stormveritas

I'm not into the COSplay scene, but have to admire the knowledge share there. How about the... "Pet Dead Parrot"? More curiosity than application.

Classifying 80 as "easy" is just ridiculous. It's a game of perspective; not everyone has the time to play that you do. Bear in mind that quests are to be enjoyed by the masses, and not simply by the high level community. Why develop content for the top 2% of the game? I think they -should- release very high requirements early. If you already have that level, then capitalize on the rush by selling items to desperate questers who need the exp fast.

I've watched one element occur time and time again here. Runescape drives young kids to places like Tip It, where the communal forum is both active and fairly articulate. The people that post there don't condone the garbage grammar that you see too often elsewhere. Young folks (and some adults who speak foreign languages, or just struggle with writing) improve their writing ability in leaps and bounds when they find themselves trying to communicate on message boards like this where there is a certain threshhold for post quality below which they will be ridiculed / punished. There isn't much educational / enrichment value to the game itself for me; I do hear about good books to read or learn stuff from some of my wiser friends in the game. It's all indirect value, and not anywhere near as overall worthwhile as developing an addiction to running, reading, or something similar which is more glaringly productive. Runescape is also a nice, simple outlet for stress. There's something therapeutic about bashing giant dragons with a virtual sword after a day of frustrating negotiations with stubborn and honesty-starved customers.

All three of these are pretty equally impressive. I don't know how/why Lord Reverse/Momin get those even integer exp totals (I guess -how- isn't as hard to fathom as -why-). Renez's stats take the cake because they require a complete, unwavering obsession towards skill equality. Planning out how to level exp in slayer/summon/combats to keep them equal is no short order. The other two are insane achievements, but they can get skills "close" and cap out with monsters that have known exp yields (get slayer exp first, then summon, then round over on atk/str/def; then use range and magic to round out HP, as you can top off range/magic without gathering additional HP experience). All really impressive and all sort of lead me to suggest psychotherapy for the incredible yet frightening players.

My personal least favorite is the black sword / crimson charm combo w/ashes at Abyssals. The mix of circular red and black hues really shoes you in the cookies.

My guess (and it's a guess!) is that the next skill will be "Aim" or "Targeting". The skill will be available in F2P, and is set to "rebalance" the combat triangle (words of Jagex, not me). Aim would let you simply be more accurate in both range and magic, hitting for more consistent, high numbers. Just my thought.

I'd like to thank other folks that I've worked with at the Tip It Times. The most obvious are folks like N_odie and Das, who lured me in and administered the place when I first started writing. In that same vein, a thanks to Mirrorforced as well. The most deserving praise -HAS- to go to the editors, as a group. There is no more thankless job than editing the half-drunken ramblings of a bunch of egotistical, oversensitive writers, and these folks do a killer job. They often get submissions late :cough:, and always crank out good work without any visible award.

Mining granite is really, really fast. Stars are also a great exp source.

While I'm happy with the D-Pick, the new mine is much more exciting (once it dies down a bit).

Your stats are a little low to be super effective there. You'll really want at least 85+ combats, and 68 summon for bunyips. With swallow whole scrolls, those guys are really useful. Also, wear high mage def gear (kharil's), and a good specialty weapon like the Zamorak Spear or Sara Sword. Use super sets. Pray protect range and whale away, and you'll get fast crimsons. Sadly, I hate them. I block them. They're a big nuisance.

Sumona is much better for range if you aren't a cannoner (I wasn't, and used Sumona to get to 99 range). She gives tasks like turoth and kurask frequently, and both can be killed quickly and cheaply with broad tipped bolts. She also gives cave horrors (great money!) and they are terrific to range as well. Lapalok is the best melee master, although he's been giving me a really hard time of late.

Buying skills destroys the "apples to apples" comparison when it comes to achievements, but at the expense of wealth. To each his own, so long as you don't short change the non-buyers.

There's almost no way that a celebrity doesn't play. Future Hall of Fame pitcher Curt Schilling is an avid, unapologetic Everquester. While he gets teased for it, he mentioned he was not alone in playing, and that it wasn't all that uncommon in pro sports as married athletes need something to keep them out of trouble.

Blasphemy! Dark beasts drop Dark Bows, runite bars, rune chainbodies, rune battleaxes, tons of blue charms, loads of coins, and just happen to be awesome experience. Additionally, if you can mine runite, you get a "free" runite ore every 20 mins or so that no one will beat you to.

Slayer is my favorite skill! The 15% boost to atk and str offered by the slayer helm are grossly underrated. Being able to kill abby demons or spirit mages with that thing means you can rack up serious money PDQ. I love the changing pace; mage defense for abberants, pray melee for dark beasts, all out slaughter of greater demons... it's just a fun skill to work with to make a decent amount of money and not stress.

Fair enough; no worries. I actually agree in principle to what you're saying here. I try to listen to what people say (of course, with a grain of salt, for my own sanity), but in this case was looking for criticism that could be expanded upon. The first page complaints weren't unfounded; the topic itself isn't extremely polarizing and there aren't too many championing the cause of merch guilds. Were I to have written the article on Thursday (and not Tuesday), the changes to PKing would have been much more controversial. It looked like the poster in the original thing I quoted had something to say and badly typo'd his central claim; I was simply trying to see if there was some new perspective (good or bad) on the article that I could use.

:thumbdown: Troll much? There were a few comments on there not being much "new" or ground-breaking regarding merchanting, but there isn't much to build on there. If you're already well versed in merchanting or don't think it's an issue, there's no counter that would make you enjoy such an article. I'd consider that perspective for future articles when deciding upon topics (far and away the toughest part of the process). Additionally, there was some word that it was a complaint piece, but that wasn't the point at all. Conversely, I could have just as easily acknowledged some pleasant compliments, but chances are you wouldn't have received that well either. As a writer, you have to go in understanding that not everyone is going to like ANY article, but you should still read the feedback to understand how well you're connecting. It's really not so complicated.

I'm open to constructive criticism, but have no idea what this means.

This poll is a little skewed, as I would like higher leveled slayer monsters with the assumption that they would bring in more weapons/armor. Two choices would fit perfectly there.

Actually, this is inconsistent with Jagex's prior actions, as they most certainly -have- been executing a deflationary strategy. [*:2dhw3vsv]Construction is released, along with planks being needed to develop level. This draws money OUT of the game, deflating cash value.[*:2dhw3vsv]RW trading removed, GE instated, which limits profitability at the expense of GP values. Differentials in exchanges also return to market, lowering amount of cash in game.[*:2dhw3vsv]Summoning is released, and shards are instituted, further drawing out cash from the game. This is the first action in some time that drives cash into the game, and I'd argue it actually destroys all the productive work of cash removal that previous installments had made.

This thread is a perfect microcosm for the game's issue. The only people who defend 26k are people like Estorath, who are PVPers exclusively. Without the benefit of perspective, the response is "Well, these crazy drops are great for me, so any change will lead to me flipping out." The game survived for over a year with no profitable PVP element whatsoever. Now that it's back, every other facet of the game suffers, and PVPers refuse to look at the problem because it benefits them.

The positive effect of PVP's stimulus to materials is nowhere near sufficient to offset the incurred inflation driven by cash-based drops ranging into the several million GP realm. So long as this method remains the best way to make money, the game will continue to skew towards imbalance. Raws, such as yews, mithril/adamant/rune, herbs, etc. will continue to be driven higher and higher, until the pursuit of those items becomes a relatively desirable activity again. While this seems like "normal order", it is not. The game is based on a delicate pricing balance wherein items such as yew log prices drive several other indices, as well as potential use of skills such as fletching, magic, etc. When raws [bleep]e, those that skill are absolutely -crushed- by this influx of cash. Additionally, your gold pile is fast approaching Enron stock status as toilet paper, as the buying power of gold is continually driven further and further down by the influx of cash to the game. The fact that PVP is naturally desirable from a fun AND profit perspective creates an imbalance that, left unhindered, will destroy the game.

444 tasks, 96 slayer. I use Lapalok to reassign tasks, and have all four slots used up to block undesirables.

Jagex needs to decide if they want to make PKers happy, or make everyone else happy. The bottom line is that to create rewards sufficient to make PKing seem "worth it", Jagex continues to use systems that are highly abusable. These abuses cause a mass inflation on the game, destroying the value of all other activities. The PKing community is the "squeaky wheel" that has been repeatedly oiled, at the expense of non-PKers. Without intervention, the economy is currently approaching a tipping-point.

There is a tendency to wax poetic and romanticize old ideals. I have no doubt that the game feels completely different today than it did 5 or 6 years ago, but is that an absolutely bad thing? There are many changes that the game -must- undergo. [*:1sj3nwg7]Graphical Changes - the game has undergone a very large series of complete graphical overhauls. This changes the feel of the game entirely. While certainly they improve the game, people still reminisce to times where graphics were blocky, ugly, and slow.[*:1sj3nwg7]Game gets easier - without new elements that offer different and easier methods to train, the game would be stale.[*:1sj3nwg7]A more competitive landscape - this is a function of both the health of the game and its growth. As the game gets larger, played by more people, lower tiered accomplishments no longer carry the same prestige. While there may have been some missteps in development (99 capes come to mind!), the game is clearly steadily improving and remaining fresh. A game without change is a dead one.