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Being a self-made player


Dragoon5464

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After a long discussion about runecrafting with the Tifers of W99 today, I got to thinking about my traditional playing method. I can truly, honestly say that I have never bought a SINGLE level. I have never purchased logs for firemaking or fletching, nor have I bought ores or bars for smithing. Virtually every last ore I have ever smithed, every log I've used up, every fish I've cooked, and every gem, bar of gold, and piece of essence I've crafted has been worked from the raw earth (or code) with my own two hands, my pick, and my axe. I've always just looked at it like this: either I can spend some cash on raw materials, or I could get the materials myself and raise another skill towards 99 at the same time. After all, at some point I'm gonna want 99 mining, fishing, and woodcutting, so why buy what they produce? There have been a few times when I've bought stuff sitting in general stores because it was dumped there by other players. When I say never bought, I essentially mean bought from players by the thousands, as opposed to just the odd ten or eleven.

 

 

 

Now, I've often wondered why people like me seem to be so rare. It just seems really obvious to me that as long as my woodcutting/fishing/mining isn't 99, I'll keep on getting my own raw materials.

 

 

 

It's become pretty clear to me that with runecrafting, at least, the tediousness of mining all that essence would drive any perfectly sane player to suicide. After today's long chat about raising it up to 91, I started to wonder if buying would really be so terrible, as long as I made a profit. I've honestly never had more than 1m cash in my bank for a constant period of time, up until recently, so it's never really been an option. Now that I've got around 10 mil in cash, I'm thinking about starting to buy runecrafting levels, but just the thought of "buying" a level makes me...honestly, it makes me feel a little immoral. Man, I'm weird. :wall:

 

 

 

Does anyone else work this way, or am I of a dying breed?

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A dying breed? Nah, just a clueless one.

I have all the 99s, and have been playing since 2001. Comped 4/30/15 

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A dying breed? Nah, just a clueless one.

 

This. If you want to play smart and efficiently, self-sufficiency is sadly un-realistic. "Dying breed" seems over-glorified as well, lol.

 

 

 

I know I'm generalising when I say this, but there's a reason why those who are self sufficient are almost always either low levels or mid levels (total level wise).

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I'd have to say buying the supplies for a skill would be much more efficient then gathering them all yourself. For instance, if I were to of cut every single log for 99 firemaking I would have had to spend hours of training a skill I really don't like that much just to save 5m. But if you want to go ahead and gather every supply for every skill go for it, it would be quite an achievement.

 

 

 

Sorta off topic: Why do people say "bought the skill"? It should be more like "bought the supplies for the skill" because technically you can't actually buy the levels you still have to work for them, even if it is a fast skill.

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The way I see it is buying these resources from other players is what keeps Runescape from changing from a MMOG to a single player fantasy game. In a sense all the players providing items and resources for each other is a way to play the game cooperatively together as one big huge team.

 

 

 

Heck if everyone had the same "Gather everything myself" type of mind we may as well just be playing a computer game by ourself. Being a self made player just seems like another way to say "I want to play Runescape but I wish it was single player". To me it just doesn't seem like the spirit of the game.

 

 

 

Of course after saying all this I have to mention that I have the utmost respect for these type of players because they work a lot harder to achieve all of their levels and are often just trying to challenge themselves.

 

 

 

So really "self made players" aren't a dieing group of players, they're just a group of players who play the game in a way it wasn't really designed for. They want to do things differently and prefer to work by themselves. There's not many of these players because Runescape naturally draws people who want to play the game with others and not get everything done by themselves.

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The way I see it is buying these resources from other players is what keeps Runescape from changing from a MMOG to a single player fantasy game. In a sense all the players providing items and resources for each other is a way to play the game cooperatively together as one big huge team.

 

 

 

Heck if everyone had the same "Gather everything myself" type of mind we may as well just be playing a computer game by ourself. Being a self made player just seems like another way to say "I want to play Runescape but I wish it was single player". To me it just doesn't seem like the spirit of the game.

 

 

 

Of course after saying all this I have to mention that I have the utmost respect for these type of players because they work a lot harder to achieve all of their levels and are often just trying to challenge themselves.

 

 

 

So really "self made players" aren't a dieing group of players, they're just a group of players who play the game in a way it wasn't really designed for. They want to do things differently and prefer to work by themselves.

 

 

 

That's a way I hadn't looked at it before. I thought that the main reason I've never bought levels is because I've never been able to afford the initial investment, but as I said, now I can. Maybe another reason is because I just enjoy the solitude and hard work of self-sufficiency. I dunno.

 

 

 

It's inefficient. And that's why you only have 38m experience.

 

Actually, I only have 38m experience because I have no patience for grinding. I can't do more than five or six loads of anything without--hey, what's that?

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Muggiwhplar posted a very good thread about buying skills a long time ago that had a lot of good discussion. Check it out. You might find it interesting.

 

 

 

Honestly? It doesn't matter how you train your skills. Every player is a self-made player. This isn't real life, where some people are born into poverty while others are born into wealth. Every character starts with the same amount of gp in their bank, and every character needs to earn their money.

 

 

 

Think about it. Unbalanced trades are dead. Discontinued items aren't around for free anymore. Any penny you have, you had to get somehow. What's the difference whether you got your smithing level by buying steel bars or mining gold to smelt? If you bought those materials, you had to work to earn the money, too. Everything you get, you get because you work for it somehow. So we're all self-made players.

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its faster for me to level, alot faster, if i make money for buyables w/ gwd and tds, train buyables fast, and in the time saved i can get up gathering skills quite a bit in the time i have saved, using fast methods and selling the produce

 

 

 

tl;dr, im not self sufficient

I'm gonna be walking down an alley in varrock, and walka is going to walk up to me in a trench coat and say "psst.. hey man, wanna buy some sara brew"

walka92- retired with 99 in attack, strength, defence, health, magic, ranged, prayer and herblore and 137 combat. some day i may return to claim 138 combat, but alas, that time has not yet come

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Muggiwhplar posted a very good thread about buying skills a long time ago that had a lot of good discussion. Check it out. You might find it interesting.

 

 

 

Honestly? It doesn't matter how you train your skills. Every player is a self-made player. This isn't real life, where some people are born into poverty while others are born into wealth. Every character starts with the same amount of gp in their bank, and every character needs to earn their money.

 

 

 

Think about it. Unbalanced trades are dead. Discontinued items aren't around for free anymore. Any penny you have, you had to get somehow. What's the difference whether you got your smithing level by buying steel bars or mining gold to smelt? If you bought those materials, you had to work to earn the money, too. Everything you get, you get because you work for it somehow. So we're all self-made players.

 

 

 

I hadn't thought of that, but you're right. Brilliant. =D>

 

The money used to buy skills was never part of a trust fund from anybody's rich parents or some random luck (Olly aside <3: ) like winning the lottery. Buying ore with money from selling logs is entirely logical. Thank you for showing me this. :pray:

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You are definitely a dying breed. And you know what's killed them? Things like "you received 54,743,259 coins as your split of this drop: 1x Armadyl Hilt." or "You received 43,284,361 coins as your split of this drop: 1x Saradomin Hilt." For soloers like me, or lucky LSers, it would be "Take Armadyl Hilt" and "Take Saradomin Hilt." My point is that God Wars is such a great moneymaker for essentially every high level in this game that not buying skills makes absolutely no sense. Why spend more time chopping yews or magics as opposed to teaks or willows, when I could use the saved time to go to God Wars and probably make way more than I would at the yews? The same logic applies to things like buying bars for smithing as opposed to mining and smelting the ore myself.

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I've been playing Runescape on and off for, yeesh, since at least late 2002/early 2003 (I remember the addition of sleeping bags and all the horrors of the fatigue system...*shudder*). I have one character, a level 108 with a 1740 skill total to show for it. No 99s, no massive piles of gold, but you can bet I have a ton of fond memories.

 

 

 

More on topic though, I can say for the longest time I was (and still strive to be at times) a self-sufficient player. I did many of the things you mentioned in your first paragraph Dragoon, and still try to do. In the days of Classic and early RS2, I picked up every scrap of anything that I thought I might need. It wasn't that I thought buying materials was lazy or anything, I had a strong dislike of standing around saying "Buying X for Y gp!" for hours. I would rather spend my time collecting the damn resource myself. Not to mention when a phase I like to call the merchanting/miniclip period set it, I was glad I was largely independent of the market. Quick history lesson folks, a while back when merchanting just took off (relatively early in RS2's history), the cost of resources plummeted and rares skyrocketed. It's how phats got to the millions they run for today. Then again, I've always run on a "do this to raise these three skills" goal mindset.

 

 

 

It's hardly that I wanted ot be antisocial. I've observed many an enlightened conversation on the shores of Catherby. Meeting random people and striking up friendships is what I like about the MMO aspect, and I like Runescape's style of gameplay which fulfills my RPG requirement. I do have to say that the Grand Exchange was one o the best updates for me ever. I stockpiled resources, in a big way. I still have some remnants in my bank. So when that came out I had a, more or less, bank sale. I never really has owned more that 1 million gp in cash ever. After raising my herblore a big from stockpiled herbs from farming, slaying, and having obtained many of the seconds myself, I sold roughly 80% of the potions I made. seeing 9 million in my bank made me laugh like a mad man. I know that seems absolutely pathetic in comparison to everyone's mountain of gold, but recently hitting 10 million in cash has felt like a major achievement for me. Maybe its just because I've played for so long and casually at that.

 

 

 

So lately I've been investing in skills with a break-even/make profit mindset which still involves me gathering some if not all the resources myself. I'm quite content with that.

 

 

 

Oh and just for the sake of it: You just advanced 1 storytelling level!

I may put something here eventually.

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A dying breed? Nah, just a clueless one.

 

This.

 

Seems to me like your attempting to gain some form of recognition from doing this.

 

People have tried when they got bored of 'scape but even they found it was completely pointless.

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More on topic though, I can say for the longest time I was (and still strive to be at times) a self-sufficient player. I did many of the things you mentioned in your first paragraph Dragoon, and still try to do. In the days of Classic and early RS2, I picked up every scrap of anything that I thought I might need. It wasn't that I thought buying materials was lazy or anything, I had a strong dislike of standing around saying "Buying X for Y gp!" for hours. I would rather spend my time collecting the damn resource myself. Not to mention when a phase I like to call the merchanting/miniclip period set it, I was glad I was largely independent of the market. Quick history lesson folks, a while back when merchanting just took off (relatively early in RS2's history), the cost of resources plummeted and rares skyrocketed. It's how phats got to the millions they run for today. Then again, I've always run on a "do this to raise these three skills" goal mindset.

 

 

 

It's hardly that I wanted ot be antisocial. I've observed many an enlightened conversation on the shores of Catherby. Meeting random people and striking up friendships is what I like about the MMO aspect, and I like Runescape's style of gameplay which fulfills my RPG requirement. I do have to say that the Grand Exchange was one o the best updates for me ever. I stockpiled resources, in a big way. I still have some remnants in my bank. So when that came out I had a, more or less, bank sale. I never really has owned more that 1 million gp in cash ever. After raising my herblore a big from stockpiled herbs from farming, slaying, and having obtained many of the seconds myself, I sold roughly 80% of the potions I made. seeing 9 million in my bank made me laugh like a mad man. I know that seems absolutely pathetic in comparison to everyone's mountain of gold, but recently hitting 10 million in cash has felt like a major achievement for me. Maybe its just because I've played for so long and casually at that.

 

I heartily agree with you that pre-GE trading was some serious suckage in every possible way I can think of. I had the same aversion to trading...I was more or less a dedicated DIY'er for the same reasons. But instantaneous trading has made the DIY method all but obsolete. The Grand Exchange has allowed me to buy and sell and become richer than I ever thought I'd be. Brugsen Bursen is my hero!

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I heartily agree with you that pre-GE trading was some serious suckage in every possible way I can think of. I had the same aversion to trading...I was more or less a dedicated DIY'er for the same reasons. The Grand Exchange allowed me to buy and sell and become richer than I ever thought I'd be. Brugsen Bursen is my hero!

 

Yeah, at one point I really wanted to make some money so one of my friends who started playing the same time I did tried to get me into shark merchanting in Edgeville. Took me all of 30 minutes to realize that wasn't for me.

 

 

 

I mean think about it, old trading was just grinding your typing skill. Seriously.

I may put something here eventually.

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You just have to take the time = money factor in consideration. For instance if you want to raise your smithing with 5000 Iron Bars, it would be much faster making the nature runes that equal the value of the 5000 bars instead of gathering the ore and smelting them all yourself. I do think it's very admirable what you're doing though :) .

99 Slayer since August 2007.

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The problem is that it's easy to make money, so in virtually all cases, you're better off making obscene amounts of money and then spending it rather than gathering what you need for yourself.

 

 

 

Were this a single-player game, your way of playing would be the only way. If you want an item, your only option is to go and get it yourself. You want 10,000 oak planks? You're going to have to cut them from oak trees and then turn them into planks by yourself. Same goes for combat gear: if you want a Whip, you need 85 Slayer. If you want a Godsword, you need to kill the GWD boss that drops the hilt, and you also need to get the shards of the blade. If you want dragon claws, you need to kill large numbers of Tormented Demons. Money would be virtually useless, and also hard to come by.

 

 

 

Unfortunately for those who prefer to train skills by training skills, this playstyle has been made relatively inefficient, at least compared to the exp rates that can be gained by skipping more than half the work. As was mentioned before, this is due mainly to the methods of making money that we now have.

 

 

 

A dying breed? There were few enough of you begin with, and with each new bit of high-level content (apart from things like Agility, which doesn't have much effect on how much money you have at all) will generally come a new, faster way of making money, further reducing the comparative efficiency of this playstyle. So yes. You are a dying breed, killed by Jagex.

 

 

 

Personally, I play like this whenever I can reasonably do so. It makes a lot of activities become profitable when they wouldn't be if you bought the materials. It's not one of the things I rigidly adhere to, so I can't count myself as one of your number.

 

 

 

Given what I spend my time doing, though, it's not really an issue for me. There's no way to buy Agility exp, and my subjects gather enough wood that I never have to train that skill I detest above most others, Woodcutting, in order to train Firemaking, which I enjoy.

Grognarklu Snargle Ungle'Bla.

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Does anyone else work this way, or am I of a dying breed?

 

 

 

Yes there are people who try to play the game the way you describe, you are not a dying breed.

 

 

 

This is a game, play it the way you get the most fun / accomplishment out of it. I personally feel it's much more fun if I get my own resources. Like you I do not buy any skill.

 

 

 

The fact that you get the feeling you are alone is simple; a lot of players are looking for shortcuts in reaching short-termed goals. While doing this they forget that if you are in the game for the whole experience you will have to collect your own logs / ores / fish / produce eventually. If you buy a resource early in the game, you set yourself up for tedious monotone grinding later on when you want to get your 99 levels in wood cut (months at barbarian willows) mining (months in the dessert quarry), etc (you get the idea).

 

 

 

To answer your original question, mine the extra essence when your summoning allows you to ask an abyssal titan for help :-) Doing slayer tasks is another source of noted pure essence, not heaps but it adds up.

 

 

 

(and to all the nay-Sayers here: I too have never bought a skill and my skill total is > 2100.

 

I just get much more fun time out of my levels than people who try shortcuts to get a quick 99.)

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I used to play like you did, but after the GE was introduced, DIY was sort of useless. Because I have a short attention span too, I have found getting resources by DIY a pain, but I did DIY pre-GE simply because buying the resources took a while and was even more boring than DIY.

 

 

 

Some other factors that are killing this "dying breed" would be GWD, TDs, and DKs to a lesser extent. Those HUGE amounts of money being earned everyday based on a factor called luck is the source of all the GPs that higher leveled players use to buy skills.

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