Runescape Fight Cave Jad Defeated Fire Cape Mine!

Jad Defeated at last - I finally won the Fire Cape at the Fight Cave!!

If you've read nearly any of my other posts, you know I've been hung up with beating the Fight Cave for a long time now.  Really didn't want to take on Jad at all, but my goal of getting all the Elite Tasks meant I had to sooner or later.
I'd try, get tired of it, do something else.  Then go again.  It's been a couple of months this way, and I just couldn't get the hang of it.  Yes, my hand-to-eye coordination is really bad.  I'm a hard-learner. 
But last weekend, I left work knowing in my heart this was going to be the weekend I did it.  I've been working very hard at learning how, and what to do.  I've learned a technique that simplifies killing Jad, and finally even someone like me can beat him!!  And yes, I'm writing it up as a guide, should have it posted in the next few days, maybe this weekend.  I know, there's tons of guides out there, but this is more for my sake- after finally finding a way that works for me, I just have to write about it!  Most of the writing is done, but I need to go back for pictures.  My computer's not fast enough to take video and play the game at the same time, but I'm at least going to provide my own pictures for the guide.  I wasn't about to worry with pics for my real try, but I'll go back now that I've beat him, just to get the pictures.

But wow, when old TzTok-Jad finally roared and keeled over on his side, you wouldn't believe how excited I got.  In 50 years, I've always been the quiet type.  But I had so much adrenaline, it just had to come out.  Threw back my head, and let out a wild rebel whoop that brought Monique on the run, half afraid I'd had a heart attack!

So, now I've got a Fire Cape.  I may not have wanted to fight Jad for it, but since I have it now, I'm going to enjoy it.  Best of all, now I'm clear to get the Karamja Elite Tasks reward.  All I have to do is a few more slayer tasks, and I'll have it.

Okay, these guys weren't so much fun

My tasks have been pretty fun so far... mostly.  Wasn't too thrilled with the Skeletal Wyverns.  Loved getting the Abyssal Demons.  Got two Abyssal Whips during that task, about 2 minutes apart!  Then there was the Nechryaels, which go by quickly at least.  So far, 2 Dark Beast assignments, those are fun.  I knew they dropped the Dark Bow, and assorted mildly interesting items.  But the big surprise was the 1,000 noted Raw Swordfish!  That was pretty neat.
 In case you didn't know, Raw Swordfish currently sells for 278 gold.  So 1,000 noted swordfish is worth 278,000 gold!  Add that to the nearly 1/2 million gold a Dark Bow is worth, and it was a profitable trip!

I especially like the Dark Beasts because they're so easy, if you've got a little strategy going.  Dress for Prayer, use Ancient Curses.  Set for Deflect Melee, and Leech Attack.  When you're out of prayer, use Ardougne Tasks cape to teleport to the Kandarin Monastery, recharge prayer. 

Use an Elf Crystal with a Temple teleport to get back to the Dark Beasts.  When you need a quick bank trip, use the Ring of Kinship for infinite free teleports to a bank.  I usually kill 6 or 7 per prayer recharge. Dark Beasts never quit being aggressive, no matter how long you've been there.  So it's very easy to get there, set up, and then just monitor it now and then to make sure you're not out of prayer. 

In the meantime, I can do something else... like write this blog!  I'm fortunate enough to have a desktop computer, and a netbook.  While Runescape's playing on the top monitor, I'm typing away at this guide.  And taking pictures for the blog in real-time as I type...

I know the description of how I fight Dark Beasts is very abbreviated.  If you're interested in more detail, leave me a comment.  If there's any interest, I'll post a blog with a better step by step to the method.  But I kept it short, because I kind of figured if you have the things I mentioned, you'll know what I mean.  And if you don't have them, or know what I'm talking about, chances are, the guide wouldn't do you any good for a long time.

Always on the run!

As of this moment, I've got about 111 more Dark Beasts, then one more assignment berfore I can get the Elite Karamja Gloves!

Runescape Skilling - Just Got Better with Urns for Cooking, Fishing, Mining, Smithing, Woodcutting, and Prayer

This month's skilling update is a pretty cool one... or not, depending on your point of view.  As always, when Runescape gives us a new way to skill, or improves and existing one, there are complainers.  People with 99's who think this somehow devalues their skills.  While I can understand their feelings, I think they forget it's a game, played for fun.  If something changes to make the game more fun, I'm all for it.  Especially if it reduces the boring tedium required to earn a 99 in anything.
 

I like to have fun.  But I also like leveling up, even though it can be a real pain.  If I can level up, and have more fun doing it, that's the way the game should be.  If you followed the complainers logic to it's bitter end, we'd all still be playing original  Runescape Classic, in all it's glorious hand-drawn, flat 2-d art.  Because the complainers would veto any changes that made earning a skill easier.

Okay, enough griping.  Sorry, got off topic slightly.

The new Urns are a pretty spectacular addition to certain skills.  First, in their very creation, you earn exp in Crafting.  Way cool, because I need to improve my crafting level, and these are cheap to make, while mildly profitable to sell.  (I would say Wildly profitable, but they sell slow at the moment.)
Then they can be crafted to speed up experience in Cooking, Fishing, Mining, Smithing, Woodcutting, and Prayer.  I've only used the Fishing Urns so far, but the exp gain is very nice.  

With the best urn, I get 1900 exp per full urn.  I've been fishing Rocktails, with a Rock Lobster.  I now bring a few urns with me.  While they do enhance exp gained, and quite nicely, there's an even better aspect.  They give me something new and entertaining to consider while I fish.
Just imagine- fish, fish, fish, kill some bait, fish, fish, fish... that gets a little boring after 90+ levels.  Now, every now and then I get a notice.  "Your urn is now one-quarter full"... "Your urn is now half full"... and when the urn is full, I actually get to manually initiate the teleport.  Watch my little guy put the urn down, see it whisk away...

If it sounds like I'm teasing, well, maybe a little.  But really, I'm glad for the extra distraction.  It provides a little more entertainment, yet if I'm reading something, (or writing a new Runescape blog) there's no hold-up because I'm not paying attention.  Sometimes I miss an urn being filled up.  When the next one tells me, and I go to teleport it, that's when I realize I had more than one.  I still get all the exp, no waiting, hold-up, or penalties.
Bear in mind, I've only tried it with fishing so far, which I like very much.  

Monique has used the Prayer urns, and that looks pretty good too.  Prayer got an even better boost than the other skills did.  Now demons drop ashes that can be used for prayer, and are very effective used with the Prayer Urns.  Monique has been working very hard, and spending a fortune, trying to raise prayer.  Now she'll have a new tool to use.  She likes to multi-task, so rarely does Abyssal demons unless it's a Slayer task.  But I told her she should just camp out at the Abyssals, collecting the odd Abyssal Whip, and earning (urning) Prayer exp.  Sounds like a win-win to me!

The other update, making agility shortcuts easier, I haven't looked at yet.  Maybe this weekend.

Bringing back the Wilderness

I have so far avoided addressing this issue.  But now that the vote is over, and it looks like a sure thing, I suppose expressing an opinion is just about mandatory.  Apparently an overwhelming majority voted to bring it back.  If people want to go out into the wilderness and kill each other for a chance at quick riches, I support their right to enjoy Runescape however they see fit.  What I do not support is their right to drag others into their game.  From my first day over 6 years ago, to now, I have very much enjoyed the monster slaying, skilling, quests, and diversions.  My wife and I hunt the penguins every week.  If Jagex wants to make the wilderness pvp again, that's fine.  But don't drag me into it.  It's not how I play, and I want no part of it.
Here's where I usually hear someone say "Then stay out of the wilderness!" 
Well, that's fine, and I would, except that in their infinite wisdom, Jagex has sided with the player killers, and put content in the wilderness that has nothing to do to player killing.  They've left the penguins out in the wilderness.  Who does that benefit, except the killers?  You take a wide variety of gamers who enjoy tracking down penguins and getting that experience bonus, throw them into the wilderness, and it's going to be a pure slaughter.  Runescape will destroy our pleasure for the avaricious greediness of the other group.
Same thing with the abyss.  I can remember trying to get to the abyss through a standing ring of 10 or 20 pk'ers.  I don't care how powerful you are, that situation is unbeatable.  You either don't go, or you get killed for your glory.  Never mind the loss of your essence pouches, which take a lot of time to get.
I wouldn't mind a fairer situation, one where maybe I stand a chance of turning the tables.  But they play a numbers game. 
Okay, that's not true.  I said I wouldn't mind a fair chance.  Truth is, I don't want anything to do with player killing.  I have moral issues with the implications.  We're training our children that it's okay to hurt someone else to get what we want.  Disagree with me?  That's fine, it's your right.  But by forcing me to play into that system, Runescape is robbing me of my right to choose.  If I had a choice, if I could achieve my runescape goals entirely without entering the wilderness, I would.  Instead, they've taken away that choice.  Now my choice is to give up parts of the game that gave me great pleasure, or participate in the pker's worldview.

So why does it have to be one or the other?  For years, Runescape favored the pker at the expense of the rest.  Then, because of real-world trading, they swung totally the other way and took away the pker's way of playing.  Now, they're swinging completely back the other way in favor of pkers again. 
All I'm asking is for consideration for both groups.  Why not keep a few worlds running in non-pker mode? 
If you answer is "Because then nobody but pker's will be in the pker's world", then I say you're right, but so what?  If that's truly an issue, then you're not playing as a pker looking for an honest win, you're playing as a bottom-feeding scavenger looking to take advantage of those who can't fight back, and I have no respect for that kind of player.
But apparently, Runescape does respect that kind of player, because the game is about to turn in their favor.  I probably won't quit because of it.  I've loved Runescape too much for too long.  I've invested way to much time building up my  character to give it up.  But they've ripped out a huge chunk of what I loved about the game.  I do empathize with pker's, I think if they wanted a dangerous wildy with the old rules, they should have it.  I just don't think they should have it at my expense, over my protests.  Runescape is a huge world, with many servers.  If they truly wanted to make ALL of their players happy, they could.

Now, if you're a pker, you're either gloating over my situation because you won and I lost... or you understand my pain, because for several years now the shoe was on the other foot.  By the way, that was my position back then... I felt bad that pker's lost what they loved about the game, even though it made the game better for me... 
And if you're not a pker, then you're in the same boat as I am, and wondering what to do.  Well, here's my take:
With free trade coming back too, I'm going to wait a month or two for  prices to stabilize, then start flipping for my profit again.  I made a decent income from the Grand Exchange, but with pking back, demand for combat related supplies will probably skyrocket, as will prices.  A savvy player should be able to ride the tide, and make an even better profit.
Next, I'll rethink my approach to anything to do with the wilderness.  For instance, penguins.  Generally, there's a maximum of two penguins in the wildy, sometimes none.  I may simply not try for them, but more likely, I'll only take two (or three and a prayer) items and see if I can find them.  If I get killed, that's annoying, but not destroying.
Another example- Bork.  You know, there's a non-wildy entry at the Saradomin statue east of Varrock.  It'll make the run through the caverns a whole lot longer, but I'll completely avoid the pkers laying in wait.
Here's a case with a less satisfying solution; Jennica's Ring.  For woodcutting and firemaking experience, I like to go to the farm near the west side of the wilderness, and chop the magic tree there.  When you chop it down in one realm, it immediately regenerates in the other.  So, chop it down, enter the spirit realm, chop it down, go back to the normal realm, etc... when my pack is full, I burn the logs.  Since the tree is always standing in one realm or the other, there's no waiting for it to regrow.  An added bonus, since I'm a loner by nature, I rarely get interrupted there.  With the return of the wilderness, I'm sure to get cruised by teams hunting for victims.  This one's a less satisfying solution.  I guess I'll just have to give up using that magic tree, or only go with a team of other players who can all help defend each other.

These are just some of the situations that come to mind.  I'm sure that as time progresses, smarter people than me will post guides on raising your odds of surviving, tricks and tips to enhance survival while skilling in the wilderness.  I'll be watching for those as well.
So no, the return of the Wildy won't make me quit the game.  But it will make me re-evaluate how I play.  I may not like it, but regardless of whether we like it or not, it's coming back, and the only option we truly have is to quit playing, or adapt. 
I'm going to adapt.

Video of the old wildy:

Runescape: Soloing the King Black Dragon... and Getting the King Black Dragon Heads!

I've played Runescape all these years, yet never fought the King Black Dragon.  Mainly because I don't like team combat.  I'd rather fight by myself.  And I'd been under the impression the King Black Dragon needs a team to defeat.  Then Runescape mentioned the King Black Dragon recently. 

On a whim, I Googled for a guide to Soloing the King Black Dragon.  Found several.  Decided to try him.  Put on all my prayer gear... Proselyte armor, the cape from Nomad's Requiem, etc.  Grabbed a whip, a Dragonfire Shield, and a Fury.  Stocked up my inventory.  Summoned a Steel Titan.
Once I was as prepared as I could be, took a Games Necklace to the Wilderness Volcano, zipped across to the Lava Maze, and climbed down the ladder.  Then, with great trepidation, I tiptoed into the King's lair, prepared to do an emergency evacuation if he turned out too dangerous.

Not so tough any more, are you?

Ummm... okay, you're probably laughing at me right now.  Yeah, he turned out to be no big deal.  I used protect from Melee (actually, the Ancient Curses version).  Boosted my stats with Turmoil, and killed him somewhere between 8 and 10 times before having to head back to the bank.
So, the King Black Dragon turned out okay.  Couldn't ignore him while I read the forums... he could be fatal if you're not paying attention... but not too bad.  I wound up enjoying fighting him.  And he gave me some decent drops.  I got 200 Yew logs, which is handy since I'm trying to raise my firemaking.  Picked up a fair number of Fire and Air Runes.  Odds and ends.  Nothing great, but not a waste of time, either.
All in all, I should have tried him a lot sooner.  Now maybe I can get a mounted King Black Dragon head for my Player Owned Home!

Update:   The above blog was written after my first trip to the King.  Before I even posted it, I went back and fought the King again.  Mainly to get a picture or two for this blog.  Much to my surprise, he dropped the KBD head!  According to the Wiki page, the King Black Dragon heads are supposed to be extremely rare.  I know about rare...  it's taken weeks sometimes to get a whip drop sometimes.  And I spent more than 2 months doing nothing but dragons to get a Draconic Visage.  So, expected to be doing the King Black Dragon for a long time before getting the head... or heads?  Anyway, got the heads.  Fast. 
Went to Canifis, got it stuffed.

Had to remove the Abyssal Demon Head first.  I kind of hated to, but the KBD head is much cooler.

Once the Abyssal Head was gone, up went the King's heads.  They look really awesome, and can talk to you.  The whole conversation is kind of long, and very funny. 

While I was snapping shots of the wall mount, one of my baby black dragons wandered into the shot.  So you'll see him below as well:

I don't know if it's usually that easy to get the heads or not, having never heard any numbers, but for me?  It took a grand total of 3 trips, slightly less than 30 kills.  I'm pretty tickled!