Runescape: How I Spent My (Bonus Exp) Weekend

Well, Runescape's Bonus Weekend has come and gone again.  I spent about 15 hours playing, so definitely got my time in!  Usually for a Bonus Exp Weekend, I focus on one thing and try to blast through as many levels as possible.  This time was a change of pace.  Spent some time hanging around the GE Crafting Black Dragon Bodies, and Flasks.  Went up two levels, from 86 to 88.  Not a significant mile marker or anything, but it makes crafting flasks require much less Crafting potion.  At 86, sometimes I couldn't even finish a full inventory before it timed out.  At 88, it's easy to do all 50 from one sip of potion.  Since I plan to take on the Fight Kiln soon, having plenty of 6-dose flasks will be very helpful.

After Crafting, I made about 150 Overloads.  No special exp goal, but since I was running out, it made sense to wait until the Bonus weekend to make more.  Already had most of the potions assembled, just had to add the Torstol leaves to it.  No levels gained.  But still, extra exp for the effort.  I certainly wish it wasn't such a complicated timekiller to make Overloads and Super Antifires.  

After that, Monique and I had a date at the ZMI Altar.  She wasn't quite ready, so for me, laps at the Advanced Barbarian Agility Course until she was done with her first project.  Once she was done training her Crafting, We met over at the Lunar Altar to switch spellbooks.  From there, we ran Runes at ZMI.  Talk about blindingly boring...  I only made about 100k exp, she stopped at 50k.  ... Next!

Okay, so that didn't go as planned.  Somedays, you're just not in the mood.  We both switched back to Agility, each to our own course (she's at Gnome Advanced).  Stayed there long enough to level up from 91 to 92 Agility.  It's a slow skill, but just felt more entertaining than Runecrafting.  Making 92 doesn't come with any great benefit, but it's one level closer to 99.

My agenda still includes getting Mining up, so after Agility, I went to the Living Rock Caverns.  Went for a few gold ores.  Only needed 220k exp to get a level, so made that the goal.  Went to world 77 so the Living Rock creatures might leave me alone more.  Talk about lag.  Move a step, pause.  Move a step, pause.  Went that way the entire time.  But still, got that level!

 

Last and finally, we both checked our 'cleanup' levels.  You know, the ones where you just need a few points to level up.  My only reasonable one was Hunter, needed about 16k for a level.  Went off to do Red Chinchompas.  Had no idea how crowded they are.  Wish there was some more space for others there.  Still, managed the 16k, made one more level.  It's my lowest skill, at 74 (75 now).  Usually I just let Juuna train that one.

I didn't focus on one single skill this time.  Just spread it out among different ones.  Made a few levels, had some fun.  In general, just really appreciated the bonus experience.

So that was my weekend... how did you spend yours?

Runescape: Short-term goals and Long-term goals

Now THERE'S a wasted cannonball!

 Didn't think I'd have time last night, but wound up going down to the Frost Dragons.  Lasted the duration of one Pack Yak.  I've been operating under a handicap, lacking a Chaotic Rapier.  I know, 88 Dungeoneering and no Chaotic...  That's because I've always solo dungeoneered, or at most, Monique has gone along with me.  Not knowing at the time how great the Chaotics are, all my points went into the Ring of Kinship.  Looking back, I guess there's no regret.  Boosting the ring does help within the Dungeons.  But now it'll be a long time before getting any Chaotic weapon.  Yes, I know it's faster going in teams, but I enjoy playing solo.  Don't like the stress of working with a team.  As long as it's fun, that's the big thing.

Looking online for guides vs Frost Dragons, there were some that recommended a Vine Whip as an alternative choice.  That seemed good, especially since I do have a Vine Whip.  No money or time spent just trying to get one.  The Vine Whip poisons, so it seemed like a fair compromise.  But something a friend said made me start wondering about Korasi's Sword.  While down there last night, the sword went, and not the whip.  Turns out Korasi's Sword is FAR better than a vine whip to kill Frost Dragons.  What a huge difference... Now when I need a little Soul Split, it's actually an effective solution.  Before, it was very (pardon the expression) hit or miss. 


Eventually, it would be nice to have at least one Chaotic weapon.  But there's so very many goals in Runescape, and just not enough time to play them all.  My immediate goal right now is to make money with Frost Dragons.  This in turn will fund my attempts to beat the Fight Kiln.   (Ha! - You thought I'd forgotten about that by now, huh?) 

I haven't forgotten the Kiln.  I'm just seriously horrible at complex combat.  It's going to take a lot of practice and many tries.  Plus large amounts of gold.  After spending most of my bank getting some Crafting levels recently, the Frost Dragons are helping build it back.  It would be nice to have about 50 Million as a cushion before making a determined effort on the Kiln.


Let's not forget Bonus Experience Weekend coming up, too.  There's a lot on my plate for that weekend, but Monique and I still intend to maximize our bonus exp.  Will probably spend more time crafting.  Herblore too, since it's time to make more Overloads.  Monique has invited me to train Runecrafting at the ZMI altar with her.  Unless we decide to do gold mining in the Living Rock Cavern.  Then there's always Agility.  At 91, I can't think of any serious in-game advantage to be earned with a higher Agility.  Except that in the long run, I want the Completionists Cape, so ALL the 99s are important. 

Man, there's just so much to do... Anybody want to hire me full-time to play Runescape?
... Nah, didn't think so.  Guess I'll just keep playing in my spare time.   :^)

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!

Skilling to make Dungeoneering more fun

Recently, I've gotten into dungeoneering.  Having never really tried it before, I was pretty intimidated by the massive learning curve.  My level was mid-60's due to Tears of Guthix.  (Funny how much exp a solid year of Tears will give you!)

Monique tried it with me, and we had mixed results.  She likes to dive in and try things.  I like to research, plan, and prepare.  So for her, it was very boring... waiting for me.  For me, it was a wonderful new world within Runescape.  Dungeoneering harks back, for me, to the early days of home computers.  Bard's tale, Pool of Radiance, all those games that were mainly about gaining levels and crawling dungeons.  I kind of miss those days.

As I've learned, and improved, I think maybe I can take Monique back into the dungeons and not slow her down now.  So with luck, she might be willing to duo a few floors with me.  Otherwise, I enjoy solo dungeoneering.  Even if the exp is far slower than with team play.

A couple of weeks ago, I found someone to make a couple of items for me to bind.  Promethium 2-Handed Sword and Chestplate.  Love them both, but I would really enjoy trying other things out.  I'm also looking to find a Shadow Silk Hood, and will have to give up one of the binds if I do.  But I can't afford to lose the time, or money, constantly paying someone to make new gear, so I'm hesitant to experiment, and don't want to give anything up for the hood (not that I've found one yet!).

It got me thinking how fun it would be, to make my own gear.  I'm a skiller at heart, and most of  my skills are decent or better.  So I looked up how much I'd need to mine and smith promethium.  To do it all, I'd need 90 mining, and 99 smithing.  I thought, heck, I've got 82 mining, and 91 Smithing.  Let's do this! 

The Liquid Gold Nymph sorta liked me...

It's a week later now.  I have the fancy golden mining armor from the Liquid Gold Nymph.  It took 14 real-time hours down in the Lava Flow Mine to get it all, and to have my pick guilded.  Also bought a Dragon Pick Axe for best mining.  Figured I can always sell it back later.  And at 14 million, trust me, it's going back just as soon as I'm done with it! 

She gave me this cool Gold Mining Armor

For the last week, all my game-time has been spent in the Living Rock Cavern, mining gold.  My mining went from level 82, up to 88 by Thursday.   89 by Friday, and got 90 this morning.

I'll be glad to leave this chaos behind!

Started all this last Sunday, and today is Saturday.  Now that mining is at 90, I've switched to smithing.  It'll take 125,000 gold ore turned into bars, using the goldsmith gauntlets and my Varrock 4 armor.  I banked about 17,000 gold ore while mining.  (Spent some of my time Lava Mining, which doesn't give ores.)  It cost around 24 million to buy the rest of the ore, which will become gold bars.  Then craft, probably into plain gold rings.  They resell at a loss, but not a complete loss.  With any luck, by the time I've gotten to 99 smithing, it won't be a big money pit.   Or maybe I'll forget profit, and just make gold amulets for the better experience.

Monique and me making gold bars

I know this'll take a lot of time.  But worth it, when I head back into the dungeons and can make my own armor and weapons instead of relying on someone else.  To me,  dungeoneering is all about the fun.  If I was serious about getting exp and levels, I'd team dungeon.

The good part, when it's all done, I'll be a tiny bit closer to the max skills cape.  So it's all good.

Runescape Bonus Experience Weekend Final Results

Well, Monique and I took the bit in our teeth and ground out about 19 hours of play during Runescape's Bonus Exp Weekend.  When I got up this morning, it was still active, so I managed another 30 minutes before work.  When it was all said and done, I'm pretty pleased with the results. 

Monique leveled up some Herblore, and some Agility, even a bit of fishing.  Even now, while I'm writing this, she's still leveling something up every time I turn around.  She just went up a level on Construction, using the Sacred Clay Hammer she got from Stealing Creation before the weekend started.
I stayed with Agility the whole weekend.  My reward for running around in circles for 19 hours?  4 levels of Agility!  Doesn't sound like much, until you realized it's levels 82 - 85. Started off with Ape Atoll, because after level 75, you no longer fail on it.  But after a long while, that got boring, so it was time to visit the Dorgesh-kaan agility course.

 Didn't need ranging experience, so the entire trip was done on the eastern half.  It's pretty fast experience, but it... feels... slow.  So after gaining a level and a bit, it was back to Ape Atoll.
For those who haven't done it, Ape Atoll has a beautiful Agility course.  Lush hills, plenty of greenery, a variety of agility hazards.  It's probably the most attractive agility course in all of Runescape (I haven't been to the Advanced Barbarian course yet, but I don't expect it to look any better.)  There's a Fairy Ring access point, but you have to have done Fairy Tale III, Battle at Ork's Rift before you can use it.  After the quest, you go back and unblock the log, then you have full access to the fairy ring (access code CLR).

The fairy ring takes you to the middle of the agility course, on top of a hill a bit east.  You have to be wielding a small ninja greegree to use it, but that's the best greegree for running the Ape Atoll course anyway.  It's kind of fun seeing your character and everybody elses running around as monkeys.  Still, the fun wears off after a few hours.  It helps to find a mental zone where you lose track of what you're doing.  Sometimes music helps, or maybe I'll play an old favorite movie.  (Has to be one that won't distract me from making the rounds, so I pick old ones I can listen to and know what's going on.)  Or call a friend and talk on the phone.

When all this finally wears off, just grit your teeth and keep reminding yourself how much closer the goal is getting.  I hit this point with about 168k to go, to finish level 84.  Kept at it until achieving 85

Then it was time to head over to the Gnome Stronghold Advanced Agility Course.  Worked that one for about 200k, then it was bedtime, and the end of Bonus Exp Weekend.

Maybe it's because of the newness, because I'd never been to the Gnome Stronghold advanced agility course before, but it was a lot of fun.  Plenty of variety, fast-paced and fun graphics/animation.  The only thing I didn't care much for is that I failed running the sign about half the time.  At first, it was okay.  After a while, it got frustrating to lose so much time whenever the sign slowed me down.  So I bought about half a million Summer Pies.  They raise agility by 5 levels.  Hopefully that'll let me earn at least enough levels to not fail so often.  If I'm lucky, it'll get me to 89 agility, at which point I won't fail the Advanced Gnome course any more.

Of course, by level 90, the Barbarian advanced course will be calling my name.  I'm looking forward to getting the Agile Top and Agile Legs.   The Agile Legs are earned by making 250 perfect runs (not consecutive) around the Gnome advanced course.  The Agile Top is earned by making 250 perfect runs around the Barbarian advanced agility course.  Both reduce weight, and will be very nice for any skill where I need to run a lot.  I can see a lot of Runecrafting in my future wearing this gear.  And, definitely for Penguin Hunting!

I'm in the back... but this guy in front looks pretty cool!

So, it was a great weekend, got a lot done, and very happy with the progress we made.  Now it's time to get back to normal.