Level, Level

Finally achieved it last night, got my 70+. I grabbed my clay hammer and started pounding out Carved Oak Tables for about an hour. Then I joined some friends for penguin hunting. Used those 15 points on Thieving then took a few runs at Pyramid Plunder. Plundering was terrible with a touchpad, however just doing a few runs was do-able.

I really can’t stand Thieving, but now I kind of want to get to 71 because the thought of a new room for Plundering in, interests me. I don’t really see how this is viewed as one of the most profitable skills though. I got a Pharaoh Scepter once, that’s good cash, but an extremely rare find. Maybe it’s the stalls, or the fact that maybe 50gp here and a Blood Rune there add up over the course of leveling… I don’t know.

I hate to admit it, but I kind of do obsess over the game a bit. Especially levels. If I can’t play, say a slow day at work, I’ll pull up the hiscores list and see what I should work on when I get home. Or I’ll compare my stats to friends over and over and see how they’ve been doing lately. Not in a competitive way, its just that if someone says they’re going for a certain level, and I don’t see them in a bit, I want to see if they reached their goal. If I just meet someone I’ll maybe pull up their stats. Not as a judgment, but maybe if they’re really good at something I have a problem with, maybe they’d be able to give some sage advice.

The other day when I wanted to work on Construction, I pulled up a few people’s scores because I had never used the butler before. I wasn’t sure how it worked and what to build. Ta-daa, friend’s on, got a high Con level, and bang, 2 levels down in the easiest of fashions. Everyone has their own way of doing things and its just the curious nature in me to see how people do things, what they like to do, and why they like to do it. It’s like studying sociology of an rpg. Some want to be rogues, some want to be mages, some warriors, others just skillers and crafters. If you put that together with the person’s actual personality, it is completely fascinating. It’s interesting to see what quirks, skills, habits, etc in real life carry over into the game.

In real life I work with a lot of numbers. In game, I calculate everything. I make spreadsheets based on my progress, calculate my skills, figure out which training methods give you how much xp in an hour, how many hours will it take to get a level, etc. I usually have a pen and paper at my desk as well as a calculator and am always using them. Some say that takes the fun out of it, hunt for hunting sake and if you get a level, then it’s a bonus. I don’t have that in me though. I think that’s why I’m not completely cb oriented and am pretty bad at Slayer. Non cb skills are much more constant and easier to calculate.

Don’t get me wrong, I don’t do that with everything. I do like killing drags for drops, going to Godwars for fun, KQ, etc. Those I view as little vacations from experience gaining. Plus to break it down to the lowest level – going out with a group of friends and killing lots of really big monsters, its pretty cool.

One of the weird consistencies I’ve picked up on is that when someone has a low Crafting level, they tend to also have a low Farming level. It’s pretty easy to fly through Crafting after you do the Varrock Diary, which requires you to get your Farming up pretty high. I just like discovering little patterns like that.

Mr. Brownstone

I saw a $240M drop in the Party Room last night. Surprisingly, I didn’t lag out. A large number of D Legs, Zerker Rings, D Full Helm, etc. Kind of awesome to witness, but of course I couldn’t even tell if I popped a balloon or not. I think everyone in the world was there.

I haven’t had much to write about at all recently. I’ve been leveling, climbing the hiscores. Finally up to 90 WC. I’m just 2 levels (Theiving and Construction, both at 69) away from having every skill be 70 or over. My goal for the year was 75+, so I feel like I’m off to a good start.

Its interesting how levels are like drugs in Runescape. As you get higher up, they become further apart. When you get one, you feel that incredible rush of relief and joy. That last for a few minutes. Maybe even the night if you stayed up too late working on it and soak in the joy of it then crash right to sleep. This, of course, after you log out, check out hiscores and see how many ranks you moved up. Overall and in the skill. Shortly after, the feeling wears off. You start scrambling finding what you can level next based on how close the xp is vs based on what you have in your bank. Sometimes you blow all your savings just getting those quick little highs. Stealing Creation might as well be yelling “I got that pandemic!” out to you from the street corner because that game can make you level so much faster and cheaper.

It makes you start doing things that you don’t want to, just to get it. Power level on Oak Tables? Collect 4000 Snape Grass? Spend hours knee deep in water casting out that net? You know you want it…