ForsakenMage's Blog

So my last entry was over a year ago, with life taking a dramatic turn, leading me to work in the gaming industry. It has been a year full of blessings, and I have met so many awesome people along the way.

Of course, after joining the industry, I was finding myself semi-glued to my phone with e-mails and general social media catch up, not to mention news. At this point, most people in our family have smartphones, except my dad. Now that he's finally gotten around to handling e-mails, he figured he could get one too.

This, naturally, doesn't happen without some hilarity. So with this comeback blog entry comes "Oh Parents" Part XI! ^_^ Whole conversation is in Cantonese, translated into English. My parents were having this conversation while debating on whether or not to let Dad get a smartphone (Mom has one and is a total pro at it with little teaching from us kids).

Mom: You know if you pick out a phone yourself, something will go wrong and you start yelling at the phone, the kids are going to say it's your fault and that you were the one that picked out the phone yourself. Whereas if you let the kids pick the phone for you, if something goes wrong they'll fix it for you with no fuss.

Dad: What do you mean blame? If it breaks, I can get them to fix it no problem.

Mom: But that's exactly what I mean! If you pick it yourself, and the phone goes bad, they'll say it's your fault for picking out a bad phone! But if they pick it for you they will try to fix it with no problem.

Dad: It's not my fault if the phone goes stupid!

Mom: That's the point. The kids want to make sure you get a phone that won't "go stupid." But if you do pick a bad phone, it's all your fault.

Dad: I don't get it.

:? We're holding off getting a smartphone for him.

It's been ages since I've shared with you the silliness my parents seem to throw at me.

So Dad and I were talking about work (I start a new job fairly soon) while fixing the stove (one of the dials for the burner was broken), and the subject of phones came up. Now, sad to say my dad pays my phone bill for me because we're under a family plan, but I'm definitely going to be doing my part (finally whoohoo) to pay for the bill soon because of this. Again, this was all in Chinese translated into English.

Dad: So it looks like you're going to have to get an iPhone* soon.

Me: Uh, I guess. I mean, technically I could just get the internet on my current phone**, although it's a piece of cr-

Dad: Get the iPhone.

Me: Oh, okay. o.o

* - By iPhone he really means any kind of smartphone.

** - I currently use a Samsung Flight. It works... But unfortunately, it's reception strength is pretty poor compared to my old phones. Not to mention I've noticed it's been locking up when it comes to processing certain applications, even stuff that's already pre-built in. Ugh.

I used to use Sony Ericsson phones, but lately the models that have been coming around aren't too great or a bit out of my budget. :P

Now of course he didn't mean get the phone right away, but it's something I'm going to have to consider...

Considering my bad experience with Samsung so far, should I even consider getting a Samsung Galaxy S III, or should I just consider looking at the iPhone 4s or HTC X One? Or is there another phone in the market now I should consider saving up for? :D

So as some of you already have seen from my status updates and occasionally in the official unofficial HYT chat hosted by Serpent Eye, or in the DGS clan chat, I've been playing the Flash Powder Factory (FPF) mini-game in hopes to gain enough Brianpoints to get 99 agility.

Now, this method is slow. By slow I mean for 10 Brianpoints, you get 950 XP, for 100 Brianpoints you get 9500 XP, for 1000 Brianpoints you get 95,000 XP, and for 10,000 Brianpoints you get 950,000 XP. For every hour you would play 4 full rounds, and about 60% of another round as the hour ends. Assuming you get the maximum Brianpoints (155) for each round (requiring a minimum of 1000 points in the FPF, you would get 61,750 per hour (this is assuming you get the minimum 1000 points in the FPF needed for Brianpoints for each round to get 155 Brianpoints).

Now I know a lot of you will tell me this: That is painfully slow. On average you're probably looking more realistically just the four full rounds, which would equal to only 58,900 per hour. But let me give the two reasons why I am doing this if you haven't heard already.

1. I'm tired of going around in laps for hours on end. It is monotonous. @.@
    
   
2. It gives me an excuse to determine the maximum number of Brianpoints that can be held at one time (I have been told it's 50,000 but I'd like to confirm it myself, and since I'm going to have to get over that anyway, it works).
   

I'm pretty sure there are more if I think of them, but those are the main reasons why I'm doing Flash Powder Factory. Plus it's fun to run around in full Factory Outfit that I thankfully got before they nerfed the point system. XD

I'm well over halfway my current goal now, although that number changes quite often. :P Just a wee bit short of 97 agility at the moment with the Brianpoints I have now (35,737). Time to get back to work in between getting 120 Dungeoneering! :D

So I spent the last 48 hours or so reading Legacy of Blood and am overall impressed. Admittedly I feel like there were some portions of the story that felt rushed and that Gar'rth's story seems thrown a tad messily together even though the title implied that this particular book would look into his history more. Still, T. S. Church did a great job keeping the thrill in the story, and tied up the one that was built up from Return to Canifis.

But in terms of how Tenebra, the Dark Price, was eliminated: it just doesn't seem like a fitting end for him. I wished Gar'rth had put in the final blow like Vanescula wanted, instead of Kara-meir finishing it off for him. But I suppose in some views, if Gar'rth were to eliminate the Dark Prince, it would be viewed as him following Vanescula in addition to aiding his friends and the kingdom of Misthalin.

The part that did bother me the most, however, was the romance between Theodore and Lady Anne. Somehow, it just never settled right with me at all. :( It just felt kind of dirty. Castimir and Arisha had their own romance, and I was okay with that, but with Theodore and Lady Anne, I got irritated. She presses herself onto Theodore so hard (no innuendo intended) that I wish I could just reach into the story world and go, "CONFOUND IT WOMAN! CAN'T YOU SEE HOW AWFUL YOU ARE?!" Between Castimir and Arisha, however, I feel like their romance developed in a more natural and sincere way. With Theodore and Lady Anne, it just feels like their love was more out of spite of Kara-meir, just because Theodore's feelings were hurt after hearing Kara-meir's lie about her intimate relationship with Gar'rth and Lady Anne viewing Kara-meir as someone below her.

And Sulla's death. Finally. That guy was getting on my nerves with his sleaziness. <_< All the better for a fallen villain who believed up until the end he had some sort of power to exert over others. But somehow, I feel like his ending should've been more.

But, it seems like there's still more afoot based on how the ended.

But to my surprise, Jagex has announced on Facebook that it's the final book in the trilogy. WHAT?! :blink: When was this a trilogy?!

But... there's still so many questions! D: WHYYYYYYYYYYYYY!

With all the excitement over the Combat Beta coming next week, it seems a little something that was highly promoted before got put back in the shadows. At least, from what I can tell so far.

Some of you already know that I've actually gone and purchased the first and second RuneScape novels by T.S. Church, more out of curiosity than interest. And if anyone's taken the time to speak to the various NPCs in game that were mentioned in the book, you'll hear a few tidbits about the squire-later-knighted Theodore Kassel and Kara-Meir, although some of the things they say seem to bode something not good...

The third novel to the series, Legacy of Blood, comes out on June 26th, the same day as the Combat Beta!!! (And yes, I did pre-order it on Amazon, and should be getting it on the day of release!) The majority of the rest of this post will be in hide tags so if you haven't read Betrayal at Falador and Return to Canifis, don't read the stuff in the hide tags!!!

[spoiler='Minor Spoilers]Betrayal at Falador starts us off on a dark stormy night in Falador, where Squire Theodore discovers Kara-Meir, who appeared very near the castle walls despite wards against teleporting to it thanks to the power of the Ring of Life. Granted, the Ring of Life doesn't do that in game (rather, it'd teleport us closer to the crossroads in Falador), but a bit of creative license is not harmful, and it gives some body to the story.

As we progress through the story, we meet Castimir--a young blue wizard in training from the Wizard's Tower south of Draynor, Ebenezer--an elder alchemist who some may call a heretic, Gar'rth--a young man Ebenezer had adopted and the nephew of Jerrod the werewolf, Arisha--the beautiful barbarian priestess, and Doric--yes, the very same Doric residing in the house just east of Taverley and north of Falador! Another character worth mentioning that you can speak to in-game for some possible hints from the novel is Sir Amik Varze. Together, these characters help to build the coming events of the Siege of Falador. You can see the damaged wall and ruins of the old ones along the north side of Falador.

If you're into RuneScape lore, this is definitely a nice way of reading into the lore of Falador. However, make sure to keep yourself a bit more flexible on certain things:

Adamant is considered to be quite powerful in game as seen in the characters' reactions to Kara-meir's sword, while runite extremely rare and is only mentioned being used to craft a very delicate piece of jewelry that Kara-meir repairs during her test to see if she would lead the dwarves to help save Falador. For those of us who haven't played Classic, adamant at one point was the strongest metal in RuneScape.

All in all, I enjoyed the character development, particularly Theodore's and Kara-meir's.

Return to Canifis lets us explore a bit more into Gar'rth's past, and some lore of Varrock and the dark lands of Morytania. We learn of the preparations made for the Dark Prince and his people to enter the kingdom of Misthalin, and the price that must be paid to learn of such dark secrets. We also get a view of Varrock's class-system, something not really seen in the game.

However, the character development made in Betrayal at Falador seems partly reversed in Return to Canifis, which irritated me in some respects, especially Kara-meir's. Still, it's not a terrible book, but I feel it didn't live up to it's prequel.

All in all, I hope Legacy of Blood turns out to be good. I expect we'll learn more about Gar'rth, and how the people in the kingdom of Misthalin prepare themselves for the undead armies to come...

As stated here, I finally got 99 slayer. This leaves just three more skills to get to 99 for a max cape.

These past few months have been rather incredible for me, getting so many 99s in such rapid succession. In some ways, I should have expected it to eventually happen, but at the same time I find it funny that I could have done the same thing many years ago if I wasn't so stubborn and got members back in the day.

I don't regret those years on F2P though. It's helped me avoid making one of those "We Pay, We Say" pointless arguments when people bring up game changing discussions, and honestly it's probably made me more tolerable of some skills (although Agility is quite... blargh).

So all I have left now is to get Runecrafting from 95 to 99 (which I'm doing now), Hunter from 88 to 99, and Agility from 91 to 99. No set date on when I will max, because I'd like to get 120 Dungeoneering before 99 Agility so that I can have true max of 2496. So that's about 500 dungeons, give or take a couple dozen, assuming mostly surviving heh. We'll see how things go I suppose.

Thanks to all my friends for their support over the years, and I'm not just talking about in-game too. Many of the people I met from the Tip.it community I can honestly call good friends because they've looked out for me as I would look out for them, just like my friends in real life. You guys are honestly just some of the best people in the community. <3:

Let the journey continue.

So after many tree runs, fruit tree runs, spirit trees, calquats, and fellstalk herb runs along the way, I finally got what I thought was gonna be the most boring 99 for me ever. Turns out it wasn't as bad as I thought, and I'm glad to have finally gotten this.

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With the coming of Runespan, 99 Runecrafting doesn't seem so bad now.

I guess the first thing I should do before even thinking about another 99 at this point would be to get hunter to 90 first so I can finally wear that Milestone Cape for all 90s. =P After that, we'll see. I'm tempted to get 99 Slayer next though, seeing how close I am.

Thanks again everyone!

So I finally got my 20th Construction, making this my fifth 99 for the year (Summoning, Herblore, Crafting, Smithing being the previous ones). Still have five more skills to get to 99 for Max Cape, but in a way I may want to get 120 Dungeoneering before that so I can get the Completionist Cape and Max Cape at the same time. We'll see. =) Special thanks to all my friends for putting up with my whining and spamming of "11111111111111111111." :P

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4th 99 for the year. Thanks to all my friends for putting up with my whining. :D

Wow! #9 already! :o

Dad: So you're washing dishes right? <Everyone else is leaving to go out somewhere while I stay home>

Me: . . . No one else is gonna be home to do it, so who else will?

Dad: Don't give me that attitude!

Me: Stop asking stupid questions then. :(

Mom: Yea! Stop asking dumb questions!

Bless my mother. :grin:

Meant to post these up earlier. Oops! :D

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I really have no clue what to get next. I guess smithing since that's always bothered me in dungeoneering. XD

It's been a crazy two months ish, and of course there were many derps along the way. Unfortunately it was hard to remember them all. :P Doesn't mean I don't have anything to share though!

So I was taking a shower when I heard my dad calling for me outside at the door. I turned off the water, asking him what's up...

Dad: Hey, don't you need to go downtown later to pick up those lab results?

Me: Yea.

Dad: <Says something I can't hear>

Me: What? I can't hear you. I'll talk to you when I'm done showering.

Dad: What? I can't hear you. Talk to me when you're done showering.

:lol: One of us needs to clean our ears I think.

Just nine more to go: Runecrafting, Construction, Agility, Herblore, Crafting, Slayer, Hunter, Smithing, Farming. Why did I leave all the hard ones for last?!

Ah well. :P Many thanks to all my friends for their support. <3: Special thanks to Brandon/Naive/Sman for telling me to get off my lazy butt and get it already after finding out how many charms I had left over.... Which is now down to like 500 crimsons only rofl. :D Don't worry, slayer will replenish that quickly! :D

The possibility that I could max out this year is still there... I'm just being slow about it. :)

And now a bajillion images for your enjoyment!

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99 Summoning later. For now, have fun with the ton of pics. :P

Phone call from my mother on my mobile...

Mom: Hey your brother is home right?

Me: Yea... he just got home.

Mom: Okay, good. *Hangs up*

A few minutes later, my mobile rings again.

Mom: Hey, you said your brother is home right? I need to talk to him, give him the phone.

Me: Er... why didn't you just call his mobile?

Mom: Well you said he just got home... Oh nevermind. *Hangs up.*

:blink:

Let's give a hand to parents and the challenges they face raising us, with derps along the way.

A few nights ago, I was watching "Person of Interest" with my dad and one of the characters talked about burying an empty coffin... Again, the conversation is in Chinese, and my parents' English is rather limited.

Dad: So does "bury" mean something like barely?

Me: Uh, no! It means something entirely different!

Dad: So what does it mean?

Me: ... You mean you didn't get it when she said "coffin" in that whole sentence?

Dad: Nope.

Mom: Doesn't "bury" mean like those people who wear very little clothes?

Me: What? Oh my gosh, no! O_O

Dad: But I always hear Don saying something like "bury able" or something like that."

Me: No no, that's "barely," not "bury!" O_O'

Dad: Oh... I don't get it.

The most awkward part of all is the fact that they had just attended a funeral earlier that week.

Thank you Mom and Dad for making me rage and laugh all at the same time. :thumbup:

;) What? You think my parents can go through a week without this?

Dad: So how long is your training again?

Me: Two weeks on site, one week in field.

Dad: Okay.

Not even five minutes later...

Dad: So your training is two weeks long?

Me: No, three weeks total, one being in the field.

Dad: Okay.

A few minutes later...

Dad: So, you're going to be there for two weeks?

Me: :wall:

:-? If he's trying to start a conversation, this is sure a bad way to get one going lol.

:wall: I've had my schedule posted on the refrigerator door for some four months now, including the time and location I'll be at while bouncing between work and school, since my parents want to make sure they knew where I was in case something happens.

Except they don't seem to even bother with it.

At 8:00am this morning...

Dad: Why are you up so early?

Me: Because I have class.

Dad: You start at 11:00 though.

Me: Yea, and I have to leave in like an hour.

Dad: But that's early!

Me: Oh. My. God. Dad, did you even check the schedule I had posted ages ago?

Dad: Yea, it says 11:00.

Me: Did you check the location I wrote next to it like you asked me to months ago?

Dad: Uh...

Me: I have to go across town, which will take me at least an hour and a half, for class today.

Dad: Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhh.

Mfw. :wall:

And now, for some more fun from my life! :) This conversation was entirely in Chinese, mind you, so this is a translation of it.

Mom: So I saw the eye doctor today.

Me: Uh huh.

Mom: And he said this word that I know means "blurry" but I don't know how he was saying it.

Me: What do you mean?

Mom: It sounded like aurry or asurry.

Me: Um, you sure he didn't mean "blurry."

Mom: What's "abarry?"

Me: No mom, "blurry."

Mom: "Barry?"

Me: No. "Blurry."

Mom: "Alurry?"

Me: "Blur-ry."

Mom: "Blar-ry."

Bless her. XD

Since the last blog entry brought some smiles, here goes some more from my life lol.

After I finished washing the dishes from lunch, my dad, being slow as he is, finally comes over to the sink with his bowl and chopsticks.

Me: Dad, why is it that you always wait until I'm done with the dishes before bringing your own stuff over?

Dad: Just wait, when you get older your kids will say the same thing.

Me: Uh who said I'm gonna have kids?

Dad: (Literal translation here) I will spank the three of you if neither of you have kids!

Me: Why in the world do you want us to have kids anyway? Have you see how bad the economy looks? I'm not gonna raise a kid in this!

Dad: Oh, we just want grandchildren to play with and spoil, like the dog.

#-o

Last night at the dinner table while we were watching this speed dating show from China...

Mom: You're not bad looking. Why don't you get to know someone?

Me: :wall:

Hours before that, a beauty guide show was on...

Dad: You should watch that. You don't know how to dress yourself.

Me: Dad, you do realize those women on there are like 40+ right? The styles aren't the same.

Dad: No, there are some young people there.

Me: Dad, there are old people on the screen right now.

Dad: You still can't dress right.

Me: Right, and dressing right means being super conservative dress for you. You have absolutely no sense of the current trends or styles thank you! :wall:

Dad: No, I didn't say you have to dress like that.

Me: Right, like that one time I wore a v-neck top. That was totally not freaking out. :rolleyes: And that other time you yelled at mom when she was wearing a sweatshirt...

Dad: I did not...!

And before that:

Dad: You're getting fat.

Me: . . . I've been losing weight. And I don't eat as much as you think.

Dad: Look at your legs. They're so fat.

Me: Why are you even looking at my legs? <_<

Dad: You're going to be as fat as your sister if you don't work out more!

:wall: :wall: :wall:

Spent a good chunk of my day completing the Ritual of the Mahjarrat quest before finally doing this. #-o

Onward to 99 Dungeoneering... :ohnoes: And slayer in between. :P

Well, I don't think I'll get 99 mining on BXPW, but I should get pretty darn close to it! That'd make mining my fifth 99 for the year... If I don't get 99 Mining during BXPW I should have it sometime next week.

No, this does not mean I'm going for max cape. :| I don't think I have the patience, let alone the time and money, to do that, especially with Runecrafting. :unsure: Dungeoneering is still on my list of 99s to get this year though so maybe after 99 mining I'll start doing that. :pray:

In real life... Eh, the usual. Research papers. Work. Lectures. Good stuff. :thumbup:

I am finally living up to my name. :thumbsup: A very special thanks to Mr Cammybear for providing me the money and runes to get me to 99 Magic. And of course, thank you Tip.it, GamingHeavens, and Excl's CC community for the support! ^_^ Wubs you all!

I basically fire surged from level 96 magic to 99. From 85 to 96 I was passively training magic by using it for metal dragon tasks. :P

And now for lots of pictures... 26. Some are probably just repeats, but I was mashing the key like mad just in case I missed something. XD Some pictures may contain some minor swearing. :|

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http://imageshack.us...08/visageb.png/

I am so grinning like an idiot right now over my first visage drop. ^^;