stormveritas

The fact that I haven't updated is more due to my heroinesque addiction on dungeoneering. THIS is a skill I enjoy. Similar to slayer, it's very easy to doddle about at your own pace in dungeoneering, enjoying some really interesting journal entries and solving lots of puzzles. My problem is simple: experience is really the ONLY tangible thing that can be measured in Dungeoneering. Finding and binding awesome items is nice, but once you leave the dungeon you have NOTHING to show for your work dungeoneering. While there are some terrific rewards, the token needs for these rewards is somewhere between "nonsense" and "insanity". 120K tokens for a bone crusher? So I need 1.2MM experience, or essentially level 70. Why is this eligible somewhere in the twenties? Does that make sense? The same can be said with all other low level items. Also, the thought of reaching level 120 is outrageous in this slow skill. Because of the lack of solid metrics, the ONLY thing people are currently doing is trying to max their experience rate. This isn't good for general enjoyment of the game, of the skill, or of the general dungeoneering experience. I think we've tasted just the tip of the iceberg for now. The fact that no new levels are opened after level 65 in the skill leads me to believe either more levels or more dungeons will be opened in the future. Additionally, perhaps some more tangible rewards will come out from dungeoneering after this rollout strategy. The track summoning took, a rollout followed by a second wave of content, seems to make the most sense as a way for Jagex to keep the skill fresh. I'm really worried about the skill if there ISN'T a new content rollout. At a measley level 46, I've earned very little total experience, and yet the overall experience is already becoming repetitive. Looking forward to some curveballs and changes mixing up the dungeoneering skill.

Good to see you writing Siobby; loving the entries and mostly sharing your sentiments on dungeoneering.

Max team sizes will become available in time. While it is slow now, the community will organize better over time. People will set up chats based on floors, and tackle the floor desired as a team. This skill will definitely speed up. I don't think it will ever be a remarkable exp earner, but it should speed up. I'd expect it to be on par with something like what mining was before LRC. I'm trying to race as far as I can, because once the novelty wears off, this skill is actually very shallow and disconnected.

MTA is decent training and it's not very expensive. Bones To Peaches is a reasonably useful skill for slayers. It has become less useful with the onset of Bunyips, the SGS, etc., but it is still worthwhile and a cheap fix at tasks like Dust Devils where bones are dropped. I would do it; it's a good unlock to earn.

Pretty funny. The lame zoo has me thinking of the old Simpsons episode where Chief WIggum is advertising their mysterious animals. I think it was for a renaissance fair type of gig. I distinctly remember one of the monsters having "The head of a rabbit.... and the body... of a rabbit!"

Nice job! I'm not sure why I find the phrase "suck it, runecrafting" so amusing, but I do.

As some of my recent Times entries may have indicated, I really enjoy the D/D (or minigame, whatever) Shattered Hearts. What these articles may not necessarily indicate is that I have an almost unhealthy obsession with Shattered Hearts. Since my first statue build the Friday of the week this update was released, I have been looking forward each week to a fresh new collection of rocks to gather. The variety of things to do, the small feeling of achievement associated with each rock, and the bonus experience just keeps me coming back. Seriously, I think I have a problem. I got out of bed this morning, and as I was going through my routine, I was distracted by a note: today is Friday! New rocks day! Sure, the fact that it's a Friday after a work week that could best be described as "horrific" or "soul crushing" is wonderful. Sure, I am really looking forward to babysitting my adorable niece tonight, who just turned two and loves her uncle. The fact that Runescape entered my "awesome reasons to love Friday" list is both a little funny and quite a bit disquieting. Yikes. I think I need nerd rehab. I don't think I'll step away or try to gain some perspective on the relative importance of the game through distance. I know that in the great big ball of wax that Runescape is merely a little diversion, an enjoyable time waster that gives me some stress relief and some artificial and relatively easy to accomplish goals. But these rocks! How interesting that Jagex chose "rocks" to be the element to chase after in an update that upgrades my Runescape Addiction from serious to crackhead. Luckily I can't smoke these rocks or we'd have some issues. Stay Classy, San Diego.

The blog is meant to be more a train of thought than some comprehensive argument. Whether it is labeled a minigame or a D/D is completely irrelevant; I'd consider the D/Ds in the game to be variants upon minigames (as I listed Penguins under minigames). It's a piece of off-the-beaten-path content which is 100% optional and quite fun.

..or Flipping Fingers, or Fishing flippers... I almost refuse on the basis of pure principle to get the name of this minigame right. I'm generally middle-of-the-road when it comes to minigames. Generally that means I play them when I have to, and that's about the extent of it. I've played Soul Wars exactly twice now, once when it came out to try, and once when I had to play to access Nomad. Even my favorite games get worn down quickly, and Stealing Creation, for example, rarely sees me amble by, despite the fact that I genuinely enjoy playing it and find it to be a welcome change of pace for wonderful rewards. When I read out the rewards for Fish Flingers, I wasn't impressed. The tacklebox doesn't really appear to do much of anything; it has a few bait slots which hold a small amount of bait, and it can hold a bunch of items which I never hold onto anyway. Do people actually waste inventory slots with a harpoon or a big net when they are always right next to the fishing spot and cost about 10 gp? Really? On top of that, the experience rewards are slightly higher, at the cost of no profitability. Fishing, while slow, is very profitable, and my cheapskate tactics don't lend themselves to passing up on opportunities to bring in some gold. I still wince every time I runecraft at the Ourania altar, knowing that nearly double nats, or 1+ bloods / essence would be far better cash. So the proverbial hook that this minigame has sunk in me is a little tricky to explain. It is relatively inconvenient to have to wait around for the fisherman to arrive. It is not a game which I can use my skills to do better than most (as is the case with Stealing Creation). It is not a piece of content which yields terrific rewards (see: Penguins). I think what separates this game is the community aspect. I generally open my own CC before the game and invite everyone in to clue share. We share clues, combos, and locations, and rare is the time (except for that accursed Salmon glitch) that we ever fail to knock down all of the 100% fish, nor do we miss which fish is the whopper of the group. Instead, strangers gather about and work together towards a singular goal, and we celebrate as a team as we all take home the minimum of 2 medals for our efforts. Sure, there are the leeches. People who wait for callouts before casting a line, trying to preserve their 80%+ rating and not helping the team. People who hoard secrets like squirrels hoard nuts in late fall. These folks are generally exposed quickly, and removed from circulation. They then generally plead to rejoin when they realize that they cannot yield better than 1 medal on their own. Blacklists are effective like that. Generally I score out Jagex updates on a number of criteria: ease of use, reward value, convenience, and fun. While the first three elements are certainly a challenge with Flinging Flippers, the fun factor is through the roof. Bravo, Jagex!

I think it's all been said, but I'd like to echo sentiments of the SGS supporters. Perhaps the sun doesn't rise and set with this weapon, but it's versatile, useful, powerful, and fun. It carried my track through 99 slayer with ease, and saved me on familiars, food, and gave me the option to use BoB's more often to bank more goodies and make fewer trips. I particularly enjoy SGS at Dark Beasts; really balances everything between power, pray bonus, pray retention, healing, and limiting total inventory slots. Overpriced? Perhaps. But you can't buy it from me. You'll have to pry it from my cold, dead hands.

Well, after playing this silly game for damned near five years, it dawned on me that perhaps I should consider trying out the more difficult aspects of the game. As someone who stays fairly focused on skilling and working my precious abilities up to ever higher levels, I've never really been one to seek out danger. Those are deeds for the fast clickers and youthful folks. I'm not one to try to kill other players (and get my head handed to me in the process), or go out and risk certain death killing the biggest baddies the game has to offer. At least, I wasn't before today. I'm not sure what prompted me to take on the General. Perhaps it was boredom, perhaps morbid curiosity. I've never really felt the need to go out and try to kill the GWD Bosses; in my trials through the slayer skill I earned plenty of coins to buy whatever I felt I needed (which, in large part due to exceptionally tight purse strings, is not much at all). I believe that my Shattered-Heart driven exodus from pure grinding has given me lots more free time, which I like to doddle about enjoying. Off to Graador the mighty! Big and strong and scary, or so I'm told. After watching roughly 19 hours of youtube videos featuring people solo'ing the boss to annoying, teen-angsty music, I felt ready. After all, my skills are all certainly sufficient. My equipment puts me in the running. Why shouldn't I enjoy some boss hunting? The Dungeon itself is something to which I am no stranger to. I geared up; mostly Barrows armor with my SGS, some sharks, extreme pots, prayer pots, and a tele tab. I prayed-range as I sprinted to the rope. As I was getting my backside gnawed on by some exceptionally ravenous wolves, it dawned on me: Good job, dummy. No hammer. Balls. Home tele! Hammer grab! Trollheim! Lather, rinse, repeat. I go down the rope and sprint far north to where I see everyone go. Hobgoblins here, and nothing else. Perfect! I spend my time building my kill count and using SGS specs to rebuild my lost hit and prayer points. Excuse me... constitution points. Yuck. After pulling together 40 Hobgoblin kills (and a lovely ranarr seed, thankyouverymuch), I'm off. I run through and GET CREAMED BY EVERYTHING PAST THE GONG. Perhaps I should equip my Ancient Mace before entering next time. Smart, Storm. Smart. Into Graador's bedroom, and I'm scrambling and panicky. Will I be able to eat in time? Can I heal up and get prayer flicked on? Will I have time? BAHAHAHAHAH!!! No one told me how packed these places are! After entering Graador's room, I found a load of much more organized, experienced adventurers. They've got those fancy curse prayers over their heads (the stuff I can't do), and I realize that I shouldn't be here. "Non-lootshare", an experienced friend advises, and I comply. And I worldhop to a non-lootshare world, where I find another level 137ish person with a Unicorn and some crazy prayers on. And I hop again. And I hop again. And I hop again. The cruelty of this situation reminds me of how much I disliked the Easter event. Finally, after 10 or so worldhops, I get my OWN GENERAL! Graador is mine, and I am off! I toggle on my quick prayers (protect melee and piety), sip up my potions, and get smashing. I chew through Tuna Taters like crap through a goose, but it's okay as down goes the Big Fella. Once he goes down, all his little minions aren't so tough anymore. They beg for mercy. I give them none. That was wonderful! So much fun, even for a very mundane drop. I gather my gear, set up for the next kill, and breathe deeply. I did it! And moments later, in pops another adventurer, a level 138 with a pretty pony and those crazy prayers. He sips an overload potion (which I cannot yet produce), and proceeds to do much more damage in a short period of time than I could fathom. And with that, my one-kill Graador adventure is all but over. It was fun, but perhaps I'm just not cut out for all this mercenary business. The bosses are best killed by the more coordinated or experienced, and certainly best handled by those who are focused. I will leave them for now, as I head back to the wild lifestyle of a palace Ivy Trimmer. We'll save those hijinks for the kids. I suppose there is a good reason I don't venture away from the routine of the mundane skillers.

Loving barbeque season! Fired up the grill last week with the little lady myself.

Great execution, but a terrible idea. As has been said here, this takes several expensive skills and relegates them to being trained on future bonus XP weekends only. People are ABSOLUTELY NOT going to be spending money on summoning and leveling with their charms until a definitive statement decries that either there is a new date to EXP weekend or that there will never be one again. Personally, I hope for the latter. This creates a huge bottleneck in the supply/demand curve for runescape, as well. Smart players should spend their time collecting crushed nests, talismans, and snape grass for the next pending EXP weekend, because they can then abuse the spiked demand curve and sell at outrageous prices. All gimmick; cheapens the RS experience as a whole, and will distort the demand curve indefinitely. Yuck.

Yes, I wouldn't be surprised if it has some hidden bonuses. It seems strange that there is just nothing to it at the moment. That's why I'm reserving judgment for now. If a couple months from now, there are no new surprises on this helmet, then this 300 QP reward is an absolute disgrace. Given the bonuses from other high-level achivements (like the diary rewards, which all have awful stats), I sort of think there's more than meets the eye.

Actually, I have a theory! I'd bet the new helmet has some devastating, slayer-maskish bonuses while doing future quests.

Some new controls need to be made, I agree. The disparity in difficulty of collecting agility and hunter to rocks like mining and firemaking is ridiculous. This is a process which should reward diligence, reliability, and faithful, steady play. Instead, right now it rewards bug / glitch abuse with things like the runecrafting single ess effort and agility rock practices.

Particularly not when the head is EASILY the most heavily-laden slot available for items of pure prestige.

I think people are being really harsh on the quest. It was short, easy, light, and fun. I expected the mask to be terrible since it takes about 10 minutes to acquire and can be won by the newest of players. This would make a fine tutorial combat quest. I was a bit disappointed that the 300 QP reward is this hat. It looks good in inventory but bad on my head, and doesn't appear to do anything. I'm hoping I missed something and there are some residual boosts I don't know about.

I prefer bunyips for casual slaying. They are a little less effective, but also absolutely 0 maintenance, and ultimately cheaper. They are more than adequate at all slayer tasks aside from perhaps dark beasts (where I pray and use tortoise, although that isn't necessary) and the wyrms. Their easy care makes them perfect for long, easyish tasks like abbie spectres and demons.

0 Probably Lumby Basement It's already set up. Yes. Friday I probably won't. I will be training farming by checking all pre-planted trees, and then simply finishing all my unfinished herblore pots. Just a few thousand toadflax unf to sara brews, and I'll be done. After that, maybe back to fishing.

I think the thread starter has hashed out one of the better possible theories I've read. Now, to drag the ideas back into the bowels of the stupid, I have another thought: Given Jagex's penchant for wordplay, I HAVE to think that the skill has the word "ship" in it, and it is a trainable, perhaps craft-driven skill (workmanship, etc.). My guess is actually LEADERSHIP, but I have no idea how that skill would be trained. I think it would be worked predominately through team-based activities and interactions, but have no intelligent or concrete evidence to support. More of a shot in the dark, I suppose, but it fits the enormous vague concepts handed out thus far.

I agree. The game is largely driven by competition amongst the peer community; any advantage over counterparts is seen as a victory to many. Exclusivity is the highest prize.

I don't comb through RSOF because the content there is, on average, horrendous. It is also terribly disorganized, and I don't want to spend my days following the activity of the J-Mods in hopes of them asking for player input. On top of that, there is a sea of stupid that washes in with every such solicitation; even the most carefully articulated response is bound to get washed away in the flotsam of the foolish.

At the risk of shameless self promotion, I really disagree with this update (like I did in my times article! ;) ). While I have more than the sufficient slayer level, I do NOT have the Fire Cape. The reason is simple; by the time I really got into combat and became strong enough to beat Jad, the Fire Cape was no longer so much stronger than everything else that it warranted the effort. For now, I'm still working on other skills, but I have every intention of heading back when time comes for me to start slaying again. And I won't be able to kill Jad easily, because I'm an awful clicker, but in time I will, and for that I'll be happy. Since skills are so obviously purchasable, it is important for Jagex to lean heavily upon skills which CANNOT be purchased and rather must be earned, and minigames which are enjoyed by many to be the new barriers to entry for exclusive content. I understand the business rationale behind their decision, but ultimately it will not help Jagex.

The only thing I miss are people who have since moved on. Overall the game has improved in almost all facets.