? I’ve sacrificed peace of mind for a procedural addiction. Just say No, kids.

I have tickets to game 6, but if the Phillies win the NLCS tonight in game 5, that’s just fine by me. Baseball also is taking a toll on my game playing. Half paying attention to the game, half on baseball leads me to doing more menial tasks that require less attention. I’m sure that will change after the Phillies win the World Series :)

End of the Month

There’s a new quest out today. I seem to have the requirements for it. It looks pretty interesting. I’m a little surprised All Fired Up isn’t a requirement. If Varrock’s being attacked from the Wildy and the beacons aren’t used, then what’s the point of them? I kind of love all things zombie related so I’m looking forward to this.

I found myself being indecisive again yesterday. I got all the levels I seemed to be close to, including 75 Range, 73 Agility and 69 Mining. The main reason I want 70 Mining is because of the stars now. Although mining my own addy will be nice. I won’t have to rely on Avansies just to work on my Smithing. My main default activity was always Fishing. If I couldn’t decide what to do, I’d Fish until something else came up. As much as I love moving up in the ranks by adding xp after my 99, I just think that all that time needs to be spent working towards levels in other skills. Sure I could always use extra food, but I have a decent supply still, and cooking is just so boring. I think I might be the only one who’s stayed at 94+ Cooking for over 3 months now and not gotten a cape. I just hate doing it.

Took an impromptu clan trip to the Zammy boss in Godwars yesterday. We had roughly 8 people so it was relatively safe. One person did die towards the end then timed his re-entry into the boss’s room poorly only to be killed again. Such are the risks I guess. I accidentally ended up tanking it one of the times, that was a little stressful, but I lived to see its demise. No great drops, but that’s ok. We were able to make about 15 kills before having to tele out. One more thing done that I’ve never tried before and new music is always fun. I couldn’t get over how dark it is in that room though, its like fighting with the lights off.

Just today and tomorrow remain for Agility and I think I’m done. I got from level 60-73 this month and am thrilled that I don’t have to walk the entire way around Tav Dungeon anymore. My original goal was 80 but other things kept getting in the way. It’s a shame Agility doesn’t get you any cash. I had to stop and make some money for the daily errands. I’ve been stockpiling my staves and I am THRILLED to be able to assemble/alch them on Wednesday. All that Crafting and Magic experience just waiting to be raked in. That’ll give me a good amount of cash too, maybe I’ll splurge on something. Maybe buy a bunch of bars for Smithing or what not.

I’ve been neglecting Slayer, I should really train that as well. Hopefully this week is a little more calm. Last week was kind of hectic between going to baseball games and weddings. This one seems a little more settled down. No more sneaking out of a wedding reception so I can see the Phillies clinch the National League East crown! However they play when I’m at work. I’m waiting to hear about NLDS tickets and already have my NLCS tickets purchased. Can’t wait! Go fightins!

No One on the Corner Has Swagger Like Us

Apologies for my absence! It’s been a hectic week or so with real life, work and whatever. I’m setting records for car mileage with clients being so spread out. I find that when I get to levels like 1540-60, 1640-60, 1740-60, I seem to hit a bit of a wall. Last night I got my first level since Sunday, 58 Construction. Tears on Monday got me right up to it and last night a genie lamp pushed me over the top. That leaves me with just 2 levels in the 50s; RC & Con both 58.

I’ve felt a little overwhelmed in RS lately. Playing less means I feel the need to do more when I’m on, to make the most of it. However, to do what I want to do, I feel there’s so many things that I need to do. For about 2 weeks or so I’ve logged on, made a battlestaff run, mined a star or two and tried to work on a few things. I haven’t really concentrated on making money because that hasn’t ever been a main goal of mine. I have been hoarding my staves for taking part in clan Crafting month for October and its strangling me a little. I’m realizing that you do need at least a set base of cash to do the things you’re used to. Buying 64 battlestaves costs 448k gp per day. Trying to come up with that 448k on a daily basis is what has me being indecisive. I’ve always fished for my money, and as much as I love seeing myself move up the ranks with the extra xp, I feel like I could be doing something else. Say it takes 3 hours to fish 500 sharks, then since I want the cooking xp another 30 mins to cook them. That’s 3.5 hours to get the cash necessary to make that stave run, throw in a couple of stars and that time adds up. I’ve also been ranging Black Dragons, with this I can sell the hides, I get Ranging and HP xp as well as the Prayer xp I will get from the bones. Just selling the hides isn’t really efficient, but you have the possibility of a few good drops as well. Weird thing is, as much as I would love a visage drop, there’d be no way I could bring myself to sell it, I’d love a DFS. I’d have to wait for the second one. So it comes to it, I get home, look at the clock, it taunts me stating “Pop Quiz hotshot. You have 2 hours to make 448k, what do you do?”

Add that with bank issues, and game time has been a bit of a headache. I know I could break down and just alch the staves after I make them, however I feel like I actually enjoy challenging myself in that way. Maybe I’m subconsciously masochistic… Ah well, it’s only 6 more days.

A friend got her Quest Cape this weekend and had been planning a party for a couple weeks now. We went with her to Draynor to talk to the Wise Old man, and then she had planned about a 7 wave drop party in Fally with various items each time leading up to a big finale. It was a lot of fun. The items never got up over 750k so we had the place to ourselves mostly. I walked away with a Bob t-shirt, some gold ore and some other various items. I was more into the hanging out than anything. It was fun to actually go there, be able to pop balloons and get something instead of immediately lagging out as soon as its within sight. This gave me a great idea though, an easy way to free up bankspace. Certain things I was holding on to only because they never sell. When I do farming runs I stick to allotments and tree patches mostly. What would I ever do with 60 Asgarnian Hops seeds? I left them in the GE for seemingly a month and no one bought one. I was mainly hoarding a good number of seeds that I can easily get from pickpocketing the Master Farmer should I ever need again. So there I went, off to Fally to have my own little drop party. 35 spaces of inventory I freed up, coming to a grand total of… 55k. Yes I did run to the bank just to see the total. I pulled the lever, the place was empty. I waited to see if anyone would come running in and there it was. The balloons fell, the Party Room’s floor was covered in balloons when in strolled a curious level 56. There he stayed, single handedly popping balloon after balloon, one by one, all by himself. I’m not sure what he was expecting, maybe it will help him out somehow. I couldn’t figure out the screenshot thing (I’m telling you, I’m bad at technology), but it was definitely a sight to be seen. After about 10 mins a couple others came in, leaving it with about 5 people by the end.

Obligatory final paragraph sports wrap up: 3 games left and a game and a half ahead of the Mets in the division, go Phils! So many playoff possibilities, if the Mets win the wildcard, we play the Dodgers (who are terrible). If the Brewers win the wildcard, we play them (also terrible). If everything works out, you’re looking at a Cubs vs Phils NLCS, in which the media, espn, etc will fail to acknowledge Philadelphia’s presence by solely talking about the Cubs 100 year draught. If MLB gets their way it’ll be Red Sox vs Cubs, lets try to make that not happen. Pats fans are quiet after getting embarrassed by the absolute worst team in the NFL. See what happens when you take a game off of cheating? Eagles prove once again, they are kings of the Keystone state. Put the game on and crack open a beer everyone! It’s pennant race time!

We all have our little things that motivate us. For me, recently it’s been hiscores. I know it might seem petty, but I love watching my rank change. I like seeing how positions fluctuate week to week. I love the contrast between the member and free to play skills. I got a lot of levels this weekend, I just happened to be close to a few and banged them all out at once. I love how 74 Farming ranks you at 27,000 but 74 Woodcutting doesn’t even get you under 500,000. I planted my first Magic Trees with the use of a garden pie. As cool as they look fully grown, I kind of think they look awesome as half grown saplings. Can’t wait to get the xp from checking health later on tonight.

I’m kind of disappointed with a few recent clan events. Our Bandos trip this weekend was cancelled due to only about four people showing up. Only a few have been taking part in training Agility as well. Even though I really don’t like cb that much, I try to make all the trips for a number of reasons. First, the more the better. With a large group, chances are you’ll be perfectly safe. You can stay for multiple kills and if anyone needs something, everyone’s willing to share. Second, I’ve done some things that I wouldn’t have done on my own. New music is always a plus. I’m just willing to try anything new, as long as I know its safe. Last, I just like to hang out. Everyone’s friends, its more like a group in that sense, opposed to other clans that are rank and cb level based for Clan Wars or what not.

It seems skilling kind of takes a back burner sometimes. People get upset no one shows up for cb trips, but no one even cares about even a mass skilling event. A lot of skills people find boring and much improved when you have good company. And think, if you do it now you won’t have to do it later. It’s just disheartening when you come up with a seemingly good idea, and no one pays much attention. At least just feign interest…

Ok sorry, gripe over. I’ve been really struggling with bankspace recently. I still haven’t done the circus yet because I know I have no room for whatever items it gives me. Next month is Crafting and I’ve been hoarding all my uncuts and battlestaves for then. That should free up some space, but still have to wait about 2 weeks to do it. I see they’ve come out with the follow up to the Wildy quest today. I’m sure that’ll end up taking even more bankspace. With so many things added just in the past couple months, I wouldn’t be surprised to see an expansion on the horizon. I guess the real basis of it is that I need to get my Construction up. When I got 60 Hunting this weekend it left me only having 2 skills left in the 50s. 58 Runecrafting and 57 Construction. I keep my RC up so I can use my tears for Construction. It kills me spending an arm and a leg without having any real way around it. I guess I could just use limestone, but where’s the fun in that?

Phils sweep the Brewers! As great as it is that they are tied for the wildcard, I would rather they won the division and once again the Mets fail to make the playoffs. Let’s see if that can happen, ok? It was sad to see the Jets fail to beat the cheating empire that is the Patriots. It’s awesome when your team plays on Monday nights, but it makes Sunday seem a little off. So tonight I’m going to hunker down, play a little RS. Watch The Sarah Connor Chronicles then watch my Eagles destroy those wretched Cowboys in their own home. Go birds!

My CPU is a neural net processor, a learning computer.

The new distractions are working out to be just that. I’ve only spied on about 3 penguins, but I think I’ve spied on the same ones about 20 times. No matter where it is, it seems to always say that I’ve got that one already. It’s increasingly hard to tuck myself away at say Hellhounds and finish my slayer task because every 2 hours or so, I’m running off chasing a star. I just can’t seem to pass one up. All of that quick and easy Mining experience is too precious. It’s not about the rewards, although they are pretty awesome. I think it works out to a little over 90k worth of cash & items, but for me its about the mining experience. That and the Smithing xp from the gold ore helps, as well as the time it saves me running to the Abyss to craft Cosmics for enchanting jewelry or bolts. We have a pretty good system down. About 10 mins before it hits, we do a head count of who’s in and what spots they’re going to wait at. We try to keep one person at the telescope too because once we know it has landed, we know we can leave the spot we’re at and run to the next one. I’ll say on average, I get about 6k Mining xp from each one. Do that a couple times a day, it adds up. Not bad for just a few minutes of work.

I finally cashed in 1k Agility tickets! It seemed like it couldn’t come fast enough. It basically doubled my overall Agility xp and got me from level 62 to level 69. I headed to Ape Atoll to finish off the remaining experience to get me to 70. *Kicks Dusty Key into the trash* Turns out my home world is where everyone does the Agility course there. Kind of amusing seeing so many little monkeys running in circles. I’ve also come to the conclusion that I’m terrible at that course. I guess you get used to it, but people were lapping me over and over. I guess I need to get better at clicking. And Jax, I might take you up on that offer :)

After doing a pretty awful clue, I finished my task of Hellhounds (which are so much easier to get to now!) and got my first Dust Devil assignment. A friend showed me the way to them in the Chaos Tunnels and I quickly got an HP, CB and Slayer level. I was surprised at how relatively easy they were and was able to get through all 120 in just one sitting. Of course, I wasn’t sure what to bring so I just used Pro Melee the whole time since I had a lot of ppots on me. I was entertained by the Red Vamb drops, I’ve never seen anything drop that before. Always good to have a few things around to alch just in case I find myself standing at a bank doing nothing because I can’t decide what to do next.

Also this weekend, a friend took me and some others to my first Godwars boss. We went to Bandos after he pretty much guaranteed our safety. I love it when people are super patient and understanding. It took a while to get us in the proper gear and inventories because 3 of us had never been there before. We got there, got our kill counts and found some people to team up with. It was pretty amusing. We got a few kills, I didn’t get any drops, but that’s ok. It was more about satisfying my curiosity. I did end up dying, but due to my own forgetfulness. I just completely forgot to eat because I was so tied up into what was going on. Thankfully it wasn’t that big of a deal. I saw my grave was blessed, hit up the GE to get some new God Items, went back and got my Kill Count. They gave me the “all clear” and I ran in and got my stuff. The only things I didn’t have the inv space for were just a handful of ppots and Mantas. All of which I was happy to part with to get everything else back. We’re taking an actual clan trip there on Saturday and I’m pretty excited. It’ll be fun to be with all friends and we should be able to last there a while.

Anyways, that’s all the rambling I should do for now. The Sarah Connor Chronicles starts tonight and I have a feeling for that hour I won’t be watchng football or the Philllies. Watch it! Its good to see decent television finally coming back on the air after summer.

Walk on the Wild Side

Ventured into the Wildy yesterday to do a little star hunting with a group. I was checking out the lower level mining areas and in the time waiting I came across a Rev Dragon, four Rev Orks, and two Rev Knights. There’s nothing that rings in my head with such fear/aggravation as that dreaded sound of a Rev attacking you. I was pretty prepared to die, wielding only my pickaxe, Forinthy Bracelet and Ectophial so I wasn’t worried. I ended up getting away, but it was annoying nonetheless.

Word came from a friend that the star had fallen just outside of the Mage Bank in the level 55 Wildy, and it was level 9. I teled quick to Ardy and went over to use the lever to be put right smack in the middle of another two Rev Orks. They must up the Rev count when there’s something going on out there, I’m convinced. After waiting a bit, I figured I’ll just run past them, which worked out quite well. I ran up to the bank, saw about four or five green dotties and a star larger than my character. We were waiting on someone’s friend who had 90 Mining so we could start in on it. I had to wait to level 6 to start gathering dust, which took a while and was a definite reminder that I really need to train Mining more. While waiting, two more Rev Knights and a Hobgoblin started attacking some of the people who had gathered. That’s when it happened. Some scattered into the bank, would come back to check and get attacked again. There were some low level players there as well who didn’t stand much of a shot if a Rev attacked them. The Knights would leave them be, but a Hobgoblin isn’t above attacking a level 14. I had grabbed my Rune Scimmy in Ardy so I could slash through the webs at the lever. I proposed the idea of maybe fighting the Revs, something I never would have done had there not been about 30 people there. They couldn’t kill all of us, right? Some high level cb players took to the Knights, taking turns attacking when one would get low on health. I still had to wait around for the star to get to level 6 and wasn’t just going to stand around so I took to the Hobgoblin with just my Rune Scimmy, and no armor. I had grabbed a couple sharks before just in case, but I wasn’t going to risk anything more than that. I got it down pretty low several times, always within a hit of death it would heal itself. Just as I had it about to be killed, it froze me. That’s when a friend came over to deal it its final blow. There had been one casualty, a player who was just wandering by, with no real items on who was curious as to what we were doing. His grave was blessed just in case.

We went back and mined away, filling up on stardust when it hit me. Did that really just happen? Did we just all cooperate to protect strangers and bless a grave in the Wilderness?! A place where you would run if you saw a group of white dots approaching? A place of deception and doing anything you can to kill another player and take everything they have? We’ve come a long way in the past year and I kind of liked it. Soon pvp will come back, people will be luring and deceiving others to certain worlds or areas with their friends waiting to pile on and attack the defenseless to take their items, but there for that one moment of clarity, the Wildy seemed like a decent place.

Wish Upon a Star

Sorry about the negativity of yesterday's post, just needed to get that out there. I'll stick to more positive things today :)

The more I do star hunting the more I like it. The double ore effect isn't much different in rate as the Varrock 3 armor, and since its short-lived its kind of nerve-racking teleing to a mine and then trying to hop to an empty world. Good thing that's not the reason why I do it. I really like the fast Mining xp from the stardust along with the Cosmics and Astrals.

Running out looking to see where the sky is falling has been getting in the way of Agility, which is the skill competition this month. I'm getting sick of Brimhaven. Having under 20xp to a level and not getting it after a few hours is annoying. I've been saving up for 1k tickets so I know it'll be worth it in the end. I got up to 850 last night, so only a couple hours left. I chose to do that because I thought it would be a little more interesting than running in circles, but I think I'll switch to Ape Atoll because I should get to around 69-70 Agility after the cash in.

I really like having monthly competitions, its good motivation to train skills you know you need to get up, but in turn, never feel like working on. It helps kill the time until what I really want comes out - a new Achievement Diary.

Anyways, football starts tonight. Giants vs Skins. Two teams I hate, so i'll be hoping for a tie. Go Eagles!

Starry, Starry Night

I think I need to stop reading Runescape Forums. It’s like a den of negativity. No matter what the update, people will kick and scream about how they are against it. This week they came up with a few interesting distractions with the spy penguins, shooting stars and the circus, but it seems people are only concerned about the falling economy.

Yes, prices are going down. It might be because they will soon release new equipment, it might be that people are quitting members because of school starting again, it might be for another reason entirely. People keep asking Jagex to step in, regulate the economy and protect their “hard earned” money. I’ve touched before about how I feel about people who play this game only to get “rich.” It makes no sense to me. Why this is such a sore subject shows that people who play just play are getting fewer and further between. I notice increasingly more people standing in banks asking for price checks so they can show you every little thing in the bank so they can tabulate their “total worth.” I used to help people out with this, thinking maybe they just got an object for the first time and want to find out its value, or maybe they want to know how much they make at one run of something like Barrows. I understand that. Its just been so discouraging lately that now I don’t even bother to help, which in turn, makes me feel like I’m neglecting my own community.

The GE is player regulated, and I’m sure some have found ways of manipulating it. Be it intentional, or just impatience. What I can’t understand is the asking the creators of the game to step in and intervene. I’m not sure why they would even care. The RS economy, like all economies, is open to fluctuation. However, it differs in many ways. For starters, its not real. I know this comment can be taken the wrong way, but think about when a government steps in to help out with a recession or an inflation crisis. People can’t afford to eat, are being kicked out of their homes for not making payments, etc. This has no bearing in Runescape. The character you have created doesn’t need to eat to stay alive, unless in battle. He/she doesn’t make mortgage payments or pay the gas bill to keep the heat on. What people are complaining about are luxuries. Its like complaining that the price of a BMW has dropped by a couple thousand dollars. Why Jagex would have any concern because a godsword or a whip has dropped is just illogical to me. Neither of those things are necessary. Sure, they’re nice, but you can live in Gielinor, perfectly happy, without either.

I’m amused by the player predictions about the game, however. The picture in the advertisement banner is in red, so Dragon Platebodies will be released this week!! Simply said, but then taken and strewn as fact into other threads. Runescaper75 proved Dragon Platebodies are being released this week, therefore… One person’s theories are taken and used as references? Really? Where did he prove it? Maybe it’s the legal background I have, but I’m inherently skeptical about anything unless there is actual proof, and one person saying it based on an interpretation of a picture is hardly proof. Too keep some amused though, ok fine, I believe you. Dragon Platebodies are coming out, Sailing is the new skill, there’s a new Godwars Dungeon coming out, Rune & Addy dragons will come out, all of this.. by next Tuesday.

It’s also annoying to me about how people will complain about experience rewards. People complaining about getting 1k DEF experience on their F2P pure is ridiculous. God forbid that precious pure that you “worked so hard on” gets its Defense to level 2. If you don’t want the experience, don’t do the quest, its not that hard of a subject matter to grasp. I’ve stated before, experience gets precious at upper levels. A little here and a little there adds up. Don’t ask them to take quest rewards out of the game because its not what your fifth account precious F2P pure with 50 STR wants.

Sorry for venting and the negativity, I just needed to get it out there. On positive notes, in the past week I’ve gotten four Woodcutting levels and eight Firemaking levels. I’m also up to 775 Agility Arena tickets and I can’t wait to cash them in. I realize you don’t get that much xp from doing the course, just the tickets. Cashing in 1k would get me to 69 or 70 Agility, so I’m thinking about switching to Ape Atoll after that. I haven’t done the circus event yet and I’ve only found one penguin, but I really like the shooting star update. Sure, about 7 friends and I scoured Kandarim for about forty minutes and found nothing (which I don’t understand, I’d expect to at least find a group of people around it), but I did find two yesterday. Got about 25k, 10 gold ore, 70 Cosmics and 20 Astral Runes from the first and 33k, 15 gold ore, 93 Cosmics and 33 Astral Runes from the second. Plus a bunch of Mining experience for barely any work. It’s fun, like hide & seek. Go check it out!

Holiday, Worlds Away

Its the start of a holiday weekend here in the USA. The unoffical end to summer holiday of Labor Day. All that really matters to me is that I have Monday off and am goiing to be spending the weekend at the beach. I hope everyone has their BBQ's fired up and ready to celebrate :)

The new quest, All Fired Up, has people firemaking like crazy. It seems like everyone has now gone pyromaniac. I have to say, its a little contageous. FM has always been one of my lower skills, with no real rewards from training it, I would rather either fletch my logs from kingdom, use them for Construction, or in a pinch, just sell them. The idea of the beacon lighting for some reason really appeals to me. I think it would be fun racing from one to another loading and lighting logs. A friend did point out, however, that, what's the point in a beacon system if it's one person running from beacon to beacon lighting them. I kind of have to agree with that.

Anyways, I figure I have to bite the bullett sooner or later, so I've locked myself away in Tai Bwo Wanna (also frees up a bankspace from using my trading sticks) to cut/burn mahogany logs. I'll probably do this till I get sick of it and demand escape. I want to get my Woodcutting to 75 (71 now) so I can cut my own Magic trees from farming. When motivation strikes to train two skills you really don't enjoy doing, you jsut have to run with it.

Kind of a slow week, got my 1700 total levels fireworks a couple days ago. That was pretty fun. September 1 starts my clan's Agility month. I love Agility, although my level is kind of low in it. I have a ton of tickets I need to cash in. This competition should motivate me to get a little more agile :) I definitely want to get it to 80 so I can use the shortcut in Taverly Dungeon to the Hellhounds, I hate having to walk all the way around. Its weird how motivating being lazy can be. I'll be back after the holiday, have an awesome weekend!

The Smell of a Grill Can Spark Up Nostalgia

Labor Day is upon us once again. I can’t believe the summer went by so fast. Seems like just yesterday I was freezing at the opening day of baseball season. I’ve watched about 90% of the games the Phillies played in this year, staying up for the West Coast games doesn’t work out to well with my work schedule. I watched riders tear through the mountains in the Tour de France (my favorite part of the year) and finally the Olympics just ended with all the amazement and controversy I expected. Soon we’ll be settling in for Sunday football and deciding what Halloween costume to wear while watching the World Series play out before our eyes. Shorts will be put away and hoodies will be dragged out of the closets.

It seems that Runescape is nearing the time of the usual changing of the guards. Some players won’t be on much because they’re starting high school again. College kids are coming back from their summers away and will be playing again. My friends that are commercial fishermen will be back soon because their season is closing. And so it happens when the seasons change. The same will happen in the summer, then the fall again. It’s always sad to see people leave, but its great to see them come back again.

I hate to see the summer leave. I’m not a fan of the cold weather. As much as I love fall, it still reminds me of trying to enjoy a Sunday night with Monday morning (aka Winter) just around the corner. Next week I go back to my 8-5 hours, leaving me a little more time to play the game. Snowy weekends will be spent with a hot beverage and the laptop set up and key for watching lots of movie while I try to level, instead of being out enjoying the sun. Everything is cyclical, with every change brings some good and some bad, which makes you appreciate the good more after going through the bad. I’ve been getting a lot of levels this week. As you go on, the days of getting multiple levels grow fewer and far between. I ended this weekend by getting 80 Attack, 64 Summoning to push my CB level to 108. Pushing me at 1698 total. That desire to stay up for “just one more level” was overruled by my exhaustion.

I got to witness a good friend get her 99 Range level and Skill Cape this weekend and its pretty inspiring. All you need is a goal and you can be entertained for hours :)

One World, One Dream

I can’t believe the Olympics is coming to an end. I also can’t believe that Microsoft Word just auto-corrected “Olympics” to have a capital – O. The thought of spending 4 years without Team Handball is a complete bummer. Watching sports has always been inspiring to me. Spending 5 hours indoors watching the Tour de France riders leg out 100 miles through the Alps has always made me go out and go for a ride. Sure that giant hill I’d climb a few miles away isn’t the Alp D’Huez, but mentally it was.

I’ve never been that good of a swimmer. I grew up surfing the beaches in Jersey where you could always stand if needed. Getting around in the ocean without a board leashed to my ankle always meant walking in the sand against the current. Don’t get me wrong, I can “not drown” but I wouldn’t say my freestyle is anything close to graceful. That said, in what you might call a subconsciously Phelps-inspired move, I joined a swim program at my gym. Basically, it rewards you for little accomplishments you make in swimming the lap pool.

It starts off with some easy tasks. 100m, or 4 laps. Gradually working its way up. The equivalent of the English Channel, ending with 100 miles. Of course, these all aren’t going to be done in one sitting. I’ll do a few laps, go home, come back the next day and do some more. Each level is awarded with a patch which shows your accomplishment. If I could sew, maybe this would end up on something, but I have a feeling it’ll end up in a drawer somewhere.

Once again though, it’s a little bit of life imitating Runescape, or vice versa. The first few levels will be easy, and maybe I’ll even get a couple in a day. The end, however, will take days and dedication to get to the next level. Maybe I’ll sputter out in the middle somewhere and get distracted by another skill, or maybe I’ll keep with it to achieve my goal of completing them all. The reward is minor, fireworks above the head, maybe a sparkler lit in the backyard. A patch that shows what you’ve accomplished or a cape to cover the shoulders. Either way, regardless of how minor the actual reward, the sense of pride is really what we work towards. You don’t necessarily need a patch or cape to prove to yourself what you’ve done. So like all those amazing athletes we gather every 4 (or 2) years to watch, just stick to what you set. Proving something to yourself is almost better than proving it to others.

Vacation, All I Ever Wanted

Real life needs to take priority over online gaming. Spending time with friends and having fun needs to take priority over most things even in real life. Sure, we need to work for a living but when it comes down to either spending a night out for a friend’s birthday or wanting to wake up early to go for a long run, you can rest assured I usually wake up late with a headache. Some things can wait, but friends might not always be there.

That said, going to baseball games (Go Phils!), bike rides, days at the beach, camping trips, etc. have all taken up time I would normally spend playing RS. This is fine with me. My playing always takes a dive in the summer, every indoor activity does. I spend 8am-6pm in an office and when I get home I want to be outside. I’m convinced I am solar powered. I hate being inside, except to either watch the Olympics, the Tour de France or baseball. In the winter I can’t stand to fight the slush and wind and generally stay inside more. When I first moved to Manhattan, people thought I was from California because I was so adverse to the cold. I would tell them I’m from 99 miles south of this glorious island, they would tell me I should be used to the winters. Let me just say, you do not get used to it. All that time indoors those months drives me to stay outdoors these months.

That said, I travel about 2-3 weeks a month for work. Being in these strange cities has made me play a little more often than previous summers. This leads to a few different things. The first is, playing more makes me want to play more. The second, playing more makes me want to be inside playing more. I would have no problem with this if the conditions were miserable outside. However, its gorgeous. Some of this has been alleviated by being able to play outside on the deck using my laptop, while firing up the grill. The other point this brings up is that the more I play, the more goals and ambitions I set for myself in the game.

Playing roughly an hour a day, more on weekends and maybe about 2-3 hours when away on work trips has definitely made me into a “better” player. By that I mean, I’ve gotten more levels than I normally would have. However being less than 100k from an Attack level, and instead of being able to bang it out in a session, it takes about 3 days is incredibly frustrating. With that limited time, I try to get in the chores I can (definitely battlestaves, might sacrifice the pineapples though), then I’m usually indecisive as to what I should work on because its too insignificant to make any real kind of impact. My RS life has been hectic and part of me feels a little bad not devoting time to it. New friends meeting old ones (worlds collide!) and getting along, new friends in general, fun new clan events to places I’ve never been before, enough 99 parties to almost match the amount of real life weddings I’ve had to attend lately.

Part of me just wants to take a week off. A week off from work. A week off from all obligations and just play the game. Would I then be satisfied? A week is a long time with all those hours to play each and every day. I could get so much accomplished! I only have 30 quests left and I haven’t quested in about a month, I could easily finish that with a week off. 7 days, roughly 4-5 quests a day, definitely do-able. Think of all the Agility tickets that I could have. All the Cooking xp that would lead to my cape trimming. All those steels just waiting to drop a dragon face that I’ve wanted so bad. I guess this is just the mindset of your addicted player. Maybe the playing less is making me appreciate it more. Since I have so little time, I’m spending more time preparing for what I want to do as to not waste any time when I log in. Those 15 minutes of dazing off at work are usually RS induced by glancing at high scores. Since I get this much xp/hr, I can level at that in 15 mins, then make the quick hop over to *insert skill here* where I can almost level, but I’ll definitely get it tomorrow.

Maybe a vacation from real life is what we all crave at some point. Escaping reality is a major factor in a lot of players. So here, while I file state forms and call clients, I’m daydreaming of being at home, phone off, tv on, perhaps sipping a cold one and slaying some dragons because I am a mighty warrior. You feel that way too, right?

There Will Be Blood ...Runes

There’s been some recent updates and some interesting future updates I feel that I should at least touch on. The Runecrafting Guild has opened with its new mini-game. I loved the freeing up of bankspace by combining all talismans (talismen?) into one Omni Talisman. However, it was really annoying that I didn’t have a complete set, would buy some on GE and still not get the talisman. I couldn’t figure out which one I needed (I really wish the wizard would tell you “I just need these remaining:______ to make your talisman” or something like that. Minor point, but still annoyed me.

The minigame is interesting. Its an interesting way to train RC, although its really not a lot of xp. I got excited that the robes you can purchase with your points gave up to a +8 RC bonus, but was disappointed that they are only used for the mini-game and not for actual RC. I do love the Astral teles, making it super easy to switch to Lunars, a skillers dream. It took me a couple rounds to finally get the hang of it, but when I did it was fun. However, it quickly became corrupted (sadly like many of the mini-games) where friends would join both teams, and would take turns winning and losing. The few times I played that were a fair fight, it was fun. I just can’t get on board with the 1919 Chicago Black Sox mentality and throw games. Its just not fun. I just wish you could exchange points in for xp, like Vinesweeper. I guess it’s a good, fun way to obtain Pure Ess though.

I think it’s a good idea overall. RC is one of the hardest skills to level in and I have a lot of respect for those who trained it so hard. It’s good to see that they’re trying to make it more interesting. I was a little late to start taking my RC level seriously and I feel like I really missed out on some good xp by using runners at the Air Altar. 2k and noted ess lasted me only a couple tries before the limit kicked in. I don’t do it to make money, it just would have been easy getting those early levels up. I mainly use RC to do just that – craft the runes I need. The thought of never having to buy Nats or Laws is comforting to me. Plus, a little extra profit from alching never hurt anyone :)

The future PvP updates… Wow. Not sure I’m really going into new territory, everyone seems to throw their two cents in for that. I was never into the whole PK aspect of the game. I always associated it with trying to lure inexperienced players into a place where they can get ransacked by 10 people and take all their stuff and claim it as a legitimate way of making money. It was never a fair fight and don’t think it ever will be. I never really understood pures who would limit themselves so much on a game either. Complaining about needing to do a quest, but then upset about getting xp as a reward from it.

Maybe its different. Maybe I have a limited field of knowledge about it. I’m happy that those who have complained and threatened to quit repeatedly have a place to go, although I’m sure it will still come with numerous complaints. I’ll also be glad that its only in certain worlds, and entire certain worlds. The idea of death battles going on in Lumby is definitely entertaining and maybe there’ll be an ‘observe’ option.

I normally don’t like to write about the updates of the game. It seems there are a lot others out there who do it a lot better than I do, and I’m not really into turning this into a reference site. I more want it to be a place I can write what I think about it, hopefully instigating some interesting conversations. These two updates just seemed to be a bit too big for that matter.

As for me, I just got my 73 Smithing! Good bye Dwarf Stouts! Look out Avansies, I’m coming for ya!

Silence is... Boring.

I signed on one day last week and started chatting with my friends when I realized no dialogue was appearing on my screen. Unless there's a clan event in our home world, I generally try to stick to the least populated worlds. More than one occasion, in doing so, I've unwittingly logged into a Quick Chat world and I thought this ahd been the case again. I hop worlds, still no dialogue. I look a little closer and doh! I've been muted.

Now, I've been playing this game for a long time and I've never been muted or had any sort of marks against me. I never understood those with lifetime mutes, bans or who are in constant trouble. It never seemed that hard for me to not get in trouble. In fact, its kind of easy. At the same time, I've also never reported anyone. I can see where it can come in handy, especially if you're a parent, but for me, there's not really anything some random person on the internet can say that would offend me. Granted they can say some things that are offensive, but I never really cared enough to take to heart what some random person I'll never meet and probably never even have another conversation with, thinks about me.

The situation was this, someone was standing around on the docks complaining about how badly he would much rather be playing WOW and how much better it is. I responded something along the lines of "Why don't you stop complaining about it, and just go play it." Which seems fair enough. Why so many play RS only to claim that they hate playing it is beyond me. To which I was met with a hail of threats, swears, not-so-cleverly spelled words to articulate his point using curses, but that the censor wouldn't pick up. I fell for the bait, I made one quip about his intelligence and then the next 10 mins of moderately-amusing anger. After which I logged and didn't really think about it.

That's all it took, one quick line rebuttal to a hail of insults and I get a 24 mute. I would love to know what happened to him, if anything at all. In this though, I found out how frustrating a muting actually is.

The Quick Chat system is completely awkward to use if you've never really done it before. There also don't seem to be a number of options for fairly simple things. I ran into several of my friends who would run up, say hello, and about 30 seconds later after fumbling through the greetings I would come up with "Good Day!" - Something that I would never actually say, and they would guess right away that I was muted.


They would ask me how long and I was frustrated once again there was no responce to this particular question. I was asked "Is it 24 hours? Nod if it is." Oh darn, emotes. Flip over to the emote screen. Which one is nod, where is it? "Nod if it is, or even shake if its no." Looking...Looking.. Jig? No. Dance? No. My finger slipped on the skillcape emote which was met with the equivalence of a blank stare. "Just nod if yes." Muted frustration: I'm trying! I'm trying! At this point about 2 minutes has gone by, and the next words I see are "well, gotta go!" Dah! I failed. I wouldn't really want to wait around for an answer if it seemingly wasn't happening either. There are levels to be gotten!

Luckily, about 2 hours later the mute wore off (must have started while I was alseep or at work). I can't imagine how to work out common things like what you feel like doing, interesting trades or pretty much whatever. I can't imagine playing if I ever got a lifetime muting. The silence is deafening. I would have to start all the way over from scratch, and I think that would be too depressing. In the end, no matter how stupid or insulting someone is being, or how incredibly rude they are, realize your words are very important in this game. Save them for those who deserve them, your friends.

Back to the Grind

It always amuses me when Runescape things come to mind while doing activities in real life. I apologize for being away for so long, but a few friends of mine and I decided to take some time off and go camping. Daily chores in the woods are as common as the ones in game. Every morning we’d drive to the secluded spot, cut down some dead trees with our hatchets and saws (clearing out dead trees greatly decreases the chances of the spreading of forest fires, being that the alive ones are less likely to burn), chop them up, bring them back to the camp, start a fire and start making breakfast. I wouldn’t have minded a Dragon Woodcutting Axe at all because I believe my real life one was the equivalent of a bronze one. I laughed to myself at the thought of maybe a little firework explosion over my head and the realization “Oh awesome! Now I can cut down that fir over there!”

It also occurred to me that our Runescape characters don’t seem to shower too often. The scents of the medieval era are something I’m not too upset about missing out on. The ones with Firemaking Capes must smell like campfires, the fishermen like myself probably aren’t the most popular bunch. Spending hours out on a fishing trawler in August in heavy metal armor can’t be good. There are the unexpected ones which help, maybe a dip in the whirlpool, or failing an agility shortcut that will leave you having to dry out.

I sometimes feel like there’s too many time constraints while playing to do my daily chores. If I only have about 2 hours to play, do I really want to use it running all over collecting battlestaves, sand, pineapples, seaweed, etc? The sad thing is, when I don’t do these things, I feel almost guilty for having neglected it. Pushing Tears back yet another day, or missing out on the cash and great Crafting/Magic xp from the staves kills me a bit.

Speaking of Tears, I just set my new record high at 123. The running around frantically seems to work tons better than just standing in one spot and waiting those few seconds to see if the vein will change back. It brought me up to 55 Construction. I’m glad I can level in this skill without spending a truckload of cash and also I’m happy that my lowest level is now 55. I’ll be excited to get all skills to 60. I’ve been keeping all my uncuts and battlestaves in preparation for a monthly challenge involving Crafting xp, but it’s really taking a toll on m bankspace.

Sadly since I’ve been away, I don’t really have that much more to contribute. Fear not, loyal and MUCH appreciated readers I’ll have something new to print soon.