Despite many initial complaints about summoning, I have to argue that it is the most brilliant combat skill, and arguably one of the best skills overall.

 

 

 

Why?

 

1) It provides a pretty hefty advantage in combat.

 

2) In comparison to other skills, summoning is not that expensive.

 

-- I am willing to pay a high premium to gain a significant advantage in multicombat.

 

-- 10K a summon is not unreasonable for a level 90 monster helping me out.

 

-- It's only a bankbreaker if you are training to 99. Up to level 80 is reasonably expensive, at most 20M and at least 10M.

 

-- You won't be losing all of the money you put into pouches; there is a chance that pouch values (selling off finished pouches) will pay for some of your costs.

 

3) It is not a skill for stupid people. It is not simple.

 

-- It's not endlessly repetitive to train.

 

-- It's more efficient to train summoning when diversifying your training methods

 

-- It's not a buyable skill.

 

4) It adds complexity to combat.

 

-- You have to consider even another factor in combat, now that familiars are a consideration. RS's combat system was too simple, and summoning helps to make it more interesting and variable.

 

5) It adds complexity to the game, and skilling in general.

 

-- It has made many previously useless items useful.

 

-- It has provided incentive to training other skills.

 

-- It is a complement to training other skills.

 

 

Jagex isn't all bad. I would like to think of summoning as one of its only major successes in its recent months.

 

 

To mods:

 

I know you think this should fit under the "Summoning, not like this" thread, but I wanted a thread that directly opposed the main theme of that thread. I wanted to explicitly describe what was good about summoning, and I think this is different as a discussion rather than a bunch of people posting their general opinions.

Yup.

Hmmm... I don't know. I really don't like charms.

Despite many initial complaints about summoning, I have to argue that it is the most brilliant combat skill, and arguably one of the best skills overall.

 

 

 

Why?

 

1) It provides a pretty hefty advantage in combat.

 

2) In comparison to other skills, summoning is not that expensive.

 

-- I am willing to pay a high premium to gain a significant advantage in multicombat.

 

-- 10K a summon is not unreasonable for a level 90 monster helping me out.

 

-- It's only a bankbreaker if you are training to 99. Up to level 80 is reasonably expensive, at most 20M and at least 10M.

 

3) It is not a skill for stupid people. It is not simple.

 

-- It's not endlessly repetitive to train.

 

-- It's more efficient to train summoning when diversifying your training methods

 

-- It's not a buyable skill.

 

4) It adds complexity to combat.

 

-- You have to consider even another factor in combat, now that familiars are a consideration. RS's combat system was too simple, and summoning helps to make it more interesting and variable.

 

5) It adds complexity to the game, and skilling in general.

 

-- It has made many previously useless items useful.

 

-- It has provided incentive to training other skills.

 

-- It is a complement to training other skills.

 

 

 

I bolded the things i think are most important and impressive about this skill, who'd of thought there'd be massive demand for chicken?

by not buyable he means you still have to find your own charms (nontradable atm), which is the main bottleneck atm.

 

 

 

I agree with the reasons you mentioned, but most importantly, I can't wait for the extra inventory spaces summoning gives!

-- It has provided incentive to training other skills.

 

-- It is a complement to training other skills.

 

 

 

Could not agree more, it is a good compliment to training slayer as a few slayer monsters are very good droppers of charms, as well as some of the frequent tasks.

Honestly I don't see much of a point for it right now. Although you do have a point in what you are saying it doesn't seem worth the time.

 

3) It is not a skill for stupid people. It is not simple.

 

-- It's not endlessly repetitive to train.

 

-- It's more efficient to train summoning when diversifying your training methods

 

 

 

 

Care to elaborate?

 

 

 

We can't be sure yet of the actual combat performance of the familiars since no one has tested them yet. We don't know if they are worth all the trouble. What I do know is that the amount of multicombat zones in RS seems limited.

 

 

 

The only real way to train summoning is to create the summon pouches. That seems a very simple way of training. Get items, go to altar and craft. That is what I call the training system. No diversity at all. I really hope I'm missing something very big.

It provides a pretty hefty advantage in combat.

 

 

 

 

 

like?

Honestly I don't see much of a point for it right now. Although you do have a point in what you are saying it doesn't seem worth the time.

 

 

 

I agree, at least right now. Hence the "will". I will be doing most of my training (30-80) once it matures as a skill.

 

 

 

 

3) It is not a skill for stupid people. It is not simple.

 

-- It's not endlessly repetitive to train.

 

-- It's more efficient to train summoning when diversifying your training methods

 

 

 

 

Care to elaborate?

 

 

 

Compared to smithing, crafting, mining, etc., you have to do a variety of things in order to train.

 

 

 

Many of the charm-droppers drop charms of all colors. It's best to use all of the types of charms, rather than just one.

 

 

 

 

We can't be sure yet of the actual combat performance of the familiars since no one has tested them yet. We don't know if they are worth all the trouble. What I do know is that the amount of multicombat zones in RS seems limited.

 

 

 

You can make rough estimates. I think a level 90 will make a difference against many monsters.

 

 

 

Multicombat zones: most of the major monster-bosses. The recently added chaos tunnels. Many mini-games that a lot of people spend the majority of their RS careers playing.

 

 

 

 

The only real way to train summoning is to create the summon pouches. That seems a very simple way of training. Get items, go to altar and craft. That is what I call the training system. No diversity at all. I really hope I'm missing something very big.

 

Hence the charms. They aren't easy to get.

 

 

 

It provides a pretty hefty advantage in combat.

 

 

 

 

 

like?

 

 

 

Don't underestimate a level 90. Even if it does only 20-30 damage, that margin is sometimes the difference between being able to solo a KQ and having to re-bank.

So far I tend to agree.

 

 

 

And the more people complain that they can't power it to 99 in a week, the more I like it.

I've found Dreadfowl hits 4 with melee, has about 11 or 12 hp, and hits a 3 with its magic special. Not too bad for a level 4 summon...

 

 

 

Not very good either, though. And it IS a very simple skill to train, almost as simple as runecrafting, which I hate for that very reason; BORING.

 

 

 

Edit: About your elaboration about how it isn't a simple skill to train: It still is. Gaining charms does not give you exp... Gaining secondaries does not give u exp.

I've found Dreadfowl hits 4 with melee, has about 11 or 12 hp, and hits a 3 with its magic special. Not too bad for a level 4 summon...

 

 

 

Not very good either, though. And it IS a very simple skill to train, almost as simple as runecrafting, which I hate for that very reason; BORING.

 

 

 

Why and how is it boring? In the future, you're going to be collecting charms not for the pure sake of collecting charms, you'll be collecting them as an integral part of training combat and slayer. So if you get bored of training summoning, you're probably going to get bored training combat and slayer in general. I dont see anyone complaining about those two.

 

 

 

And if it is still boring, in comparison to what other skill?

 

 

Edit: About your elaboration about how it isn't a simple skill to train: It still is. Gaining charms does not give you exp... Gaining secondaries does not give u exp.

 

Training summoning is more about collecting the charms and seconds than the actual pouch creation. Pouches are incredibly easy to make, and can't be considered the meat of the training.

ohhh so you mean it can provide hefty damage vs. NPCs...even more reason not to care lol.

 

 

 

Why and how is it boring? In the future, you're going to be collecting charms not for the pure sake of collecting charms, you'll be collecting them as an integral part of training combat and slayer. So if you get bored of training summoning, you're probably going to get bored training combat and slayer in general. I dont see anyone complaining about those two.

 

 

 

And if it is still boring, in comparison to what other skill?

 

 

 

Training summoning is more about collecting the charms and seconds than the actual pouch creation. Pouches are incredibly easy to make, and can't be considered the meat of the training.

 

 

 

You are probably right in that Jagex intended summoning training to include getting the ingredients for the pouches.

 

 

 

But, to me, that doesn't feel like training summoning. It feels like i'm training melee or range then, because those are the skills I will be actually using. It just feels strange that you have to train other skills 90% of the time, when you really want to train and practice summoning.

ohhh so you mean it can provide hefty damage vs. NPCs...even more reason not to care lol.

 

 

 

I don't think RS is completely about PvP. PvP may be fun, but it's not the point of the game.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Why and how is it boring? In the future, you're going to be collecting charms not for the pure sake of collecting charms, you'll be collecting them as an integral part of training combat and slayer. So if you get bored of training summoning, you're probably going to get bored training combat and slayer in general. I dont see anyone complaining about those two.

 

 

 

And if it is still boring, in comparison to what other skill?

 

 

 

Training summoning is more about collecting the charms and seconds than the actual pouch creation. Pouches are incredibly easy to make, and can't be considered the meat of the training.

 

 

 

You are probably right in that Jagex intended summoning training to include getting the ingredients for the pouches.

 

 

 

But, to me, that doesn't feel like training summoning. It feels like i'm training melee or range then, because those are the skills I will be actually using. It just feels strange that you have to train other skills 90% of the time, when you really want to train and practice summoning.

 

 

 

Nice 77 Slayer :D

ohhh so you mean it can provide hefty damage vs. NPCs...even more reason not to care lol.

 

 

 

I don't think RS is completely about PvP. PvP may be fun, but it's not the point of the game.

 

 

 

Then why does it give us combat levels if it's completely useless in PvP :wall:

It IS expensive. Just for shards the amoutn you would have to spend is over 200mil to 99.

 

 

 

Nice 77 Slayer :D

 

 

 

you got a point there lol.

 

 

 

Slayer is of course also not trainable in itself.

 

 

 

I guess I was just hoping for something completely new. A new way of playing the game. I guess I have to accept that summoning is largely just an alternative way to train combat in general, just like slayer.

 

 

 

Still doesn't feel right.

Well said :) Summoning will be a fun and adventurous skill to raise :

Well said :) Summoning will be a fun and adventurous skill to raise :

Yup! Just like runecrafting! :

I love summoning because it's like a hybrid of my favorite skills:

 

 

 

Agility: You can't buy the skill - it takes lots of work!

 

Herblore: gold tickets are similar to herbs in a way - a skill that depends on drops from a monster and "secondary ingrediants"

 

Runecrafting Running to the obalisk with invs of chickens is a lot like rcing!

 

Slayer: Summoning is making us kill monsters that we usually don't train on - once again giving the same effect slayer had: making us train in other training spots.

 

Construction: Ok construction is actually my least favorite skill but it's similar because of the money drain. But i'm pretty rich now.

 

 

 

 

 

So: summoning? or agunelastructlore?

It's good Jagex has done something different. Now it shouldn't be so "easy" to max all your stats to 99.

 

 

 

(I say easy because more and more were popping up, I know it isn't easy at all and it takes a lot of work and time, so the trolls out there who would have probably quoted me and said "How can you call that easy?".. Don't bother, because that isn't what I mean.)

Summoning is already my favorite skill. I just got 30. :P

 

 

 

The charms were a little hard to get at first, but once you find a good method of getting them, you'll be set. Also I didn't realize that even the very high-leveled summonings only require 1 charm each and they give a lot more xp.

by not buyable he means you still have to find your own charms (nontradable atm), which is the main bottleneck atm.

 

 

 

I agree with the reasons you mentioned, but most importantly, I can't wait for the extra inventory spaces summoning gives!

 

 

 

You can withdraw items with your rockcrab, is that extra 'space'?

 

 

 

Summoning is already my favorite skill. I just got 30. :P

 

 

 

The charms were a little hard to get at first, but once you find a good method of getting them, you'll be set. Also I didn't realize that even the very high-leveled summonings only require 1 charm each and they give a lot more xp.

 

 

 

Share your knowledge then! :D