Runescape Sizzling Summer Bonuses

The Runescape Sizzling Summer payoff finally arrived.  For those who subscribed as a member through the whole summer, there are some pretty amazing rewards.  The most substantial (and most appreciated by me) are the experience bonuses.  Members through August received 350,000 experience in the form of Experience Lamps.  Then you get twice that (!) if you stay a member through September as well.

The lamp interface can be a little confusing at first.  It's called a Promissory Note.  Before I realized it, I'd spent one of the smallest lamps on the first 350k, and had to spend the rest in multiple increments.  Had I been paying full attention, I could have just spent the whole lamp at once by clicking on the largest amount.  With the 700,000 experience bonus, I just blasted it all in one lump.  Much easier.

The whole month of August members got an extra Squeal of Fortune spin per day.  In September, we were given 2 extra spins every day.  I'm not a SoF hater.  Except when I get bad spins...  But it ads fun to the game, and there's always the anticipation of getting a great prize.  The big money and powerful items are cool.  But what really makes me happy is winning experience lamps.  Or even Skilling Pendants, so long as it's a Pendant I can use.  I'm not so thrilled when it's for a skill that's already 99.

Over the course of August, Solomon's store also gave away costumes, emotes, Seaweed dreadlocks, a Title, and a Squid Cape.  Okay, they're all only cosmetic, but these things add choice and variation into the game.  And the Squid Cape looks a whole lot better than you'd expect.  It actually looks cool enough that I see players wearing it throughout Runescape.

The final reward is very different.  Jagex put a deck of 4 Fate cards in your inventory.  (Assuming you were a member for the required space of time.)  These cards are:

Dodging Death:  Get killed, respawn right then and there with all your gear.  Full life points.

Instakill Dart:  This ones a gimme... Kill something.  Right away.  Some limitations apply.

 Emergency Healing Box:  Can be used to heal all life points immediately, on you or someone you choose.

Remote Deposit Box:  Can be used anywhere, gives a bank deposit box for 1 hour.  Once placed, it can be used by anybody for it's duration.

With the experience bonus, it was fabulous, but over in a micro-second.  Like a child eating a bag of candy, I used all my exp in a single glorious moment.  I have a policy of putting all unassigned exp into Dungeoneering.  I always either solo, or duo with Monique.  So it takes forever to make progress.  As a result, my Dungeoneering level is pretty high, but haven't played it that much.  I do enjoy Dungeoneering, just don't want to spend forever getting it leveled up.

With the Fate Cards (as in "Choose your Fate") the decision's not quite so clear-cut.  Though strongly leaning toward the Instakill Dart, I haven't actually chosen yet.  Some players apparently don't understand the value of these cards.  On the Yanille Home Teleport last night someone had played their Remote Deposit Box.  What a waste!  For a high-level player, I could see an hour at the Frost Dragons with unlimited deposits.  For lower levels, the Green Dragons out in the Chaos Tunnels would be a big help.  Plenty of in-between places where it could help.

But for me, the Instakill has a big appeal.  I'll freely admit, the Fight Kiln has so far been beyond me.  I always die.  Done Jad a few times.  Maybe half a dozen total.  Haven't beaten the Queen Black Dragon either.  Since I can't even get to the boss in the Fight Kiln, that's out.  Since I can beat Jad on my own, not sure I'd use it on him.  But the Queen is easy to get to, and I can't yet defeat her.  She might be the perfect target just for the fun  of killing her once.

What did you do with your rewards?  Where did you spend your bonus experience?  On a skill that costs a lot of money?  Takes a long time?  Or maybe one that bores you?

How about your Fate Cards?  Which one would you use?  Where?  Why?  Personally, I think the Insta-kill dart is best, but I don't PVP.  Does that influence your choice?

I'd like to hear some opinions before choosing.  What advice do you have?