Troacctid

-.- Seriously Jard, you gotta update that first post...I'm dyin' here, we been through all this stuff pages ago...

What can I say? Combat familiars are just that underrated. I can't speak for gargoyles since I don't have the level for them, but I've done fine on fire giants and dust devils without a healer and added probably...eh, maybe 10% faster xp, but I wouldn't quote me on that. The last time I actually measure my bonus xp from a familiar was with a spirit cobra, and it was adding nearly 7k attack xp per pouch. Just something to chew on. It obviously can't match piety + salve of the zombies, and you don't need to train slayer to use a combat familiar, so it's debatable whether it's important to this comparison. But you shouldn't underestimate an extra set of teeth and claws.

Oh, well that much is easy. Anything in a multicombat zone. Off the top of my head, black demons, dust devils, aberrant spectres, gargoyles, and fire giants are some examples where I would absolutely use a combat familiar. In my experience, combat familiars are more valuable than super sets for combat training. I might go so far as to hypothesize that task or no task, dust devils, with a good enough familiar, may be on par with armoured zombies for melee training, because of their much better charm rate. (Pretty sure we can all mostly agree on how much more valuable summoning xp is compared to melee xp.) Not that I've done any testing...I'm just looking at their high HP, low defense, multicombat location, great droplist, great crimson rate, and how close together the spawns are, and thinking, "Damn, do I wish they were undead." In fact, I'm confident that even if armoured zombies didn't beat slayer training, dust devils would. (And ironically, they'd also add an incentive to train slayer.)

If I understood you correctly, you're saying that it's better to have level 1 Slayer vs. 99 Slayer when fighting green dragons for money as the level 1 had far more time to collect money. I contend that Slayer experience is far more valuable as it is one of the two slowest skills to level. Money is easy to make, and the level 1 Slayer would only be able to train marginally faster than the 99 Slayer, as Slayer experience is very slow regardless of your equipment. But past the 70 or so, all the slayer experience is useless and adds no tangible benefits to the player. About 90% of the slayer experience gained over the course of 99 doesn't contribute anything new except for a few training methods that give slower money than ones you can use without slayer. (And the ability to attack the avatar a little sooner in Soul Wars, but that doesn't really count.) While I definitely would agree that it's worth training slayer to a point, to unlock (for example) broad bolts, dust devils, slayer rings, or the fally shield 3, just about every task will be trained better with melee, and there's no task you can range that will be any better than ranging a monster off-task. So regardless of whether slayer as a skill is useful or whether slayer experience is valuable, ranged slayer will still be a poor way to train.

That's a BIG "if." How many people honestly get maxed total levels? Very few. Yet slayer is frequently tossed around as the most effective way to train melee for anyone. Look at any random thread asking for help with combat training just from some random dude who is clearly not going for 2376 total, and slayer is probably suggested more than once as the best way to train.

If I only wanted to talk about numbers, I'd speak in binary. What kind of conversation is likely to develop from "Wc lv?" "68" "Nice, 54." "Nice." Because as far as I can tell, it stops right there. And Runescape doesn't exactly have much weather.

Don't forget to add the Enhanced Excalibur. I mean, if you have the ability to use it, you're probably better off at armoured zombies...but in my experiences it would be more than adequate healing for a player with stats and gear like mine.

Did you try talking to the guy guarding the gate? Can't you tell him you need to catch a Hemenster whitefish and he'll let you in?

That's a question you need to ask yourself. If you decide that you care about total levels; train slayer. But in a debate you must look at the factual evidence. Okay, let's do that: Two players have completely equal stats except for Slayer. Player A has 83 Slayer and is killing green dragons for cash. Player B has 1 Slayer and is killing green dragons for cash. I dunno man, it's a tough one. Hmm, I'm thinking they'll be making exactly the same profit. -.-

You'd be better off keeping your cash. Most expensive items have a tendency to gradually decrease in price, and since the advent of the GE rares have been feeling this as well. But, since the stuff you'd be buying with it is getting less expensive, your cash pile is essentially going to grow by staying the same--you'll be able to buy high-end items at lower prices in the future than you could buy them at now.

You might be surprised how many times I've been asked my woodcutting level. ...while wearing my woodcutting skillcape. #-o And who calls that a conversation starter? "Wc lv?" isn't exactly what I'd call intellectually stimulating.

You should try the Great Orb Project if you really hate the regular style of runecrafting. You get to play a minigame instead of running back and forth, and then you're rewarded with the ability to basically bypass the running entirely through tabs. That's your alternative method.

Well I guess it's because nothing is really "necessary" at the point you're at. You've got your essential items, you've got your 70 prayer and whatnot, you have a healthy supply of essential things like seeds and cannonballs... There's nothing wrong with not spending money if you can't decide how to spend it.

I disagree. I think that decision should be made by the author on an article-by-article basis.

It's like 5x the cost for a weaker familiar that doesn't last as long. Next thing you know you'll be saying a dragon mace is basically as good as a whip. :notalk:

Yea the bgs was really off the wall, have never really truly considered that. So what do you suggest doing with the 35 mil(Havent said this but I do have all the essentials in my bank the cash is not a total net), just sitting on it?.. Because that would be no fun >.> played this game that way to long lol. But all kidding aside what do you suggest? If it were me...well it is me, because I've been in the same situation before. 8-) As far as high-end weapons and armour go, I opted for Bandos and Armadyl gear as an early priority in lieu of Godswords or a DFS, because they offered more of an improvement over the black dragonhide and Barrows gear I was already using. (The Armadyl would go down in value if you had Void Range already, of course. And the Bandos Tassets are a lot worse than the Chestplate, so they should be further down on the list.) Also, they look really cool. I would also value a Saradomin Godsword before the Bandos one if I were you, as it's more useful for slayer...so it might be worth building that cash pile up higher as you get the opportunity. Still, you can do fine between food, Guthan's, bunyips, Enhanced Excalibur, and such. Another viable option would be to take that big pile of cash and do some investing with it. If you're shrewd you could make it grow very quickly. But don't look to me for investing advice...I've been burned before. (Raw monkfish don't seem to be going back to 400 each anytime soon. #-o ) If you have a good eye for that kind of thing, the amount of cash you earn with GE merching increases with the amount of cash you have to put into it. Or, obviously, you could spend it on ranged powertraining. But if you're getting 99 slayer, then as I said before it's sensible to save your chinchompas until after you've enjoyed that ranged xp from cannoning all those tasks. However, prayer and summoning training are very good investments to consider as well, and I'd recommend that anyone with a healthy sum of cash maintain a healthy pile of spirit shards to go with it. If you're getting 99 slayer you'll have a lot of charms, and it would be a good idea to make sure you have enough resources to use them up. And prayer is a great skill to have at a high level. In particular, now is a good time to train prayer, because in that last Q&A session the content team said they were working on an update to high-leveled prayers. If it turns out to be any good, there's a pretty big chance that dragon bone prices will see a long-term increase, so it'd be smart to have your prayer goal beforehand. (Of course, it's also possible they'll introduce new ways to train as well, in which case you may have backed the wrong horse, so to speak. Speculation of this sort should always be taken with a grain of salt.) As far as cannonballs, you shouldn't need to buy all of them in advance...you can restock as you need to, usually just off of your profits from your usual slaying drops, dailies, and maybe herb farming if you do that too. If you keep a few million for a buffer, you shouldn't have to worry about running out. That's my thoughts on being rich.

You don't really need a BGS or a DFS. You can do just fine without either one in virtually all situations. The only exceptions you might run into for the DFS are dragon tasks. That's about it. And you'd never need a BGS over a whip/defender or SS for slayer--it would only be an optimal choice in boss hunting, and in PvP situations where you expect the opponent to be healing. The enemy has to have a healthy chunk of HP before the lower defence becomes important. Obviously you can get them if you want them, just keep in mind that they are luxury items that, for the most part, are at best equivalent to their cheaper counterparts. You'd be getting them for the fun of playing around with them, not because they're more powerful than your standard gear. Of course, there's nothing wrong with that, so long as you don't have any illusions about it. ;)

See the trouble with this is, all those things are easier to attain in p2p. So once you've already decided you like the game enough to subscribe, why should you limit yourself to playing the smaller version for another 60+ hours just to save yourself a measly $6? I could make $6 in less than an hour of work at minimum wage. And if I was going to subscribe anyway, I might as well do it now instead of later...it isn't like I'll be missing out on member's content, because there's plenty of member's content available to low levels too.

No. It isn't. Not sure what you expected to hear. I mean you could have just looked it up in the Game Guide if you wanted to know. The rules aren't exactly a secret.

Strange plants can be found wandering around Brimhaven these days, willing to give up their fruit to passersby.

The Truthscape guide in question is very old. Prices have changed and new methods have surfaced since then. You'd be better off with a mix of chinchompas and aviansies if you're interested in fast ranged training on a budget.

I've criticized past articles for not taking a stand on an issue...this week I have to criticize the historical article for taking too strong a stand on an issue. Okay, that's actually not what I really mean. I actually really like that the essay has a clear argument...after all it's an editorial. (So I disagree with Paw_Claw's analysis of the article.) My main complaint with this article is that it suffered from trying to stay grounded in describing the history of the Underground Pass as it was advocating a change in quest design. The historical aspect suffered somewhat because of the persuasive aspect, while the persuasive impact suffered from the exclusion of other potential quests that could be cited as further examples of why the luck aspect is undesirable. (Olaf's Quest would be a great one to bring up--it was so bad that Jagex had to apologize for it and make the bridge easier to pass because it was so frustrating.) What I would have recommended for the article would be to sprinkle it with other examples of problem quests, and perhaps examples of good quest design for contrast as well. In this the article would have expanded more into the history of frustrating quests in general, rather than the Underground Pass specifically. If you preferred to stay on theme, then I would have focused on how Underground Pass has impacted modern quest design or something rather than advocating a change. That would also be a good viable route to take. (Good quest design makes me think of Fremennik Isles in particular, which was to me an essentially flawless quest. All the required items could be found in the area...instead of "Go halfway across the continent and get some rope, planks, nails, bow, arrow, tinderbox, hammer, chisel, food, blah blah whatever it is you need for that Underground Pass quest, and don't forget any of it or you'll need to teleport away, go back and get what you forgot, and walk all the way back." It was "Pick up some nails at the general store and carve some planks out of the arctic pines native to our great island of Neitiznot, and maybe wave hello to the neigbors on the way." Nothing was frustrating or luck-based, and the fights at the end were challenging, exciting, and felt like a triumph to complete. The dialogue was entertaining, and the rewards were great too. So yeah, that would have been a good contrast to Underground Pass.)

Clearly Jagex is trying to crack down on the buying and selling of "useless" items from shops to create junk, just as they cracked down on stuff like weapon poison. Raw bird meat was an unfortunate and innocent casualty of the change. Hopefully they will realize their mistake and change the price back on this particular item.

^That's the way to do it. Right now prayer potions are looking good, although switching to super restores at 63 would be a fine idea as well. You're going to lose some money, but if you want to break even, you can make up the gap by making some extra unfinished potions. They're very quick to produce and can potentially give very nice profits. Here's the calculator to help you with that: http://runescape.wikia.com/wiki/Calculators/Unfinished_potions#Clean_Herb_to_Unfinished_Potion_Calculator

Probably they haven't decided exactly when. I bet they haven't even developed the content it'll be associated with. It's just a really obvious item to add to the game, and the whole content team has reached a consensus that it's something they'll eventually do. Just like how they haven't finished writing the elf quest line, but they know they will eventually.