Of Villomis

Those goals of pushing certain skills a few levels up into the next tiers?

Dropped 'em.

'stead, I put 3 days into Fishing and drawing. It's a new hobby and fishing + drawing fit together incredibly well. Picked up 83 Fishing today, so there's a consolation for dropping the others.

I also nabbed 70 Magic after a day of Soul Wars. I hate Magic.

I rather liked the rewards from the Ardougne Diary. JaGex is coming to their senses and giving useful rewards in their quests and diaries. I understand the need for balance between usefulness and access to an item but some rewards are just outrageously stupid.

Thankfully, those 3 days of Fishing nabbed me about 3.5 million. I love that green '10M'.

Poked around and found my total wealth to be 49.5 million. A few more sharks and a week of inflation will bump it up to 50. I'll take a save a screenie of it and wait for JaGex to kill 76king and give my money some value once more.

I'm also changing my name back. Red Vektor is kinda dumb.

Regards, Boombaye1

Of Increasingly Random Post Titles

My 99 Attack was a long term goal. For the first 3 months, I'd take maybe 200k worth of time off to train per week. Things stirred up when some friend maxed out her melee and another got 99 Ranged and Fletching at the same time so I began pulling weight out of jealousy.

I have the attention span of a small rodent. I'll detail one of the best training areas for higher level melee in RuneScape, the disadvantages and advantages that come with it and how to do it successfully.


Soul Wars

I damn well nearly got my level 99 here. Before this, there were Pest Control products, but those are all but dead. Nowadays, we have Soul Wars products. Soul Wars is a minigame in which you trade your Zeal, the reward for experience, charms and pets.

The main advantage of Soul Wars is how little attention it takes. Perhaps half of your time will be spent in the waiting room. I was able to bring most of 95-99 Attack at Soul Wars. Soul Wars experience ranges from 60k and an hour to 75k an hour excluding experience gained from mass murder perpetrated in the minigame. For me, that may add up to 90k per hour at level 98 Attack with all the killings.

The experience reward changes as you level up, higher levels yield greater experience. From 90 onwards, Soul Wars is a prime method of training. 60k+ per hour with minimum attention is quite good. Anywhere below and there will usually be better places in which to train.

Soul Wars is best utilized at higher levels, unless you're looking for something new.

The main issue with Soul Wars is winning. I can safely say any permanently used world in which Soul Wars is played has all game fixed to win for a specific team. This team is usually a team of level 120+ players who reside in their clan chat. During lategame, a caller, usually the current leader calls out the next team to join. Join the team with the high levels.

They have developed tactics to counter this. Unless the game has just started, you must pay full attention to the waiting room. I'll take the W2lostsouls clan as an example for now. They reside in World 2, almost all games fought against them are lost. The requirements for joining are 125+ combat and 70+ Slayer. Fairly steep.

The main counters used are the rushes. If you're not paying attention, the entire clan may rush at the last minute and charge at the other team, leaving anyone not focused on the losing team. Fake rushes are oft launched, too. All clan members traditionally stand at the far back of the waiting room. When a fake rush is launched, the clan charges toward the door, this drives some people to think it's a real rush and leave the team and run toward the other.



The clan does not exit, sometimes, one or two members will be sent to run at the other waiting room too give the impression that high levels are making a rush. If someone leaves the room, their priority for the game is destroyed and they stand little to know chance of entering a game. If they wind up at the other team, they will be driven to the losing team.

In other cases, the clan may simply form a death dot at the bank and wait at the bank for the game to start, this happens rarely and is easy to spot. Right click in front of the bank chest to search for high levels. Another factor is chaos. Most people who play Soul Wars are savvy enough to join the team with the most as this is where the clan and, presumably, the winning team lies.

If many people are running back and forth and you don't see too many 120+ in the rooms, check the bank. Should something like this occur, wait for the game to start. The clan usually picks the losing team at the start of the game and turns it over.

If the clan pulls off a convincing rush, it's best to watch who's leaving. Sometimes, clan members may send up to 8 members to run to the other team at the time, if executed well, it gives the impression that only one player has left. The pile in front of the door is usually too large in which to find anybody but poke there, too.

Whatever you do, park yourself with the clan. Clan chats are usually open and if you poke around for a few seconds, just follow the purple dots. Be sure to get in and out, you will be kicked if someone sees. Also, when entering a clan chat, do it in front of the door on the side of the waiting room, the large pile makes it harder to locate you.

Once the game starts, you can relax. Players who leave the game are not allowed to rejoin the current game. Stay in the waiting room at all costs. You can expect to join within the first 13 minutes of the game and once you're in, proceed to do as you please and let the big guys do the heavy work.

Rewards from Soul Wars are plentiful and at levels 90+, great for any of the skills available. Hitpoints, Prayer and Magic in particularly good here, you can train Hitpoints at a similar rate to Attack or Strength at high levels with 60k+ per hour. Soul Wars makes Prayer cheap and Magic less tedious.

The main advantage is how little work you need to do. Bring all of your best gear, Barrows is recommended as you may only lose 25% of the status per day at most. You can freeload, though it is discouraged. The activity bar in Soul Wars must stay full and the best way is to heal teammates, each bandage refills half of the bar and this is what most freeloader do. Dying also refills half or more and combat in general provides a steady rise to the bar.

Your main goal in the game is to keep the activity bar filled, once it runs out, you risk getting booted from the game.

Building up zeal is a good idea for the more patient as cashing in 100 zeal gives you 110 zeal worth in experience.

Most importantly, have something else to do while waiting. Reading or listening to music is going to keep the boredom off.


On the other end, I've set a goal to bring all skills at 67+, 77+ and 87+ at least 3 levels. I've already bumped Ranged to 80. Fletching, Firemaking, Magic and Woodcutting are on the way. I have the wallet needed to pull this off quickly enough.

Regards, Boombaye1

Of the Titanic Roulette

Tiz said he liked the song.

After getting 99 Attack, I wound up in the same predicament I was in before I took up the Attack goal seriously: I had no goals. In 2 days, I've spent 3 hours logged onto the game but not doing anything. 3 hours is worth a Hitpoints and Ranged level or over 500k in sharks.

I'm testing out 99 Fletching. I never took the skill seriously before, but now it calls out. It's an apparently easy level 99 with no real work. I did a bit of number crunching. According to the guides, the recommended method was to cut and string yew longbows followed by selling them. I poked around and noted that I'd lose close to 700k from 77-99. That scrapped the whole cut and string method.

I looked into stringing them alone. This bought in a profit and was slightly better than cutting alone or cutting and stringing. This is my method. I may move on to Magic Longbows later on.

I want trim for my cape. The main problem with stringing bows is that it's quick. 12 seconds per bow. I need to constantly pay attention for maximum efficiency. The other solution is to cut unstrung bows with a Sacred Clay knife and use them as junk to loan out my Godsword to people. It worked but people will only take so much at a time.

I did look into other skills for a 99. Something non combat and not expensive. The list was narrowed down to Thieving, Fletching, Fishing and Firemaking.

I could afford Firemaking. But it was too boring and clicky for my tastes. Experience is good, even at Maple logs. The cape had a nice emote to go with it, to boot.

Fletching didn't strike me as likeable. I only used it in passing as a tool to relax. Experience is fast and it turned a profit. It was just too annoying to bank constantly.

Fishing is a rather slow option and is boring but gives me a change to read or study. It was also pure profit and processes were simple with little banking.

Thieving wasn't all that profitable with Pyramid plunder in mind. Experience was easy and things were too clicky.

This cut it down to Fishing and Fletching. Fishing is my source of money and I'd prefer not to hate the skill too much. Fletching was an easy one, judging by how common it was.

I just also finished my test run. It wasn't too bad. If I set a quota of 1.5k - 2k bows per day, I might have it in a couple of months. Somehow, I was able to buy the unstrung bows and bow strings at minimum price. I can understand the bows but not the strings. Oh well.

The bows sell fairly quickly on the Exchange, most often within 10 minutes. This may actually work out for me.

What better way to get rid of the stress from one level 99 than with another level 99?

Regards, Boombaye1

Of Red Vektor

I changed mah name to Red Vektor. I like the word Vektor and red is the colour of my pet, my outfit, my cape and now, my name.

The colour of my cape.

Red.

Not white.

Not black.

Red.







99 Attack came in today. The original plan was to get it via lamp from the Fremennik Diary. I picked up the lamp last night, knowing it couldn't be banked. I'd rather keep it in the inventory until the level came, 250k experience later. Turns out, you can't bring non-combat items into Soul Wars. Burned the lamp and added the experience to Attack.

The cape completes my skilling outfit. I think that's enough level 99 for now. Strength is next on the list, possibly Cooking or Fletching. I did forget to turn on Runescape HD's fullscreen for my level, too.





Ah, well.

I maxed out a skill. A combat skill, fourth most common skill. It's not bad. It's a good day. Got 120 Combat, 1675 total and 99 Attack in one go.



Later, at Tears of Guthix, the 129 tears bought in 55 Herblore.

I should be happier. Just that school starts on Monday. My internet died and I should have gotten the level yesterday. I'm actually one day behind schedule. It was fun getting it but taxing.

Got some tips for someone working on a 99 skill.

1. One level at a time, don't set your objectives from 70-99. It doesn't look good.

2. If you want to, reset your objective halfway through a longer level, once reset, it takes less experience for the bar to move forward. The point is to give the illusion that it's going quickly.

3. Remind yourself of what you want. The cape, the emote, the achievement. There's a light at the end of that tunnel.

4. Have people cheering you on. Friends and such. Notify then of any level ups. Their congratulations may spur you on.

5. Take regular breaks. Try to avoid stopping entirely, but if you feel like quitting, spend some time off and do something fun.

6. Set a quota for experience per day and strive to meet it. Go over your quota if you feel like it, but it's good to tell yourself you're done for the day and can relax.

Regards, Boombaye1

Of Moonraking

I got level 96 Attack.

And 97.

Yay.

I want more. 422k till 98 As of this typing.

I train at Giant Spiders in the Stronghold with a bunyip. I train at the Armoured Zombies with a bunyip, super set and Piety. I train at Soul Wars when possible for the opportunity to get 63k experience per hour and some nice mass murder.

Good stuff. These methods are very similar. I hate them all.

Soul Wars forces me to wait in a waiting room, lest my priority to enter a game gets destroyed. Zombies make 220k+ cash per hour, on average but takes loads of attention and spiders are annoying. They hit me on occasion.

Stupid 99 Attack.

Of Timing the Run

The new Development Diary. Now in condensed form.

Let's get some facts in.

1. No level 90+ Slayer Monsters this year.
2. There's gonna be a rebalancing of the Triangle. Large amounts of time invested. Possibly stretching through next year.
3. JaGex is looking to expand on dragon colour variants.
4. There's a greater probability of Magic Armour reducing damage than offering bulky defence.
5. The level 80+ Armour and Weapon sets are released after the rebalancing.
6. Sailing skill is just a rumor. Get over it.
7. No Farming in Stealing Creation.
8. Pets are gonna remain as they are, providing very few benefits.
9. High level dungeon, vibrant bosses and possibly great rewards planned.
10. No plans of allowing runes to be retrieved after minigame combat.
11. Level 80+ Requirements for next Grandmaster quest.
12. Achievement diary set with set bonus.
13. Too early to tell when combat triangle will be rebalanced.
14. Slayer update with a small but nice item.
15. New entries for major quest storylines in foreseeable future, therefore; within 6 months.
16. Duel Tournaments, Gnomeball and Barbarian Assault updates have not been forgotten.
17. Sliske in quest possibly in near future.
18. Skill updates through next year.
19. More focus on higher levels.
20. Plans for future landmasses exist. Only in concepts. Probably available by 2010.
21. Balance between Pking and skilling is being achieved.
22. More high level items that require actual skill rather than money.
23. Skills with little to no uses at higher levels to be upgraded first.
24. No more Grand Exchanges.
25. No skillcapes for free players. Ever. Get over it.
26. Idea of replaying quests without reward is in mind.
26. That tab will be revealed by September.
27. Plans for truffles were canceled.
28. Bug fixes in construction 'fore new content.
29. Large, high level dungeons with a team mechanic planned.
30. Indicating banned friends and friends with chats open to you is planned.
31. Major rewrite of the hiscores.
32. No mounts in the foreseeable future.
33. New woods are planned. Not redwood and cherry.
34. No current focus on a Bandos Helmet.
35. Dragon Warhammer will be released at some point later on.
36. Updating more useless skills like Mining and Smithing.
36. No plans to add a full refund for minigame rewards.
37. Prifddinas is massively huge. Expect with a Grandmaster quest.
38. No re-releasing holiday items.
39. There will be an option to have member's items seperate from Free-play items. Possibly a seperate storage box.
40. Maximum experience and level cap unlikely to rise. Too many gaps already.


So, I'mma try and set up a timeline.

1. Within the next three weeks: a small Slayer update, useful, apparently. 14-31 September. The new tab is to be revealed by September.

2. That kudos island isn't gonna be around for a while, probably next year.

3. Elemental Workshop quest, sometime next year.

4. A new quest, available to free players and members alike, by 2010. The word 'hopefully' was used, so I'd peg the time of release at around this time next year.

5. Possible plans to improve drops for older bosses.

6. Bloom and particle effects for magic spells in prototybe phase. I figure about November before they're released.

7. Updates are planned for Mining and Smithing with possibility of dragon armour smithing. Methinks we'll have it in late 2010.

8. The end-game, team based dungeons with really big hitpoint counts and rewards, alongside level 80+ armour and weapons could be released at the same time. A Dragon Crossbow is in the works. All of this may appear in a God Wars Dungeon scale update after the triangle rebalance.

9. New newbie tutorial quest launching very soon. I'd shoot for an October-November release date.

10. Perhaps new holiday event, small ones for the regions of the planet. Expect around the holidays. Duh.

There. The really big Diary in 40 simple facts and 10 speculated release dates.


I got 95 Attack and 89 Hitpoints. Within 48 hours. I'm a Soul Wars product now. So shameful.

I love the new Hand Cannon, it appears perfectly balanced and all. Slow, hard hitting and accurate with a chance of epic failure. I don't care about historical accuracy. Runescape happens in its own time period, the first real life hand cannons appeared around 1200 AD. That is, at the same time the knights were around. Swordsmen, pikemen and hand gunners fought alongside.

The balancing and all makes sense. A valuable player killing weapon.

Regards, Boombaye1

Of Armoured Superiority

Soul Wars is spearheading my way to 70 Summoning. I want those birds. Also, viva la Bork. 41 Gold Charms per 4 zeal at my level is pretty damned good.

Visited a friend's 99 Ranged and Fletching party.

Ran into a level 24 at Soul Wars who just got 95 Hitpoints.

Also dropped off the fully grown squirrel in the menagerie. I wish you could build 2 menageries.

Got 69 Summoning.