Rien

I've actually been working towards the Hobgoblin Scroll in my spare time, so if I get it I'll be sure to post the pictures (of course, I can't guarantee that I'll receive it anytime soon). As for the banner, how does a conglomerate of the congratulation scrolls and such strike you? Examples of possible images for use: Again, I'm sorry for the poor quality of my pictures; many of them were taken pre-HD and without too much thought, so they can't be of much use. But anyway, there's my idea for a banner. Good luck on your guide. :)

Name on Pic: Blingkachi50 http://img19.imageshack.us/img19/9290/b ... i50pic.png

You may use these pictures if you'd like: [hide=Imp Champion] http://img16.imageshack.us/img16/1835/c ... ollimp.png[/hide] [hide=Jogre Champion] http://img14.imageshack.us/img14/8044/c ... ljogre.png[/hide] [hide=Earth Warrior Champion] http://img23.imageshack.us/img23/593/ch ... thwarr.png[/hide] [hide=Lesser Demon Champion] http://img18.imageshack.us/img18/3983/c ... serdem.png[/hide] [hide=Zombie Champion] http://img23.imageshack.us/img23/3482/c ... zombie.png[/hide] Sorry for the poor quality, but 'feel free to them.

Name to use on picture: Lizzy_Wizzy http://img4.imageshack.us/img4/6458/lizzywizzypic.png Cheers. :)

Name to use on picture: Frank Ragnar http://img13.imageshack.us/img13/6465/f ... narpic.png Name to use on picture: Opeious http://img18.imageshack.us/img18/303/opeiouspic.png That's it for now; I'm off to bed.

Name to use on picture: Eragon 173 http://img14.imageshack.us/img14/8827/eragon173pic.png Name to use on picture: J35u5_M4 http://img12.imageshack.us/img12/3037/j35u5m4pic.png 'Happy to help.

Name to use on picture: Danqazmlp http://img10.imageshack.us/img10/2480/danqazmlppic.png Cheers. :

He's making them transparent.

Forum Name: Rien_Adelric RuneScape Name: Blackknife57 Name to use on picture: Rien_Adelric URL: http://img10.imageshack.us/img10/1363/farmingoutfit.png

I couldn't agree more. :( Not only does this cheapen 99 Farming, but I'll have to put my Farming guide I've had in the works through some serious revision. The update may make my life easier, but I still hate that this update was made expressly to make an already brilliant skill a bit easier.

A poor imitation at best. I recall that later on in the thread, he gave a perfectly logical reason as to why pondering infinity is a waste of time--it being a matter of scale. Conversely, you've criticised this thread and left it at that.

The spacing adds to the story, as Das pointed out. Additionally, the minute or so you took to read the post can hardly be considered a significant "waste" of your time. You probably spent more time writing your argumentative and negative post than reading the story, so who's "wasting" your time now? I certainly took something from the story. 'Thanks for posting it, Reb.

No, unfortunately, it's a one-time reward after the quest.

Unfortunately, I can't tell what your budget looks like, as "inexpensive" is fairly ambiguous. So, if you can give me an estimate of how much you'd be willing to spend on this, I should be able to provide a more fitting answer. In the meantime, I'll tell you about the relatively cheap and incredibly fast method I used to reach 99 Magic. The spell I used is called "String Jewellery." It is a Lunar spell, so you might have to do a bit of questing to unlock it if you haven't done so already. "String Jewellery" requires level 80 Magic, two Astral Runes, ten Earth Runes, five Water Runes, and some form of unstrung Amulet. Every cast provides 83 Magic experience and strings one previously unstrung Amulet. "String Jewellery" is arguably the most efficient form of Magic training (i.e. while it may not be quite as fast as bursting/barraging rock lobsters, it is considerably cheaper). Experience rates for "String Jewellery" can easily exceed 100,000 experience/hour and has the additional benefit of being almost entirely "AFK." If you're interested in using this spell for training purposes, I'd suggest buying a Mystic Mud Staff (~50k gp) to eliminate the need for Earth and Water Runes. You'll also have to have access to either the Rogue released following the Summer's End Quest or another *friendly* player who will be willing to act as an intermediate between yourself and the Rogue. The process in itself is simple enough ~ (1) Place an offer on the GX for as many *unstrung* Gold Amulets as you wish to use (I suggest the medium price). (2) Place an offer on the GX for twice as many Astral Runes as Gold Amulets that you'll use (I suggest the medium or high price). (3) Once the offers are filled, go to a Bank, withdraw the Astral Runes and Gold Amulets, and cast the spell (I suggest the PC Bank for its lack of random events). (4) After every Amulet has been strung, sell them to either the Rogue or the friendly player to recoup the cost of the original, unstrung Amulets. As matters of note, (a) both the strung and unstrung Gold Amulets are stable at the medium price of 210 gp each, (B) the Rogue buys gold jewellery at their medium GX prices (so, as long as you buy the unstrung Gold Amulets at the medium price, you won't lose any money on them), and © much like filling vials at a water pump--where one click will start the process of filling every vial--one cast of "String Jewellery" will start the process of stringing every Amulet, although its important to remember that the Runes for each cast will be consumed as the process proceeds. In your case, training from level 80 to 85 Magic (a total of 1,272,526 experience) will require 15,332 casts of "String Jewellery" for a maximum net loss of 4,568,936 gp. 'Quite cheap for progressing from 80 to 85 Magic in a matter of ~10-12 hours. If you wish to cut back on costs, try to purchase Astral Runes for as little as possible (they are currently 135-149 gp each and have been falling gradually--the 4.6 million gp figure assumes that you'll be buying Astral Runes at the maximum price). If you have any questions about this method, don't hesitate to PM me--this suggestion was all but thrown together, so I'm sure I've left something out or made some other mistake. 'Good luck with your Magic training.

It's odd how many people have mentioned blocking Scabarite Tasks. They're an excellent prospect for cannoning, and, as long as one owns a Pharaoh's Sceptre, 'never too difficult to reach. As for myself, I believe I've blocked Steel Dragons, Skeletal Wyverns, Warped Terrorbirds, and Hellhounds. Steel Dragons and Skeletal Wyverns are poor tasks for experience, Warped Terrorbirds are bothersome to kill, and Hellhounds, of course, only drop ashes, clue scrolls, and the odd summoning charm. Clue Scrolls, needless to say, are more often disappointing than naught, and so I've grown tired of pursuing them regularly.

The Ring of Duelling has only been mentioned once; I'm disappointed. :P I almost always have one equppied--what with it having eight charges, the closest teleport destination to a bank (Castle Wars Lobby) in the game, and two other teleport destinations beside, I wouldn't hesitate to nominate it as the most useful ring in RuneScape. The somewhat recent update improving its "rub/operate" speed contributes all the more to an already exceptional item.

I can see what you're saying, and you have a point--items such as the Third Age gear, while difficult to obtain and "rare" in their own sense, are not finite as are the tradeable holiday rewards. The problem then--a solution to which I cannot honestly think of--is that, without the Rares for use as a wealth medium, RuneScape's wealthy would not have any other adequate replacement to fall back on. What would happen once they try to liquidate their holdings, only to find that they can't so so effectively? As I've already outlined, I presumed that they would move on to the next few immediate items of high-value and rarity, but what you've pointed out essentially makes this a futile move, as it would only last for a few months before the desirability factor would produce enough hunters to drive up the supply. I could only think that the wealthy would then turn to market manipulation, and god knows that's rampant enough as it is. Either way, I think removing Rares would cause many more problems than it would solve. I only wish that the GX was more adaptive and that it hadn't been necessary to remove High-Stakes Dueling as a result of RWT. Inflation, stagnant Rares, and inflexible GX prices certainly are the severe problems, but I don't know that any "cure-all" exists or could be properly implemented if it did. The concept of Rares definitely makes for a more dynamic--and, to my way of thinking, more interesting--game, but ever since Staking was removed and the GX was implemented, they've become more problematic than helpful, as I'm sure you know. I realize that I'm not being very helpful myself--as I haven't, and probably can't, propose a likely solution--but I believe Jagex needs to at least work or draw plans for some alternative system. As evidenced by the creation of "junk," affulent players are not willing to take the fall in order for the GX prices to correct themselves, so that really only leaves Jagex to come up with something that'll work. The thought of market manipulation in addition to the Rares/Third Age rotting away in a few, select bank accounts sickens me, to be honest. The current system is not working, and simply removing the heart of the problem--Rares--won't solve anything. It's almost more of a problem with how the game is played itself; raw materials can be gathered indefinitely, finished products are often useless (e.g. bows, smithable armours, and the like), and too many methods of gp creation exist (High Alchemy, shops, etc...). But if anything is to be done, I believe the answer lies in a complete renovation of the market system.

I understand your frustration, as I recently quarried a bit of granite myself (although I only had to mine from level 75 to 80). With so few adequate mining spots and only so many worlds to "hop" to, it can be irritating to have a spot stolen, especially since many of the crashers seem to lack basic ettiquette and respect. There isn't much one can do in these sort of situations, but I tried to mine only at obscure hours when fewer people were on and I found that that helped somewhat. Of course, you could, if you're exceedingly patient, simply stay at the spot since you have a fairly high Mining level. The majority of crashers are impatient--hence their being crashers in the first place--and so it's possible to outlast them. Altogether, there isn't too much I can say other than to stick with it and avoid the mid-day rushes, but I'm sure you already realized that. So just know that you're not the only one out there frustrated with crashers, even if there isn't much that can be done about it. Cheers, ~Rien

I believe Jard_Y_Dooku means well, but several of his ideas have not been thought through entirely. Let me begin by stating that I do not believe that past holiday music, emote, and untradeable item rewards should have been--or should ever be--made available to those who may have missed them upon their initial release. As harsh as it may sound, not everyone is entitled to the same opportunities afforded long-term players. Why should everyone be able to receive these? I would agree with the above sentiment were the rewards to have been of any practical use, but this is clearly not the case. The players not fortunate enough to have been playing when the past holiday rewards were released are by no means disadvantaged by their misfortune. Long-term players do not benefit from having unlocked a few more music tracks and emotions than their younger-generation counterparts. And what of the item rewards? Let's accept it; the Scythe is no Abyssal Whip, and nor is any other reward extraordinary in any other way. It may not be Joe Newb's "fault" that he is younger than the typical 'Scaper and therefore has not been able to play as long, but this alone does not entitle him to the holiday rewards of years past. He is not being discriminated against and no one is laying any sort of blame on anyone else. These rewards have become prestigious as a result of their age and rarity--again, they are of no practical value to their owners. They have simply become a status symbol of the "Old-School." Really, the only reason why many players today wish to possess these rewards is because the rewards are associated with the long-term players and *mistakenly* their subsequent success. Ironically, if everyone were to receive these rewards today, they would essentially lose their inherent prestige and the items would be, for the most part, dumped on Diango to rot for eternity. As long as holiday rewards continue to offer no practical benefits, it cannot be asserted that younger players are being discriminated against or disadvantaged, as the rewards present no obstacle for them to overcome. I agree with several other posters in that the tradeable rares are not "broken" and therefore do not require "fixing." Granted, Jagex probably did not intend for the rare items to become as grossly expensive as they have, but I see nothing wrong with this. Not everything follows or has followed Jagex's intentions and plans, but this does not mean that the unexpected results are necessarily detrimental. Emergent gameplay has long been an important aspect in MMORPGs, and how the rare items have been adapted to players' needs is only one more example. Affluent players, in recent years, have needed some other form of medium other than the gold piece to transfer and hold their wealth, what with the item cap of 2.1B (or whatever it happens to be) limiting the amount of gold they may possess at any one time. Naturally, they required some form of item or items that were of high-value and possessed relative market stability to ensure the reliability of their investment. Obviously, this lead to the conclusion that items of increasingly greater rarity would make for successively more reliable mediums, as their high-value could be better assured and preserved. The tradeable holiday item rewards--being finite and already a number of years old--made for the perfect canidate. Should these wealth mediums ever be removed from the game, it can be stated with a great deal of assurance that other, similarly "rare" items--such as high-end Treasure Trail items and Monster Drops--would only be made to figuratively "pick up the slack." Imagine the effect on Third-Age items--already ridiculously difficult to obtain as it stands--should the Rares be removed. They would become practically impossible to find, while all other high-end armours, weapons, and items would increase significantly in price. So, rather ironically, removing the Rares would only serve to release the floodgate that's currently keeping many useful items (e.g. Godswords, Dragon Armour, Barrows Armour, etc...) affordable to the RuneScape public. This would only hurt the people meant to benefit from such a misguided "solution"--sure, lower level players might be able to wear party hats and the like after such an action, but being able to afford gear of actual use to them would become significantly more difficult thereafter. What Jard_Y_Dooku suggests should be done for the "greater good" of the game and its players could only prove to be catastrophic, ultimately. I don't mean this to be taken as offense, as I do respect him as a generally well-informed player and for his excellent guide work, but these suggestions are, as I believe, misguided.

Runecrafting--I used 'em on Summoning for the longest time, but now that I've reached 80 Summoning, I've decided to dedicate any free experience I may receive to one of my lower skills. The fact that I can't bring myself to craft by means of the abyss now that I've spoiled myself with RC Tablets may also have something to do with it. :3

Heh, I appear to be alone. :| I would definitely have the Grand Exchange removed--given that we wouldn't have to face the RWT implications. GaVaTi has it right; we're paying for our new-found trading independence, although few seem to be aware of it. The cost comes in the form of social deterioration. That's right, as I'm sure you've all heard before, we're moving toward taking the "MM" out of "MMORPG." Don't misunderstand me, I was never one for happily seeking out trade centers to stand for hours at a time buying this or selling that. It's just that, while the implementation of the Grand Exchange has made our collective lives easier, that may not be such a "good thing," after all. Whether we enjoyed it or not, trading was once one of most vital forms of inter-player communication--having all but removed this aspect of game-play, Runescape has since lost much of it's former appeal. The game has become more like a gauntlet-run with every "Home-Teleport," "Gravestone," and "Skill-X" update released--fervent and heedless races to the next benchmark, the next goal. My point in this rambling is that much of the content released in recent years has only served to drive us, the players, further apart or to otherwise remove a great deal of the challenge from achieving our goals. The Grand Exchange can be seen as the symbol for this movement, and, while I supported its implementation in light of the RWT concerns, I nevertheless regret its necessity.

The Lunar Spellbook is severely under-rated at higher Magic levels. Personally, it's been my primary spellbook since Dream Mentor--I've found it to be far more useful than either of the other two in everyday Magic applications. Here are a few benefits to using the Lunar Magicks: *Farming/Herblore Assistance ~ Fertile Soil, Cure Plant, Humidify *Crafting Assistance ("Battlestaving") ~ Superglass Make, NPC Contact *Construction Assistance ~ Plank Make *Slayer Assistance ~ NPC Contact *Runecrafting Assistance ~ Ourania Teleport *Magic Assistance (For Training Purposes) ~ String Jewellery *Combat Assstance (Supporting-Mage) ~ Tele-Group's, Cure Group/Other/Me, Stat Restore Potion/Boost Potion Share, Energy Transfer, Heal Group/Other, Vengeance Other/Vengeance In addition to all of this, the crown jewel of the Lunar Spellbook--Spellbook Swap--allows for a Lunar Mage to make use of the other Spellbooks at will. 'Throw in a few Lunar Tablets for good measure, and, making use of Spellbook Swap/Moonclan Teleport, the conveniences of the Standard Spellbook will easily be at hand. I've always wondered at the relatively low number of Lunar Mages. That anyone would still train Magic ineffectively through High Alching when String Jewelley is available, that virtually no one considers the Lunar Spellbook to have any offensive potential, and that so few seem to realize what the masses are missing out on--it almost makes me want to laugh. :lol:

Forum Name: Rien_Adelric Runescape Name: Rien_Adelric Picture: http://img184.imageshack.us/img184/739/ ... fitec1.png

The reason is that both alcohol and marijuana are in far greater abundance than hard drugs (the legality of alcohol, in addition to a few other factors, makes it "the foremost" of gateway drugs rather than marijuana). Also, if not alcohol and marijuana, what would you consider to be a "gateway" drug? You point out that the correlation between initial alcohol/marijuana use and future hard-drug abuse is simply that--a correlation. And, while under normal circumstances, a mere correlation may not imply causation, I believe that it does in this case. Before you jump on the "I believe" in the last statement, consider this metaphorical analogy: * Before non-swimmers jump off into the deep-end of a pool, they are far more likely to walk into the shallows and learn to swim. I don't know the intent of the coffee example you gave (it seemed like mockery to me), but surely you can follow the logical sequence of events? Warrior points out--correctly--that the coffee correlation is illogical and, hence, ridiculous. Few people will willingly sample hard drugs initially, and the actual exposure to hard drugs matters little, as it turns out. I would say that most people have at least heard of the dangerous effects of drugs, while many others may have witnessed the effects themselves--through a friend, acquaintance, or family member. There aren't all that many people who would be willing to jump off into the deep-end, (again) initially. Having never experienced the "rewards" associated with drug-use, the severity of the risks (which they are familiar with) will almost always out-weigh the "rewards." However, if they first experiment with one of the gateway drugs (either through peer pressure, hesitant curiosity, boredom, etc...), their chances of moving on to harder drugs increase exponentially--compared to non-users--, especially if addiction sets in and they feel the crave for additional, more potent highs. This is because the light drugs introduce the new-found users to the "rewards" side of the coin. I agree with this statement: Which is why I specifically wrote this (the key words being underlined): A majority of light drug users will be satisfied with what they have, but some will inevitably chase their first high with something a little more powerful. As addiction sets in, the consequences of their actions gradually take a backseat to the urgency of their cravings--inhibition is over-ridden by their driving need for an altered mental state; an occurence which non-users never experience and one less reason they have to try hard drugs to begin with. As I've mentioned before, the exposure to hard drugs isn't paramount. As you've said, an alcoholic has no access to harder drugs at the bar he or she frequents or the convenience store where they might pick up a few, nor do marijuana addicts necessarily know dealers of harder drugs or of alternative places to get them, but what is important is that after on-and-off users become addicts, they will usually stop at nothing to reach the next, more powerful high--despite their lack of access/knowledge, they will try to find a way. Once they're hooked, it only becomes a matter of time, for the most part.

It's not as ridiculous as you think--let me explain: * Marijuana is among the foremost of "gateway drugs" (second only to alcohol). Statistically, while the majority of marijuana-users will never make the leap to "harder" drugs, it has been shown that most "hard" addicts originally drank/used marijuana before moving on. This is where the "marijuana is a gateway drug" claim comes from. * Marijuana, as any user would know, stimulates the appetite--and this, inevitably, leads to at least a small amount of weight-gain in most users. THC, the addictive substance in marijuana, is stored in fat cells if in excess (only so much THC can enter the brain and bind to the appropriate receptors). These two facts, in conjuction, practically guarantees that every long-time user will have a sizeable amount of THC stored away. Once, and if, these particular people decide to quit, their appetites will return to normal in due course--causing them to lose weight and steadily burn off the THC-rich fat cells. This, in addition to the fact that marijuana withdrawal symptoms are naturally light to begin with (it's a "soft" drug, after all), often leads people to erroneously believe that marijuana is non-addictive. The truth is that it is both psychologically addictive (most substances--e.g. food--have the potencial to be) and physically addictive (although, even caffeine is more so than marijuana). I support legalizing marijuana (or, at the very least, decriminalizing it), but I just wanted to point this out. ------ Side-note: While several states have decriminalized marijuana, the federal government still considers the possession/distribution of marijuana to be a felony--superceding every existing state law. What's truly ridiculous is that this allows the local DA's in states such as California to "legally" raid perfectly legitimate, state-licensed marijuana shops. -.-