I stopped playing RS four years ago after someone hacked into my account and took my full dragon armor. At that time, I was just a kid, and even the smallest obstacle had me turning back. But now I want to start again. I remember getting many dragon legs drop when killing steel dragons, and I want to start doing that again, please tell me how I can get enough money to get a full mage robe (or is that not the best magic gear anymore?) and some money for runes to start running steel dragons. I prefer to stay as a free player now, and will get membership after I get enough money, but it's just a preference, nothing's certain yet.

 

Here are my stats:

 

 

 

ATTACK:71

 

STRENGTH:65

 

DEFENSE:70

 

RANGE:70

 

PRAYER:51

 

MAGIC:70

 

RUNECRAFT:44

 

AGILITY:53

 

HERBLORE:55

 

THIEVING:54

 

CRAFT:51

 

FLETCH:48

 

SLAYER:55

 

MINING:51

 

SMITHING:53

 

FISHING:58

 

COOKING:59

 

FIREMAKING:52

 

WOODCUTTING:56

 

FARMING:54

 

 

 

Any recommendations is welcome. Thanks!

 

And if someone can fill me in on the major changes in gameplay or item, it'll be very helpful! Thank you!

The easiest way to make money is being a member. It wouldn't waste money at all to become a member with immediate effect. I can't really think of f2p money making since I haven't been f2p in over a couple of years.

 

 

 

However, with the removal of bots I believe both yews and coal are pretty good money. Also, there are some creatures Ankhus (something like that, anyway) in the security stronghold that drop some nice runes in f2p. The security of stronghold is in Barbarian Village and there are some nice guides for that around the forum. Don't be afraid to search or ask for help.

The easiest way to make money is being a member. It wouldn't waste money at all to become a member with immediate effect. I can't really think of f2p money making since I haven't been f2p in over a couple of years.

 

 

 

However, with the removal of bots I believe both yews and coal are pretty good money. Also, there are some creatures Ankhus (something like that, anyway) in the security stronghold that drop some nice runes in f2p. The security of stronghold is in Barbarian Village and there are some nice guides for that around the forum. Don't be afraid to search or ask for help.

 

 

 

I don't mind becoming a member, but I just don't want to pay for the membership until I know what I'll be doing. And you mention "removal of bots"? What does that mean? As of killing for money, I can't afford to do that yet since I have no weapon or armor of any kind...

Jagex managed to get rid of automatic woodcutting/mining bots by installing the trade limits, thus making real world trading near impossible.

 

This made woodcutting and mining a lot more profitable as people still need yews or coal.

 

Both of these can be collected as F2P player, though you would have to train for it a bit.

 

 

 

Seeing as your levels aren't extremely high it might be a valid way to do it anyway, you'd gain some woodcutting or mining levels and earn some money.

 

If you want to start earning cash right away you could try something dumb like picking flax and making those into bow strings (I'm not sure if it's still as profitable as it was but it would still get you money).

 

 

 

As for the magic gear:

 

I wouldn't try and get the best there is as that's very expensive and would just cost you way too much time.

 

You can easily mage metal dragons with a little lower magic gear.

 

I never really mage metals but some nice armors would probably be Dagon'hai robes or Ahrims.

 

for the staff you could use the Ancient staff or if you really want something expensive the Master Wand (they both had the 10% rise added).

Trading is now "balanced" meaning that you can't trade something for more than +/- 5k (or more, depending on your quest points) of the current market price. There's also a new center for trading called the grand exchange, which basically lets you put items up for sale and the game does the selling for you. It's a bit confusing at first so I recommend looking over the knowledge base articles here and here. Anyways, because of the trade balancing, real world trading has been seriously hindered, meaning that you hardly see bots in the game anymore.

 

 

 

You can mage the dragons, but with the improvement of crossbows, it's a lot more cost effective to range them instead. Once you become a member again, get some black dragonhide, a rune crossbow, antidragon shield, and a stack of broad bolts and you should be just fine. I also recommend doing the "Animal Magnetism" quest to get yourself an Ava's Accumulator, which will pick up your arrows/bolts for you when you range.

 

 

 

For money making, you can make fast cash slaying green dragons and selling the hides & bones (I've never done it, but the profit is 500k+ an hour from what I've heard), or stick with doing any of the gathering/resource skills - woodcutting, fishing, mining, and hunter. Hunter is new for you, but you start making big money around level 63-70 by catching red chinchimpas, or at 83 by catching dragon implings. You also have a good farming level, so continue to do herb runs on the side while you're training your other skills and you should start making money again in no time.

 

 

 

I do recommend that you become a member right away, since it's a lot harder to make money in f2p.

 

 

 

Good luck ;D