Runescape Dungeoneering- 99 Smithing, 90 Mining... Promethium Chestplate, here I come!

Mining gold ore at the Living Rock cavern

About a month ago, I was enjoying some Dungeoneering.  At that time, it had cost me something near 2 million gold to get someone to smith a Promethium 2-Hander and a Promethium Chestplate.  While I liked them very  much, in a way paying so much for them kind of locked me in.  At that price, it's not a good idea to keep trying new stuff.  If I bound anything else, that money's down the drain.  Also, any money paid for the newer gear would be a further loss.

Lava Mines- No ore, but easy exp.

Maybe I've already got the best stuff I currently can.  That's not the point.  The point is that I'm afraid to bind anything else.  There's no going back.  The solution seemed obvious.  Get 90 Mining, and 99 Smithing.  Simple, right?

Turning ore to bars at the Edgeville Smithy

Superheating at the bank

Well... don't know why, but I decided just as a side project, I'd  bang out those levels and then always be able to make anything needed.  It sounded like a simple plan, and besides, it ought to be fun.  It shouldn't divert me from my Dungeoneering that much, right?  Little did I know.

Going from 82 Mining up to 90 was no big deal.  It took about 4 days, and that was fine.  Spent some time in the Lava Mine.  Some for the experience, which is easy, but not as fast as possible.  Stayed there until I got my gold mining armor.  The rest of the time was spent mining gold ore in the Living Rock Cavern.  That's probably the fastest way to raise mining levels, with the ability to mine many ores from a single rock before it runs out.

The hard part... going from 90 Smithing to 99?  That was insanity.  I KNEW it would take about 125,000 gold ore being turned into bars.  I just somehow thought it would go much faster.  I mean, you take a whole inventory to the furnace in Edgeville... wear gold-smithing gloves... Have my Varrock 4 armor for the occasional extra bar smelted.  It's automated- you click to start, and then sit back while it does the whole backpack.
I somehow forgot that each bar smelted comes with full graphics animation and the 'hissss' noise.  No shortcuts, no speed-ups.  Full wait for every single gold ore to be converted to gold bar.

At some point, I read that smelting in Edgeville can give about 60k exp per hour.  That was pretty much my experience, so I give them credit for accuracy.  The same place said that Superheating can give up to 100k per hour.  At that point, I still had about 60,000 gold ore left, so I bought 60,000 Nature Runes, grabbed a staff out of the bank, and started Superheating.  They were right, it was far faster.  It also took a lot more attention and effort.  After a while I started alternating.  Some at the Edgeville furnace, some superheating.



So... slightly over three weeks of my time spent on nothing but smithing... and last night I finally got my 99 Smithing!  Wow.  That was intense.  Would have finished over the weekend, but Monique, my son, and my daughter-in-law, pooled their resources to give me a brand new (birthday) computer this weekend, and I spent the whole weekend playing around  with it.

Now I can get back to Dungeoneering!

 Late last night, did the final few thousand with Superheat.  This morning, my mouse finger was cramped... :^)  But I'm done!!!

Mining the Promethium

Now I can relax, Dungeoneer, make my own Prometheus gear.

I can even wear the cape and do the 99 Smithing emote, which I hadn't thought of until Monique asked about it! 

But no more no-lifing to 99.  It's not worth it.  With my obsessive nature, I get too absorbed.  Told Monique if I ever get a notion like that again, just hit me.  Hard.  With a big stick.

Skilling to make Dungeoneering more fun

Recently, I've gotten into dungeoneering.  Having never really tried it before, I was pretty intimidated by the massive learning curve.  My level was mid-60's due to Tears of Guthix.  (Funny how much exp a solid year of Tears will give you!)

Monique tried it with me, and we had mixed results.  She likes to dive in and try things.  I like to research, plan, and prepare.  So for her, it was very boring... waiting for me.  For me, it was a wonderful new world within Runescape.  Dungeoneering harks back, for me, to the early days of home computers.  Bard's tale, Pool of Radiance, all those games that were mainly about gaining levels and crawling dungeons.  I kind of miss those days.

As I've learned, and improved, I think maybe I can take Monique back into the dungeons and not slow her down now.  So with luck, she might be willing to duo a few floors with me.  Otherwise, I enjoy solo dungeoneering.  Even if the exp is far slower than with team play.

A couple of weeks ago, I found someone to make a couple of items for me to bind.  Promethium 2-Handed Sword and Chestplate.  Love them both, but I would really enjoy trying other things out.  I'm also looking to find a Shadow Silk Hood, and will have to give up one of the binds if I do.  But I can't afford to lose the time, or money, constantly paying someone to make new gear, so I'm hesitant to experiment, and don't want to give anything up for the hood (not that I've found one yet!).

It got me thinking how fun it would be, to make my own gear.  I'm a skiller at heart, and most of  my skills are decent or better.  So I looked up how much I'd need to mine and smith promethium.  To do it all, I'd need 90 mining, and 99 smithing.  I thought, heck, I've got 82 mining, and 91 Smithing.  Let's do this! 

The Liquid Gold Nymph sorta liked me...

It's a week later now.  I have the fancy golden mining armor from the Liquid Gold Nymph.  It took 14 real-time hours down in the Lava Flow Mine to get it all, and to have my pick guilded.  Also bought a Dragon Pick Axe for best mining.  Figured I can always sell it back later.  And at 14 million, trust me, it's going back just as soon as I'm done with it! 

She gave me this cool Gold Mining Armor

For the last week, all my game-time has been spent in the Living Rock Cavern, mining gold.  My mining went from level 82, up to 88 by Thursday.   89 by Friday, and got 90 this morning.

I'll be glad to leave this chaos behind!

Started all this last Sunday, and today is Saturday.  Now that mining is at 90, I've switched to smithing.  It'll take 125,000 gold ore turned into bars, using the goldsmith gauntlets and my Varrock 4 armor.  I banked about 17,000 gold ore while mining.  (Spent some of my time Lava Mining, which doesn't give ores.)  It cost around 24 million to buy the rest of the ore, which will become gold bars.  Then craft, probably into plain gold rings.  They resell at a loss, but not a complete loss.  With any luck, by the time I've gotten to 99 smithing, it won't be a big money pit.   Or maybe I'll forget profit, and just make gold amulets for the better experience.

Monique and me making gold bars

I know this'll take a lot of time.  But worth it, when I head back into the dungeons and can make my own armor and weapons instead of relying on someone else.  To me,  dungeoneering is all about the fun.  If I was serious about getting exp and levels, I'd team dungeon.

The good part, when it's all done, I'll be a tiny bit closer to the max skills cape.  So it's all good.

Runescape Book for Christmas, and Mr. Mordaut Random Event

 Got the Runescape book, Betrayal at Falador; haven't started it yet, but it's going into my "books to be read" stack, pretty near the top!
I haven't been playing too much over Christmas.  Aside from the usual holiday upheavals, I wound up with strep throat over the entire weekend.  If I logged into Runescape at all, it was mainly to update my grand exchange transactions.  If I let them sit unattended, it tends to lose money rather than make money.
I've finally bitten the bullet and tried to beat Jad in the fight cave.  Getting there takes forever, but is easy enough to do.  But Jad?  I really stink at prayer switching.  The first time he killed me before I even saw him.  The second time, I got to see him, and managed to survive for a few seconds before he took me out.  Getting there is such a pain, I hate spending an hour or two only to be killed right away.  I wish they had a 'practice Jad'.  Something that lets you walk right in, fight him, but get no rewards if you win.  Then you could go for the real thing with a better chance of success.  Oh well, if they made it too easy it would devalue the fire cape.  I'll just keep at it.  If a million monkeys on a million keyboards in a million years can randomly result in a bestselling book, then sooner or later I should be able to win just through sheer persistence.  I wish I could devote some serious time to practice, but I'll have to make do with one or two tries a week.
In the meantime, I got my favorite random event this weekend.  I'm speaking of "Surprise Exam", with Mr. Mordaut the erudite dragon.  I like the way he looks and acts.  The graphics are excellent, and the way he takes his glasses off and examines them really does make me think of a teacher I once had.  It's pretty cool too when he thumps the desk.  His classroom is fun, with plenty of characters at their desks. (and the imp marching a circle in his dunce cap!)

But, as enjoyable as all these features are, that's not why I love his event.  The part I really like is the payoff... The Book of Knowledge!  Where most randoms give you the genie lamp, Mr Mordaut's book of knowledge gives 'pay and a half'.  It pays out half again better than the genie lamp!

Most randoms are just annoying, even with the experience reward.  Though it's much better since the update that allows you to choose your own reward.  Not going to turn down the smaller rewards, but I like Mr Mordaut the best.  He and his classroom have a lot of personality, and the rewards are more worthwhile.

Runescape Updates - Dragon Defender and Cyclopean Mask

Below are pics comparing the Dragon and Rune Defenders

It's about time we had some updates just for fun!  The Dragon Defender, and the Cyclopean Mask, are exactly that.  I took a break from my normal routine to try and get the Dragon Defender.  Didn't care one way or the other about the mask, but I wanted the Defender.  In my typical prepare-way-too-much fashion, I went to the Warrior's Guild, and did the Suit-of-empty-armor combat until I had 3,400 points saved up.  Then I went upstairs.  The Cyclopes room was way too full of everybody else wanting one.  So I went away.  After checking off and on, Friday night my chance finally came.  It was crowded, but not horrible.  So I staked a corner of the room, and waited for a chance.
I like to play nice.  Honor, and all.  But one guy there made it personal.  Every time he beat me to a Cyclops, he made a rude comment.  So I used a trick I don't usually do.  It's not fair, and it has a chance of taking a monster away from somebody who's already begun combat.  No, I'm not going to share it. It's not good sportsmanship.  But I made an exception for him.
I will share a different tip, though... don't chase monsters as they appear.  If I stand in one place and wait, I have a pretty good chance of getting mine.  If you keep chasing them wherever they show up, someone closer will get it, and then someone beats you to the one where you had been.  If there's a lot of competition, just wait for your chosen monster to regenerate, and try to be the first to hit.
And be nice!  Just because you beat someone to it, there's no need to rub it in their faces.  Enough about that...
Back to the Dragon Defender.  Within a few minutes of fighting, a Cyclossus attacked.  He didn't wait for me, he just jumped in before I realized he was there.  These are pretty cool.  Oversized, fast moving, excellent special attacks.  At level 138, using Dragon melee defense and no prayer, I had to eat 2 Rocktail while we were fighting.  His attack looked like he was throwing lightning.  Occasionally, he'll knock you backward.  You skid until something stops you, then you're stunned.  Overall, fighting the Cyclossus is fun and fast-paced.  My first one dropped a Cyclopean Mask.  I wasn't trying for one, but since I got it, I really like it.  No combat stats at all, it's just for decoration, but it looks pretty wicked.  And it's GE value is about 173,000 gold, though I plan to keep mine.
Shortly after that, a normal Cyclops dropped a Dragon Defender.  Total time fighting?  About 10 minutes.
Again, I go overboard... I wanted 2, so one could be a 'placeholder' in my bank.  It took about 10 more minutes, and I had my second one.
So, either I was incredibly lucky, or they're not that hard to get.  Since the Dragon Defender is not tradeable, I guess it really doesn't matter how fast they drop, or how many you have.  All I know is, I still have about 2,800 points to use up there.  I may go back once the big rush is over.  Just for fun, and maybe a Cyclossus.

Now here's the Cyclopean Mask (and the defender):

If you want a Dragon Defender, I'd say go to the Warrior's Guild and give it a shot.  It's a lot easier than I expected.  As far as the mask, I suspect getting one from my first Cyclossus was just plain luck.  But it's a lot of fun trying!

Change of Pace - Trying out the Chaos Dwarf Battlefield

With Thanksgiving, time to do my usual routine is severely curtailed.  But I had my goal of re-purchasing my set of Armadyl armor by this weekend, as part of my Fight Caves attempt.  Lack of time to do my grand exchange flips slowed me down a lot.  And then, the market price of most things I like to flip had begun fluctuating wildly, making it hard to consistently profit from it.  So I pulled some of my G. E. orders until things settle.  And I spent that money on my Armadyl suit.  I know, bad budgeting.  Now I'll be forever building up enough gold to keep all six slots full with my grand exchange flips.  But... I got my armor!  You'd think I would dash straight to the fight caves and make some practice runs.  I almost did.  Then I decided to do some moneymaking activities.  I've been tanking Avies for a few days, that always goes well.  But I wanted a change of pace, and I'd seen on the Runescape forums where people were doing well on the Chaos Dwarf Battlefield.  I've never really gone back after the quest that opened it (Forgiveness of a Chaos Dwarf).  So I geared up, and went to the battlefield.  It lived up to it's name - chaotic!  But after a while, when they quit being hostile, it settled into a standard routine.  I was a bit of fun, but the best drops I got were ammo for the hand cannon, and muddy keys.  When I can play again, I don't know if I'll go back immediately.  The Chaos Dwarf Battlefield looks like more of a long-term commitment than a steady income, and I prefer the Avies for a good steady income while having fun. 
If you'd like to try the Chaos Dwarf Battlefield out for yourself (after all, it's the only place Dragon Pickaxes are dropped, which are worth 14 million) Wiki has a good guide to get you started:  Chaos Dwarf Battlefield Wiki
In the meantime, as much as I'm dreading it, the fight caves are looming closer and closer on my horizon.

Marking time and making money on Runescape... Jad and the Fight Caves

The last few days have been focused mainly on trying to recover some gold.  After buying the Armadyl Chestplate, it had left me pretty strapped for cash.  So I'm still flipping investments on the Grand Exchange, and actually have done pretty well.  I'm not a high-level investor, I just flip a few things when they're buying/selling well.  Like Pure Essence, that's always done pretty well.  As of tonight, I'm back up to about 8 million.  I've been supplementing my flips with trips to the Aviansies.  They may not be the fastest cash I could do, but they're reasonably fast cash, and fun.  If I really wanted fast, I'd make double natures.  I think that's probably the fastest skill I have for making money. 
Regardless, I'm working toward buying back my Armadyl armor.  It was sold to help level up a skill, and I want it back now because I'm going to do Jad at the fight caves.  I've never cared about the Fire Cape, and didn't want to be tied down for hours without being able to stop at my leisure.  Plus, I'm not very good at multi-tasking.  I think Jad will kill me many many times, because I don't think I'll be very good at prayer switching and keeping everything going all at once. 
But it's time to try.  All my combat skills, including ranging and magic, are maxed.  I've done all the quests.  My character has the levels to get me there, but I lack the real-time fighting skills.  If it weren't for the Elite Acheivement Diaries, I'd be happy just to let Jad live.  But I want all of the Elite rewards.  Not so much because they're cool, though some of them are.  But just because that's a goal I set for myself.  I got the Ardougne Elite Cape back when it first became available.  Then I got the Seers Village Elite, which gave me the double-enhanced sword Excalibur.  I really wanted that sword... healing 400 points and getting 15 extra defense every few minutes is a huge plus!  Then I got the Falador Elite Shield.  Now, I have all the required skills to get the Karamja Elite reward, but I have to actually beat Jad in the fight caves to get it.  Which leaves me where I am now, scrambling to get enough money to buy the gear I want to use. 
This is going to be tough, because I'm so bad at that kind of fighting.  Usually, I just bulldoze my way through things and hope for the best.  This time, it's going to take finesse.  I'll probably be down in the fight caves for months.  Wish me luck.  Oh, if you've got any advice, please share it with me!

Runescape Grand Exchange: Bad flip makes money after all... and experience!

Recently I made a bad decision with my Runescape investments.  I'm a low-budget investor who likes to flip commodities.  Usually make between one million and three million profit a day.  Problem is, outside of the gold I have tied up in flipping my investments, I keep spending as fast as I'm making.  It started when I decided to go for 99 Construction.  I nickeled and dimed my construction skill, until Jagex started hinting about their 2nd extra-experience-weekend.  At that point, I decided to jump into merchanting.  Took a 10 million startup, and began flipping.  By the time the weekend arrived, I had over 100 million gold (this is Runescape now, not real cash!)
That was just barely enough to buy all the oak planks I needed to dungeon-door my way to 99 Construction.  After that, I was too broke to build my dream home, so I kept investing in the grand exchange.  But before I got very far, they announced the Elite Achievement Diaries.  Well, I think of myself as a high-level player.  At least, my character is level 138 and most skills are decent.  So as a point of pride, I want to get ALL the Elite achievement rewards.  I had the Ardougne elite already, and decided the next thing I wanted was the super-enhanced Excalibur from the Seers Village elite tasks.  Problem was, my herblore level was abysmal. (Not abyssal... abysmal!)
It took weeks to make enough money to raise my herblore.  And even then, I Evil-Daved a skill-boosting stew for the last 5 levels worth.  Then back to home-building.  Still flipping on the G.E., and I'd started fishing and cooking Rocktails. 
It was the Rocktails that did me in.  I saw how well they sold.  Decided to take my current spending money of 20 million, and buy 10,000 Rocktail to flip.  Everything went well, right up till the time to sell them.  They sat for days, then the price starting tanking.  I didn't want to lose that much money.  So I pulled them out of the GE, and started cooking.
By the time I'd cooked 10,000 Rocktail, I wound up making a small profit, using some money to invest in Death Runes for flipping, keeping a few Rocktail for myself.  And with my current gold of 14 million, today I bought back the Armadyl Chestplate I sold for Herblore money. 
Yay!... I'm broke again.  Okay, so starting over. 
Oh, and cooking 10k Rocktail?  My cooking skill went from 95 to 97!  I guess it worked out okay after all. 
Bit of quick advice... for a small and steady profit, without a lot of risk, flip Maple logs.  I buy 25,000 at 2 gold below median, and sell it at 2 gold above median.  I make 100k Runescape money every buy/sell flip.  It may not be much, but it's an easy way to get started.  The risk is low, and they usually sell quickly for me (bearing in mind the GE 4-hour buying and selling delay.)