Makoto_the_Phoenix

Actually, that's exactly how it's supposed to work. Think of the principle of the Combat Triangle like a game of Rock-Paper-Scissors. Paper isn't equal to Scissors, but it is to Paper. Same goes for Rock (Paper) and Scissors (Rock).

Ultimate proof that the triangle works, I believe. The warrior is complaining that he's weak to the mage, which is how it's intended to be. On F2P, your argument/rant holds no water whatsoever; snare only lasts five seconds, and then you can get close enough to rip their robes to confetti in a blink. On P2P, if you're out PKing, then you're most likely hybriding with Range to keep Ancient Magicks off of your back.

I'm starting to get tired of that logic. Let's take it a step further; if the game really was free to a certain extent, then the amount of experience you could gain on Freeplay would be capped. To your remark about "give freeplay X": So? Ignoring them is radically easier than supposedly "nipping it in the bud". Besides, the majority of posters/spammers on the RSOF are Members anyway. Who made you Jagex's financial officer? Who are you to say that they should not or can not give updates to Freeplay? Does your $5 make you that mighty? No, it doesn't. Especially when Jagex has actually came out and admitted that the game was intended to be free from the beginning, before the dot-com bubble burst. You and I are both members. We deserve priority updates. But does that mean we get to act like jerks when we hear the idea of certain member content going to freeplay? If you can't answer that one, seriously, try not to respond.

That's not the scope of this rant. I don't much care if Mining becomes profitable or not, all I want is for Mining to have its dignity again.

This is true in general, but the notion of power-mining levels breaks this philosophy. Consider that granite had no real use pre-Summoning, and many people that I knew got 85 or higher there. At the time, they gained nothing from mining granite, and even today, even with the granite familiar available, players don't use any of the granite dropped there. It would be relative entirely if players trained on Mithril or Adamant, and banked/smelted them, but that doesn't much apply with this skill. I don't intend for the experience to increase, no; I intend for the rewards to increase. Give me ten Mithril ores from the same rock at the experience of six of them; I'm pacified. Besides, I was prepared to trade the faster ores for less experience in the first place, since it would balance itself out in the end anyway. To the first point, yes I realize that this skill would lose some of its prestige, but in my eyes, Mining was intended to be a resource gathering skill, not some Holy Grail of skillers everywhere. If the skill is intended to gather resources, then it should do so a heck of a lot better than it has been lately. Next, I could see how it would have a massive effect on the game. Resources would become cheaper, meaning that Mining and Smithing become more feasible to train. I'm almost certain that, with the influx of Runite miners, that market would just about collapse, but I say that with a grain of salt; the only reason anyone mines Runite is because it's the only ore worth the trouble. Do feel free to spell this one out for me, if I missed something here.

That's not bad. Funnily enough, I had the same idea - except for Smithers instead - stackable coal to smelt with, woo! :D One hand would wash the other quite well in this scenario - better banking options for Mithril/Adamant, no need to have more than one ore per rock. It still gets under my skin a bit how this skill hasn't been updated since RS2, with the gathering and what-not.

Actually no. JaGeX wants money, they didn't make F2P so you could spend all your time on a game while they gain nothing. I still pay for whatever updates comes in Runescapes way and you sure as hell doesn't, so drop it. So you honestly believe they'll earn less money if they give F2P Skillcapes? It doesn't work like that. Besides, everyone who pays $5 is not entitled to tell Jagex how they spend that money.

The only problem is that skill-based money sinks tend to have the opposite effect, and drain money from players that really don't have a lot to speak of. Case in point - Construction. It took about two years for me to get everything back from that black hole. On to the subject, I was both glad and worried that PKers would be getting statuettes instead of Slayer drops. The system is inherently designed to give a PKer guaranteed profit, which just seems...wrong...I mean, nothing else in this game can give you 100K every time you get or make a certain item. They have to go. It doesn't seem like it's going to bode well for the rest of the game.

Fair point, but I personally don't want to get Carpal Tunnel just so I could have respect in RS. I don't know how multiple ore per rock would go with high level miners, but I believe it would be alright, considering that their levels have a use beyond just mining Runite. First, I realize that more resource = lesser price. I'm not naive. But, let's stop and think for a second - did I for one second consider moving Runite any closer than where it was now? Since that's the ore that everyone is concerned with, anyway. The answer: NO, and you would have gotten that had you actually read the rant. Second, I'm absolutely fed up with the "don't like it, don't train it" argument. What the hell does that contribute to this? I might not like the skill, but does that means I don't have to train it? I'll tell you this; I like Mining enough to suggest that it get improved, and give Smithers back their purpose. If you don't like that, don't read this rant any further. Seriously now, give me a better argument than "don't like, don't train". That's equivalent to tl;dr.

I mostly do personalizing, some clean-up, and the running of a handful of scripts (install my Java for me, my flash, blacklist a handful of annoying modules, and so forth). Not much else I do, really - I don't put the machine through its paces (read: I don't bring my machine TO ITS KNEES) until I've finished tinkering with it to my satisfaction.

C, C++, Python, PHP, Ruby, and pretty much any other language which uses reserved words to denote a function is case-sensitive. It's not a pain, really - just get used to the syntax. I see that you want to program games, but let me let you know something - you're literally going from walking in a meadow to drowning with sharks. Start easy and basic with a programming language that's well-suited to game development, perhaps some Flash (*shudder*), or preferably some Java. Python's up and coming in game development too, but the resources to actually learn that are scattered about the four winds. For a beginner like yourself, Python and Java = pure win. Then move on to C++ when you're ready.

I just don't think that there would be a point to a Dragon pickaxe right now. It wouldn't change the skill much. It'd probably be nice to have, but I still just don't see the point to it.

Yes, I'm already aware that a topic like this already existed, but that was last year. I'm fed up with this skill now, and I don't wanna bump an old topic. Anyway, I've wanted to get this off my chest for a really long time. Mining sucks, plain and simple, and I'm going to tell you three reasons why. The first should be self-explanatory one rock, one ore. This is how all resource gathering skills used to be, actually with Woodcutting, you only got one log per tree, and you only got one lobster/shark/tuna/what-have-you with Fishing, too. That was fine and dandy, but let's fast forward to, say, RS2? Now both Woodcutting and Fishing allow multiple resources per spot, and Mining still has the one rock, one ore policy! What gives?! I view this as absolutely horrible because of the purpose of resource-gathering skills. With Fishing, you sure are going to use most every fish you catch; the option exists for you to power-train, but Monkfish are both good training and good food, so you bank them. Same with Woodcutting the option exists to power-train, but more times than not, if you're cutting Yew/Magic, you're cutting them to use the logs (sales, Fletching, Firemaking, and so forth). If you're mining Iron, I would fathom that the phrase 'banking' hasn't even crossed your mind, and rightfully so. Second, and this somewhat ties into the first the scarce amount of higher leveled ores on the map in convenient locations. I'm not talking about Runite the game would be A-OK with about twelve spots of that stuff but I'm talking about ores that would be useful to mine and smith, namely Mithril and Adamantite. Only problem? There are about 53 Adamantite ore rocks and about 78 Mithril ore rocks in the entire game (and the bulk of them are in places that make it thoroughly impractical to mine, such as the Haunted Mine). Again, what gives?! This is just pathetic because of the demand of higher level ores in many Smithers' regiment. I'm level 92 Smithing; if I had the option, I would happily mine all the ore and coal myself to get 99 (sans Clay hammers), but I can't. The locations of the ore themselves make it just pointless to try to get it by yourself, or to make profit doing any Mining below 85, without resorting to Coal. Let's take, for instance, the Haunted Mine. This place in game has the largest repository of Mithril and Adamant in the game. Why don't we mine there? First, we have to have the special Mushroom light to actually see things down there, which is a pain in and of itself to acquire. Next, when we're actually done, we have to bank somewhere the closest such bank being Burgh de Rott, unless you feel like paying 100gp for every time you use the bank near Tarn's Lair. That's painful. It shouldn't have to be that way. Third, and this is probably enough to make my Agent Orange act up power-mining! This is when a player simply mines ores for the experience, and not to benefit anything else albeit, they were forced into this corner by the Mining skill designer. I view power-mining as destroying the entire point of this skill, although I can't say I respect anyone with decent Mining any less; again, they were forced into it. I don't like the idea of making players who are serious about Mining have to sit at some god-forsaken mine for three months (*cough*GRANITE*cough*), leveling a skill to only be able to mine Runite ore, and never, ever gathering any higher level ores for the higher level Smith to use. What gives?! I'll tell you again, it really wasn't the players' choice to power-mine, since the idea of mining to bank is both impractical and thoroughly tedious. I don't think that this should be. I really, really resent the idea of making me mine nothing but Granite (or any other ore in large abundance, perhaps Gold) just to get my level up. I want to be able to mine Adamant and Mithril with purpose, not to get some fancy-schmancy cape that serves NO function to Miners other than saying, 'Hey, I got 99 Mining! Woo!' Before I wrap up, I'm going to denounce the idea of making more higher leveled ores in the game. We'll still have the same situation we've got one ore per rock, probably buried somewhere super deep in Meiyerditch, and the only way to actually be able to mine it would be to have 94 mining and a Dragon pickaxe. Epic fail, man, just epic fail. For God's sake, we don't need higher leveled ores or a Dragon pickaxe until we fix the problem we have already, okay? *deep breath* Okay, now that's off my chest, I'm not one to mindlessly rant without presenting a solution. To that end, I present the solution to Mining in two phases. The first would be a simple fix increase the number of ores we can get from rocks. What's wrong with this? Nothing. It'd make Mining finally behave just like Woodcutting and Fishing. For those of you that think it would 'nerf' the skill you're going to have to explain this to me, since I already view Mining as nerfed in its current state. The second would be to add more Mithril and Adamantite to various, convenient mines already in the game (yeah, I'm lookin' at YOU, Mining Guild). It's pathetic that we have such few higher leveled resources like those, whereas Woodcutters have Yews in rather convenient places (Rimmington + Rocking Out), and Mages that are decently situated to the Legends' Guild. What's wrong with this? Again, nothing. It wouldn't cause an imbalance to the skill overall. Sure, the prices for ores would drop a little bit, but that's a good thing. Less expensive ore means more players buying the ore, and more players buying the ore means prices rise naturally again. Consider that once we give miners the incentive to mine higher leveled ores, the third problem doesn't become the only way to level Mining. It falls back to the traditional option exists phase, which is better than only option if you want to actually level this skill in your lifetime. Please, share your comments on this; I want to know what others think about this skill.

There is a lot here that I both agree and disagree with. Yes, merchant clans and price manipulation is a big problem, but how we go about fixing it is going to bring more backlash than fifteen "bring back wildy" riots. First, and most fundamentally, I absolutely reject the idea of reducing the number of worlds the GE is prevalent on. This would create a burden for players that actually want to do legitimate trading, rather than hamper those that want to manipulate - they'd just use the same old tactics for getting into World 2 and continue their deeds there. I've always viewed the GE as nothing further than an unlimited version of your favorite trading world. We all know what the old World 2 was like - each section of Falador (first Varrock, THEN Falador) had its own micro-economy - you'd find partyhats and rares in one spot, Barrows equipment in another, and potions off to the side of the bank. Naturally, when you're dealing with the entire population of RS at one time, the economy goes a little wacky. In a nutshell (or two), the influence of the GE is just fine, provided we have the ability to measure and control the amount of damage that could be done with such a wide influence. It was pointed out earlier that the GE's influence being cut down somewhat would not stop individuals who didn't use the GE from cornering the market - names that were famous enough were brought up, and I believe that if they all got together, they could have done major damage. I personally don't like the idea of wire-transfers. Remember the bank-to-bank trading schema we were going to get with RS2? It was scrapped in favor of notes for every item (instead of certs for a handful of items). What you're proposing here is a system akin to the GE, in terms of its current ability to connect to any one person (albeit anonymously) to conduct a trade, and what I fear the most is that it can make insider trading ten times easier, since instead of dealing with 500,000 players selling Yew seeds, they can just trade and raise the price between themselves. I did discuss this issue a month or so back in Mod MMG's chat, and the only real fact is the major effect this will have. It's going to be a positive one in spirit, but since merchant clans can be (and are) deeply entrenched in our economy, it'd be like ripping out the foundation of your house just getting to an annoying bush. Overall it's a good effort, but I want to suggest some things to curb the effect of merchant clans. 1) Eliminate junk goods. We know what they are. I feel that the GE should optionally allow us to sell this to a general store (at a reduced return), to give us something back for the junk we've accrued. I'm thinking something along the lines of a 70% return, really - it makes no sense to profit on unstrung maple longs, but it makes no sense to keep them, either. 2) Add another check and balance to the system as it stands - checking to see if items are being bought and sold for a specific price by the same people. This is how the prices are getting so high, and this is how insider trading is occurring. I don't really care what happens if the system finds the flag - perhaps the GE could give you cash (median + 3% of what you were asking for this time), and not affect the rising trend of the item, while putting the item at a lower, more respectable price to facilitate trading. Of course, logically, you couldn't buy that item again until the GE updated. That's what I've got right now. As I said before, the influence of the GE is, in my eyes, no different than a World 2 with the login caps removed. Now begins the process of fine tuning and tweaking it in favor of the masses, instead of the merchants. [Aside]

This trend of higher level updates is sure to be promising. This gives the higher levels something faster to work with (face it, Agility was as fast as old Combat training, which wasn't fast), and gives the lower levels something to strive for. I know this much - my Agility goal before the end of the summer just got a bump in priority.

Really, it works like this. You get your Slayer up, and Slayer makes you money throughout your Slayer career. It's not going to be obvious, and it's not going to be quick, but the cash is definitely there.

Uh... Clay hammers + brawlers + Mage Arena Anvil + Adamant bars = 500 xp per bar. That eclipses ANYTHING that Smithing would do. It's still not easy since you have to stockpile a fair amount of Adamant/Clay hammers to make effective use of it, and Addy ain't cheap. If you think about it, the only skills that are really 'prestigious' are the ones that can't be bought. Everything else has always been more of 'who has more money to get a 99 in a week'. Personally I don't know where I'd stand if brawlers were made tradable. It'd help the skillers that don't PK much, and the PKers that don't skill much - but there would definitely be a lot more people with 'hard' 99s.

what else has come out! seriously look at what they managed last year. tell me they can't handle a decent update a month! Alright. Here's what I'll tell you. It's been a month since this Slayer NPC was conceptualized. One month. To the day. Projects do NOT get done in ONE month. They take many, many months of programming. Things can go perfectly, and get released early; things can go horribly wrong, and be delayed. There might be a change in plans, as well, from the big wigs - they might want the dev team to take their time and do things right with their updates, rather than rush out dozens of updates every other week, and have them fall dramatically short of the player's expectations. Just because Mobilising Armies or this new Slayer monster aren't out yet is no reason to go around criticizing Jagex's time management skills. For all you know, those updates were brewing since 08. So chill out, have an ice cream, and quit acting like a spoiled brat. It'll be launched when it's ready, and not a moment sooner.

what you should really be saying to Jagex. 'working hard, or hardly working?' And you know exactly what they're doing with their time? A scientist goes to work. He accidentally messes up a step. He has to publish his paper a month late. Did he just spend a month doing nothing or did he spend a month fixing his mistakes? Brilliantly said :thumbup: :thumbup: :thumbup: was that scientist showing pics of his discovery and saying that there were only a few calculations left. then put it of for a month. then another month promising it all the while, then 3 more months without discussing it at all even though it was due out 5 moths ago? if he did he isn't very good scientist. Welcome to the world of programming and software development. [cabbage] happens, delays are inevitable, and projects may be scrapped. Calling them lazy/incompetent/useless/slackers is not going to get the job done faster; it'll be ready when it's ready. In the mean time, should all other projects be put on the back burner because of a few critical system bugs?

Pics or it didn't happen. Especially considering that you have to fight something...

Thanks for all the comments so far! First - yes, all of those signatures under the hide tag are .JPG, but I did so to save your bandwidth. If I had left them in their PNG-24 form, then they'd probably take up 5-6MB. Second, I am well aware that saving files in .JPG wrecks quality, but I'm at an impasse with that - I don't know how to save signatures as PNG-8 format (I think that's 256 colors + transparency), and I don't know what size it will be until I look at it in my file system. I was able to always make signatures < 40KB; trying to keep it that way. Second, I respect that it's plain. I have a handful of renders I'd like to get to use, but I haven't had the time to do it, with me setting the GIMP up the way I like it and everything. Hopefully, either later tonight or tomorrow I'll be able to post said signature + render. Third, I'm well aware that the mosaic/scanlines are overused. I only tinkered with mosaic effects last year, and I liked what I saw, but I usually added my own flare to it (subtle flare). @gbpackers31: I don't like using text in my sigs that often, I think I only did it on my last four. I only added what would follow the theme of the signature (Bleach; "Nothing Can Be Explained", The Verve; "Bittersweet Symphony", and two things that I thought suited the character's attitude). You're absolutely right in the respect that the text in the corners do detract from the central focus, but the center was kinda crowded anyway... :? No worries. I'll be improving that as I go along, hopefully. @Laxaria: Thanks for the tips, I'll be looking at DA and GIMPTalk a little more closely. @Skully_Sc: I did that effect for your sig, remember? :D Anyway, I can't really recall it now, but it involved pixelating a larger form of the render, sharpening it, and blending it in with the signature to give it a decent look.

Truth be told, I thought that we could safely assume the existence of multiple planes after we learned: - Goraks were from another plane - Practically all other races were from another plane - The Gods were from another plane ...Need I go on? Anyway, I saw that contraption down there, and I assumed that it was used to create all the dust, smoke, and the Abberants. Of course, that does nothing to explain how they got to the Slayer Tower...but I didn't think much more of it outside of some monster creator. And yes, Sumona/Devourer is involved. I can't explain why, but I believe so.

In short, yes. Applications are happy so long as they know where the file is that they're opening.

Okay, so I'm well aware that posting your first work is typically the fastest way to look like you have zero talent, but I've been tinkering for a while. My background story: Moving to an all-Linux platform means that I have to find programs that can fully replace what I'm accustomed to using in Windows on a daily basis, and as a teenager, using Photoshop 7/CS was a constant. I'm an okay PS signature maker in that regard, and I've made a handful of signatures dating back from '05 to this past February. Keep this in mind: I have made signatures before. But, I'm trying something totally different and new with The GIMP, the closest thing to PS you'll ever find in Linux-land. For what it's worth, it's a powerful tool, and some users here are probably very handily acquainted with it. [hide=Large Image, could be called a "portfolio" of sorts][/hide] So, if you've seen those images under that hide tag, it won't take long to realize I'm trying to get to that caliber of signatures in the GIMP, and I present to you all my first such work. Admittedly it's rough around the edges, but I appreciate all C/C. You learn just as much from people that hate your work as you do from people that love it.

First, I'm stunned that so many Slayers have them blocked. With the appropriate armor and weapon, you can plow through 120 of them on a single load of monks. But I digress. I'm glad they moved Hellpups over to freeplay. It finally gives them something better to train on. It also slightly uncrowds the typical member spots (although training with them over there is begging for a Revenant to pay you a visit).