swampjedi

Got 43 and 44 with Tears of Guthix! That also got me 99 combat. Then, I got 45 and 46 with Relleka diary turnins! 46-52 Pyrelords 52 got me 100 combat. 52-54 Spirit Terrorbirds 54 Summoning was 2100 Total! After doing a quest... ... without dying once! And getting a prayer level solely from quest XP: (2101) I got back to summoning. 55 from Terrorbirds (2102) 56 from Bloated Leeches (2103) 57 from Ibis and Falador Hard Diary reward (2104) At this point I made a few Kyatt pouches and amped up my speed. 58 and 59 from Ibis (2105) (2106) 59 got me 101 Combat. 60 from Bloated Leech (2107) At this point, I cashed in 50 penguin points! I've been saving a while. That's 75k free xp! 61-62 from Penguin Points (2108/9) 63 and 64 from Bloated Leech (2110) (2111) 65 from Stranger Plant (2112) And, I'm out of charms (except blues, which I am saving). That's okay, I plan to do While Guthix Sleeps tomorrow, and use all 400k on Summoning.

These gave me 94, 95, 96, 97, and 98 combat. I went from 30 to 38 solely on XP lamps from quests that I had banked. Then, I was able to go from 40 to 42 with Achivement diary lamps! For some reason though, I'm short 10 Kudos in the museum. Bah. Then I was able to do:

Which Gave: Which Gave: At this point, all quests that don't have a summoning prereq are complete. Awesome!

Which gave me: Then: Which gave me: (Levels 2046-2048) Finally: 276 QP

Task 55: Kurask (141) [sumona] Drops: Rune Long, Robe Top, Leaf Bladed Sword Charms: 15, 34, 10, 2 Task 56: Elves (78) [sumona] Drops: Alch Fodder Charms: None! Points: 128 Task 57: Nechryael (127) [sumona] Drops: Deaths (50), Rune Boots (2), Snapdragon seed (3), Clue Charms: 16,7,43,2 First task that I've really used Guthans on. Very successfully, I might add! Did these in the Chaos Tunnels, for extra charms. Clue Results:

2043 Which led to... It wasn't hard at all. I meleed it and had no problem. Only used half an inventory of food. Which led to... Then... 273 QP!

I know, right? It's odd for me too, ESPECIALLY since it's combat.

Task 53: Cave Crawlers (142) 2042 Task 54: Greater Demons (132) Drops: Clue, Rune Large Charms: 10, 7, 28, 2 Points: 104 Clue Results:

Task 51: Warped Tortoises (161) [sumona] Drops: Shells (~50), Swamp Tar (~400), Mithril Ore (~100), Coal (~50), Rune Pick (2), Rune Warhammer (2) Charms: 19,4,1,4 2039 2040 Task 52: Banshees (123) [sumona] Drops: Clue, Essence (897) Charms: 6,20,2,1 Clue Results 2041

Task 49: Dagganoth (152) [sumona] Drops: Clue, Irit seed (4), Toadflax seed (9), Kwuarm Seed (2), Snapdragon Seed (2), Cadantine seed (2) Charms: 41, 12, 8, 2 Points: 276 Cannoned! Clue Results: Task 50: Cave Horrors (138) [sumona] Drops: Clue, Diamond, 2.5k Charms: 3,3,19,0 Points: 56 (Purchased Slayer Helms!) Clue Results: 2037 2038

Task 47: Basilisks (146) [sumona] Drops: Natures (67), Waters (600) Charms: 11,31,6,1 Points: 252 Task 48: Hellhounds (175) [sumona] Drops: Clue Scroll Charms: 111, 11, 8, 0 Points: 264 Cannoned it! Clue Results: 2036: String Amulets

I've always, in every game I've played, tried to be "strong" for my level. I don't know why, but it's true. Somehow, in Runescape, this morphed into combat hitting a brick wall roughly 4 years ago. I started off wanting to get a 99 before level 90, and got the 99 (and several more), but 90 combat never happened. Well, I decided a while back to get to roughly 2030 total and then push past 90 combat. I came to this conclusion for a few reasons. First, and most importantly, I'm getting tired of the game again. I only have a few non-combat skills left to get 99s in, and they're pretty boring sometimes. Second, I want to experience some new content. There's a lot out there that I haven't done because I'm low combat. Finally, if you think about it, my account is nothing "special" anymore. It used to be that a low level with several 99s was pretty cool, but now they're everywhere. Since the GE makes merchanting so easy, seeing a level 3 with 99 crafting and herblore isn't all that uncommon anymore. Heck, several of them have higher slayer than I do!' It's the end of an era. At this point, I have been 8X combat for 4 years, even though about half of that was not playing. I rolled it with 92 mage, stringing amulets with Astrals that I made. At the end, I was 89 combat at 2032 total. That's: 22.83 levels per combat 84.67 average level 1498 skills levels 93.625 average skills level 534 combats levels 66.75 average combat skill level Final skiller high scores: From here, I plan on moving my combats up to roughly where my skills are. I think I still want to keep most my skills above combats (except RC). I think I'll take a page from my dear friend Ard's book and go for balance. 99 Mage is on its way!

I've always, in every game I've played, tried to be "strong" for my level. I don't know why, but it's true. Somehow, in Runescape, this morphed into combat hitting a brick wall roughly 4 years ago. I started off wanting to get a 99 before level 90, and got the 99 (and several more), but 90 combat never happened. Well, I decided a while back to get to roughly 2030 total and then push past 90 combat. I came to this conclusion for a few reasons. First, and most importantly, I'm getting tired of the game again. I only have a few non-combat skills left to get 99s in, and they're pretty boring sometimes. Second, I want to experience some new content. There's a lot out there that I haven't done because I'm low combat. Finally, if you think about it, my account is nothing "special" anymore. It used to be that a low level with several 99s was pretty cool, but now they're everywhere. Since the GE makes merchanting so easy, seeing a level 3 with 99 crafting and herblore isn't all that uncommon anymore. Heck, several of them have higher slayer than I do!' It's the end of an era. At this point, I have been 8X combat for 4 years, even though about half of that was not playing. I rolled it with 92 mage, stringing amulets with Astrals that I made. At the end, I was 89 combat at 2032 total. That's: 22.83 levels per combat 84.67 average level 1498 skills levels 93.625 average skills level 94.4 average skills level without Slayer 534 combats levels 66.75 average combat skill level Final skiller high scores: From here, I plan on moving my combats up to roughly where my skills are. I think I still want to keep most my skills above combats (except RC). I think I'll take a page from my dear friend Ard's book and go for balance. 99 Mage is on its way! --------------- 2033: String Amulets 2034: Quests only, I think! 2035: Stringing Amulets And... 92 Combat's a "while" off. 2 mage levels, which will take 3 days probably.

2031: SC Hammer and Oaks 2032: SC Hammers and Oaks That's it, I've reached my skilling goals for 90 Combat. <deep breath>

Completed a lot of quests today, to break the monotony of SC games: Defender of Varrock (can't turn it in yet, it'll roll combat to 90) [image added later] Pretty fun, actually. Loved the cutscenes, and the attack on Varrock. Easy. Killed the bug at the end with my rune pick. This one was a bit harder. End battle was difficult without prayer, but thanks to Rockfish I made it safely. Not a problem here. Expected the last boss to be hard, but really getting TO him was the hard part. Trolls in multi-way combat wouldn't leave me alone. Very easy. Long, but funny! Great quest - looking forward to learning more about Rabid Jack! Pretty annoying going back and forth to the hideout, ESPECIALLY at the end. But hey, now I can do bloods.

Fine, no MS products. That's fair. C++ is nice, but you're going to be hard pressed to build something system-independent with it. If you really want to port it EASILY, you'd be silly not to use Java. Realistically, you should learn to walk before you run. C++ is running, and I expect it will be overwhelming.

I'm not upset that I got out of it. I have enough cash to buy the rest of my 99s - and that's basically all I need.

Task 45: Cave Horrors (159) [sumona] Drops: Clue, Snapdragon Seed (3), Natures (58) Charms: 6,4,16,1 Clue Results: Task 46: Abberant Spectres (154) [sumona] Drops: Herbs, Rune Large, Lava Battle Charms: 12,10,5,10 Points: 240 Got these (2029 and 2030) Task 47: Basilisks (146) [sumona] Charms: 6,7,4,1

2028: Oaks with SC Hammers

C++ gives you the power you need, without all of the handholding that C# or Java provide. However, since you're just starting out it might be easier to jump in to C#. Personally, I'd go with C#. The .NET management layer isn't THAT slow - and I imagine you'll be starting off small anyways. You could always redo your engines in something unmanaged later, if you decided to speed it up. Keep in mind that your first few projects are throwaways anyways. Pick what you want to learn, then worry about making something cool.

Task 39: Turoth (144) [sumona] Drops: ~100k of herb seeds, 16k in coins/alch, and ~180 natures Charms: 10, 31, 7, 1 Points: 108 Task 40: Cave Horrors (151) [sumona] Drops: Limps, 13k in alch, ~100 natures, herb seeds, Clue Charms: 6,2,20,1 Points: 168 Clue Results: Task 41: Nechryael (175) [sumona] Drops: Dragon Spear, Tooth Half, Rune Boots, Rune Large, Deaths (190), Chaos (74), 21k in cash/alch, Charms: 16,8,56,3 Points: Task 42: Banshees (148) [sumona] Drops: Clue, Pure Essence (506) Charms: 11,31,4,1 Clue Results: Task 43: Cave Horrors (136) [sumona] Drops: Snapdragon seed (2), Natures (74) Charms: 7,1,15,1 Points: 204 Task 44: Turoth (180) [sumona] (85 left) Drops: Snapdragon seed, Kwuarm seed (3), 33k in alch/coins, Clue (2) Charms: 12,37,14,2 Clue Results:

Task 38: Kurask (168) [sumona] Drops: Leaf Bladed Sword, Clue, 39k in alch fodder/coins Charms: 11,40,10,3 Clue Results - 2024: Red Chins 87 Construction 2025: Oaks and SC Hammers While doing Kurask: 2026 2027

I did push for some 99s past the point of fun. I remember getting so frustrated at Pyramid Plunder that I had to make myself do so many runs a night. But, you have a point. Perhaps I did enjoy it. Let me give an example of an update that (IMO) made things easier, but also made them more fun - Living Rock Caverns. Mining went from being my least favorite by far to being fun, to me. Sure, it's not the fastest, but it's great for what it is. I'm rather questionable on calling any skill in RS hard. It's tedious, is all. Now, non-skilling things like bosses and quests (without guides) do stretch you - they require cunning, planning, and (bosses) coordinating a team. But RC? That's just clicking over and over. I can almost do astral runs in my sleep now. :-) I am all for adding difficulty, as long as it is meaningful. Some of the most fun I've had in games was (casual) raiding in WoW, where we had to be smart to make it (and still usually failed).

Ha, what can I say, I have level 99 in jumping the gun.

Great point on 4, Troacctid. The problem is, Jagex has to aim for the middle when it comes to fun. This, sadly, is where I think the current game fails (at the top of most skills, at least). Is grinding to 99 RC fun? No, not for most people. My assumptions: People only pay for RS as long as it is fun. Jagex wants people to pay for RS. There comes a point at which obtaining high-level skills are not fun, for most players. Making high-level rewards either a) more rewarding or B) more fun/less tedious to obtain increases the fun factor. Some players (likely the ones that GOT the high levels even when it wasn't fun) find a and b above offensive. Therefore: Jagex increases profits by making the game more fun Jagex can make the game more fun (to most players) by making high-level rewards more obtainable I submit that the profit lost by "anti-easy" players leaving is more than offset by the profit gained by the average player paying for members longer.