Cerri

I'd definitely get into the Farming groove, there is still a decent profit to be made, there. Slaying purely for profit isn't as great as it used to be, though it is a good way to get clues, and you never know when you'll get a good one. Not to mention more herbs and seeds. Things like Cooking or Fletching, or even Crafting occasionally provide a tiny profit but you really need to keep watching the GE, and honestly, coming off of a Bonus Weekend, the market is going to be flooded.

What were you training with/where were you training? I went 89-96 in just over 5 hours (mostly with extremes and juju pots though) in lumbridge cellar. Wasn't actually expecting 96 though, just kinda stretched to it Well... I quit after being hacked on Feb 1, and came back around the beginning of July. My awesome guildmates donated to me some supplies so that I could get back into slaying. It was then that I learned bxpw was probably coming in September, so I started stockpiling herbs and pots. I sort of have this thing going... I have never purchased a single herb for herblore. I started saving seeds when I first started slaying at lvl 3 and so I've pretty much just gathered and farmed what I needed. I originally only expected to get 91 this weekend, so I stocked up on extreme sets. I did blow a few minutes (and subsequently had to train at he while waiting) to try and grab last minute grenwall spikes. At least I had the forethought to grind like 2k mud runes ahead of time. :P. Aside from all that, I had plenty of super pots I could make too and as the bonus wore down I made those, and kept converting into extremes until I had no more stuff. After hitting 95 I even made some overloads with ale. I trained at soul wars, to be random free, and also for people watching, Lol. I wasn't really chatting, but it was amusing to watch everyone else. So yeah, my method was far from efficient. :P. But nonetheless, I gained way more than I had set out to do, so I am happy.

Personally I still think maples is better, because of the value of magic and yew seeds, plus the money made from bird nests. (Use a mortar and crush them!)

Unfortunate that some people weren't able to choose their items. I had no problems there, although my verac top and skirt were autoselected anyway. I prayed protect from mage the whole time as well as piety, as I mostly melee'd. Try to get a melee hit or two on him while he is flying, he seems really susceptible then. Stakes work great there, too. If you have ever done some of the first dungeon floors you may have fought Luminescent Icefiend. His special attack is nearly similar to Vanstrom's blood bombs. You don't really have to run all around the room, just a few steps, but bottom line, keep moving. Move move move. But do try to get some hits in. I found if I waited out the whole attack, the whole fight took too long and I got low on supplies. Once he is down to like, 10%, he turns into mist. Spam the cabbage out of that holy water. It take a few clicks to make a big puddle. One of the above posters had it right that it is just like luring an animal into a deadfall trap. After you have defeated him, he will deliver a sucker punch that hits very very hard. Make sure you keep your health high as he goes down. However, some people have found if they use ROL and get teleported, they do not have to fight Vanstrom again.

Depends on what you wanted to do with the produce. I use Miscellania as my main method of herb and farm xp so I have 9 on maples and 6 on herb. 9 on maples is pretty standard as there is much to be made from seeds and nests. I believe for pure profit many people also place workers on coal.

I guess I had either underestimated how long making potions would take, or just how many extra I would get thanks to wasteless herblore, but it took the whole ten hours to use up all of my herblore supplies. I got from 89 to 96, so I am extremely happy. I won't need to stockpile nearly as much for future bxp weekends. In fact I probably will finish off 99 before the next one anyway. Since 1.1 I have just been clearing stuff from my bank, so small gains in fletching, smithing, and cooking. If there is time left, I will start in on hunter.

This is, to a degree, the nature of gaming. I have played a number of different MMOs and many of them have implemented similar changes over the years that make the same achievements easier for the newer players (or in many cases, make the creation of alts more feasible.).

Authors tend to write about what is on their mind, and it is rather hard to keep finding topics that are hardly discussed and eternally happy. It's not as easy as flipping a switch turning inspiration on, so if you have some suggestions I'm sure any author would be more than happy and work on it. :) As far as this week's articles are concerned, I agree with the below. Personally, I was slightly disappointed to read the new articles this week as well. However, isn't it telling when there is little else to talk about? That these problems with the game are so at the forefront of our minds that finding something to talk about that doesn't bring up those things is difficult?

Hello! Thought I'd introduce myself. I'm Cerri! I've been playing RS on and off on a couple of accounts since about '04. I've never really been a big part of the RS forum community, either on the RSOF or on fansites, though I have been an avid fan of the Tip.It Times for ages. For the past three years, I have been a member of, and presently an admin of Slayer Guild V1, and it is to them that I credit (or blame, depending on how you look at it) for my inability to quit RS completely. :P I've played many other MMOs of various styles over the years and I can easily say I've not ever found a guild quite like SGV1. In real life, I do hold down a very busy fulltime job, as well as take care of my family, so that leaves little time to play without heavy multi-tasking. I am a firm believer in doing what you enjoy, and if you don't enjoy it, then it is time for something else. This is largely why for the amount of time I've played, the only non-combat 99 I have is Slayer. If it weren't for Slayer, I likely wouldn't ever have bothered with combat training. I enjoy doing tasks, what can I say? Otherwise, many of the skills bore me. I've often joked with my guild that some day I will have 200M Slayer XP. Who knows? Maybe someday that will be the case. At any rate, I do not judge others based on skill totals, efficiency or lack thereof, so long as you respect my own opinions about what makes the game fun for me. That doesn't mean I am not without goals. Here are some of mine: * There's a lot of practical rewards from things like Dungeoneering, Livid Farm, Task Diaries, etc. that I would like to have. Some of these might be easy, some of them I may never attain. * I have nearly 90 Herblore without having bought a single herb. I intend to continue this trend, ultimately to 99, by acquiring herbs only through drops, Kingdom, and Farming. * There is always that whole 200M Slayer thing >:) Anyway, that's me! Feel free to find me in game, or here, if you have further questions. Happy Slaying, Cerri

I thought the fiction was great, and a nice departure from the last few weeks' articles. No offense to the authors, as I did enjoy reading for the most part, but it was nice to read something that wasn't about boredom and/or bots.

A cannon is hardly required to slay. A lot of people like using them, however. That does not mean that Sumona's tasks are not doable. Like I said before, best is to just try out both, and see what you enjoy better. And that goes for Kuradal too, though having her own dungeon makes it more enticing. Every so often I still visit Sumona or Duradel for a break in the monotony.

Duradel. While the conventional wisdom would be to use Duradel now that you are 100 combat, I personally found Dura to set some tough tasks for that level. My advice to you is, look over both masters' task lists. Ideally, using Duradel full-time would give the maximum amount of points. But if you find his tasks to be difficult, or you find yourself cancelling a lot, you may wish to continue withSumona until you get more comfortable with Dura's assignments. I personally feel that slaying should be fun, and you should do what you enjoy more. For example, you may find Sumona's tasks to be too easy, or too obscure (she does have some pain in the butt ones) and you might not enjoy it as much. I will however, suggest that if you do use Sumona rather than Duradel, do keep track of where you are in your streak, and make sure that every 10th task (e.g, Task 10, task 20, task 30, etc., etc.) that you use Duradel to maximize on the point bonuses. Happy Slaying! ~ Cerri

I'm a Slayer noob. This sounds like a perfect excuse to feed my Slayer addiction (as opposed to, say, skilling.). Count me in.

Seems many of us share some bad habits! I have a habit of setting goals that a big more than I can chew, and never complete them. Also, I'm cheap. I save and pick up lots and lots of items, claiming that I will use them to skill or whatever, but instead they sit in my bank. Ive been better over the years about clearing things out, but for some reason, I can never keep more than a few spots open. I, too, tend to surf the Net, read forums, Facebook, etc., and forget I am playing. Or worse, I end up dying. :S