Runescape: Dungeoneering, Baby TzRek Jad, Slayer... so much to do, so little time!

In spite of the fact that Monique and I are still Dungeoneering extensively, I've not seen any Night Spiders since the beginning of the month.  That makes 7 Night Spiders to get my Shadow Silk Hood, then 2 more Night Spiders in the next couple of days, now I've seen none for nearly 2 weeks.  Wow.  I'm extremely glad I got my hood so early in the hunt.  

Since then, I've managed to get level 83 Dungeoneering, which makes 42 my deepest dungeon available.  Monique's gotten to floor 38, but for her, it's not about the Dungeoneering, it's about the tokens.  By now, she's gotten every reward she desires except for the crafting one.  She's already gotten Bonecrusher, and the Scroll of Life.  Once she gets that last reward, I think I'll have lost my Dungeoneering partner.  Oh well, I ran solo before she got interested, and I'll just go back to solo when she's done.  In the meantime, she still needs about 23,000 tokens, which means I don't have to worry about it for a while.

Besides, with Jagex releasing baby TzRek Jad sometime this month, I've got plenty of other things to work on.  His requirements are 99 Summoning, 99 Slayer, and 100 Zeal from Soul Wars.  I've got the summoning, which is the hardest/most expensive skill to max (in my opinion, anyway).  My Slayer is 93, but I like training Slayer, so it'll be fun to focus on getting that as my next 99.  It's the Soul Wars I'm really dreading.  Don't like team sports...  But I'll do it for baby Jad.  TzTok Jad was such a pain to beat, that in a strange way, I kind of like him.  It's going to be awesome to sport a baby TzRek Jad.

While Monique is still interested in Dungeoneering, I haven't put much effort into Slaying.  Maybe three tasks in the last several days.  I always go to Kuradel, and she gave me nearly 200 Nechryaels, then 186 Spiritual Mages, and now 150 Blue Dragons.  Blue Dragons!  Heck, yes, they're like a trip to Disney.  Fun, fast, easy, and reasonably private if you use Kuradel's Slayer Dungeon.  I'm about halfway through them, and have gotten 2 Dragon Eggs so far.  Nice, though I've got plenty in my player owned house.

Getting assigned Blue Dragons is like a break.  When that's over, it'll be back to the usual assignments (I assume).  

The nice thing about Slayer, is you can go slow, medium, or fast, depending on your goals.  Slow, allows for bring a Pack Yak, and banking the drops for profit.  Medium, allows for banking the really exceptional drops, but mostly just killing.  And fast, is when I use all the boosts I can (Super Sets, Turmoil, etc.)  

I don't include overloads because I can't do the max, and it seems to me like the one I can do might be more effort than it's worth for an ongoing task.  I could see the value in getting past one specific boss monster, but not for a continuous ongoing goal.

But for now, we're Dungeoneering.  Lots of variety and fun.  We're not fast, and we don't rack up amazing experience.  We just play.  Monique by nature has gravitated toward being our keyer.  She loves to explore, and blaze new trails.  She manages the doors and makes sure we clear the floor before going after the bosses.  I combine skilling and fighting.  Making our armor, and our summoning beasts.  And fighting.  I enjoy fighting the monsters.  Even when we're trying to rush, I keep getting sidetracked fighting.  I guess it's not really a big deal.  We both enjoy it for one reason or another.

So, once Monique has reached her Dungeoneering tokens goal, I'm going to go guns blazing on Slayer and blast through it as fast as possible.  Goodbye, bank account.  But it'll be worth it...

Hello, baby TzRek Jad!

Runescape: TzTok Jad's a Dad! Who'd have thought it?

 

I've been exclusively dungeoneering for some time now.  Either solo, or duo with Monique.  Made it to level 82 so far, and going well.  Next thing I know, Jagex has a behind-the-scenes update with a ton of things coming out.  But the one that caught my eye?  Baby TzRek Jad!

Yes, they're coming out with a pet baby Jad!  I spent a couple of painful months learning how to beat Jad, then wrote a very long and detailed guide about it.  All using the Ancient Curses/Deflects method, which requires no actual combat with Jad, and does not bring the healers out.

I should have put that in past tense.  Jagex recently decided that was a bug, and patched it.  Now, whether you hit Jad or not, the healers come out.  So I'm going to have to figure out how to beat him all over again, and modify my guide.  It's going to be a while before I get around to that.  For now, I've just added a notice to the top of the guide about the recent changes, with some suggestions I found online of how to work-around it.  

So, while they've destroyed months of work, and taken away the only way I was able to defeat Jad, Jagex also announced the upcoming release of a pet Jad.  Kind of like a religious experience... Jagex giveth, and Jagex taketh away...

Which makes me mad at them, and thrilled, all at the same moment, and about the same thing.  Life's complicated, huh?  

Focusing on the good side, it's a really cool idea.  And the requirements for getting a pet Jad are satisfactorily high, which means you have to really earn him.  Up until now, the coolest (and hardest to obtain) pet was the Baby Dragon.  To get one, you have to have 99 Summoning, then kill dragons of your color choice (Green, Blue, Red, or Black) until you get a Dragon Egg.  This in itself is a rare drop.  I've gotten an egg as quickly as my first 10 kills, and as slowly as nearly 300 kills.  It's random.  Only Chromatic Dragons drop eggs.  The metal dragons do not.

You can only have one pet baby dragon in your bank/inventory, but you can fill your player-owned-house menagerie up with them if you so choose.  Out of  15 slots, 8 of mine are dragons, mostly black because they're the coolest.  :^)

I'm not even considering the Dungeoneering pet (Sneaker-Peeper).  It's not especially great, nor are the requirements that high.  Not that impressed.

That's a pretty restrictive requirement, yet baby dragons are all over the place.  Not exactly common, but not unusual, either.  Baby Jad will change all of that.  Suddenly, baby dragons are not the coolest or most restrictive pets in the game.

How cool could it get, right?  In this case, right through the roof!  

First, you've got a baby of one of Jagex's most powerful, hated, and feared monsters.  If you beat Jad, you get the Fire Cape, so everybody can look and know you beat him.  Plus it's functionally one of the very best capes in the game.

Second, the requirements to get him are the most restrictive in the entire game.  You have to have 99 Summoning, 99 Slayer, 100 Zeal Points from Soul Wars (which takes a lot of playing!) and...

Finally... you have to trade a Fire Cape in!  If you've only ever beaten Jad once, this is a serious sacrifice.  But still worth it, as evidenced by Monique.  I've got three Fire Capes, so trading one in won't really bother me.  But Monique only has one Fire Cape, and has no intention of ever going back for another, yet she's willing to trade her one and only cape for a pet baby Jad.

That's a real sacrifice, since the cape is one of the best in the game.  On the other hand, she told me she rarely uses her Fire Cape, and if she's got a baby Jad following her, people will still know she beat Jad at least once.

So, is it worth it?  If you meet the requirements, and have multiple Fire Capes, then absolutely.  If you've only got one Fire Cape, maybe, maybe not.  And if you don't meet the requirements, then you may have a long haul before it's even an issue.

Me?  I've got 99 Summoning, and 3 Fire Capes.  But only 93 Slayer, and I don't like Soul Wars.  And still, I'm going for it.  I'll get my 99 Slayer, then play Soul Wars until I'm there, then proudly collect my baby Jad!