New Members Guide

This is a draft of a guide for new members. Please post constructive suggestions so that we can evolve this into a useful guide for posting on Tip.It's website.

-------------------------

Congratulations on getting a Runescape membership! Pay to Play (P2P) offers a huge new universe for members to explore, including tons of cities, dungeons, monsters, skills, quests, money-making, and more!

This guide will discuss some new travel possibilities, recommend some quests that are helpful to new members, address starting each of the six new skills available (Agility, Farming, Fletching, Herblore, Slayer and Thieving), and discuss other member features encountered while becoming acquainted with the wider domain of Runescape P2P.

When reviewing the many helpful Tip.It guides, be reminded: now that you are a member, the "shaded" members items in tables are now available to you!

Getting around and new areas to explore

The Runescape P2P surface land is many times larger than F2P (see Tip.It's 1.4Mb World Map). An early issue confronting new members is "How do I get to the member areas?" On Karamja, just walk west to the Brimhaven gate. Then you can head north and pay 30 gp to take the ship to Ardougne, home of the Market Square thieving area.

From Falador, just walk west of Doric's house to pass through the member gate into Taverly. The Fishing Contest quest will allow you to bypass climbing over White Wolf Mountain (with its' many hostile level 30+ wolves) when traveling between Taverly and Catherby.

Enchanted jewelry transports are significant member advantage. The Getting Around Guide lists the various methods of transportation available in Runescape. The Gnome gliders and Spirit trees both have quest requirements, as do many others.

The Priest in Peril quest unlocks the Morytania region (east of Varrock).

The Death Plateau quest unlocks the Troll Stronghold area north of Burthorpe.

The Lost City quest unlocks the fairy city of Zanaris, home of the Cosmic runecrafting altar.

Starting the Giant Dwarf quest unlocks Keldagrim, underground home of the dwarves. {not sure if this is true, or if non-questers can go there too?}

The Regicide quest unlocks the elven lands of Tiranwwn, but it is fourth in a series of quests which start with the Plague City quest.

Skills

The first quest I'd suggest for any new member is Druidic Ritual, which unlocks the Herblore Skill. Herblore is key to the Hero's Quest and Legends Quest, so start using those Guams and Marrentills (frequently dropped by Al Kharid warriors) right away!

To start training Agility, go to the Tree Gnome Stronghold Agility course. Agility is helpful for short cuts which get you around faster, and in numerous quests. With increased Agility, you also have more energy so you can run longer (good for getting places, and an advantage in the Wilderness!) Run energy is discussed in the Getting Around Guide. Agility is the only member skill that works in F2P worlds - your run energy will deplete slower in F2P as well as P2P.

To start Farming, you need some potato seeds. Go to Draynor Village market square and buy some seeds from Olivia's stall (or steal them if your Thieving is 10 or higher). Then go northwest to the farm located north of Port Sarim's bar, just southeast of Falador. Inside you can buy most of the Farming equipment you will need (a Seed dibber, a Rake, and a Watering can) for very little money (less than 100 gp). Fill your Watering can at a Sink or the Rain barrel, then proceed north outside and hop the stile to a farming patch, then follow the information in Tip.It's Farming guide to plant your first crop.

Fletching isn't hard to begin - just get a regular Knife and some Logs and use the Knife on the Logs. See the Fletching Skill Guide. To make Bowstrings, pick Flax (small plants with blue flowers) located in a field south of the Party Castle in Seers' Village. Use the Flax on the Spinning Wheel upstairs in the house just north of the church. There are other locations for these, too - see the Crafting Skill Guide.

The Slayer Skill is unlocked by visiting a Slayer Master to get an assignment. The easiest one is Turael in Burthorpe (north of Taverly), in the first house on the east side of town. See the Slayer Skill Guide for further info. Consult Tip.It's Bestiary to get detailed information on any monster.

To start Thieving, pickpocket Men (level 2) and Women (level 2) until your Thieving reaches 5 or 10. Then you'll want to travel to Ardougne market square, the RS thieving mecca. See the Thieving Skill Guide.

Beware

While touring Karamja and some dungeons, be aware that as a member you can get poisoned by certain monsters. Regular poison does 4 HP damage each time it hits you, and takes a while to wear off - lower level members won't survive it without Antipoison potions. See the Herblore Guide Poison section.

You can also die of the "desert effect" in the desert south of Al Kharid (through Shantay Pass, where you will be warned), so take precautions when going there: wear desert robes, carry waterskins, and use a Knife to cut Kharidian cactus to replenish your water supplies.

Dragon Weapons

Although Dragon weapons have in many cases been outclassed by newer weapons, most of the latter require large amounts of cash or very high skill levels to obtain (80+). Dragon weapons offer excellent benefits and are within financial reach of most rune armour players, although they do require 60 Attack to wield. They can be purchased from other players; most are also available from a shop after finishing a quest. You may not be able to wield some of them without the related quest.

(will be a Table)

Dragon dagger Lost City

Dragon longsword Lost City

Dragon mace Hero's

Dragon battleaxe Hero's

Dragon scimitar Monkey Madness

Dragon halberd Regicide

Member Guilds

There are five members-only guilds. The Fishing Guild requires 68 Fishing. The Heroes' Guild is unlocked by completing the Hero's quest. Similarly, the Legends' Guild is unlocked by completing the Legends quest. The Magicians' Guild requires 66 Magic. The Ranged Guild requires 40 Range.

Minor money-making tips

If you become a member at a lower level, you may be anxious to make some cash. In addition to the ways you already know (such as mining ore, etc), there are some low-level ways to make cash in P2P. One is Pure essence mining (requires 30 Mining) - see the Runecrafting Guide for three additional Essence mine teleport locations. Another method is picking Flax (no skill required), and/or spinning Flax into Bowstrings (10 Crafting required; described in Fletching Skill mentioned above). Fletching itself is a third low-level cash source - players will buy arrow shafts, headless arrows and arrows. All of the above items should be sold in bulk to obtain the best prices - consult Tip.It's Market Forums to survey current values.

More

Another fun experience will be the first time you kill an enemy and it drops a Clue scroll. This is a random occurrence from certain enemies, but following your Treasure Trail may lead you to unexpected riches! See the Treasure Trails guide for all the info you'll need.

As a member you can challenge other members in Al Kharid's Duel Arena, defining the kind of battle and possibly risking a bet, winner-take-all.

All Runescape Mini games are members only; look through Tip.It's Mini Games Guides to learn more about each one.

There are many other cool experiences awaiting you, like getting a Kitten (Gertrudes' Cat Quest), Gnome Ball and Gnome Cuisine.

As you work through the Easy and then Medium level member quests, you will eventually become familiar with *all* of the new areas of RS you can enjoy as a member.

When should I become a member?

This question is often debated on Runescape fansite forums. The answer is, whenever you can. Some people like to wait until they have *very* high skill levels; others suggest finishing most of the F2P quests first to build up a respectable skill level. However, you can enjoy being a member at ANY level, so this decision is a personal one. It's easier to level up as a member, and the many novice-level member quests help considerably. Being a member provides access to many great items and skills to make your lower levels more colorful and fun. "Whenever you can talk parental units into paying for it" is the most frequent solution, lol.

Thanks to: bambino, shortkid111, kwimbob, sycopath989, Corioll, Kiara_Kat, vlad_the_old, and Mirrorforced

a great piece of advice, dont buy members unless you have many high level stats - high level as 70-80 - reason - most of the member quests and equipment require those kind of stats and abilities

I would suggest coming member like right after you've done all the non-member quests. By then you should be good enough to be able to do a lot of things and training is just so much easier on member.

good suggestions, guys, I added a section about this and added you to credits. Thanks!

Perhaps this will help?

http://forum.tip.it/viewtopic.php?p=1898824#1898824

I disagree on the "wait until you're high level". And since you currently only have the argument against joining, I'll give you some things to consider for the other side.

While many of the members quests have high requirements, more of them do not than do. Yes there are quests like Regicide and Mournings End. There is also the Golem, Clocktower, Plague city, Sheep Herder, Bio Hazard, Gertrude's Cat, Lost Tribe, Witch's House, Preist in Peril, Ghosts Ahoy, Sea Slug, Recruitment Drive, Murder Mystery, Monk's Friend, and on and on and on and on. There are A TON of low-level member quests. And they add more low-level quests than high-level ones so this trend will only increase in the future.

Additionally, members adds many low-level items: snake armor & bone spears to name some of the newest ones. The huge increase in clothes just for fun is another biggie. Then there's halberds, boots, throwing knives, darts, claws, and spears available all the way down to bronze...

The money from theiving is far more valuable when you are low level than when you are high level, making the skill more fun to level up when it can contribute meaningfully to your character. Similarly the food and wood and herbs you get from farming are all most useful when you are low level in those related skills.

Many of the non-member skills are easier to level in the members world. Consider fishing for lobsters in Karamja and banking in Draynor after a boat ride (remember you lose an inventory slot for the cash) compared to Catharby. Consider runecrafting without game rings. Consider wood cutting and firemaking without maple trees (though the logs exist if you have the money) and with the only decent source of willows being massively overcrowded Draynor beach. Consider mining and smithing with all the competition over the few good mines compared to the spread ot effect in members worlds. This is especially noticable at the Varrock Iron mine and the Al Kharid Scorpion pit, primary places for low-level miners to build up skill.

Long story short (too late = ^.^ = ) If I'm a member at level 1, and you're not. I'll hit whatever milestone you wanted to wait for to become a member before you will. AND I'll have an easier more fun time as well.

Excellent guide, i would've found this useful if i had it when i became a member. But instead i had fun getting lost.

I know you suggest near the end that the new member "look through Tip.It's Other Guides...", but I really think you should mention Treasure Trails before that. That could lead into a brief (very brief) description of some of the rewards (God and trimmed armours come to mind). And a link to the Treasure Trails Guide, of course....

its a good guide! you might wanna mention stakin, though

wiseTSM - I read through your guide; looks like we independently covered pretty much the same territory, lol ... not sure there's anything that needs adding in to this one. You mentioned a lil about joining from Jagex site - I can't decide if it's appropriate to address that in this guide or not. If you think of something unusual, please post here, thanks.

Corioll - I totally agree with you (I think members "the sooner the better") - can you boil all that down to about two sentences, lol?

Kiara - you are right, of course; Treasure Trails is a VERY key feature of P2P (get rich quick!) and deserves a mention - I'll add.

sycopath989 - good point, dueling probably also deserves a mention, I'll add.

wiseTSM - I read through your guide; looks like we independently covered pretty much the same territory, lol ... not sure there's anything that needs adding in to this one. You mentioned a lil about joining from Jagex site - I can't decide if it's appropriate to address that in this guide or not. If you think of something unusual, please post here, thanks.

Mine is still a work in progress. I'll let you know if I add anything. Perhaps a collaboration would be helpful to reduce redundancy?

Ahem:

While many members quests are for high level players, there are more low-level members quests than all the free quests combined. Most of the non-member skills are trained faster and easier in the members world, than the free world. Finally, members adds many great items and skills to make your lower levels more colorful and fun.

Add for herblore that chaos druids in the member's dungeon are also a good place to get some herbs. They also drop lots of herblore-related stuff like vials and some secondary objects like snape grass.

thanks for the idea heavyarms, but I think that's in the Herblore guide, and I'm really just trying to give a very few tips for each item as if the person were very low level.

I was surprised to discover that Tip.It has no Duel Arena guide? Hmm, might mention that to Eeeeediot.

I kinda reorganized a few things, so if you have a chance read it over and see what you think.

Thanks to everyone who has posted ideas, I appreciate them!

more reviews and/or suggestions are welcome!

Might want to add in a section on how to act. F2p and p2p are diffrent..on f2p you can get away with begging..on members? Meh you would be flamed for it. People also tend to be more polite.

Also i know a lot of new members want to get there hands on dragon asap..i see you've linked to the heros quest but perhaps the others like lost city to?

Im sure theres lots more to add to it..and i wouldn't want to make life easy for you pokemama so im sure i can think up some more stuff later. :P

thanks for these, I'm going to be a member any day now and plan on getting lost and dying a few times and then I'll do lost city and get a dragon long...

but things I would want in the guide: Necessary quests, like ones that you need to do to be able to use certain items and get to certain places,

What skills you should work on before your members starts, I've been training fishing to 68 so I can get into the guild but am I wasting time?

What items you need to buy, I think all these teleporting rings sound good to have, what else is good to have?

Anyway, thanks for doing this, The suspense of my mailed cash taking so long is killing me :x

Fishing guild is not significantly better than Catharby which you can access as soon as you walk over wolf mountain (I did it at combat level 9) and where you can fish everything that you can in the fishing guild anyway.

Dueling rings are very handy. Ring of wealth is very handy. Poison is very handy.

Read my argument on why you don't want to wait to become a member. Seriously, there's no reason to work on your skills BEFORE becoming a member, because every single skill you want to raise you can raise faster in the member's world than in the free world. You're only holding yourself back by waiting.

:lol: weeee :lol: found this after looking through my past history and thought it might be really useful

List of Quests and Rewards

The really useful thing about it is that all the rewards are listed on the right so you can choose which quest you want to do to help get target stat up instead of looking at all the quests one by one.

[/url]

Tip.It plans to create a list of quest rewards in the near future, too. ;-)

alright, lets race. your list vs my beard =P

u should sticky this thing it would be useful

thanks :wink:

This is beginning to sound like the text on rs :lol:

But, you asked for things to add, so here they are:

I think there could be something about barrows too; all new members aren't lvl 56 who want to kill just werewolves.

And a tip telling that you should keep world map allways on on your first member week. Helps alot.

And "Try everything, and you'll find something to do that suits you the best!"

Something more about cw? Something about more monsters? i dunno.. And that you can only go on misthalania after doing fremennik trials, and you can only go in shilo village after doing that quest.

There could be loads of stuff!

i have a ton that i could reply with on this topic but cuz im busy watching a movie i'll keep it short and sweet. MY top tips are to stay on free till you have done all quests, by which time it would be good to have a freind on members, if you have a freind on members then they can steer you from our trouble. If they steer you in to trouble they you may want to adjust your definitoon of freind. Also reading through the skill guides thouroughly helps, in general become a member, it rules, dont die blah dee blah dee blah, gotta watch movie getting to good bit, bye!!!