GreenStorm

One note: even grenwall hunting and nature crafting are falling behind. I've got a decent rc lvl, and making nats just isn't as profitable as it once was-- if one only gets one nat per ess, I think no net profit is made, accounting for the price of graahks and duelling rings. So, basically, even these best moneymakers are being screwed over.

After reading the ensuing posts in this thread, I can see how my post contributed to some (i.e. stonewall's) quite obvious bashing of the author. This was not my intent. I still disagree with him, yet, I see that calling him an inbred monkey was way over the line. Apologies. I did not mean to, in any way shape or form be as unpleasant and negative as some have been.

I find the first article a bit of a disgrace. It is nothing more than a collection of unsupported opinions and slander. Some of the author's notions are patently untrue. For instance, the idea that the only people to frequent Soul Wars are bots and pures is quite obviously a falsehood, as is evidenced by the existence of well-organized and maintained high level SW clans. Secondly, the section on Nomad's Requiem seems to be written by one extremely embittered, perhaps by personal failure at the quest. For me and for many other players, Nomad was frustrating, yes, but at the same time a unique and fun challenge of our RS skills. Just because you might have failed, storm, does not mean that everyone else has. When the author begins to discuss Conquest, we step once again into the territory of unsupported opinion. Many high leveled players, myself included, enjoy Conquest as a fun and alternative way to earn Pest Points. Also, it is a bit ridiculous to classify Pest Control as a outmoded and underused minigame. One has only to go to one of the Pest Control worlds, or interact with a clan like Heart Unit to find that Pest Control is as vibrantly active as ever. Lastly, I find it extremely interesting that the author has no tolerance for being "forced" to play one single game of Conquest and Soul Wars. It is quite a daunting experience to spend ten minutes familiarizing one's self with the mechanics of a minigame; far more difficult than spending hundreds of hours clicking the same rock [/sarcasm]. I could understand legitimate protests against a quest requiring the earning of hundreds of PC points, but this is an altogether different scenario. If you can't spend ten minutes playing one minigame to progress on a quest, I suggest your time would be better served by playing Pong, or perhaps by repeatedly hitting your head on a rock. It is also interesting to note that the author references, with tones of horror, a quest dealing with the Mage Training Arena. We already have it-- it's called Rune Mechanics. For future reference, Tip.It Times Editorial Panel, it would help to pick a writer who has a functional grasp of language, instead of whatever inbred monkey we have here. I also find an extremely unpleasant whining undertone to this article. I beg the Editorial Panel to not allow pieces of this quality to be published again, for the sake of humanity's collective rationality.

why would you make a second account just to do this How about Its not? It helps to be able to read before posting.

Except, like I said, she's writing as if she is representing the opinion of lots of different players. How can you know that she is NOT? For all you know, you and the people you talk to are the only ones who hold opinions contrary to Racheya's, while every single other player agrees with her. MIND[bleep] IRL.

Bleep = T(ip)I(t)T(imes) BTW.

Jesus Christ. Just a question for you all (besides Nighty <3)-- are we still discussing the articles or has this all turned out to be a good excuse to bash the [bleep] staff? Just asking.

Don't tell me I haven't read the three preceding pages of responses, I know that. "Yes, noob is hardly the most insulting term you could call someone, but its the idea behind it that matters, rather than the actual name-calling - the idea that being efficient makes you fundamentally better than other players. Yes, you may have more xp and higher levels than that player, but that doesnt make you better in any other way than stats." Unfortunately, (for me, at least) the term "noob" refers to one who is in some way less experienced at something than the speaker. In this case, one with lower stats is definitively a noob to one with higher stats. Yet, as pointed out in the article, this higher levelled person can be a noob at SC or Dungeoneering. So, I find the condemnation of the label of noob being applied to inefficient players not very stable or well-supported.

Rawr BACON

Your siggy picture lies, uve never had a santa. SMFD.

U R a noob stoopid r3tard y u make extreme attacks they suck rapier sucks u suck at bossing get real 1nternet u dumb noob. Naw, grats. *Ignores my contribution to rapier*

One particularly interesting re-occurring facet of this conversation is the price or cost effectiveness of spells. I must say that I disagree with the emphasis placed on cost by Requiem1160, the author of the first article for several reasons. In my opinion, the cost of a combat spell is almost irrelevant. This is due to the specialized nature of common usage of said combat spells. For the most part in practical applications, combat spells are used relatively few times-- in a typical game of Castle Wars, one might expect to cast anywhere from 100 to 500 casts of their chosen combat spell, while in a PvP situation far fewer casts are used. For the most part, usage of combat magic is limited to these situations (and maybe a few others)1 for several simple reasons. Primarily, combat spells are an inefficient way of gaining Magic xp, as the xp gained per cost per unit time is inferior to other methods, regardless of the cost of the combat spell itself. Secondarily, combat spells are (for the most part) inefficient at dealing damage,2 making other combat styles the way to go. So, therefore, as combat magic is rarely used in situations where massive quantities of spells are cast, cost is rendered almost totally irrelevant, and should therefore not play an important role in the author's "second-rate-or-not" value judgement. 1. I exclude other minigame activities where combat magic is used (such as Stealing Creation and Fist of Guthix) because the "cost" of spells becomes almost totally irrelevant in these situations. 2. One exception to this is the almost mandated practice of maging Dagannoth Rex, as he is almost invulnerable to the other combat styles. To an extent, Ice Strikewyrms can also be considered in this category. In these cases, cost does matter, as on a typical DK maging trip one can expect to use well over 1.5k casts of Claws of Guthix or Fire Surge.