The Second Thousand - A Noob's Journey (Less Than 80 Levels Left)

[Turnpike]

Looking forward to seeing you get a skill cape. :)

[Zodiac Lotus]

Looking good Gregor, keep it up mate. Amazing achievements buddy, you should be proud of yourself :)

 

[GregorDGrim]

Thanks guys!

 

Super-short post, but at least I have a picture. I spent the entire session chopping ivy, earning 218K (my highest one-day total in woodcutting) and level 97:

 

[spoiler=Moved To The Trees For A Better Photo]

 

 

As you can see in the picture, I also picked up nine nests, and a maple seed and yew seed which I sold for about 100K in total. While I was chopping, I was sent to the mime for a random, and I used the experience to level herblore (56).

 

I still need a shade over 2.3 million woodcutting experience to reach level 99. It's going to take me awhile yet, as I'm not the type of person who can train the same skill every time he plays. To get the cape by the end of September, I'd need about 385K experience per week. That's a lot for someone who doesn't have many hours per day to play. I'm not in a rush - this is a meandering journey, after all.

 

Total levels = 1,708

[Zodiac Lotus]

Wow, Congratulations on 97 Woodcutting Gregor :) Keep at it buddy, you'll get there in no time :)

 

[GregorDGrim]

Over the past three days I haven't played very much. I found time to train prayer, using up most of the remaining bonus experience from the Mad Necklace (13% left) and the big bones that I collected from cyclopes (~100 remaining). I summoned a spirit terrorbird for extra storage space, went to world 31 and joined the house party FC, and found a player who was hanging out by his gilded altar keeping the burners lit. I managed to earn 102K prayer experience, about double my previous daily high, and leveled five times (56-60):

 

[spoiler=We're Headin' On Down To The Prayershack, Baby!]

 

 

Most of the remaining time in my sessions was spent carving away at my next fletching level, although I still need more than 400K experience for level 94. I also played Head-To-Head a total of eight times, earning about 103K agility experience and level 72, and Resource Race four times, earning 10K farming experience. It would be great if they forgot to remove the Gielenor Games.

 

Total levels = 1,714

[Zodiac Lotus]

Keep at it Gregor, your doing very well Mate :) 286 left to your 2,000 total level =)

 

[GregorDGrim]

Tuesdays are very good days for me to get a lot of experience in non-combat skills, thanks to the build tick reset in the clan citadel. Yesterday was no exception.

 

I started the session by turning in 300 anagogic orts at one of our clan's three avatars - the one I visited was in its habitat, which apparently was set down right on top of our citadel's town square. Did we ever do anything in that square? Other than a drop party, I don't remember any activities there. Wasted space, pretty much, until now. As I mentioned, we now have three avatars; one is for fighting (and that's the one staying in the habitat most of the time), and the other two are primarily for bonus experience. Apparently one will be with a clan member in world 99 most of the time, with the other generally in world 86. The 3% (or 6%, if in sight of it) experience bonus isn't game-changing, but it is a nice little bonus, particularly for buyable skills as it will save some coin.

 

After turning in the orts and making myself eligible for bonus experience, I took no advantage of it. Instead, I maxed in the citadel. First I trained summoning, wearing my Mad Necklace, and leveled that skill (57). Next, I went over to the mining plot because our clan is having a week-long mining competition. I harbour no illusions of winning (or even placing in the top 10), but in the interest of camaraderie I decided to mine a little precious ore. I kept my Mad Necklace on, finally using it up, and leveled mining (69). To complete my resource gathering for this week, I spent some time crafting and some cooking.

 

With the clan ring charged at the woodcutting plot (of course), and the 3% experience bonus from the avatar, I hacked away at ivy in world 99, earning 509 experience per successful chop. I was surprised by a little update that may be pleasing to no other players in the game but me: the lumberjack chopping animation that I purchased at Solomon's with my 200 free runecoins now works on ivy! Huzzah! Even though this week's update was chock full of nothing, it was all worth it.

 

After using up the clan ring, I turned to fletching for the rest of the session (aside from a quick run through Head-to-Head for the requisite 26K agility experience). I earned a total of 430K experience yesterday, my 6th highest daily amount.

 

Total levels = 1,716

[Zodiac Lotus]

Wow Gregor. Keep it up mate, your doing incredibly well :)

I'm struggling to figure out what i should work on next, but i think i might work towards 99 Defence through Slayer tasks. hehe

 

[Turnpike]

If I can finish Mining in time..i'll gladly join you at the Ivy. Just don't know if that will happen. It's kicking my butt because of work!

[GregorDGrim]

PvM Fredrow - thanks! 99 defense sounds like a good challenge for you.

 

Turnpike - it's highly likely I'll still be working on 99 woodcutting when you're done mining, so I'll keep a patch of ivy reserved for you.

 

As my hunter level was my lowest skil by three, it seemed like a good time to try a new form of training (for me) - red salamanders. Beyond the nets and rope, waterskins are necessary and desert robes are recommended, as they're found well east of the Shantay Pass in the middle of a desolate land. Oh, I almost forgot to mention one additional necessity: the lack of lag. On my first visit, lag was terrible, at one point causing me to lose a rope that was on the ground due to a failed trap. I leveled once (54) but had to call it quits after that. Upon my later return, the lag was gone and I leveled twice more (55, 56):

 

[spoiler=These Things Taste Terrible!]

 

 

I won a Pendant of Fletching on SoF, providing nearly 28K of bonus experience. Between that and spending some time earning a 6% exp bonus thanks to the clan avatar being in the same room as me, I knocked a fair bit off the amount needed to level fletching to 94. I also alched 300 of the strung bows, getting the same bonus in magic.

 

I gained one more level, thanks to a small lamp that I used on herblore (57).

 

Total levels = 1,720

[A_Gardener]

Good to see you're still making steady progress! :)

[Zodiac Lotus]

Thanks Gregor, I'm training Defence through my slayer tasks. I'm ranging Iron dragons as we speak, and training defence via ranged attacks. Dragonbane bolts & Kuradel's dungeon work well together. he-he

 

Great work so far mate, Keep it up. Your nearly there man. :)

 

[GregorDGrim]

A few days have passed, and there is little of note to mention. I've played a lot of Head-To-Head, leveling agility (73) and making that skill the seventh to reach one million experience. I discovered that the Pendant of Agility that I won on the Squeal of Fortune works in this mini-game, so that's now been depleted.

 

I won one of the summer barbeques on the Squeal, and used it to level cooking (82). I guess I'm supposed to save it for long trips where I can catch and cook my own food, but it doesn't seem all that useful, so I didn't mind wasting some of it (it's good for cooking 1,000 food items) right outside the Edgeville Bank. I picked up a nice 6% bonus thanks to our clan's avatar residing within the bank.

 

The other level I earned was in farming (57), thanks to the Resource Race game.

 

I spent some time over the weekend chopping ivy, and also took part in the destruction of an evil maple tree. For the first time, I was complimented on the lumberjack animation I purchased with the 200 runecoins each member received. So totally worth it.

 

Total levels = 1,723

[GregorDGrim]

How about a picture to start off this entry? Haven't had a picture in awhile:

 

[spoiler=Fletching - Level 94]

 

 

That should certainly be my second level 99 skill. I wonder if I could knock it out by year's end. Probably not, as there are too many other things I want to spend time on and I would need more than 250K exp/week to reach that achievement.

 

Other bits of information worth mentioning:

 

- Maxed in the clan citadel yesterday and spent nearly the entire time crafting, reaching level 83. After I leveled, I finished up at the mining plot. I then charged my clan ring at the woodcutting plot and spent about an hour chopping ivy.

 

- Trained agility playing Head-to-Head, and leveled that skill to 74. I also got about 5K farming experience playing Resource Race. I assume these games will be disappearing at the end of the month, but I'll keep getting my free agility experience as long as possible.

 

- Used the Jack of Trades aura to level herblore (58).

 

- Two nights ago on the SoF, I received three small lamps and a medium lamp. Seemed like an odd coincidence.

 

- I spent about an hour in Runespan, and definitely noticed the experience nerf that was referred to in the update notes. I had planned to reach level 85 in runecrafting by the time I achieved 1,800 total levels, but now I'm not so sure I'll be doing that.

 

Total levels = 1,727

[SwreeTak]

You're getting closer and closer to that level 99 Fletching. Keep it going and good luck as usual.

[GregorDGrim]

Thanks, swedishboy! I have just over five million experience to go, so I don't really feel very close to 99, but I'm happy to have eight million experience done.

 

After a long break, I went back to combat, focusing on my assigned slayer task of 84 shades. I could remember shades only in the bottom of the Stronghold of Security, so I headed there only to find that my experience was almost nothing with those creatures. Fortunately, a clanmate reminded me about the loar shadows in Morytania that changed into shades once attacked. I whipped my way through those shadows in short order, leveling attack (71) and reaching a total combat level of 94 in the process.

 

On my way out of that area, I stopped off northwest of Canifis and slaughtered ghouls for a solid hour. In addition to 48 charms, I leveled constitution (71), defense (68) and strength (70), giving me a total combat level of 95:

 

[spoiler=Something Smells Strong Around Here]

 

 

Two comments about that picture: the free tropical look that I got from Solomon's always shows on top of my armor, no matter what I'm wearing, which makes my attack get-up look rather silly. Also, I like the look of the ring around my lower legs, evidence of the clan avatar experience bonus I received while fighting.

 

I spent some non-combat time cooking, firemaking and fletching, taking advantage of the 6% experience bonus earned by being in the same area as the clan avatar. I wrapped up with some Head-To-Head (more solid agility experience) and some Resource Racing, leveling farming (58).

 

My next post will be a long one.

 

Total levels = 1,732

[Zodiac Lotus]

Nicely done Gregor. Keep up the great work buddy.

[GregorDGrim]

Has It Been A Year Already?

 

Wow. One year ago I started this blog, and its subtitle, A Noob's Journey, is apropos of my Runescape adventures to date. I can't say that I expected to post regular updates for an entire year, and still be going strong, but it's happened. 732 levels later, and I am not quite the noob I was on August 31, 2011. Obviously, much can happen in a year, and I have been thinking about how to organize my thoughts to make a somewhat-coherent anniversary post. Unfortunately for you, my dear reader, I am unable to figure out exactly how to write this entry, so I am going to the tried-and-true method of presenting my comments in list form. Hopefully it presents a fairly accurate representation of my thoughts and experiences since this blog began. Here we go:

 

12 Thoughts For 12 Months

 

1. One year ago today, I had 1,000 total levels and just over 2.4 million total experience. Now I have 1,732 total levels and almost 38.5 million total experience. Had you pressured me when I started my blog to predict how many levels I would have gained in the past year, I would have guessed around 500. I've had more playing time available, and have been more efficient, than expected.

 

2. More numbers since I'm a numbers guy. I've played for a total of 35 days and one hour, which breaks down to almost 45,700 experience earned per hour played. Subtracting the first 203 hours it took to get my first thousand levels and start this blog, I've played 638 hours (1.74 per day). While that's not exactly no-lifing, it is a fairly large number. A large part of that total included multi-tasking, so as a consequence the vast majority of my total experience is in non-combat skills. I've enjoyed chopping ivy or fletching while watching television or, heaven forbid, working.

 

3. Some dates - I reached 1,500 total levels on April 16th (576 total hours played and 18.8 million exp) and 1,600 total levels on June 2nd. I achieved 50+ levels in every skill just over two months ago, on June 26th.

 

4. As of today my blog has nearly 10,000 views. I'm grateful that others have read my words, and that many have commented positively on my blog. This has made playing the game more fun for me. I would especially like to mention swedishboy7 and Sydan, who have commented regularly through the entire 12 months that I've been writing this blog, giving me great playing advice and instilling a friendly, helpful attitude in my playing style that I plan to continue for as long as I log in to the game.

 

5. Barring an unforeseen curtailment of my available time (or desire) to play, I will reach the end of The Second Thousand more quickly than originally anticipated. When I began the blog, I figured that it would happen around early 2014. About four months ago, I thought that level 2,000 could be reached in the fall of 2013. Now, I feel confident that it will be before my second anniversary post. Once I reach 1,800 total levels, I'll start plotting out my path for the last 200, and estimate how much time it will take.

 

6. I don't spend very much time in combat. My highest combat skill is magic, and maybe 5% of my total experience in that skill has come through actual offensive spells. I don't mind fighting, although I've never tried attacking another player and don't plan to do so. With the spectre of EoC looming on the horizon, it remains to be seen whether the time I spend in combat will rise or fall proportinately to the time spent skilling.

 

7. A common theme throughout my posts has been my lack of ability to spend more than an hour or two at a time in any one skill. That's why it is taking me so long to reach level 99 in woodcutting. I think there has been just one time in the past year where I spent more than three hours in a day chopping. I like switching from skill to skill, and tend to lose focus, becoming easily distracted.

 

8. An opossum just walked right by my window. See, this is exactly what I mean about distractions.

 

9. I am a tremendous slacker when it comes to quests and tasks. I've completed basically zero tasks in the last 11 months, and I've earned just 24 quest points since last September 6th (only eight since February 1st!). That's ridiculous. I enjoy quests, because I generally learn something about the game, get some experience, and pick up a decent reward or two. Why can I not be bothered? I'll tell you this much: I'm going to stop being such a slacker when it comes to quests. I think I have more than 60 available to complete. It's time to quest, ladies and gentlemen!

 

10. I joined my current clan (Overloaded XP) on January 16th. Over the past seven and a half months, I have maxed in the clan citadel every single week. That includes even the week I went to Mexico on vacation. Getting the free experience at the various skill plots (in particular, the loom for crafting) and with the clan ring (charged nearly every time at the woodcutting plot, but that will change as soon as I hit 99), is so worthwhile. I've had some good conversations with clanmates. Although I do consider myself more of an outsider within the clan because I don't participate in many of the official events, and I'm significantly older than most of the members, I'm glad I joined and I plan to stick around for awhile yet.

 

11. I love to take advantage of free bonus experience. Bonus exp weekends were extremely enjoyable, especially because I was so low-leveled during the September weekend last year, and I will miss them. The Mad Necklace was great. Playing Head-To-Head at the Games for agility experience has been freakin' awesome. The Jack of Trades aura is my clear favorite. I even purchased two combat-related auras and still haven't used them once. I'm looking forward to logging in after posting this and picking up my Promissory Note for the August bonus experience, and I'll like the September bonus even more. Those who have been playing this game for years and are high-leveled (2200+) may not remember just how much more excellent (and meaningful) free experience is to a lower-leveled player.

 

12. I've mentioned this elsewhere in the Tip.It forums, but for the most part Runescape is still quite enjoyable for newer players. Yes, it is grindy by nature, and the high-level and end-game content is just so damn far away. But the journey is worth it. Really, this game is what you make of it. For me, it is a great diversion and a way to forget about the stresses of real-life. The Squeal of Fortune is annoying. The level of bots and gold farmers is annoying. The removal of high scores for free-to-play players was annoying. The increasing amount of micro-transactions, and the marketing of such transactions, is annoying. I am positive that these things and others are what makes long-term players very frustrated, causing some of them to leave the game altogether. I still find that all the rest of the content makes my experiences a lot of fun, and as long as it remains fun, and I have time, I will continue to play.

 

Thanks for reading, and I look forward to sharing my Year Two experiences with you.

[GregorDGrim]

I jumped on the 350K free experience like a six-year old at a bounce house after eating three candy bars. I spread the experience over six different skills, leveling five of them to 60 (construction, farming, herblore, hunter and summoning):

 

[spoiler=It Almost Doesn't Feel Right]

 

 

 

In total, I gained 14 levels from the Promissory Note - hunter 57-60, construction and summoning 58-60, and farming and herblore 59-60. I had 25K remaining on the Note after all of that leveling, and I used it on prayer.

 

I'm already starting to think about how I'm going to spend the 700K experience at the end of September.

 

I spent about 90 minutes following that experience explosion in Falador, chopping ivy. Including the benefits from the Note, I 'earned' my fourth-highest daily experience total (463K).

 

I had time in a follow-up session just for Jack of Trades, leveling prayer (61), and some Gielenor Games, playing Head-To-Head and then Resource Race. For the first time, I was able to plant and pick the green herbs, earning me more than 7,500 farming experience instead of the usual 5K.

 

Total levels = 1,747

[GregorDGrim]

Keep on playing Head-To-Head - maybe they will leave it there and I can draw cards all the way to level 99 agility. Reached level 75:

 

[spoiler=How Many Times Can I Beat the Same Four Opponents?]

 

 

I won a Pendant of Fletching on the SoF, which gave me a 29K bonus that was used up in a little more than 15 minutes. I continued fletching for a time, eventually earning a shade over 200K experience for the day in the skill. I alched about 500 of the strung yew longbows that I made, expanding my coffers ever-so-slightly.

 

Our clan's weekly skilling competition is woodcutting, beginning last night. I might get closer to level 99 than anticipated this week.

 

Total levels = 1,748

[GregorDGrim]

Thanks to our clan's skilling competition, over the past two days I've done nothing but train woodcutting. For the first time, we have a skilling competition where I feel that I can actually be very competitive. It is great timing too, as it coincides with the final push to level 99 and my first skill cape.

 

In the last two sessions I've applied the Jack of Trades bonus experience along with any lamps I receive from the SoF to woodcutting. Two days ago I earned 257K total woodcutting experience, which is the most experience I've earned in a skill in a single day. Yesterday I maxed in the citadel at the woodcutting plot, used my fealty bonus on the skill and charged my clan ring at the plot. Since I joined this clan, I never had failed to level at least once while skilling in the citadel - until yesterday. In total, I earned 211K woodcutting experience and reached level 98:

 

[spoiler=One More To Go]

 

 

I'm not sure if I'll be sticking to woodcutting this entire week, or until I reach level 99, or for just another hour before I get sick of it. But the urge to get that skill cape is strong, and it would be cool for that to be my 1,750th level.

 

Total levels = 1,749

[GregorDGrim]

Looks like I'll be sticking with woodcutting until I reach level 99. Spent a lot of time yesterday chopping ivy, earning 341K experience, which is by far the most experience I've earned in a single skill in one day.

 

I also passed 40 million total experience.

 

814K to go.

 

Total levels = 1,749

[Turnpike]

I call dibs on 99 sex.. ^.^ You're almost there!!!!!

[A_Gardener]

Keep going! It's nice to see you're still walking down that road to 2000 total. :)

[Syd]

Almost there! Waiting for the final update with that skill! :P

 

Yay for 99s!