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!

Runescape Troll Invasion - New Solo Distraction and Diversion

Troll Invasion came out just yesterday.  Monique and I did penguins, and didn't feel like figuring out something new so waited till today to try it.  I'm not usually big on mini-games.  But this one gives experience that you can put on any skill you want. 

Get the trolls close enough, and your ranged support will help you.

Turns out it's a good thing we waited a day.  Apparently it was still a bit buggy, and a lot of players wound up not getting credit for this month's attempt.  Yes, this months.  You can play it as often as you like, but you only score the big exp on your first attempt of each calendar month.  So brace yourself, get ready, and do your best straight out, because you'll have to wait a month to try again (for points, anyway)!!
There's two sides to it, you can just go and fight all the way through, or you can work defense to protect the keep.  Monique took defense, and I took combat.  She did well enough, scoring about 22k of xp.  I was very happy with mine, finished all 20 waves and got 42k of xp, which went on my lvl 73 dungeoneering, raising me up one level.
Since we went together, I didn't get to watch Monique's part.  It sounded like she did pretty good.  But for me, the combat was pure fun.  Lots of variety, good graphics and sounds, and the occasional bit of humor.  This being a 'safe' minigame, there was no risk of losing anything by getting killed.  Just the same, I'd rather not die.  I've heard you get better points scored if you don't die. 
If you enjoy combat, this is a blast.  Jagex makes it pretty easy to survive.  Not that you won't take damage, just that it's pretty easy to manage your resources, and you have plenty.  I still brought my own, and definitely needed them near the end, but only because I let an explosive troll blow my resource table up.  Not on purpose, I didn't even see it happen.  But I went to heal up and my table was blown away!
The Troll magicians were cool, especially their ability to summon me to them.  It was awesome to see me being dragged rapidly from wherever I was to fight with them.  And welcome, since I really wanted to kill the magicians as a top priority.  It was also pretty neat to see summoners conjuring creatures up. 

Of course the big news was the big guy himself, Cliff.  He was huge, and made my Steel Titan look tiny.  Of course, the bigger they are...  and wow, when he fell, he fell hard.  It's a little bit like the fight cave and Jad.  You go through waves to get to the boss, and he uses multiple styles of attack.
I've read that you should vary your protection prayers according to which attackers your facing.  I tried that, but eventually realized it worked out just fine if I left my prayer on Deflect Melee and Turmoil (Ancient Curses) the whole time.

Also, based on advice from Wiki, I took my best melee armor, best summoning creature, and 3 weapons.  Whip, Rune Crossbow, and Dragon Claws (for special attack on the boss monster).  Whip for normal fighting, crossbow for the ones that refuse to come into melee range.  Brought 5 Prayer Pot (4)s, and the rest of the inventory was Rocktails.  Only used 2 Prayer pots, and about 1/3 of the Rocktail.
With this setup, it was pretty easy to just bull through.  Didn't really need any finesse or skill, just kept prayer on and kept fighting.






All in all, this was a very fun diversion, and I loved getting 42k of exp for just a few minutes of play.  I assume if I'd put it on a higher skill it would have been more, but 42k was great for the skill it went on.  We only tried it the one time.  Based on what I could see of Monique's part, I think the combat was more fun.  I might even come back before the new month and try the harder combat, the one with only 7 (very intense) waves.  Just to get a feel for it before trying it for real points.  I'm sure it'll be more challenging than the easier 20 waves.

If you're thinking about trying it, I'd say give it a shot.  It was enjoyable, and well worth the time spent!

Pray Hit Eat - Melee Combat in Runescape

How do you fight in Runescape?  More specifically, what's your melee style? 

Pray Hit Eat- it pays to have high prayer levels!

 I was discussing Jad with a friend recently, and the subject kind of drifted in sideways.  Being a high-level player, I tend to rely on lots of prayer, Attack/Strength, and hit points.  For most ordinary monsters, that's generally sufficient.  Which is good, because I spectacularly fail when it comes to complicated combat styles.  Jad in the Fight Caves took me two months to beat.  I only succeeded because I found out you can kill him with deflect prayers and never actually have to fight Jad.

Same thing with Nomad.  I studied every guide out there, tried it all, and finally beat him mainly by persistence, luck, and by having high stats.    Before the big fight, when Monique and I were doing the Nomad quest, we came to the maze of exploding floating platforms you had to jump across.  Monique was cautiously threading her way through, trying to jump only to ones that wouldn't explode.  About 1/3 through, she looked over at me, to see me just waiting for her at the end.

"How did you get there?"

Me: "I ran"

Monique:  "How'd you know where to run?"

Me:  "I didn't... I just ran."

Got to the end with hit points to spare, ate some food, ready for the next phase.  And Monique?  Well, she got to the end in pretty good shape, and her method was much more elegant than mine.

This pretty much explains my approach to most combat as well.  I do my research, try to face it intelligently, but rely heavily on the "Pray Hit Eat" method of survival.  I'm just not coordinated enough to get truly elegant.  Survival is the goal, and it doesn't have to be pretty.  Just effective.

In the long run, my technique has limited effectiveness.  But with higher stats, I can afford to be a bit sloppy.  So, how do YOU melee?  With wit, charm, and style?  Or "Pray Hit Eat?" 

Being a Wandering Vagabond in Runescape

Hanging with the StykeWyrms on my beautiful island retreat

 After all this time, working towards one major goal, then another...
First it was 99 Summoning so I could max my combat.  Then, I had to get 99 Prayer, for the same goal.  Once I got 138 combat, it was time to get 99 Construction.  Got that, though I'm still saving up to max out the house.  Can't believe it's 25 million just for one simple little demon throne!
Somewhere in there, the achievement diaries came out, then they became the Task System.  I wanted the Elite level for all tasks.  The armor, the teleports, the special rewards... the Taskmaster Emote!  Killing Jad, which was part of the elite tasks for Karamja.

Now that I'm retired, I can relax and go fishing

I recently got the Taskmaster emote, and while there are plenty of things I want to do, for a change I don't have any obsessively driven things to do.  Sure, I want to get all the new spells and rewards from Livid Farm.  And I want to get at least 90 Agility.  And 99 Slayer.
As an aside, I keep going to Kuradal (spelling?) hoping she'll assign Fight Caves.  It's funny, how I hated Jad and the Fight Cave so much.  But by the time I'd figured out a way I could beat Jad, I kind of enjoyed it.  I don't want to go back for no reason, but I keep hoping I'll get him as a slayer boosted assignment.

I'm at 96 Fishing, and currently am relaxing at the Fishing Guild while I do a little one-handed Barbarian Shark Fishing.  It's kind of fun to be able to do it, though I don't really see a huge speed increase.  I think for normal fishing, I'll stick with Rocktails.
I've been Slaying for the last few days.  Sometimes I'll go over to the Gnome Advanced Agility Course.  I'll flip an  hour or two at the Grand Exchange.  Now maybe I can even explore Dungeoneering - finally!

In all honesty, it's kind of nice just doing what I want to.  I've been driven to reach those difficult goals for so long now, Runescape's almost become like work.  Finally, I'm relaxing.  Whatever the mood is, that's how I play.  I really enjoy combat, so Slayer's been getting a lot of my time.  But I'm not obsessing over it.

Goals are good.  It really gives you a sense of accomplishment to set a hard goal, and after lots of work, actually achieve it.  But wow... just wandering aimlessly has a lot going for it.  I drive hard when I'm going for a goal.  Now, I'm enjoying Runescape.  My biggest goal is to save up enough gold to finish my house.  Let's see, 2 thrones, there's 50 million.  A few dragons in the dungeon, at about 10 million each, that's probably another 50 million.  Maxing the odds and ends of each room in the house, I'm guessing I'll need between 125 million and 150 million.  I'm about a third of the way right now, but I don't want to spend all my seed money.  I use maybe 50 million for trading when I'm flipping.  It fluctuates a lot, based on what I'm trading at the moment, but usually it's commodities.  Essence, Runes, Food, Wood... The stuff that's always in demand.

When I get close to enough money, I'll probably start obsessing like usual.  But for now, I'm just the happy wanderer.  Check out the pubs in Falador, Varrock, Brimhaven, etc... you'll probably find me knocking back a few beers with the local rednecks!

Finished Relleka Elite Tasks, Got the First Livid Farm Spell... and Got The Taskmaster Emote!!!

I'm not a 'Woot' kind of guy, but this deserves a Woot...  I've been working on mastering all the Elite Tasks for ages, and finally made it!  Everything I've done, every goal achieved, every level raised, every hour played, has all been to earn the Taskmaster rating.  Even facing Jad in the Fight Cave - that wasn't for the Fire Cape, that was for the Elite Task.  I didn't MIND getting the cape, it just wasn't the ultimate goal. 
     Sunday night, I did the last elite tasks, only to realize Runescape pulled a fast one.  They snuck in a Hard Task for the new game, Livid Farm.  Lucky for me, that was one of my future goals anyway, so I really didn't mind, but it slowed me down long enough to get the first spell reward from Livid.
     So, last night, Monday April 11, 2011, for the first time ever, I stood atop my pedestal and waited for the world to bow down before me. 
     Nobody got the memo- All I got was one decent fellow who congratulated me and told me "Well done".  Sigh...
That was a lot of work.  Yes, the per-item rewards are cool.  Some more than others.  I especially love the ones that teleport me. 

I'm super-happy they re-worked the graphics.  For the Elite Armor, it all goes together in a matched set, so it looks cool.  There's still a few pieces to go, so I'm assuming Runescape is going to come out with a few more Tasks.  It still needs a Necklace, Legs, and, honestly, a Weapon.  I'm hoping when they fill all the armor and weapon slots, the completed set will have some totally awesome Set Special Effect.  Something useful, not just flashy.
     In this pic, I'm wielding Elite Enhanced Excalibur, because you don't get the maxed out sword until you've done the all the Seers Village Tasks.  And really, this sword is probably the most useful reward from all the tasks.  It's like a constantly regenerating Monkfish and Super Defence.  Every five minutes...  Now THAT'S useful!

After all that work and effort, dedication and obsession, I wanted to make a video of the emote.  Unfortunately, at this time my computer just isn't fast enough to play Runescape and record screen video at the same time.  So I used my Flip Mino HD Video Recorder to take video manually.  It's not nearly as crisp and clear, but still... that's me up on that pedestal!  Until I can figure out how to get better video, that's what I'm stuck with. 
Getting the Taskmaster emote was a lot of fun at times, and a lot of drudgery at times.  Some skills were very expensive to raise, others just took a long time.  I kind of enjoyed the Slayer levelling, though I was rushing through it by the end.  Below was my final Slayer kill... the grand Ice Strykewyrm!  He was interesting, the entire line of Strykewyrms is a lot of fun to fight.

I've played Runescape for a long time, and had a lot of fun.  Part of the fun is that my wife, Monique, plays it too.  We have a lot of fun with all the different things you can do in Runescape (Penguins later tonight, as a matter of fact...:^)

But after all the quests, all the mini-games, all the fabulous mythical adventures, I have to say getting the Taskmaster emote ranks as one of my top two Runescape moments.  (Beating Jad was the other, and since I took on Jad as part of my quest to achieve the Taskmaster, it's really like both of my greatest moments were from the same thing.) If you want to know how Klutzy me beat Jad, a way that's super easy, click HERE.
So, the video... not the best video, there are better ones on Youtube... but this one's mine!

And, yes, I have about 8 baby Black Dragons and one each Green, Blue, and Red.  I like Dragons.  :^)

New Guide to the Fight Cave - How to Kill Jad the Easy Way!

Fight Cave.

Jad.  Prayer potions, Rocktail, no weapon.

Ancient Curses, Deflects, no healers.

Runescape Fight Cave: How To Kill Jad The Easy Way and Win the Fire Cape
Got it?  If you want a bit more detail, keep reading.  Or just click the link above.

As I mentioned last time, I finally beat Jad, and as promised, have written a guide about it.  I didn't originally intend to turn it into a guide.  It was supposed to be just a blog, a chance to vent a bit and get it out of my system.  But it kept getting longer, and longer... and I finally had to admit there was the makings of a pretty good guide.  So that's what it became.
     I was really wrapped up in TzTok-Jad.  I'm so bad at that kind of fighting, but I'm very good at obssessing over a game.  Worked at it until it worked for me.  But after it was done I couldn't let go.  Close my eyes, I'd see Jad.  In the quiet of the night, I'd hear the "boom-boom" of his magic attacks.
     So I wrote about it.  That's how I clear my head, and it worked.  But when it was done, there was a 6,500 word guide on Jad, designed for people like me... people who just can't seem to figure it out, and when they did, couldn't get coordinated enough to make it work.
     Pictures... it needed lots of pictures.  I had to make a couple of trips back to Jad to get all the pics of the Fight Cave I needed.  My computer's not fast enough to take video while playing the game.  But pics, I can do.  Both times I went back, I used this technique again.  Both times, I got another Fire Cape.

Some of Jad's henchmen

I'm satisfied.  If a klutz like me can beat the Fight Cave, win a Fire Cape, and defeat Jad, then this is a method that works.  In my opening sentence, I gave you the entire technique.  But in the guide, I break it down step by step, and teach you how to get past the 62 Waves without memorizing... 62 waves.
If you have Ancient Curses, and level 68 or higher Prayer...  and could never beat Jad, or even get past those darn healers... I've got the solution.  Read the guide.  Then go kill Jad.  As often as you like!


By the way, for those who remember why I wanted to kill Jad...

I needed to wear a Fire Cape to complete the Karamja tasks

Finished the Power of Lava

After all of that, my last Karamja task.  I now have the Karamja 4 gloves!