Tuesday, October 13, 2009

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

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