The Chronicles of Runescape

Posted by Timothy Gold at 3:40 PM | Permalink

Cold's almost completely gone, but I had to skip school again to attend my grandfather's funeral.

It was an extremely sad and depressing affair, but grandpa had led a full, happy life prior to his death, just a few days earlier. The entire family was prepared for it, I suppose. Sometime in April, a stroke and a heart attack landed him in hospital. He held and fought on for roughly 2 months, and even lasted until his 89th birthday, on the 23rd of June. Grandpa passed away a day later, on Sunday morning.

The funeral itself was rather odd. Although my uncle and aunt actually got him to convert into a Christian in the last few weeks of his life, most of the family (they have Chinese beliefs) thought that it was best to carry on with a more traditional wake. Definitely the oddest funeral I've attended because of all the strange Chinese rituals everyone had to do.

However, as with other funerals, the atmosphere of intense gloom and sadness was still ever-present. Several close family members, including my dad, broke down at various times during the entire event.

Very devastating, but at least the 'Christian faction' of the Kwok family really has something to rejoice about. My uncle (the same one who converted my grandfather) says that grandpa saw angels during his short days as a Christian. I hope God is taking good care of him right now.


Stuff achieved today: Nothing much


Death is but the next great adventure
- Albus Dumbledore

Posted by Timothy Gold at 9:57 PM | Permalink

Stayed at home on a school day. Haven't done that in a while.

Anyway, the extra time enabled me to complete all my Maths homework, even though I worked at an agonizingly slow pace. It wasn't the difficulty of the questions or anything; I just got interrupted all the time by talkative friends and traders. I would've switched off my private chat, but I was kinda short on Ranarr Seeds and was slightly desperate to seek out sellers.

School stuff aside, I also got quite a considerable amount of Smithing and Firemaking done. And besides being able to find time for my skilling, I was also fortunate enough to meet the second best player of Runescape, Uloveme.

She was in world 83, right next to the bank in Etceteria, burning some logs. Uloveme had picked a perfectly remote training spot, and was completely alone, save the lone adventurer (that'd be me) who had just happened to stumble upon the area. I discreetly walked around and tried to get the best possible view of her, with my index finger hovering over the F12 key. Had the screenshot taken just seconds later.


Hehe, looks like I didn't need to pull the old rabbit ears pose on her!

I didn't stay to chat; I was already more than satisfied with this newest addition to my "Well Known Players" screenshot archive. This was definitely the cherry on top of my day. Could use more of such instances; real life is starting to really suck and a temporary distraction would certainly come in handy.

Hehe, I probably should fall ill more often.


Stuff achieved today: Gained 200k Firemaking exp

Posted by Timothy Gold at 8:31 PM | Permalink

Holidays have now ended, and today is the first day of school for the new semester, and I couldn't even survive it! I got up this morning with an annoying cold, which steadily grew worse and worse throughout the day while I was at school.

My parents have said that I can take the day off tomorrow, which is definitely fantastic news since I still have tons of holiday homework to finish up. Could also use the extra sleep; I'm feeling like crap at the moment.

And there are also a couple of things which are irking me, back in Runescape. I am highly irritated, though not too surprised, that the Dragonfire shield is currently worth 19 million gp. It's showing signs of dropping in value, but I fear that its price will still remain high even after it finally stabilises. Its defensive bonuses are tempting me though.

Unlike my shortlived interest in the Dark Bow, I might actually find the shield much more useful. For a start, it would actually make Blue Dragon hunting (I could use the Prayer exp their bones give) more practical because I will no longer need to use the much weaker Anti-Dragonfire shield.

There has also been a recent problem with my clan. A few of its members decided to kill this other fellow team-mate, after he started annoying the entire group during a pk trip. I wasn't around during that clan event, but I've been told that he did everything from begging for food, to demanding a "revenge hit" after he was accidentally attacked by one of the other members.

Frankly, I can't be bothered to give a shit about the guy's death. He hadn't made a good first impression when he first posted in the clan forum. However, I was still troubled about the clan's decision to backstab him, as this has tainted its reputation. Giving the guy a clear warning, or even kicking him out of Blessings, would've been much more appropriate. These is no honour in murdering team members.

Posted by Timothy Gold at 7:56 PM | Permalink

Monday, the same day I left for my camp, saw the release of several relatively minor updates.

Launching the first part of the "Bits & Pieces Project", the Jagex team has worked on making tiny changes and improvements to the game, with all ideas being suggested by players. I'm a bit too lazy to list all of them, however there was a particular one which I had found quite useful.

It enabled me to get my Mime Mask and my Black Beret 'sewn' together to create a new type of headwear, the Mime Mask. Previously, it was impossible to wear the two individual items together at the same time, since they both occupied the Head slot in the equipment interface. This was kinda stupid if you think about it, because in reality, they're supposed to occupy two entirely different areas of your character's head.




A couple of images of the
new Mime Mask.

Also, another new item which rarity rivals that of the Dark Bow's, has been released. Known as the Dragonfire shield, this piece of armour can be made by obtaining another new monster drop known as the "Draconic Visage" and then fusing it with an Anti-Dragonfire shield (much easily obtained compared to the Dragonfire shield).

Compared to the long-existing Anti-Dragonfire shield, the Dragonfire shield is al able to block most damage caused by a Dragon's fiery breath as well as store up "charges" whilst fighting Dragons. These charges (up to 50) can be used to unleash a deadly 'blast of fiery energy', causing lethal damage to opponents. The shield's defence bonuses are also off the charts, and are significantly higher than the Dragon Square shield's (try not to get the 3 shields mixed up).

I'm considering buying one as soon as its price stabilises. I'm not too sure about what they're currently going for anyway. Probably worth a shit load judging by the shield's unique abilities.


Stuff achieved today: Gained 300k Firemaking exp

Posted by Timothy Gold at 7:35 PM | Permalink

Back from the camp. It was bloody long and I have only 2 days till school starts, but it wasn't as boring and pointless as I had thought it'd be.

A few Runescape updates have been released while I was away, but I'd rather talk more about them in my following post. Right now, even though it isn't exactly RS related, I think it'd be best if I let you know more about what I've been up to during the last 5 days. However, before I begin, here's a little background info about the camp.

The camp's main purpose was to train its participants into selfless leaders (i.e. leaders who help out the weak, the poor etc). With this being the case, there was a huge emphasis placed on developing their moral values and what not. This "emphasis" came in the form of numerous reflection questions we had to fill up, certain hands-on activities, as well as hours worth of talks. Anyway, to keep this post's length as short as possible, I'll only describe significant events of the camp.


Day 1
After the paticipants were allocated into groups of 10, we began our first major activity - a three and a half hour walk from my school to the school we were going to spend the rest of the 5 days in. Fatigue really took a toll on me after the first hour, I had no choice but to slog on during the rest of the journey. I had serious thoughts of ditching the camp that same night, because of its length, as well as the fact that it was extremely physically taxing.

Day 2
I went dragon-boating along with the rest of my team-mates. It was tiring yet extremely fun. Students from this other school (3 boats) happened to be sailing there as well. My group's boat as well as some other group's teamed up against those three 'intruders'. We attacked them one by one, splashing water with our paddles on both sides of the boat simultaneously. Unsurprisingly when they finally rowed back to the port, the students were both wet, cold and very pissed.

Day 3
Main event for the day was this rope course. I had to do stuff like climb up a 15m high pole, leap off it and successfully cling on to a trapeze suspended a few feet away. Scary yet fun. And yes, we did wear safety harnesses.

Day 4
Those talks and reflection entries from the previous 3 days hadn't done much, but the trip to an old folks' home today really got the "help the helpless" message drilled into my skull. I had to stay there for a few hours, and I spent the time there cleaning the place as well as making several feeble attempts to entertain the old people. The home was miserable, those old guys there looked both bored and lonely. One of them even told us about how her family abandoned her when they realised that she had become a burden to them. Bloody sad, but that's how cruel society can be nowadays. A terrible and painful truth...

Day 5 (today)
Possibly the most boring day of all. Went through nothing but the usual talks and reflection sessions. I was still in high spirits that the camp had ended though. I'm also pleased about the impact it's had on me. Most meaningful camp ever, although I wouldn't want to go through it again anytime soon.


Oh, and in case you were wondering, yeah, I managed to get a lot of school work done in-between those talks, and breaks and such.


A screenshot of the Runecrafting lvl up I got today. Totally unrelated to
the main topic of the post, but I needed something to prevent you from
becoming too intimidated by the immense amount of text.


Stuff achieved today: Lvl 65 Runecrafting

Posted by Timothy Gold at 9:19 PM | Permalink

Spent over an hour doing some last minute packing. But I'm now past the "sulking" stage so I at least was able to enjoy the day without too much worrying.



As I have mentioned in my previous post, I am very pleased with the way things have turned out in Runescape. Besides yesterday's set of level ups, I was finally able to reach Lvl 98 Firemaking today, and I'm fairly certain that I'll have that Achievement cape by early July.

I was also pleasantly surprised to find out today that two old friends have decided to resume playing RS again. They had both previously quitted (out of boredom if I recall correctly), but are now back; and there are some promising signs that they'll actually stay this time. Am currently looking forward to chatting with them in-game as soon as my camp ends.

Hope everyone enjoys their last week of holiday. I'll be stuck in the stupid camp, but I'm going to try and make the most of it by bringing my homework and notes along. I'm not letting 5 days go to waste!


Stuff achieved today: Lvl 98 Firemaking


About a couple of months ago, when I first found out that I had been picked to go for the camp, I decided to google it to find out more details about its activities. I stumbled upon a blog, and as it turned out, its author had actually attended that very same camp in 2006. Here's the link should you want to get an idea of what I'm about to go through from Monday to Friday.

http://romulan-dawn.blogspot.com/2006_06_01_archive.html

As an afterthought, someone should punch the guy's English teacher for not teaching him how to use paragraphs.

Posted by Timothy Gold at 10:10 PM | Permalink

Just three days left of actual holiday, and one day till I leave for that camp.

Posted by Timothy Gold at 11:36 PM | Permalink

The clan blog is taking shape.

I've found a pretty good site-skin for it, and have since added a site meter, a clock which follows the clan timezone, as well as numerous other little things to customise the website. As soon as the first proper post is published (it only has two test posts), and a chat box is added, I'll link it in my personal blog (the one you're currently viewing, asshat).

Anyway, main thing I'd like to discuss now would be the botting problem in Runescape. The Jagex team is already doing its best to take care of the situation, but things seem to be worsening. Those bots who hoard fishing spots, the Essence mine and the Yew trees are getting increasingly noticeable.


A large group of bots (players wearing light brown shirts) standing
at the Varrock Rune store.

Jagex is already trying to starve the creators of those bots by banning their customers - players who buy the Runescape gp with real life currency. However, I suppose the strategy they are taking will only work in the long term. It'll be a while before those noobs who buy RS gold dwindle significantly enough for those botters to give up their dishonest business.

I just wish Jagex adopted this way of dealing with these scammers a little earlier, instead of waiting for the problem to grow into its current size before taking serious action.


Stuff achieved today: Gained 200k firemaking exp*


*Still impressive, considering that I was kept busy with my friends in real life today.

Posted by Timothy Gold at 11:33 PM | Permalink

Since typical newly released items, i.e the Dark Bow, tend to drop in price days or even weeks after their inclusion to the game, I decided to do a search in the Weapons forums to have a look at its current value.

Posted by Timothy Gold at 11:33 PM | Permalink

Got punished by my parents after I finally told them my grades yesterday. It killed my mood, but it had to happen sooner or later. I'm just glad that I've gotten it over and done with; that's one less thing to worry about for now.

Oh yeah, I've also recently been kicked out from my P2P clan, the Australian Republic. You could say that I had it coming as well... Members need to attend a minimum of 3 events a week, but I only managed 1. Guess they finally got too impatient with my inactivity. It's still no real disaster though; I was promoted to an Administrator in my other clan, Blessings, a few days ago and have even volunteered to help create a clan blog.

These new responsibilities are gonna take up quite a bit of time. Time, which thankfully, has been freed up after I got kicked out from the Australian Republic. So yeah, you could say that this was actually a blessing in disguise.

Anyway lame puns aside, the Dark Bow, possibly the most eagerly anticipated update of the month, was released last night. It fire arrows up to Dragon (also newly released), outstrips the Magic Bow, and has a special attack which gives a guranteed hit to the target, and deals 30% more damage. The last time I checked, they were going for a hefty 8.5 million gp.


Mirroring aliens in the movies, entering crop circles in wheat fields
can teleport you to a strange new land, Puro-Puro, home of the Implings.

A new mini-game has also been released, which involves using the Hunter skill to catch "implings" and then looting them for the stuff they carry. Different types of implings drop different items, and they can be found flying around the whole of Runescape in random areas. I've heard that the Dragon impling can even give their captors Dragon Longswords. Quite a decent incentive for players to train their Hunter.


Me catching Implings in Puro-Puro.


Stuff achieved today: Gained 275k Firemaking exp

Posted by Timothy Gold at 8:54 PM | Permalink

I did a search in the Runescape forums recently, and actually found a clan discussion thread started by my old clan, The Marauders (TheM).

I became part of TheM ages ago, back when I was still fairly new to the members world. It was a cool and highly efficient clan, but I eventually left it because of the huge time zone difference, which made most clan events start at inappropriate times. And quite frankly, I didn't feel like part of the TheM community either. In contrast to other clans I've joined like the GTG Assassins, Blessings or even the Australian Republic, I wasn't able to connect with TheM at a personal level.

However, it was very heartening to see that the clan was still up and running even to the present day. The combat requirements have grown from Lvl 90+ (if I recall correctly), to Lvl 107+. The old TheM members who posted in the thread have also done a lot of work with their stats. In spite of neglecting their "skilling" stats, they've done an amazing job in maxing out their combat-related skills. Out of the 4-5 players I looked up, at least 3 of them were Lvl120+.

To be completely honest, I'm actually considering re-applying as a member of TheM. I dunno, I just have a pretty good feeling that things will turn out alright this time. It's still only an idea which I haven't put in much thought into, though.

I'd rather quit the P2P clan I'm currently in, and stick to my F2P clan, Blessings, instead of joining another one. TheM is really tempting me, however.


Stuff achieved today: Gained 300k+ Firemaking exp (also hit the 10 million exp mark)

Posted by Timothy Gold at 9:29 PM | Permalink

My character fighting off a Hell Hound. It kinda looks like a sausage
with legs at this angle; my bad, guys.

Went Hell Hound killing yesterday in the hopes of obtaining a level 3 clue scroll. I managed to get one, but the rewards for finally completing the treasure trail were pathetic, considering the fact that I had spent over two hours working on it.

That clue scroll, as well as my Chinese holiday homework, kept me up until 3.30AM; and I ended up waking up at 11.30 in the morning today. So behind those lvl ups and mad skilling, real-life Timothy isn't fairing too well. Going to bed at 3+ in the morning is definitely not a good sign...


I reached Lvl 110 Combat after this lvl up.

However, I'm still quite pleased about me finally making an effort in getting those annoying assignments done. I've also reached one of my long-term goals today, by finally reaching Lvl 110 Combat. I need to beef up my Ranged for a shot at that Fire Cape though, so my combat training's far from over.


Stuff achieved today: Lvl 88 Attack (and Lvl 110 Combat), Gained 250k Firemaking exp

Posted by Timothy Gold at 10:47 PM | Permalink

I gained minimal exp yesterday. I was half expecting it, but that made me slightly disappointed nonetheless.

However, the day wasn't totally unproductive. I've finally completed that new quest, Grim Tales, which I had mentioned in my last post. I wouldn't say it had much of a storyline, but it was still an interesting quest.


This beanstalk grew to its full size, moments after planting the Magic
Beans obtained during the quest.

Grim Tales, the adventure my character took up yesterday, had a Fairy Tale theme. Various parts of the quest mirrored significant events of those fantasy stories, like when I planted a magic beanstalk, fought off a treasure-hoarding giant, and climbed up the facial hair of a dwarf inside a tower. The rewards, which mainly consisted a generous amount of exp given to my character, were cool too.


Glod, the Giant I battled with and killed.

And much to my relief, I managed to make up for yesterday's lack of Firemaking training by finally reaching Lvl 95 today. It's definitely one of the major milestones of my eventual goal of getting that Achievement Cape, and I am ecstatic that I've already reached it, even though it's only the second week of the school holidays.


I am roughly 4.1 million exp away from maxing out this stat.

All that's left to focus on is my homework. Must get as much of it done before my second camp starts!


Stuff achieved today: Lvl 95 Firemaking

Posted by Timothy Gold at 8:48 PM | Permalink

It took a while, but today, I was finally able to accumulate 100 Pest Control points, which I immediately exchanged for over 80k Ranged exp, pushing me from Lvl 67 to 68.

Posted by Timothy Gold at 9:59 PM | Permalink

Was up until 3.00AM last night (this morning?) working on an essay. I was dead tired. What was ironic about the whole thing was that I ignored my mom about getting to bed early, while listening to some guy all the way from England who told me to finish my homework.


Onward to 99!

Anyway, I am extremely pleased with my Firemaking progress. I got hardly anything done yesterday because I was pre-occupied with Slayer, but today, I gained a record breaking 375k exp for Firemaking, pushing me to Lvl 94.



I was also able to finally reach Lvl 89 Hitpoints as well as Lvl 84 Defence (yesterday). And with my Attack and Prayer both being so close to a lvl up as well, it'll be a matter of mere days before I finally reach 110 Combat. To further buff my character up, I also decided to try out the mini-game, Pest Control, once more. I won myself quite a generous number of points, which will play no small part in helping me reach Lvl 70 Ranged, to fight for that Fire Cape I had mentioned a while back.


Me playing Pest Control.


Stuff achieved today: Lvl 94 Firemaking (and 375k exp), Lvl 89 Hitpoints

Posted by Timothy Gold at 11:15 PM | Permalink