Tip.It Times: October 10

[CaJ]

Looks like we're criticizing the author's work again just like we did with the 'Efficiency' problem...

 

I have few things against Quests and Mini-games. If we didn't have Quests I believe we would lose a lot of players. I didn't enjoy having to play a game of Soul Wars in order to start Nomad's Requiem, and neither do I think we should have to start a tutorial for Conquest to start the Void Stares Back. Mini-games and Quests are two different things, let's keep them separated from each other.

 

I don't have much to say against the Mini-games, though I personally feel that some of them give out TOO MUCH XP for what they're worth.

 

As for the Name Changes, I lost a number of friends changing my name 5-6 times. I like the name I have now, and I prefer it to my original name (Evilslayer67).

[jaklumen]

I know I'm essentially bumping a dying thread, but I rarely post anything here.

 

Oh, my request still applies. If you remember who I am, please, leave me alone. Or at least I ask you to respect my efforts to wait until I have something truly worthwhile to say.

 

I've known stormveritas for a good while now. I think his writing is of very good quality. If you feel cheeky enough to follow my well-burned electronic trail, you may find I'm no slouch when it comes to writing; well, that's what they tell me. At best, I believe that he let his personal bias override what could have been another good article. Oh, I could see it coming. He'd made statements in previous articles that led me to believe he very much disliked minigames and felt that Jagex was wrongly putting an increasing emphasis on them.

 

So I was not surprised by his opinion in the slightest, but I was surprised that this time, he was extremely intense about it. I think he could have done better if he had explained carefully that this was only HIS opinion (because it's polite to let others speak for themselves) and that he was presenting it as such. He knows quite well that for me, I do my own thing, and will chase after obscure and odd things many players have overlooked or ignored, and that he should know better than to assume how I should play the game because he thought I liked some particular thing.

 

I hope I can say with a minimum of embarrassment to him that he does seem quite hurt by some of the very underhanded and personal attacks some commenters made. I can't say I'm surprised about that, either, and I have to point out to Racheya and the other Admins and Super Mods that came along since my Staff time that it is nothing new.

 

Remember when Andrew Gower threatened a lawsuit? Yep, I was on Staff when that happened. It was in response to a Times article that was struck from the archives "Jagex banning raises eyebrows" or something like that. And Jagex made a backhand slap saying in a news article of their own that a known fansite was leaking passwords. It was this one, of course, although I thought w13 of Zybez/RSC was a real jerkwad for posturing how much better their site was for it *cough*RS gold ads*cough* Oh yes, the security of the boards was compromised for a few years.

 

It may be that Silverion decides to permanently ban me for saying that, but, I don't think Tip.It's warts and flaws should be suppressed. The dramafest is hardly anything new; he's let scores of Staff most of you forgot or don't even know backstab themselves to oblivion and more or less prepare their path out the door. Hell, I met and spoke personally to the guy that started the Times articles to begin with, but few probably know who he is because his involvement was so quickly made a forgotten memory.

 

I've moved on. Runescape is just a pleasant diversion and time-waster. My life is good, despite any opinions others may have formed about the circumstances of my general exit from this community. If Staff believes I should be punished for pointing out Tip.It's ugly bits, that's fine. Or if they believe I should be punished because I'm saying they're being a bit petty themselves, and such pettiness has been a downfall for many years here, that's fine too. I'm just hoping Bob will calmly and rationally understand when I say his article was rather ham-fisted in tone and that he will lighten up next time for the sake of his audience. Anything else... eh, the chips will fall where they may.

 

Oh snap, that signature is old! Kat's been a good friend, though, maybe she'll make me a new one, although I doubt it'd get much use here. Oh, and it's nice to see meili is still around.

[lordkafei]

I'd like to expound on something not explored in the Times article on the economy - the effect of effigies.

 

Personally, I have 2 of the costlier skills "trained" to the mid 90s - Construction & Summoning. We all know 92 is the halfway point; effigies start kicking in at 91. This introduces the possibility of lopping off roughly half of your skill training budget.

 

Before effigies, I had been mulling over how to fund 99 Construction, since I am not that big on the MH fork of the game. Now, I don't have to give it a second thought. Once I got my level to 93, I found a steady supply of Construction XP from W117, assisting with effigies. And it's all at no cost to me whatsoever.

 

My own dragonkin lamps (from boring, humdrum Slayer assignments) are going towards Summoning - at 41K a pop, they are really helping out.

 

A large portion of demand for skilling resources is drying up thanks to effigies. Who needs bots when you eliminate the need for resources in the first place?

[Troacctid]

A large portion of demand for skilling resources is drying up thanks to effigies.

I'd contest this. I would expect the level 91+ players to make up a much smaller portion of the overall demand for resources.

[stonewall337]

A large portion of demand for skilling resources is drying up thanks to effigies.

I'd contest this. I would expect the level 91+ players to make up a much smaller portion of the overall demand for resources.

Also factor in people getting the level in order to be able to open their own effigies.

[lordkafei]

A large portion of demand for skilling resources is drying up thanks to effigies.

I'd contest this. I would expect the level 91+ players to make up a much smaller portion of the overall demand for resources.

Also factor in people getting the level in order to be able to open their own effigies.

 

Which brings you to the lower 90s - the halfway point. Half as many oak planks, or herbs, or bars, or ores, etc. That's a lot of money if you are the type who buys all your resources.

 

Now if you are the type who doesn't intend to push your skills to 99, I agree it's no big deal. But we are talking about CapeScape here. People love their capes.

[stonewall337]

A large portion of demand for skilling resources is drying up thanks to effigies.

I'd contest this. I would expect the level 91+ players to make up a much smaller portion of the overall demand for resources.

Also factor in people getting the level in order to be able to open their own effigies.

 

Which brings you to the lower 90s - the halfway point. Half as many oak planks, or herbs, or bars, or ores, etc. That's a lot of money if you are the type who buys all your resources.

 

Now if you are the type who doesn't intend to push your skills to 99, I agree it's no big deal. But we are talking about CapeScape here. People love their capes.

Takes a "lot" of effigies to get 6.5m ish xp

[lordkafei]

Takes a "lot" of effigies to get 6.5m ish xp

 

At 30,000 XP a day from assisting, that's 238 days to go from 91 to 99. So once you slog it out until 91, you should have your 99 in less than a year - with no further need for buying or harvesting any resources. If you stop assisting at 97 and start using dragonkin lamps, you only need 4,789,798 XP, which comes to 160 days of assisting.

 

You only have to get 97 in 8 skills to be effigy-independent. Let's look at the pairings and the obvious choices for training:

 

Crafting or Agility - Agility, no resource drain

Construction or Thieving - Thieving, little or no resource drain

Cooking or Firemaking - Cooking, drain on raw fish

Farming or Fishing - Fishing, bookends with Cooking or contributes to overall fish resources

Fletching or Woodcutting - Woodcutting w/Ivy, no resource drain or contribution

Herblore or Hunter - Hunter, no resource drain

Smithing or Mining - Smithing, with a drain on bars

Runecrafting or Summoning - Summoning (because so many people love Slaver and despise RC), drain on various secondaries

 

You really can get by nowadays with a lot fewer resources than we old timers had to use. That's money that can now go to gear, or rares or whatever instead of to resource gatherers & bots.