Wednesday, August 26, 2009

Why we do what we do

One of the Runescape sites I check out daily is Runescape Reader's Digest. It's updated on a pretty much daily basis and just points you in the right direction if you're looking for interesting articles pertaining to the game.

Today, Vaskor pointed to this article asking Runescape bloggers some questions regarding why we write what we write. I think its a really interesting idea, so I decided to follow suit. Also I'm borrowing his format because I think its quick and to the point. Hope you don't mind! ;)

Why did I start blogging?

I was looking up random Runescape information one day when I came across this blog. I had never seen a runescape blog before that didn't pertain to guides, tips or the dreaded gold farmers. It was personal. They had the same sort of playing style that I did, albeit they're a F2P mod and I'm a P2P layman. I loved reading about the interpersonal dynamics of playing a MMORPG (Runescape is the only MMORPG I've ever played). I fell in love with the fact that behind the stats, skills, quests etc, there are actual people with different political views, religions, cultures, everything, taking part in something. It was all new for me. From there I discovered more and more similar sites, mostly touching on gameplay, but each with a personal feel on it. I guess I just wanted a part of that.

What do I get out of it?

I've met a lot of interesting, amazing people that I might not have. It's nice just to have a record of things I've done, noticed, figured out or even just how I felt about certain things. It's something to look back on. Its interesting how we can change as people and players over time and sometimes we don't even notice it until we look at something we did, say, a year or so ago.

Tips to players who also wish to blog for runescape?

Write about anything you feel like writing about. What may seem just as an outlet to you, might be insipring or helpful to someone else, regardless of how trivial you think it may be. Much like the game, have fun with it. Don't make it 'work.'

Monday, August 24, 2009

Back to work...

Back home after a week vacation at the beach. I did sneak in a little RS here and there (mainly stave runs), but for the most part it was good times, good meals, drinks and friends. Its good to take a little break every now and then.

It’s interesting just how profitable GWD can be if you go with a stable set of friends. Zammy boss seems to be the easiest. We’ve been taking many trips with 6-7 people and can usually stay an hour or two before people have to go or run out of supplies. Trips usually get a split of a Zamorak Spear or a hilt. The last trip I took came in at over 5.8M gross due to getting one of each as well as various other drops. It’s still amusing to see a Dragon Dagger split though. Kril drops 19k gp a lot to a person, but splits a 30k drop between 6 people?

It’s weird to say, but I had reached a point where I had more money than I ever had in the game. I had kept it stashed away for a bit, but that’s doing me no good. I decided to take some out and get a few levels. I looked on forums for an open guilded altar and over a few days got 74-77 Prayer. Antifire potions seem to be the cheapest/best xp to make at my level so I went 72-74 Herblore. I’m only about 50k from 75. For some reason Prayer Potions are up over 15k each now. I made a few of those and they easily sold at max price in GE. Which is ridiculous because Sara Brews require a much higher level, more difficult to obtain second and are about a third of the price.

Also got 80 Slayer, 86 Crafting, 89 Strength (actually leveled this on Kril) and 121cb since my last update. They were all things I was pretty close to and just happened to level around the same time. I’m up to 1997 total levels. The year I graduated high school. Closing in on that 2k mark. If not tonight, I hope to get it tomorrow.

Wednesday, August 12, 2009

Part Deux

I logged in to one of the merch chats today to see if anything was new. The clan chat name was instructing to sell. I happened to have one of the items so I thought I’d try it out. Put it on GE at minimum – no offers. Just a few hours before everyone had max bids in, the leaders telling everyone to hold onto the item until it got to be a certain amount. It didn’t even reach half that amount before they dumped the product.

This brought about a pretty huge reaction. People were now stuck with tons of these items that are now plummeting in value and wondering who to blame. You could tell people were lashing out in PM to the ranks. The ‘leader’ of the clan came on, said he was tricked by a third party who dumped and caused tank of the product. Also, the person who duped him spammed the chat advertising a different clan.

Even ranked players complained about how much money they lost, which got me thinking, aren’t they in on it? I started to realize it might be a little more complicated than I originally thought. That’s when the one who is blamed to have caused the problem comes back into chat and starts spamming again. Claiming how terrible that merch clan is and how much better this other one would be. He gave the specific example of the collapse a few hours before. The names of the higher ranks seemed familiar, if not the same as were screaming in the other clan about what item to buy.

Here’s the thing, anyone can get a rank in a clan chat. All you have to do is go to a heavily populated world, heavily populated area (like GE or PC) and advertise about joining the clan chat. Boom – there’s your rank in a few hours. This does a number of things. First off, gives that person a false sense of power. They are not included in the actual plan as to what’s going on and are going to get scammed as well. Second, it gives members reassurance that what they are taking part in is not a scam. If everyone’s complaining about losing money, even the people with ranks, then something must have surely gone wrong and it won’t happen again, right? A clan wouldn’t scam its own ranked players, who earned that rank only by advertising that clan in order to drive prices up, would it? Ugh.

When the one who was blamed for the problem came back in clan chat again and started spamming for the second time about how bad that particular clan is at merching, he advertised his own merch clan. Also in doing so, attacked specific members. All this while the leader of the chat sits idly by. If he scammed everyone, why are you still letting him fight and pick arguments in your chat? It’s a bit like watching wrestling. This does two things, either has the person switch over and try the new chat, which is already merching a new item, or install some sense of loyalty in the original clan, meaning you’ll wait a few days, take their side and then try again.

I wouldn’t be surprised if everything was staged and both clans are run by the same people. Look at it like this, you hear of a merch clan through advertising, you join and invest. Your investment fails, someone comes along and says ‘they’re not doing it right, join us.’ The first clan has to wait 2-5 days so they can stock up on a new item before its announced anyway. You want to try and recoup your cash quickly so you see what this competitor has to say. The same thing happens. Merch clan A comes up and says, ‘see they aren’t as good as us’ and this continues back and forth, sucking everyone dry of their cash. Because of the constant want of power, more and more people advertise. The ones who got ripped off never even mention a word to the new ones being ushered in.

On the surface, it appears there’s a lot of merch clans out there, but I really wouldn’t be surprised if there were just a handful of separate ones and the majority of them fall under the same umbrella of one giant clan. The different facets, different roles, Andy Kaufman/Jerry Lawler-esque scripted rivalries and arguments are all very intriguing. It’s almost as if you’re watching a soap opera if you take a step back and try to figure out what’s going on with these clans. Its also very easy to get caught up in all the fast paced drama, the potential for large sums of cash, etc. Don’t fall into it. I do have to admit, it has been highly amusing observing all of this as a fly on the wall. Just don’t get involved.

Tuesday, August 11, 2009

Blue Horseshoe loves Anacott Steel

Vaskor’s link to an article about one of the former leaders of GoldMerch, one of the larger merchanting clans on Runescape, was really interesting to me. I decided to do a little research into some merchanting clans to get some more info.

Just to put it out there, I don’t really merch. I’ve never been in a merch clan. Being able to dictate market prices in order to boost your own profits has always seemed suspect to me. The article openly stated that they used people in order to make cash, while others would lose it. Not only that, but if you just happen to need whatever object is being merched is, chances are you won’t be able to get it, and if you do it’ll be at a highly inflated price.

Individually figuring out trends, buying low and selling high, is completely fine. Blatant price manipulation is another. However, as annoying and distrustful as I see it, it is within the rules. For some people, this is how they want to play the game, and who am I to say what they can and can’t do? We all play differently, its what makes the game great.

I came across an interesting website which lists about 40-50 merch clans, what item they’re buying, what stage of the process they are in, and what the dump price is. I’m on the fence about posting a link to it or not. On one hand I don’t want to give any free advertising, this site has never been about helping out merch clans. On the other hand, it would serve as a good warning. Perhaps you wanted to buy a certain item, you can see that maybe this isn’t the best time to do it. I think there’s too much risk so I’ll just say if you can work Google, you can probably find it.

So I turned private off and decided to sit in a few of these clan chats. I have to say I was impressed. It’s rare you log into full, public chat and see no spamming. I shortly realized it is because usually only 2-4 people in the chats have ranks and can actually be ‘heard.’ The format is basically you PM a ranked player, and he/she’ll answer your question publicly in the clan chat for all to see. They’ll also reiterate the dump prices over and over. Usually the title of the clan chat is the item which is being merched.

Contrary to my preconceptions, for the main part, everyone seemed incredibly polite and helpful. Which, the more that I think about it, has to make sense. Everyone in these chats are the ones who are making the ranks their money. Most state that the entire clan votes on items, however checking the items which they have selected, seeing their prices change a couple days prior to the ‘vote’ points out that these are predetermined and have already been hoarded by the few ‘in the know.’ The ‘vote’ is a way of making people feeling included. Comparable to the government limiting the use of butter during WWII, to make people feel involved in the situation they have no control over. The dump prices are set up so that the few who started the merching can get out, while the item is still selling. Anyone who stays in up to the so-called ‘dump price’ is going to be at a loss.

These clans are really run like well thought out businesses. There’s research involved, a certain hierarchy established, a routine to be followed, etc. They do generate enormous amounts of profit for those who utilize them well. Its easy to see how a player can stumble in one of these chats and get carried away. You’re in a clan chat with 100 other people, all of which are seemingly going to do the same thing, the prices are in fact rising on said object, it feels like you can’t lose. Then all of a sudden everyone dumps before you and you’re at a loss. If you try to speak up about your loss, you can’t. No one can hear you, unless you PM a ranked player and why would he let your complaints be heard in front of all the new potential buyers.

I didn’t invest in any of merchandise. Its just not my thing. It was interesting to sit in and get a first hand account of how these things work though. I’ll be keeping tabs, jumping in a clan chat here and there just to make sure I’m not getting burned if I need an item. I’m sure if you do it right there’s a lot of cash to be made, but I’ve made it this far and I feel as if I’m doing quite alright.

I had a lot of time to check the chats while I sat at the GE, checking the prices while I was working on a Fletching level. Got that up to 82. It was about time I put some of those Maple Logs to use. I got my Thieving to 71 a couple days ago. I figured I’d go check out Pyramid Plunder and wow. What a difference a room makes! I went from averaging 5000xp/run to about 8500-9000xp/run with a few runs being over 10,000xp. I quickly knocked out level 72 in that and have a feeling this will be less annoying to get to 75 than I thought.

Also congrats to Jaxana, who's helped me many times with tips, advice, events, good conversation, with her getting 3 99's in a span of about 10 minutes! That was awesome.

Thursday, August 6, 2009

All I care about is me, my drums and you,,,

Ok this isn't a RS post. One of my most favorite directors in the world just passed away. I grew up with Ferris Bueller, The Breakfast Club, 16 Candles, Planes Trains and Automobiles, Uncle Buck, Vacation, etc... Ducky, Cameron, Ally Sheedy in the Breakfast Club are people I watched over and over and love. So this post is for John Hughes... He has nothing to do with Runescape, but has done something for us who grew up in the 80s...

Wednesday, August 5, 2009

Clocks and Penguins and Skills, Oh my!

I missed three penguins last week. I usually do them on Tuesday night, just before the reset, so that I can see how many I randomly stumble across in the mean time. I've never had an issue with it resetting before I'm done, they only take a short amount of time. I needed some quick xp on Sunday so I brought up the list and got easy ones relatively quickly. I was close to a level, so I didn't want to use all 10. Since the xp you get is based on your level, its better to get a few, cash them in, get the level, then get the others and cash them in, being that they'll give you more xp. That is, if you don't want to train that skill at that moment. Last night though, just laziness to get the remaining few. I got home from a long day at work and just couldn't deal with listening to the overwhelmingly annoying penguin chat.

One of the annoying things about penguin chat hunting on Tuesdays is that it gets a little flooded with "Reset yet???!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" messages. I'm not sure what the obsession is penguin hunting the minute they're out, but it seems a matter of life or death. Also, you think after all these weeks (almost a year now?) people would learn the reset time. I do realize that they're usually late, but I see the same people, week after week, flooding the chat asking if they reset, about 4 hours prior to even when they're supposed to. The RS reset clock isn't really hard to figure out. If people put some effort into it, it'd stop the freak outs.


Ok, I can't make a comment like that and not contribute something. 8pm EST Tuesday nights is when the penguin reset is. Be prepared to wait though, its usually 30-45 minutes after that. That at least narrows your window so you won't have to check at 5pm EST. Also, 8PM on the button is when staves reset so you can buy more. I've been running late at 7:59, bought them, then right at 8:00 can buy more. Bert and Arnheim however, they hate us. Them you have to wait until 24 hours after your last talking to him. This is highly annoying. Say you visit them at 9PM one night. This means you have to wait until AFTER 9PM the next day to get more. Yes, it can be 9:01, but the issue with that is that days add up. Meaning at somepoint, its going to be 11PM, 12AM, 1AM, meaning that you'll either miss a day, or really be missing sleep.
Flax guy, I'm not sure of. I feel like he's on the 8PM clock, but don't quote me on that. He's never really turned me down on my way to Arnheim, who has, but I can't remember if its because I just forgot to go the previous day or not.

I've been fishing the last couple days. Its not helping me get closer to any kind of level, but I just think I needed to restock and clear my mind. I finally got to use the Granite Lobster. I didn't really notice any kind of boost in speed, plus it doesn't really seem to produce many sharks/swordfish. Just a few here and there. I think they came out a little too late for them to help me with it though. Of course, free items are free items and xp, so if you're going to be doing something like Fishing, Woodcutting, etc, there's really no reason not to at least have some sort of familiar with you.

I really believe we should be able to have a Summoning obelisk in our POH. It would fit in perfectly in the Garden. I can understand not having a bank in your home, but we already have altars. It would be nice just to recharge everything in one go.

I hope what I write about doesn't come across as complaining that the game needs to be easier. I'm more about streamlining it, making it more efficient. Running back and forth to Arnheim to get your 40 pineapples and 80 seaweed doesn't make the game challenging. It just adds a little annoying factor in there of time consumption. Battlestaves were the same way. Running to the bank and back doesn't make the game 'harder.' they fixed that with having the staves noted. Instead of bank running, you can go do other things. I don't want them to make bosses easier, levelling easier, etc. Just clean up a few things here and there. The biggest improvement to this was the GE. Say what you will about trade limits, whatever. This isn't about that. Its about being able to put something up for sale and go about your business. COMPLETELY beats standing in a bank for hours screaming because you want to sell something.

Anyways, if you stayed long enough to read all my ramblings, I definitely appreciate it. I tend to ramble...

Saturday, August 1, 2009

Back to skilling.

After about 4-5 weeks of really training nothing but combat, I hit the wall. I need to give the whip a rest for a little bit and get back to skilling. I've gotten a lot of levels, I love the fact that with slayer you can make some decent cash, you're training 3 skills at one time.

The new Aquatines are pretty cool, sadly its impossible to find them not packed with people. It amazes me just how much melee gear has skyrocketed in the past couple weeks. I've seen people offering 4M for a whip. It kind of tempts me to sell it.

A few friends and I have been doing some daily trips to the Zamorak general. It's pretty easy once you get used to it and we usually stay for 1-2 hours per trip with about 50 kills. It turns out to be decent cash. We split some Zammy Spear drops which are roughly 350k/person and a couple hilt drops that are about 5M/person. Plus its just fun killing something so big with such relative ease.

One of the things I' really like to try soon is the Corporeal Beast. However, with a lot of people who know what they're doing. It's not something I'd like to wander into with just a handful of friends not knowing what to expect. I'll have to do some research and see what its about.

With the charms I've been stocking up on, I decided to put the money to good use and got 70-73 Summoning. I used all my green and crimson charges. I need to get some Obsidian Charms to use up my blues. Tzhaar are ok to kill. They're kind of annoying, but the cape drops are pretty awesome.

Actually raising Summoning is an incredibly boring process. I love collecting charms, I never not pick one up. I like using familiars and seeing all the different ones with separate abilities. I just hate running to the obelisk and back and forth and back. I just wish there was a more entertaining way to raise xp.

Getting closer to the 2000 levels mark. I'm in the 1970s now, looking at the end of the hippies, into disco, soon the bowery will explode with Blondie, the Talking Heads and The Ramones. Thinking of levels as years still amuses me after all this time.