Monday, September 29, 2008

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!

Thursday, September 25, 2008

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!

Monday, September 15, 2008

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!

Monday, September 8, 2008

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.

Friday, September 5, 2008

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.

Thursday, September 4, 2008

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!

Wednesday, September 3, 2008

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!