This is a small guide I have written to help any of you who are struggling with the question: When should I become a member? Well first off let me say one thing. You can become a member anytime you want, this is just a guide to the stats I think are either essential or useful to have when you first start out as a member. I will also give the reason(s) why I have listed each stat. I have written this guide in two parts, one for a regular player who levels up most or all of their skills and one for a player who concentrates only on their non-combat skills, commonly called a 'skiller'. I myself am one of the latter on this account. Here are some stats that I think a 'regular player' would find useful in P2P: -40/60 Attack (40 for weilding rune weapons or 60 for weilding dragon weapons -40-60 Strength (This will simply help you to hit a decent amount of damage with either rune or dragon weapons) -40 Defence (So you can wear Rune armour, you can level this up later) -50 Ranged (So you can use a Mage Shortbow and Blue Dragonhide armour) -43+ Prayer (So you can use all of the 'Protect From' prayers) -55 Magic (So you can do High Level Alchemy, a very useful spell, especially useful for getting money from Fletching) -Any Runecrafting (I don't feel that this is essential, but it is useful for making money at higher levels) -50+ Hitpoints (So that you can withstand a bit of damage) -10+ Crafting (So that you can make Bowstrings, used in Fletching) -41/60 Mining (41 for a Rune Pickaxe or 60 for to gain use of the Mining Guild, very good for obtaining Coal) -35+ Smithing (To make Steel Cannonballs, good for making some money and also Steel Arrowheads, used in Fletching) -40 Fishing (To fish Lobsters, easily obtained in Catherby) -40 Cooking (To cook these Lobsters if you wish) -30 Firemaking (To light at least Willow Logs if you need to) -41/61 Woodcutting (41 to use a Rune Axe, 61 if you can afford a Dragon Axe) -I recommend that if you are a 'regular player' that you do all of the F2P quests, especially Dragon Slayer, Cook's Assistant, Doric's Quest, The Knight's Sword, Rune Mysteries and Vampire Slayer. These all have fairly good rewards which correspond to their difficulty. Here are some stats I think that a 'skiller' like myself would find useful to have before starting P2P: -14 Runecrafting (Fire Runes are pretty much the highest, easiest thing for a skiller to craft) -10+ crafting (To craft your own Bowstrings for Fletching, earns some Crafting xp) -41/60 Mining (Once again, 41 for a Rune Pickaxe or 60 for the Mining Guild) -35+ Smithing (To smith Steel Cannonballs and Steel Arrowheads) -30/40 Fishing (To catch Salmon for fast xp and low money or Lobsters for medium xp and medium money) -30/40 Cooking (To cook the Salmon/Lobsters you catch, unless you choose to sell them raw) -30+ Firemaking (Once again, to burn Willow Logs, these are probably the fastest way to get firemaking/woodcutting xp) -41/61 Woodcutting (41 to use a Rune Axe, 61 if you can afford a Dragon Axe) -Do as many non-combat F2P quests as you wish, these will help you to gain some more knowledge of Runescape These are just some stats that I think are helpful to have in P2P. You may want to do similar things to me or you may not. In the end I think that ultimately it is up to you when you choose to become a member. Take your time if you wish, complete all or most of the F2P quests, get to know the game fairly well and if you feel you are ready, take a step into P2P. It is worth it, believe me. There is so much more to do, more skills to train, more enemies to fight, more map areas to explore and of course more fun.
