Wednesday, November 24, 2010

Motions

I’d like to thank everyone for their kind words and suggestions on my last post. Even just people and my friends I could talk to about random things in game helps so much. It was really hard playing during the first couple of days to be honest. Calling our one friend really helped because it was just good to talk to someone who could just relate was an amazing feeling.

We had a little memorial service for her which, with almost every large gathering in rs, was well intentioned but worked out kind of awkwardly. Her son logged on so he could see how many people cared, but I don’t think he fully understood it, and that I get. Let alone dealing with the loss himself, it’s a hard thing to look in on people trying to say nice things on an online game while a bunch of others are really just there as spectators or showed up out of curiosity.

Either way its just hard seeing that name on your friends list that you know is never going to log on again. I wish there were some way to close off her cc though, it seems to be being used by some pretty disrespectful people. People go to gravesites to visit and talk to their friends and family. I hate to make the analogy but the clan chat is kind of like that. I can’t get to the other side of the country whenever I want to talk to her. I was cleaning out my emails when I came across one from her not too long ago asking if I could teach her how to do Bork since the Chaos Tunnels were confusing. I think I made it a point to go everyday until she knew the route, then she would take me along showing me that she knew them so well. Fun stuff.


I’ve just been keeping myself distracted really. I’ve been doing a lot of Corp masses because they’re pretty fun and you don’t really think about much other than surviving there. Survival therapy I guess you can call it. I’ve seen some Spectral drops, I’m hoping I just go enough to get something awesome. You really begin to realize how rare certain drops are if you just spend day after day killing hundreds of the same thing. I managed to level my Defense up to 93 which I’m excited about. I always like it when I’m harder to hit.


I got 85 Prayer as well since the last post. That way I could make my Blessed Spirit Shield, mainly because I was curious about it. So far I’m liking it, but man, just getting from 84-85 shows why I haven’t done Prayer more often. I tried to go back to Soul Wars, it seems to be the free way to train it while getting other xp as well, but those games get pretty annoying sometimes. To see how it’d work out I actually switched to Ancients and took my Magic Essence pots (which aren’t tradeable and I gotta use them sometime) and tried using Ice Barrage for the first time. It’s not as fun as it looks.

Not many other things have been going on lately. Is it me or hasn’t there been an update in a while? Also, I’m guessing no Thanksgiving event this year? I kind of liked the turkey ones. I know it’s really only a North American holiday, but we’ve had them before. Ah well…

I’ve been struggling with bank space lately. All these clue rewards stack up (h3 plate, h2 helm, h4 legs) but not being able to put them in our POH without the complete sets is pretty lame. At least there’s the option now of not having everything bombard you when you open it. I opened my box for the first time since seeing everyone get destroyed with inv and bank spots and was pleased to see the option of that not happening. Also, I realized I only have 2 things in there that would have been affected, so it wouldn’t have been that much of a deal after all anyway.

My motivation for leveling skills has really just been take whatever’s closest to leveling and run with it. Dungeoneering aside, of course. It’s kind of at that point to where nothing really seems close to a level. My Slayer task is daggies so I went with a friend to the Daganoth Kings. Good lord that place is confusing to get to. On top of that I didn’t really like killing them too much. Them and TDs, I just can’t get into. It was an experience though, like trying a food you don’t like every couple of years to see if your tastes have changed.


Well, I guess that’s enough rambling for now. I hope everyone has a safe and good Thanksgiving for all those who celebrate it. For those that don’t, I hope you have a great week as well.

Thursday, November 11, 2010

Devestated

I woke up at 3am. I was sick. My throat was dry, the room spun and I could feel my heartbeat in the pit of my stomach. I got up to get some water and turn on the fan and open the window. I had 2 beers about 6 hours prior, so that wasn’t the reason. It must have been the burger I ate around 9pm causing havoc in my stomach. I couldn’t go back to sleep so I opened my lap top.

My one friend had given her facebook password to her daughter. She was going in for brain surgery because they detected an aneurysm a month or two ago. Right as I open it I see the update. She didn’t make it.

This is not someone I knew in person, but rather in game and then later on myspace and facebook. When I first started playing, I didn’t do much to make friends. It was just a game to screw around on. When I left and then I eventually came back, I wanted to take it a little more serious. I decided to train whatever my highest skill was. It was fishing, I think it was in the 30s. I spent hours fishing in Catherby as well as other various places. I’d take part in conversations, but never bothered to remember anyone’s name being that it was always a different group of people. I was so excited when I finally had the level to enter the Fishing Guild. It was here where I really met my first few friends in Runescape.

I have acquaintances and good friends in Runescape, however the first 5 people I ever really met hold a very special place in my heart. I couldn’t believe that people were spending hours and hours fishing, just like me and for some reason, stuck to the same home world of 26. I had never played any sort of MMORPG before and didn’t even know that people had ‘friends’ in them. This was over 5 years ago. I got friendly with them and we’d chat daily as we slowly chipped away at the fishing xp. As friends grew and moved on, some quitting, some just not on anymore or some who just moved to timezones where we never see each other, we all still managed to stay in contact. She was one of those friends.

I immediately logged on to see if any mutual friends were online, but there were not. I tried to go back to sleep but I really just laid restless until my alarm went off. I checked again before work but still none online. Another one of those 5 friends was very close to her, even talking to her on the phone regularly. She has to be devastated and I wish I could talk to her.

She’d even have her daughters come online (she leaves behind a long term boyfriend and 4 kids) to say hello to us. I remember doing that for three years. They’d eventually get their capes before me. I got mine and still fished, but got more interested in doing other things. We didn’t see each other on a daily basis in the game anymore, but we’d still PM and chat that way. She continued to fish with another one of those core friends, both pretty much earning their fishing cape about 4 times over. She’d PM me saying she’s so impressed with the way I’ve been knocking out my total levels, I’d gush equally about how much fishing xp she has and how high ranked she is in it.

It’s amusing, she got tired of having a couple adult beverages and then the next day realizing that she’d sold all her armor, or bought something ridiculous. To combat that, she started a new account that whenever that account was online, it’d mean she was a little tipsy. We’d laugh and joke about that for a long time.

Her life wasn’t the easiest. She struggled a lot with money, health and other personal issues. She always seemed positive though and could always laugh things off. A perfect example of this is just the other day. I had known all of what was going on, she didn’t feel the need to hide much and we were so close she’d tell me pretty much everything and I would to her. I had my dates wrong and saw on her facebook that she was about to leave for the hospital to get this surgery done. I was in game at the time and saw her log out. She logged right back in and I was quick to grab her attention. She said she was leaving in about 10 mins to drive to the brain surgery center a ways away from where she lived. I told her I cared about her and assured her that everything was going to be fine. We joked about when they had her brain open to make it like the Matrix and make her learn different languages and Kung Fu. I could tell she was nervous, but the joking made her relax. She said thanks and that she’ll see me in two weeks or so when she gets back.

That’s the last conversation I’ll ever have with her.

My thoughts are with her family and friends. I’ll try to keep my shit together and get through this work day, which I am doing a terrible job of trying to do. I’ll talk to friends and family as if everything is fine. I’ll smile to coworkers but I am destroyed inside. They won’t understand. Maybe that’s why I’m writing this. It’s not just “someone on the internet.” It’s a beloved friend, who knew me more than a lot of the people that I know in real life. It’s amazing that someone on the other side of the country, who’s voice I’ve never even heard would have such an impact in my life. If you’re reading this blog it means you play the game. It also means that you get it. You get the connections that are made over time. Don’t take them for granted.

I’ll miss you Ven. You’ll always have a place in my heart.

Monday, November 8, 2010

Get A Clue

92 Defence, which got me up to lvl 131 cb! Also got 87 Slayer! I spent the weekend knocking out slay tasks. Killing tons of nechs, hellhounds, abby demons, abby spectres, greaters, blue drags, etc, also leads to tons of something else:



Yeah, that's a lot of clues. Biggest item I received was Bandos page 3, but I know have a bunch of teleports to random places. The lumberyard teles came in handy while doing the clues that lead you there.

As you can see I got a court summons for the sandwich lady. It's the first one I've ever gotten. I went over to the court and pled her case and got her off the hook. The very next clue I got I received another summons! I thought this was awesome and head back to the court house to see who else I could get out of being falsely accused. Bummer, you have to wait 2 weeks to do it again... Ah well, at least I already have it.

I noticed I was getting close to a task where I was going to receive a slay points bonus. I went over to Lapalok for a task. Bloodveld! Hadn't had those in forever. I grabbed my cannon and went to kill the mutated ones and it was great xp and super fast. I completed the task and I got the "Get 75 points from Lapalok for completing a task" crossed off the elite Karamja diary list.

Saturday, November 6, 2010

Potpourri

I finally did the Halloween event (on 11/1, I’m happy I didn’t miss it!) and it was pretty good. I had some trouble finding all the spiders but it didn’t take long to get them on their matching tiles. I had heard this was super hard for some people. I think I really just lucked out, half were correct before I even realize what was going on. The talking to the dead musician guy was probably the worst part of it for me. I actually pulled up a guide because that kind of thing frustrates the hell out of me. However, when I looked at it, I realized I was on the last choice anyways.

I think the bone brooch is pretty cool and the emote is fun. Overall I liked it. I like how it incorporated people from previous Halloween events. I liked the Poe references and I had to look it up to confirm it, but there was a Bill & Ted’s Bogus Journey reference. I got worried there that I was reading Bill & Ted’s into it, but its there! Whenever I see the grim reaper I think about challenging him to battleship and twister so I already had that goin on in the back of my head. Also, I don’t know where Bill S. Preston gets off adding Esq. to the end of his name. There’s no way that kid went to law school and passed the bar. Also, they’re coming out with a third one soon, which... will be interesting.

Yesterday I got to 93 Crafting, which I’m pretty happy about. Staves and the occasional assist is really the only way I train it. I had about 800 staves laying around so I bit the bullet and bought the air orbs to make them. They’re super expensive now, but they bought at mid instantly. I go in and out of my DIY phases and I just didn’t have it in me to make the orbs from scratch. Part of that has to do with not visiting Arnheim in Catherby for my seaweed. I just don’t really think of it because I have enough pineapples to last me forever.

The cash supply was running a little low, so I went to my favorite alching spot and took care of those. The best place to alch is the Skavid caves at Gu’Tanoth while collecting nightshade. It’s a second for herblore and its respawn rate is a little slow, not to mention it being untradeable. You just need a lightsource and the Skavid map. I wear my Seer’s 3 headband but you can also use the mining helmet to save an inventory spot. I wear my dueling ring so I can bank pretty quickly at Castle Wars. You also need to wear any kind of gloves or else it’ll hurt you when you pick it up.

It never ceases to amaze me how much of Runescape is based upon actual things. There really is belladonna and nightshade and it actually is a toxic plant. I’ve touched on this before, but the amount of real life knowledge you gain while playing a fantasy game is astounding. I always just assumed about 10% of it was real, while the rest is all just imaginary.

Do you know that when Jagex said that they were going to find a use for Ecto-Tokens, that was in 2008. It’s been 2 years and they still haven’t touched on it. They can’t think of anything to do with them? Really? I guess they have better things to do, but they just keep piling up. What would you want them to do with them? Have any ideas? New outfits? They stated originally that they’d be required for a pet, but something with the ex-ex-parrot got it askew. Which reminds me, I should get one of those… Spending 25 or whatever every, say, 4th week because there’s a penguin on braindeath doesn’t exactly deplete the pile. We already have ghostly robes, so that just seems redundant. I wouldn’t want to trade them in for xp being that the ecto place already gives the best pray xp you can get.

With two months left in the year and motivation at a pretty low state, I have to admit I don’t think I’ll make my goal of 90+ (Dungeoneering aside). I’m ok with that. I really wish I posted a list of my skills last January to see how far I’ve come. That’s something to remember for this year. It was a lofty goal, but I’m ok with not achieving it. It was something to reach for and I’ve done a lot in these 10 months. Training some skills that were already over 90 took some time away from leveling the lower ones. I got my Woodcutting cape which I never thought would happen. I brought Thieving up from one of my lowest, most hated levels to one of my higher ones. I got my Strength cape, have been working on Attack, etc.

I just looked back through this blog and my first post of the new year mentioned that I had just lost to Jad 4 times. Things don’t seem to change much I guess. I also noticed that it’s almost been a year since I had the idea of all the RS bloggers to kind of have a get together. It didn’t go exactly as I had thought it would, but it was a lot of fun to get to see everyone in game that I read about on an almost daily basis. Would anyone be interested in doing this again? I think it could be fun. Make it pretty informal, like a house party or meet in a tavern somewhere. Actually, maybe a F2P place would be better since some don’t have memberships. Falador pub? We can stack up on Dwarf Stouts and Wizard Mind Bombs when we’re there. Let me know your thoughts. I’ll organize something if people are interested. And I promise this year I’ll make it at a better time for the ones on the other side of the Atlantic.

Jax’s blog must have me thinking about goals. Congrats to her on her 4th complete year of playing and just plowing through levels. I’ve been playing years longer and haven’t accomplished nearly as much.

Monday, November 1, 2010

Sweetness

It’s been a while since I’ve posted. It hasn’t been a while since I’ve written though. The amounts of posts that I never put up could fill volumes. It’s kind of ridiculous, but sometimes I just get to the end of writing something, realize I hate it and then just scrap it.

I’ve been killing a lot of mith dragons lately. I’ve grown to like it a lot. Also getting effigies and my first ever elite clue help. I got a dragon platebody ornament kit. Looking at the price it was something like 10M. Everyone told me the street price was much higher and not to sell it on GE. Which is good if you have lots of junk. I don’t. Heck, I don’t even pay attention to what even classifies as ‘junk’ anymore. I just cleared a bunch of useless crap out of my bank and sold to a guy for something like 15M. He promptly used it on his armor, which I was relieved. If he took it to resell I would have thought I was getting the short end of the deal. At least he used it and ran off to show his friends. At the end of the day, even if it is worth more, it’s a free 10M for me and some new bank space.

I like the elite clues. I really like the rune rope puzzle things. The trick is to just pick out two of the paths, focus on them. Move one 17 times (how many runes are on it), if the overlapping spots don’t all match, move the other path 1, then move the original path 17 times again. Repeat until you have all overlapping spots green. Once you have that, simply move the third path until its all unlocked. Viola!

I was lagging so I decided to skip mith drags for a bit and I went to train some attack at abby demons. Whip drop! Sweet!

It’s kind of scary, and I thought it was always luck, but I’ve actually gotten pretty good at the party room. Now, what you get is random, but before I was just spam clicking whenever I saw a balloon. If you time it right, your odds are a lot better. In the last 5 party room drops I’ve been in, I’ve received at least one item. I got 2 things twice (18 prayer pots (4) and… something else, it totaled over 250k), 300k cash and some other fun things like 2k coal, etc.

I haven’t done the Halloween event yet, I meant to do it yesterday. From what I’ve read, it looks pretty interesting. I like seeing people just collapse into a pile of bones as well. I like novel emotes like that.

I’ve held off on posting this because I really wanted to end it by showing you my new firecape, however that hit a bit of a snag. During last week, I think it was Wednesday, I was assigned Jad by Kuradel. I went 3 straight times, losing to Jad each one. It didn’t matter that it wasn’t my assignment any more, it was a matter of principle. Kuradel assigned me Jad again yesterday. Again, got through all the waves with no problem. Again, Jad whacks a 90+ hit on me and I can’t bounce back. I can usually get to the healers, but yesterday the fight was pretty shortlived. Much respect to anyone with a firecape. This week 0-4 vs Jad. Overall 0-17. I think I just acquired my frustration skill cape.

I managed to get 94 Attack though this weekend, so that’s a plus.