Runescape: Slacking Off With the Red Dragons

Had a little retro fun recently.  I know, at high combat levels we're supposed to do 'bigger' things, take more risks, defeat major boss monsters.  Well, I'm not so good at that stuff.  And the next big thing for me is going to be the Fight Kiln.  I've had some good suggestions from online friends, Wiki has a lot of info, and when I've rebuilt my income a bit, I'm going for it.

In the interests of making easy money, Monique and I spend a couple of days doing the 'daily tasks' rounds.  You know, battlestaves, yak hides, sand from Bert, chocolate from Lumbridge.  All those things.  We tried to limit it to the most time-efficient and profitable items.  After a couple of days, we realized we can easily make more money using other methods.  The only things that were fast AND profitable were Battlestaves (including Baba Yaga's), and unfinished Broad Bolts.  So we're junking the whole route, and just hitting the high points.  

Plus we're going to keep doing red sand for 6-potion flasks.  Monique sells hers, but I'm saving mine up for my Fight Kiln attempts.  My crafting skill's a bit low, but with last weekend's dragon-hide crafting blitz, I can make flasks with the help of a crafting potion.

In the meantime, I've been looking at moneymaking options and seeing what sounds fun.  Because, after all, this is a game, and the biggest factor is having fun.  After considering and rejecting several tried and true methods, and a few that I haven't tried yet, I decided to slay some dragons.  

What do you consider when you're choosing dragons to kill?  Greens?  Too much competition.  Blues?  Love them- fast and easy.  I may go try the resource dungeon and see how crowded it is.  Black dragons?  Again, I love doing them, but they require more time, and extra resources to fight them efficiently.  

How about Reds?  Hmmm... an often under-utilized dragon.  Not as easy as greens and blues.  Easier than the black dragons.  I did briefly consider the metal dragons, but just wasn't feeling it.  Reds were sounding pretty good.  Especially considering ease of access.  With a modified home teletab, I can teleport directly to Brimhaven, landing very close to the Karamja dungeon.  With the Karamja gloves 4 there's free access to the dungeon, and a direct shortcut to the red dragons.  And with the new toolbelt, a low-level axe is always handy to cut through the vines.  

For the return journey, use a house teletab, and on the way through, recharge summoning and prayer points.  Bring a Yak, and it winds up as a very cost-efficient procedure.  No prayer potions, no super-sets, no overloads.  Just my best melee gear, Dragonfire shield, and anti-fire potions.  24 Red Dragonhides and 24 Dragon Bones per trip, plus alching whatever drops are worthwhile.  (Got a Rune 2-hander last night.)

For healing, it's the Enhanced Excalibur, and Prayer Flashing with Ancient Curses.  Quick Prayers are set to Soul Split and Turmoil.  On a good trip, it takes almost no prayer at all.  On the worst trip so far, I had 190 Prayer points left.  A quick recharge at the POH, drop the swag off at the Grand Exchange, and ready to go again.

On the average, profits are near 200k per trip, and each trip usually runs around 20 minutes.  At +/- 600k per hour, I've made more money doing other stuff, but this is fun, easy, and keeps me going back and forth enough to stay interesting.  I suppose I could even work some 'flipping' on the GE in between, but haven't felt like it recently.

You say I'm wasting my time?  Could be making more, working more efficiently, doing higher-level things?  I say I'm having fun.  And making money.  Both goals of the moment.  When it becomes tiresome, I'll switch to something else.  Or, when it feels like I've recovered enough gold, it might be time to give the Fight Kiln a serious run.  I'm pretty eager to try the Fight Kiln, so maybe I'll rotate back and forth a bit.

 

And to my friend who offered helpful advice, commiseration when I've had a bad day, and has recently had one of the worst Runescape days in history...  Thanks for the help, the thoughts, and I hate that you had such a huge loss - Best of luck in recovering what you lost.

Runescape: Mining, Agility, Crafting, Fight Kiln... need more Gold!

I usually have no trouble staying focused.  But with all the recent events and updates on Runescape, I've been bouncing from one thing to the next without ever giving it my whole attention.
Way back before Hati  and Skoll came out, I was happily mining concentrated gold in the Living Rock cavern.  Working toward a 99.

Nice walkthrough for Hati and Skoll

Before getting very far, the wolf twins started harassing our friends in Fremennick.  So Monique and I geared up, and trundled over to give the wolves what for.  Not really that hard, but fun for a change of pace.  Skoll was interesting, simply because he was new and different.  The graphics were very well-done.  Runescape has come a long way in the look and feel of the game.  Hati, of course, gives the double-combat-exp gloves.  Monique got her mileage from them by getting 98 in Defense at Ape Atoll.  Dharok, gorillas, prayer... very fast experience.
Skoll dropped boots, which gave double Agility, which I can defenitely make use of.

So, goodbye concentrated gold.  Hello, Advanced Gnome Agility Course.  The boots brought me to 90, and most of the way to 91 at the Barbarian Advanced course.  (The new Elder Kiln quest did the rest of that level.)

Then, of course, the Elder Kiln quest... Love it.  Intrigued by the Fight Kiln minigame.  I suck at Jad, but have actually beaten him a few times.  Really looking forward to doing the Fight Kiln.  I'm sure I'll die many times, but still want to try.  But... need more money first, to fund all the needed supplies.

About this time, Monique told me she's been making good money mining her 50 Red Sandstone a day, and turning it into Robust Glass Flasks.  Sounded good, so grabbed my pick-axe, and hi-ho... off to work I go.  Mining, no problem.  Using the machine to make Robust Glass, easy.  Uh-oh...  my crafting is too low!!!!!

Doggone it.  So, with Monique's tremendous assistance (From buying my first 1000 black dragon hides, to helping me get Sacred Clay Needles) I spent the weekend getting 86 Crafting.  Took quite a few crafting potions to do it, and something like 20 million gold.  Wait a minute, I was supposed to be MAKING money!

Mining the Sandstone

Okay, now with the help of more Crafting potion, I can make Robust Glass Flasks.  Hmmm, weren't they supposed to be useful in the Fight Kiln?  Maybe I won't sell them after all.  So here I am, with my brand new Crafting levels, down by 20 million gold, and... NOT making money from flasks.  :^(

Making Robust Glass

Got that critical level now!

In the meantime, I did take just a couple of minutes to get killed quickly in the Fight Kiln.  No intention of truly trying for it.  Just wanted to pay the Fire Cape, and try a wave or two.  Went in with Armour and whip.  No food.  No potions.  No bolts.  Didn't want to spend ANY money yet.  Made it to level 5.  Fair enough.

And Finally Making 6-potion Flasks!

Now, I'm back to needing money to fund my Fight Kiln attempts.  Runecrafted for a while.  Boring.  Flipped some essence.  Slow.  So, it's either my old favorites, the Avies, or maybe Black Dragons.  Dragons are fun.  Decent profit, with the chance of some good special drops.

So, let's sum it up.  I've recently been a miner, acrobat, crafter, and fighter.  Now it's time to make more money.

Focused?  About as tightly focused as a butterfly in a field of daisies.  Well, we'll see how it goes.