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 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 Book for Christmas, and Mr. Mordaut Random Event

 Got the Runescape book, Betrayal at Falador; haven't started it yet, but it's going into my "books to be read" stack, pretty near the top!
I haven't been playing too much over Christmas.  Aside from the usual holiday upheavals, I wound up with strep throat over the entire weekend.  If I logged into Runescape at all, it was mainly to update my grand exchange transactions.  If I let them sit unattended, it tends to lose money rather than make money.
I've finally bitten the bullet and tried to beat Jad in the fight cave.  Getting there takes forever, but is easy enough to do.  But Jad?  I really stink at prayer switching.  The first time he killed me before I even saw him.  The second time, I got to see him, and managed to survive for a few seconds before he took me out.  Getting there is such a pain, I hate spending an hour or two only to be killed right away.  I wish they had a 'practice Jad'.  Something that lets you walk right in, fight him, but get no rewards if you win.  Then you could go for the real thing with a better chance of success.  Oh well, if they made it too easy it would devalue the fire cape.  I'll just keep at it.  If a million monkeys on a million keyboards in a million years can randomly result in a bestselling book, then sooner or later I should be able to win just through sheer persistence.  I wish I could devote some serious time to practice, but I'll have to make do with one or two tries a week.
In the meantime, I got my favorite random event this weekend.  I'm speaking of "Surprise Exam", with Mr. Mordaut the erudite dragon.  I like the way he looks and acts.  The graphics are excellent, and the way he takes his glasses off and examines them really does make me think of a teacher I once had.  It's pretty cool too when he thumps the desk.  His classroom is fun, with plenty of characters at their desks. (and the imp marching a circle in his dunce cap!)

But, as enjoyable as all these features are, that's not why I love his event.  The part I really like is the payoff... The Book of Knowledge!  Where most randoms give you the genie lamp, Mr Mordaut's book of knowledge gives 'pay and a half'.  It pays out half again better than the genie lamp!

Most randoms are just annoying, even with the experience reward.  Though it's much better since the update that allows you to choose your own reward.  Not going to turn down the smaller rewards, but I like Mr Mordaut the best.  He and his classroom have a lot of personality, and the rewards are more worthwhile.

Marking time and making money on Runescape... Jad and the Fight Caves

The last few days have been focused mainly on trying to recover some gold.  After buying the Armadyl Chestplate, it had left me pretty strapped for cash.  So I'm still flipping investments on the Grand Exchange, and actually have done pretty well.  I'm not a high-level investor, I just flip a few things when they're buying/selling well.  Like Pure Essence, that's always done pretty well.  As of tonight, I'm back up to about 8 million.  I've been supplementing my flips with trips to the Aviansies.  They may not be the fastest cash I could do, but they're reasonably fast cash, and fun.  If I really wanted fast, I'd make double natures.  I think that's probably the fastest skill I have for making money. 
Regardless, I'm working toward buying back my Armadyl armor.  It was sold to help level up a skill, and I want it back now because I'm going to do Jad at the fight caves.  I've never cared about the Fire Cape, and didn't want to be tied down for hours without being able to stop at my leisure.  Plus, I'm not very good at multi-tasking.  I think Jad will kill me many many times, because I don't think I'll be very good at prayer switching and keeping everything going all at once. 
But it's time to try.  All my combat skills, including ranging and magic, are maxed.  I've done all the quests.  My character has the levels to get me there, but I lack the real-time fighting skills.  If it weren't for the Elite Acheivement Diaries, I'd be happy just to let Jad live.  But I want all of the Elite rewards.  Not so much because they're cool, though some of them are.  But just because that's a goal I set for myself.  I got the Ardougne Elite Cape back when it first became available.  Then I got the Seers Village Elite, which gave me the double-enhanced sword Excalibur.  I really wanted that sword... healing 400 points and getting 15 extra defense every few minutes is a huge plus!  Then I got the Falador Elite Shield.  Now, I have all the required skills to get the Karamja Elite reward, but I have to actually beat Jad in the fight caves to get it.  Which leaves me where I am now, scrambling to get enough money to buy the gear I want to use. 
This is going to be tough, because I'm so bad at that kind of fighting.  Usually, I just bulldoze my way through things and hope for the best.  This time, it's going to take finesse.  I'll probably be down in the fight caves for months.  Wish me luck.  Oh, if you've got any advice, please share it with me!