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!

Runescape Bonus Experience Weekend Coming Up Again

Dinner should be ready in a moment

If you haven't heard yet, it's true... Runescape will be hosting a Bonus XP Weekend from the 11th to the 13th of March.  Last time we had one, I used it to get my 99 in Construction.  Monique used it on a multitude of skills, but she played consistently all weekend and really maxed out her bonus points!
     If you don't remember how it went, you generally get a 2.7x experience bonus the first 30 minutes.  The next 30 minutes nets you 2.55x exp.  Every thirty minutes, the XP bonus reduces a bit, until you get to 10 hours.  After that, you get a constant modifier of 1.1x until the weekend is over.
     Some skills don't get any improvement.  For instance, if you're using a player owned house, or the ectofuntus to work on Prayer, the skill bonus won't apply.  That's a downer, because Prayer is the main skill Monique is trying to raise.  In lieu of raising Prayer, she's going to work on Herblore.  She's always enjoyed it, and wants her next 99 to be Herblore.  Though she might spend some time working on other skills.  In particular, Agility.  We both need to raise that a lot.

Crafting...I'm Urning this experience (bad pun)

     I'm going to be working on Smithing and Crafting.  Smithing is easy, I'm smelting gold ore for that.  But Crafting is a weak spot for me.  I don't like messing around with it, and as a result, I'm pretty low on Crafting.  On the good side, now that Urns have come out, I can make Urns to raise my crafting level fairly cheaply.  But it's still slow and boring.  So I'll spend most of my XP Bonus Weekend on Crafting.  I need nearly ten levels for my Elite Achievements. 
     I think it makes a lot of sense to use the extra experience on skills you hate, so you can knock them out of the way faster... or expensive skills, so you can afford to level up more.  I'll save the free and fun skills for normal times.  Though like Monique, I may spend some of that time on Agility.  It's free, but tends to be boring.
     Regardless of how you plan to spend your Bonus XP Weekend, I'm sure Runescape has something to offer for at least some of your skills.  Even if it's not the one you most want. 
     Believe it or not, there are a small group of immature whiners (name-calling, yeah, I really shouldn't, I know) who like to complain about everything.  They figure since they had to walk to school uphill, in the snow, both ways, every day of the year, then nobody else should get to ride the school bus.  Or, in Runescape terms, since they earned their 99's the hard way (whatever way that was) then it cheapens the skill for someone else to have it easier.
     Speaking as someone with several 99's, and several skills close to 99, I don't mind.  Sure, maybe I got some of mine the hard/expensive/long way.  But that's okay, because... I was a) having fun and b) playing a game.  If someone is not enjoying the game, maybe it's time to find a new game.  If they're truly upset that someone else gets to play and have more fun than they did, maybe it's time to turn off the computer and play in the real world for a while. 
     Seriously, it's just a game.  If it quits being fun, I'll find something else to do.  I play Runescape to get away from working, jobs, responsibilities... for a while.  If it starts feeling too much like work, why the heck would I keep playing?
   
     I thought very hard about not expressing my opinions here... but decided to let it stand.  Those of us who simply enjoy the game often get shouted out and flamed by those who can't tolerate other opinions.  So, there's my opinion.  Comments are welcome, even opposing comments... as long as we can keep it civil and express our thoughts coherently.  So if you disagree, and can say so nicely, I would be happy to discuss it, and share our thoughts.

Runescape Shortcuts - Hidey Holes and Rope Racks - A "How To" Guide

You can read the blog about the guide... or just click on the link here for the actual guide:
Runescape Agility Shortcuts: How to Build Hidey Holes and Rope Racks Guide
And of course:
Runescape Cooking - Feel the Burn:How To Cook Rocktail Fish Without Burning: What You Do From Level 93 to 95

Been really hopping recently - Aside from playing with my new Lenovo Ideapad S10-3t Netbook Tablet Computer (my caps- I really love this little netbook!) I've been catching up on all the work (and play) that's fallen behind.  You may have noticed several new Runescape blogs in the last few days.
Today's blog is short and sweet, and relates to the hubpages I write (see sidebar.)  With all the updates recently, there's been a lot going on in Runescape.  And with so many BIG changes, there's been a minor change that didn't catch a lot of notice.

     The shortcuts update, Hidey-Holes and Rope Racks.  This small, unsung update is a lot more important than you'd suspect.  Sure, the Rope Racks aren't such a big deal.  After all, how many of us truly use the Eagle Transport System that much?  But the Hidey-Holes are a very nice change.  Out of all the Runescape agility shortcuts, the crossbow-and-grapple shortcuts have been, as a class, the most useless.  I mean really, who just happens to carry a crossbow and grapple around by accident?  If you've got them with you, you planned for it.
     As a result, most of us ignore those shortcuts.  Jagex finally did something about it... with a little work, those shortcuts will forever after be easy to access!
     ...Yes, I did say 'a little work'.  Don't panic, it's not that hard.  When I first looked into it, I realized there were the 'repeaters' all over the internet; you know, the sites that just cut and paste quotes from Jagex.  And there were good informational sites that offered dictionary definitions of certain aspects.   But nobody had bothered yet to tie it all together into one step by step guide.
     I play a lot.  Obviously, since I blog about it.  But I've only done one guide previously.  There's no sense writing a guide that's already been written about 50 times or more all over the internet.  So my one and only guide up until now has been the 'cooking Rocktails' guide.  I wrote it because it was a helpful technique, very useful between cooking levels of 93 to 95, and nobody had written one.
     The Hidey-Hole and Rope Rack guide came about in the same way.  I couldn't find one, and it seemed like a useful idea, so I wound up writing it myself.  I hope you find it useful!

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!

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.)