The Chronicles of Runescape

The Spirit Tree which I grew last Friday

The past few days have been brilliant. During the weekend, I prepared and bought the materials required to train Fletching and Magic; I also sold 16000 Death Runes to get the extra cash for the stuff. I also won quite a number of points in the mini game, Pest Control, and was able to exchange them for Prayer exp. I was even lucky enough to get 2 Papaya seeds, a Magic Seed and yet ANOTHER Spirit Seed from my Bird's Nests!



And today, after checking the health of all my trees, including the Spirit Tree I grew on Friday, I managed to lvl my Farming, pushing it up to 86. If I keep this up, I might even be able to reach lvl 90+ by the end of the year. I'm also closing in on lvl 99 Fishing; I still have 500k exp left to go but I am confident that I am able to get that lvl up on the 9th of August, National Day. Forgive me for being repetetive, but this will certainly be yet another day to remember.




Stuff achieved today: Lvl 86 Farming, Lvl 62 Crafting

Posted by Timothy Gold at 4:27 PM | Permalink

I was removing some tree seeds from my Bird's Nests as usual today, when this strange looking seed appeared in my inventory. Thinking it was a Magic Tree seed, I happily right clicked it, and realized that it was actually a Spirit seed, the rarest type of tree in Runescape!

Now for those of you who haven't read my previous posts, this has happened before; I once had and grew another Spirit Tree seed. Unfortunately, it died because I didn't really take care of it that well... However, I've finally obtained a second one, and this time I'm not gonna screw up again. Thanks to a recent update, it is now possible to hire a gardener to look after the Spirit Tree for you. The payment's quite expensive (5 Monkey Nuts, a Monkey Bar and a ground up Suqah's Tooth), but since I've already completed the two quests which help me to gain easy access to those items, I've managed to successfully pay the gardener.

In about half a week, I will have grown my first Spirit Tree. That will certainly be a day to remember!!!


Stuff achieved today: I planted a Spirit Tree!

Posted by Timothy Gold at 7:20 PM | Permalink

The Oneiromancer, leader of the Moon Clan

Yes!!! The update I talked about in my previous post came out last night. It was everything I had expected and more, and the new spells in particular are amazing! But before I get into the details of this new feature of the game, I'll first give you a brief idea of it in case you're not that familiar with the initial storyline of the quest (Lunar Diplomacy).

Okay first off, there are these two different groups of people; namely the Moon Clan, who are renowned for their skill in magic, and the mighty warrior Fremenniks. These two tribes have been enemies for hundreds of years, and it is up to my character to resolve their conflict.

And now back to the quest; I first had to take a ship from Relleka to Lunar Isle, the home of the Moon Clan. However, the ship literally took one big round around the Relleka port instead of heading to the Isle. I later found out that the ship was cursed (or "jinxed") by a member of the Moon Clan as part of a prank, and had to solve this problem by removing the 5 jinx symbols drawn in different areas of the ship.


Me searching for the Jinx symbols

I was then able to reach the island, and confront the Moon Clan leader, the Oneiromancer, to make peace. She then requested that I get a better understanding of the Moon Clan's magic powers as the first phase of bringing an end to the hatred between the two tribes. To do this, I had to perform a special ritual which all Moon Clan members have to go through to unlock their powers. In order to start the ritual, I had to get myself a complete ritual clothing set, a Lunar staff and a Waking Sleep Potion.


The Ceremonial Blazer involved in the Moon Clan Ritual I had to perform



Dreamland, a place overloaded with primary colours

Eventually, I was able to gather all the required items, and after receiving instructions about the ritual's procedure, I finally started performing it. By doing so, I was sent to Dreamland, a place that is supposedly somewhere inside the sub-conscious part of my character's mind. I had to take part in several exercises to teach myself certain special values (e.g believing in myself, being determined, relating to others). I have no idea how these traits have anything to do with magic (possibly a feeble attempt made by Jagex to make Runescape a more wholesome game), but I soon completed all challenges, and thus ended the ritual. I then headed back to the Oneiromancer and collected the quest reward: 5000 Magic and Runecrafting exp, 50 Astral Runes and access to Lunar Spells.


My character taking part in one of the challenges in Dreamland. The
outfit I'm wearing is actually the Ritual robes.

This concludes the first part of making peace between the two tribes. They still have a long way to go before they actually start to get along with each other, which is why I think that there might be more quests involving the further resolution of this conflict.


I gained access to the Astral ALtar after completing the quest


Stuff achieved today: Completion of the Lunar Diplomacy Quest

Posted by Timothy Gold at 7:36 PM | Permalink

Sunday was great, it was the break I've been waiting for all this time. I spent some time focusing on Combat, which was a more "exciting" stat compared to Fishing and Farming (they were really starting to get boring). I played Pest Control, and lost like crap at first, but as evening slowly arrived, I faired better. It turns out that the quality of players tends to suck more than the ones who play later.


One of my less successful Pest Control rounds, I was outnumbered.

Monday, on the other hand, was stressful as always. I normally stay back in school till 5pm, so it's really no surprise that I often find myself out of time to do anything productive. Ah well, at least an update might come out today, I'm really looking forward to it. According to the "Behind the Scenes" thing, a new set of spells as well as a quest involving the mysterious Moon Clan, which sounds very promising.

Stuff achieved today: 40k Farming exp

Posted by Timothy Gold at 3:52 PM | Permalink

Things have settled down now, I've taken care of many of my trades and my school work's mostly completed. Still, I really wouldn't consider today a break from my busy RS schedule.

I had to go to school today (school on a Saturday! Omg there should be a law against this!) and that really ate up a lot of my time. Dealing with those trades also wasn't exactly easy, I had to teleport all over Runescape to meet up with some of my traders, and there were also those noobs who started showing me attitude when I refused to lower/raise my offer.

I had to keep my private chat on so that my traders could talk to me, however, this also invited a few randoms to message me, and believe me, they were very annoying. I ended up getting a few more noobs in my ignore list. *Sigh* When will they ever learn?



A couple of my "friends" weren't helping the situation either. They constantly kept asking stupid questions; one question led to another, and then another, and then yet another. It was really irritating, the answers to all their questions could easily be anwered with either common sense, or a visit to a Runescape fan site or even the forums. And as if that wasn't enough, a few more of my friends (including the previous two mentioned) had to constantly scream out "Omfg! I got 55 Mining!!!" or "I'm gonna catch 340 Sharks today".

Honestly, what makes you think that I actually can be bothered about your stats or the little goals you've set for yourself? Fact is, I really don't give a fuck about them. Sure, there are many exceptions to this; I will be impressed if friend A were to get a nice round figure of lvl 100 Combat, or if friend B were to get lvl 85 Magic (gains access to a powerful spell, tele-block), but announcing every insignificant lvl up is just ridiculous.

If any of you happen to come across this blog, please consider my request in the previous paragraph. I'm tired of constantly giving out my "Gratz!" replies even though I don't consider them as an achievement.


Stuff achived today: Nothing particularly special

Posted by Timothy Gold at 8:56 PM | Permalink

Ahh! I can't stand it, I'm up to my neck with shit loads of work! In Runescape, I have several trades to make; I have Maple Logs, Ranarr herbs, and Coal to sell, Ranarr Seeds and an Amulet of Fury to buy, and I also have to trade my Cooked Sharks for raws! In addition to that, I still have many stats I'd like to train (but just don't have the time to).

The irony of all this is that this is that I'm actually quite free this week (I got to leave school early), but I'm still being bothered with all this stuff. My teachers aren't helping much, they've given me quite a bit of homework to do but at least it's due next week. I can't wait for the weekend, it'll give me a chance to settle down and get rid of this whole mess.

Ah well, I'm sure I'll get by. I've been through worse, especially the first and second week of the school semester; they were simply hectic.


Stuff achieved today: Nothing particularly special

Posted by Timothy Gold at 6:20 PM | Permalink

Aside from the usual time spent on training my Farming and Fishing, I decided to go visit the Mini Game, Pyramid Plunder, which was released last night. It was okay, definitely a fast way of training Thieving if it wasn't for its remoteness. The rewards were pretty dumb, you mostly get these typical "ancient pyramid artifects" such as pottery, stone and golden scarabs, seals and statuettes.


A Tomb in Pyramid Plunder


I still should give this game more credit though, after all there was this special sceptre mentioned which can grant the user teleportation to 3 different pyramids (including this one) in the Kharidian Desert. The sceptre seems really promising, I might try out Pyramid Plunder a few more times in order to obtain it; I just hope it won't take me too long though.


I needed to talk to this guy to play the Mini Game

Hmm, I wonder if it's even worth the effort, stealing from Master Farmers can get me loads of seeds, but this Mini Game... *Sigh* Mini Games pop out almost every month now, they're definitely quality updates, but there's just way too many of them. Jagex really should concentrate on other areas instead (a Farming guild would be nice hehe).

Stuff Achieved Today: Nothing special in particular

Posted by Timothy Gold at 9:02 PM | Permalink

Alright, alright, I know I'm supposed to record only the stuff that happened today, but last week was simply nuts, and I didn't have the time to type an actual "recording post" since I was too busy working on all the blog intros . Anyway with that said, last week I got my Fishing lvl to 98, and my Farming to 85. I found and grew a Spirit Tree for the first time, although it died two days later (I still haven't gotten over that). I met two famous players, Zezima and Lara Mg, and I completed the new quest, Fairy Tale Part 2: Cure a Queen, which was released on Tuesday night. Hehe, what a week indeed!




Zezima (guy with brown hair), arguably the best player in Runescape

Okay now for the stuff that happened today, let's see, err, I got back from school really early today so I had some extra gaming time. I started the day by tending to my Ranarrs in all 4 Herb Patches, then I switched to training Construction as well as Fishing. I also trained Agility a little (ahh! It took forever to gain exp), but besides that, today was rather dull and plain in comparison to my previous week.

Ah well, I guess I'll just have to rot here in the Fishing Guild for who knows how long before something cool happens again, which might take a while... Damn it I'm so bored,why won't anything happen?! Woah, that was weird, as I was finishing up this post, there was an update in Runescape. Woo hoo, my prayers have been answered!

Hmm, a new mini game? Great, as if I didn't have enough of those already. I'm still gonna try it out though, it looks promising, I might get some good Thieving exp.


I screwed up big time, I really should've taken better care of it...
Rest in peace, Spirit tree :'-(

Stuff Achieved Today: Nothing particularly special

Posted by Timothy Gold at 2:41 PM | Permalink

In-Game friends

Gaffa7
I've known this guy for quite some time now, and he is among my most trusted of companions. His talkativeness can only be matched with his fondess with Runescape (he stayed up a total of 36 hours once just to play). His stats are also considered pretty good, and he has developed an interest for melee combat. I often join him in playing combat related mini-games.

What he is noted for: The 10 million gp he gave away when he played the game drunk, His generosity even when he is sober


A duel between Gaffa (right) and I


Jdudley8
I've known Jdudley for an even longer time, however we both do not talk often so our relationship isn't as close. She was formerly my Ranarr Seed supplier before we got to know each other better. Like most of my other friends, she is a very friendly player, well liked by many.

What she is noted for: Her numerous successful threads in the Runescape Forums


Gutser
Another old friend of mine, Gutser is a very experienced player killer, and has obtained many valuable drops from his victims. He also enjoys doing Treasure Trail clues, and has gotten a Robin Hat lately. I don't see him online that often now, although he still plays the game fairly actively.

What he is noted for: His experience in player killing, His pure which he managed to train from level 1 Ranging to 70 in a few days


Physco Pker
Physco's a good friend of mine, and an even *ahem* closer friend with Reuben Sa. I met her in the Fishing Guild, and we've been friends ever since. She shares an uncanny resemblence with Reuben; like him, there are two entirely different sides of her. Fortunately for me though, she tends to reveal her nicer side more often than Reuben does.

What she is noted for: She's the only person whom Reuben listens to


Xpank Me2
A level 3 skiller whom I met while playing Castle Wars. She's very friendly, but gets picked on a lot because of her low combat level (you should have seen the amount of flaming that went on while we were playing the mini-game). Ironically though, her experience and usefulness in the game surpasses many, and is also exceptional in a few of her non-combat related stats. Unfortunately though, we seldomly meet up due to her inactiveness.

What she is noted for: Her level 3 Combat, Her experience in Castlewars


Katvisser
An interesting fellow whom I met in the Fishing Guild. He has a sister who also plays the game, whom I'm unfortunately unfamilar with. I find Katvisser to be quite eccentric and funny. He is also quite rich and owns a Red Mask, as well as other expensive assets.

What he is noted for: His interest in the Simpsons and his tendency to mimic Doctor Nick.


Suomipallo
Another one of my Fishing Guild friends, although Suomipallo prefers training his Magic now instead of fish. He officially became one of the luckiest people I knew after he picked up a Green Partyhat from a player who was killed by a River Troll.

What he is noted for: His high Magic lvl, His amazing luck

Posted by Timothy Gold at 3:02 PM | Permalink

Real-Life Friends

Reuben Sa
One of my closest and most loyal friends in Runescape (I've lent him my partyhat on several occasions), although we can argue and not get along at times. I consider him an active player, although he normally spends his time in Runescape cooped up in the Rogues Den, doing nothing but cooking his sharks in an attempt to get into the top 21 in the Cooknig Highscores. He recently quitted, but is now back, dilligently cooking to earn back the highscore ranks he lost while he was away.

What he is noted for: His insane Cooking rank, The number of times he's been hacked, His bad temper


Here's Reuben (left) and me (right), and no, we are not gay. We were
just, you know, curious.


Air Dragon15
We're good friends in real life despite his filthy eating habits (he's been dared to eat junk loads of times). He is an inactive player, but has quite a bit of knowledge about the game. He considers himself the richest level 50+ in Runescape, although I pointed out that there are even Level 3's with literally a hundred times more cash than he has. Don't get me wrong, I'm not suggesting that he's cocky; he's just a little, err, misguided lol. Air Dragon's interests include fishing, cooking and fighting with melee combat.

What he is noted for: The annoying "!"s he says when shocked or surprised, His bravery/stupidity for slaying Blue and Green dragons which have a much higher level than he does


Iamanelk
Weird username, I know. Anyway Elk's a Yew cutter by proffession, and also has a fondness for melee combat. He's been my Yew Log supplier for some time now, but due to his recent inactivity and my interest in Magic Logs, we no longer trade. In real life, he's probably the smartest guy I know, always topping the class (which is by the way the top class in a top school).

What he is noted for: His intellect (a pity it only manifests itself in school though)


Jadedonce
My best friend in Runescape, although rather annoying at times. I really enjoy his company, a pity he's a free player though, so we hardly meet up in-game. Still, we do have some pretty interesting conversations while playing. He's a very fun guy to have around, always cracking jokes. Jaded often player kills, trains his Magic level, as well as mine for cash. His stats are considered low, but he is still very independent nonetheless; that's probably why I find him admirable since he doesn't strut around asking for free stuff.

What he is noted for: His high success rate when player killing despite his low combat level, His repetetive jokes


Qqjinyi
She is the only female I know in real life who plays Runescape (I'm in a boys school, what do you expect?). I've known her since I was in Primary school. She's very friendly, very nice, and a person whom I think is easy to get along with. Unfortunately though, she too is very inactive. But when she is online, she normally concentrates on improving her melee combat.

What she is noted for: Her mom who overshadows her in Runescape (yes, she also plays), The way she talks in Runescape (she uses way too many short forms when typing)


Nicklaren7
In terms of ability, Nick's account is somewhat like a lesser version of Jadedonce's. He started playing much later, and his parents disapprove of him playing the game, so he didn't really have much time to develop his stats. Nick's a rather friendly fellow, unfortunately, having approached a few people for money and free items, he is very similar to your average noob. Still a great guy to have around though.

What he is noted for: His habit of following Jadedonce around Runescape whenever they are both online.

Posted by Timothy Gold at 3:49 PM | Permalink

Taverly, the first members' area I visited

I've been playing for over a year now, and during that period of time, I've raised all my stats significantly (well, except Runecrafting), explored all areas of Runescape, done almost all quests, as well as gained invaluable knowledge of the game such as its "history" and the finer details of its gameplay.

Things couldn't get any better right? Wrong! There was still membership, along with the new skills, places, quests, mini-games, items and loads of other stuff that came with it.

It was decided, I had to become a member. And so on the 5th of June 2005, I finally suscribed, and gained my membership. It was brilliant, it was like starting out in Runescape all over again. The first members' area I visited was Taverly (picture above). I explored, I trained and I enjoyed every single aspect of my new membership. Suddenly my total level was skyrocketting again and the time I spent on the game doubled. There was so much to do, so much to learn, so much to catch up on, I was overwhelmed. But I was a fast learner, I managed to cope. And it wasn't long before I was achieving things even some of the experienced members couldn't do.

Then came the release of a new skill: Farming. Upon its release, I invested all my time on it, stealing seeds and Fishing while my crops grew. Initially though, I saw none of the benefits the skill could provide me, but then a remarkable thing happened. There are several kinds of herbs in Runescape, one of the most valuable being the Ranarr Weed. Farming enabled everyone to grow these herbs (instead of only getting them as monster drops). However, back then all types of herb seeds looked exactly the same and shared a similar name, so it was extremely difficult to identify them. But a few weeks after the skill was released, the Jagex staff decided to give them each an individual name.


A Herb Patch

I was soon able to experiment growing a variety of herbs, and then I found out that I could actually make a huge profit by buying the seeds and then selling them in "herb form" after I grew them. The Ranarr seed made me the most, and I was soon growing the herb everytime I got the oppurtunity to do so. It was brilliant, simply brilliant, I was making up to 600k each day (weekend) with minimal effort (herbs did not require watering). I even used some of the herbs to effectively raise my Herblore Level by making Prayer Potions.

My wealth increased significantly, and I was soon able to afford my first discontinued item, the Santa Hat which was worth 5 mil at that time. I continued farming, and was soon able to afford a second and third Santa Hat. By then, my stats had also risen greatly, I was considered rich, and the best part was it didn't stop there. My wealth continued to grow and I eventually was able to afford a Yellow Partyhat, one of the most valuable items in Runescape. I was also able to effectively merchant* this partyhat, earning me additional cash.

A cutscene of the "Swan Song" Quest


Me and my friend wearing a Santa Hat


This farming trend went on even until today. Merchanting also helped, I've managed to sell my 3 Santas for a higher price, and have been actively buying and selling partyhats for an even larger profit. I also began to actively complete quests, and have now done every single one of them, including the members' quests. I also did not neglect my free player skills, in fact my skills such as Cooking and Fishing have risen tremendously, and I'm now Lvl 99 and and Lvl 97 for them respectively.



Quite recently, an even newer skill, Construction, was released. It proved to be a very expensive skill to train, but I managed and within a fortnight, I reached level 78 and was among the top 250 in the highscores. With the skill, POH's (or Player Owned Houses) also came out in the game, and I've managed to successfully construct a very posh and roomy home for my character.

The skill as well as the house seemed to deplete much of my cash at first, it had a profound (and negative) effect on the Runescape economy and caused the prices of several items which I owned to plummet, and the materials required to train it were expensive. All discontinued items, the partyhats in particular, were also not spared, and they too decreased in value. Fortunately though, they made an amazingly quick recovery, and eventually shot up, reaching an all time high. I benefited from this since it enabled to me to provide funding for my house and Construction.


My character presently

Posted by Timothy Gold at 11:50 AM | Permalink

Despite my relatively high combat level, I was still considered an average Runescape player. There was nothing very impressive about my account at this period of time.

But why? Why couldn't I be deemed a good player since I had such a high combat level? Well, after those long months of playing the game, I finally realised: Combat wasn't everything! There were other skills to consider which were equally as important, skills which I was not adept at unfortunately. In fact it turned out that my combat level appeared to be quite high only because I compared it to the typical "free player", and not the typical "member" which was definitely a lot stronger. And that meant I was hovering somewhere over the "slightly below average level".

I, of course, wasn't satisfied with that, so I consistently trained my combat level once more, as well as concentrating even more on my other skills, the neglected ones in particular such as Runecrafting and Ranging (which were still level 1 at that time!). I fought Lesser Demons, Ranged chickens although I still refused to do anything about Runescrafting until much later. To make up for that, I resumed raising other skills such as Mining, Fishing and Cooking. I took training all these stats seriously, I mined in the Wilderness, and power* fished and cooked in the River Lum.


Varrock Castle, the starting point of a few quests I've completed

It took a while, but my total level managed to significantly increase. For the first time ever, I managed to gain some respect from my fellow players. I finally stood out from the rest, I was better than they were, and it felt good! Still, I wasn't satisfied. This mode of training continued until I finally became a member which I will describe in detail in the following stage of growth of my character.

*Refers to the fishing, cooking and then dropping of fish (intead of banking) in order to save time.

Posted by Timothy Gold at 12:13 AM | Permalink

Ah yes, my quest to become as good as the average player. Lvl 40+ wasn't very outstanding, and by then, even I had learnt enough to realise that.

I had to talk to Doric to start a quest

This money making campaign enabled me to afford better fighting equipment. I bought Rune armour and weaponry both during and after I started killing Giants for their bones. I later even obtained 32 quest points just to complete the "Dragon Slayer" quest which granted me the ability to wield Rune Platebody as a reward.

This stage of my character's growth, just like the rest, was very crucial, since it gave me many new oppurtunities in the game. It also helped to prepare me to make full use of my membership which I would be getting at a later period of time.

Posted by Timothy Gold at 8:58 PM | Permalink

I learnt and achieved a lot during this initial stage of my playing the game, and the best part was that this was thanks to all the effort I had put in. I had no rich friends to help me out, I didn't walk around asking for "free stuff", and I certainly didn't break any of the Runescape rules by downloading third-party programs to help me play. Nope, I owe all my initial success in the game to the 100% pure effort I had put in.

It wasn't long before I finally got used the different areas in Runescape. I could navigate the entire place without a map, and I soon started to try out the more "advanced" features of the game, such as easy to intermmediate quests, as well as the rest of my character's skills. I experienced some difficulty at first, but I eventually managed to get the hang of things, and I was rapidly improving several areas of my character once more.

Draynor Manor, I had to visit it to slay Count Draynor in the Vampire
Slayer Quest
But something was still missing: Decent Armour and Weapons! Combat played a big part during the days I first started Runescape. I invested the most time in it compared to my other skills, so you can see how much I used to value it. Unfortunately though, the only weapons I managed to get were the ones I found lying on the ground. They dealt little damage to monsters, and were deemed as pathetic. I thought of buying some better combat equipment from weapon and armour shops, but due to my frugal nature and the little money I had, I simply stuck to my cheap weapons.

Posted by Timothy Gold at 8:36 PM | Permalink

Let's face it, due to the overwhelming number of blogs out there, it is getting increasingly difficult to actually create one which stands out from the rest. So I've decided to try something different; I've decided to make a mini-blog not about myself, but about my character in Runescape. For those of you who are unaware of what "Runescape" is, I'll give a brief descrition about it:

A MMORPG (Massively Multiplayer Online Role-playing Game) created by Jagex Inc, Runescape is an adventure game with monsters to kill, quests to complete and various skills to train. Its graphics may not be outstanding, but its excellent game-play makes up for that minor flaw.

Runescape is a game that I am very passionate about. Over the past 2 years, I've been leveling, training as well as increasing the wealth of my character. I may not be among the top players, but I have certainly achieved much since I was first introduced to the game. Despite all this, I still have one big regret; I wasn't able to record the details of my journey to become one of the greatest of Runescape players.

All I have left are some sketchy memories of the past back when I first started playing, as well as the rest of the journey ahead of me. And that's what this blog is here for. I am going to use it to record the activities I do, the failures I endure, the achievements which I work for, and even the many ordinary happenings I encounter throughout the game. To put it simply, I'm going to include everything in this blog.



The Map of Runescape

Posted by Timothy Gold at 7:32 PM | Permalink