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29 October 2008

About Time...

I finally got it right!

After weeks and months of sub-par performances at the circus, I was able to exceed 1400 points for both the Ranged Display and Magic Show. Wish I had learnt about prayers being able to boost your success rate sooner. Though I only have the first three articles of the Ringmaster outfit, I really think that they'll suffice. The shirt and the pants look fantastic when worn with a Zamorak Cape, Mime Boots, an Amulet of Fury, any Dragon weapon, and of course my partyhat.



And although I'm often too lazy to change out of the clothes I slept in back in the real world, I can be a bit of a - as quoted by Kitt Fox - "clothes whore" when it comes to primping and preening my RS avatar.


The area around Rimmington and Port Sarim has been given a rather
eerie look for Halloween.

Speaking of which, the Halloween updates are finally out, and though they've been released for less than a day, I've already seen a number players dressed in the special costumes from the Holiday Event. I've finished a small segment of the quest, Swept Away, (couldn't help myself!) but I think I'll delay its full competition for a few days, in order to let the crowds clear.

I also received a rather interesting surprise last night. A mysterious Guardian of Armadyl and handed me a message from his leader, Idria. Idria warned me in the note that Lucien, with the help of a certain treasure hunter named Moravio, is making a fresh attempt to steal the Staff of Armadyl. I had flouted his plans by trying to kill him during the Temple of Ikov quest, but it seems that Lucien has remained as determined as ever to seize this powerful god instrument.


He suddenly appeared at Trollheim, while I was doing one of my Farming
rounds.

I can't do much about that now, so it looks like I'll just have to wait until Jagex releases the quest sequel.


Stuff achieved today: Nothing much

Posted by Timothy Gold at 10:15 PM |

27 October 2008

Catch Of The Day

The visit I had paid to Juna last week narrowed down my Runecrafting level up gap to under 3k exp. I made a few hundred Law Runes today, and finally reached Level 71 Runecrafting.



Days of slugging it out at the Port Phasmatys furnace have also yielded me Level 92 Smithing, and I'm now able to make Rune Full Helmets. Two very satisfying achievements, especially since I've always regarded them as slow skills.

I was also able to catch my first Dragon Impling today. The elusive creature was spotted flying around the outskirts of the Mos Le Harmless Jungle by Mat, so I immediately took a ride on the Adventurous and sailed to the island. It didn't take me long to find it, as Mat had very kindly offered to track it down while I made my way to the area.


Me trying to catch the Dragon Impling as Mat eagerly watches on.

I sipped a dose of Hunter Potion and was able to capture the Dragon Impling with just a single swipe of my Magic Net. Mat egged me on to loot and then relinquish the captive Impling. In a moment of weakness and sheer impulse, I left-clicked the jar and received some Dragonstone Bolts from it. Admittedly, this was a pretty bad move on my part, because the projectiles' total value was far less than the GE price of the trapped Dragon Impling, but I was still really pleased about my successful hunt.


Dragon Impling jars are worth a whopping 418k each.

Though I have postponed my goal of obtaining the Hunter Cape for this year, I'm thinking of at least gunning for Level 83, so that I'll be able to capture future Dragon Implings without the help of a Hunter Potion. This will, of course, have to wait until after I sit for my papers. Only two more weeks!


Stuff achieved today: Level 71 Runecrafting, Level 92 Smithing, Hunted down first ever Dragon Impling

Posted by Timothy Gold at 10:42 PM |

25 October 2008

Lengthy Release Dates

Bumped into this cute glitch (pictured below) just yesterday, during one of my Farming rounds. It really made my day.



Anyway, the first, and also the busiest, week of exams is finally over, so I'm able to ease up on my studying a little, before the next batch of papers comes along in four days' time. The seven papers I've sat for so far have gone extremely well, so I decided to celebrate last night by going on another Pking trip with my clan. We didn't have much luck on this occasion, but it definitely proved to be more exciting than an entire evening at the Port Phasmatys furnace.



Right now, I'm a little annoyed that the Halloween update isn't out yet. I was hoping that Jagex would release the quest this week, and then the holiday event itself during the next (or vice versa). It would've really made the wait seem shorter, and would certainly have given me sufficient time to fully enjoy one update, before moving on to the next during the following week.

This is why I'm not very crazy about the recently announced schedule for new gaming features. In each month, Jagex is intending to release one major update and one or two minor updates, as opposed to the original one update per week scheme.

It would really suck if I happened to hate the new content, because it would mean having to wait over a fortnight for something else that's more enjoyable to come out. But I'll try to give the new update schedule a chance. I may be able to continue making use of these so-called "major updates" long after their release; a lot like what I'm currently doing with the Circus and Penguin-Seeking.


Stuff achieved today: Whole lotta nuthin'

Posted by Timothy Gold at 10:55 PM |

22 October 2008

A String Of Successes

All four papers I sat for today and yesterday were very well attempted.

A perfect score for the Additional Mathematics paper is definitely possible, though my A1 is still far from guaranteed as I have a second paper on Friday. English went very decently as well. My greatest relief, however, is with my History paper. It's the subject I've invested the most effort in and I'm thoroughly pleased that it's finally paid off. I finished all five questions and was able to write 18 pages worth of answers within the allotted period of two and a half hours.

Anyway, I only had enough time to go on a couple of Farming rounds yesterday, and complete my daily tasks of killing Bork and my Jade Vine. I couldn't even smith, though thankfully, I'm able to resume with my usual cannonball-making regiment this evening.

I've also got tomorrow off since I don't have any exams on the day. It'll give me ample time to make the final preparations for my Elementary Math test and the last Additional Math paper on Friday.


Stuff achieved today: Nothing much

Posted by Timothy Gold at 8:55 PM |

20 October 2008

A Farce

All 105 minutes of the Chemistry paper were a farce.

The entire cohort practically walked out of the examination hall laughing. It was that easy. Though I still worry about the remaining three weeks of exams, today's performance was definitely an encouraging start. I can only hope that it'll set the pattern for the rest of my papers.

Meanwhile, my total exp has been slowed down to a crawl back in Runescape. All I can afford to do at the moment is smith cannonballs and farm. A rather harsh regiment, but my real life friends and teachers would probably condemn me even for just switching on my notebook.

It's going to be a painful 24 days, but I must persevere.


Stuff achieved today: Nothing much

Posted by Timothy Gold at 11:53 PM |

19 October 2008

They're Here!

They're here! Oh sweet Saradomin, the O-Level exams start tomorrow afternoon!

Though the first paper, Chemistry, is my best subject among the nine I take, I am still quivering about Monday.

Tiz and Form are clearly shaken about it too. Though I admit that I shouldn't even have been online in the first place, I witnessed the two of them feverishly testing each other with a series of Chemistry-related questions in the Blessings' clanchat.

It really shows the true magnitude of the whole thing.


Stuff achieved today: Nothing much

Posted by Timothy Gold at 9:40 PM |

17 October 2008

Fail.

I fear I'm beginning to slowly crack up under the strain of the oncoming exams.

I don't know whether it was brought on by tiredness, stress or just pure, dumb ill fortune, but I made the biggest trade screw-up ever last night. Prices of items such as certain weapons, food, potions and their herbs have been showing a spectacular increase due to the PvP update, so I made a trip down to the GE to check out the latest values of Ranarrs.



I withdrew my entire stock and put up a single herb at the maximum price. It didn't sell. I cancelled the offer and put up a new one at its market value. However, instead of selling just one Ranarr to test out its demand, I mis-clicked and offered all 25 000 up. Half of them sold instantly at an average price way below what I had intended. I hurriedly cancelled the offer, but the damage had already been done.

No doubt I was pissed, but I decided to just remain thankful about its huge price increase, which was way beyond my expectations. I refuse to be grateful about the sheer number of Ranarrs I possessed though. Those took months to farm and I won't stand for them being simply dismissed as luck. It's a shame that I missed out an opportunity to maximize my profits.


Above: The Ranarr seeds I've been merching with finally sold.
Below: I sold the remaining Ranarrs at 6150gp each.

Anyway, I managed to cash in the rest of my herbs at a more respectable price. My Ranarr seeds also finally sold.


Stuff achieved today: Nothing much

Posted by Timothy Gold at 11:37 PM |

15 October 2008

Just Like Old Times

The scorched lands of the Wilderness have been soaked with player blood once more with this evening's release of the PvP servers.


Me getting utterly destroyed by a better-armed player. To be fair, it
was I who had initiated the duel.

I made two separate visits. During the first, I decided to go solo in world 26, equipped with nothing but a DDS. The plan was to go Kamikaze on any players I spotted within my level range, whilst activating my Protect Item Prayer. I died around half a dozen times, so I mostly kept to my spawn point in Lumbridge.


A not-so-peaceful scene at the River Lum.

I was luckier during the less chaotic f2p Pking trip with my clanmates. There were five of us and I was able to lead everyone all the way to the Demonic Ruins. We spotted a huge level 100+ clan there, so I ran East shortly after right-clicking them. We ran all the way to the North-Eastern corner of the Wilderness, before stopping and trying to get re-organized.

However, unknown to us, the enemy clan actually decided to give chase. We were quite flustered up when we saw them re-appear on the mini-map. I decided to make a stand against them this time. A skirmish ensued, and I immediately felt embarrassed for overestimating them and fleeing during our earlier encounter. Their numbers weren't as large as I had thought and at least two were in Ranged gear, which was completely ineffective since we all used Melee attacks.


The battle between Blessings and an enemy clan.

Realising they were outmatched, they retreated South into a single-combat zone and the battle resumed. One of them decided to make a complete escape from the Wilderness, but failed and got finished off by Kat. The rest held out longer, before they too were driven out and forced to teleport.


I really wish that Tiz would just use the clanchat...

We replenished our supplies and resumed Pking. Our journey back to the Demonic Ruins was interrupted by a few lone Pkers we saw and fought along the way. This level 100-odd player died in a thoroughly idiotic fashion. We piled him at a shallow region of the Wilderness and instead of running South (he could've lost us at the ditch and then run to a bank), he made this long detour to the Clan Wars waiting area. He proceeded to taunting us after arriving in one piece at the safe zone.


The poor fool died while trying to re-enter the Clan Wars waiting room.

He must've thought we'd given up and walked right out of the room. Big mistake. He was swiftly piled once more and actually died this time.

Unfortunately, the latter half of the Pking trip didn't go as well. The Pkers we met either got away or completely overpowered us. We were outnumbered two-to-one during a particularly unlucky encounter, and actually suffered a casualty during the fight.


He got away, but the screenshot is just full of pure, unadulterated l33tness.

Regardless, we still had fun. Even Spam, who was killed in action, agreed.


Stuff achieved today: Proved my worth in the Wilderness

Posted by Timothy Gold at 11:23 PM |

13 October 2008

Would-Be Master Smithy

My big exams are up in less than a week, so I've upped my studying time.

I have also restricted my RS activities today to Smithing cannonballs and doing my usual Farming rounds. The exp's pitiful, but working with steel is even less click-intensive than crafting silver tiaras. However, there was only a 60k experience gap to level 91, and I was able to close it thanks to yesterday's and today's training.



It's another 600k exp till 92, but I've got this bad feeling that I'm actually gonna reach it. It's likely that I'll be smithing all the way through the three-week exam period, because that's the only thing that allows me to multi-task and get some revision done in the real world.


Stuff achieved today: Level 91 Smithing

Posted by Timothy Gold at 11:20 PM |

11 October 2008

Castlewars!

Well, I've kept to my word.


Not even Rangers could stand a chance against the combined might
of Ice and Melee attacks.

I played a total of four rounds of Castlewars today and yesterday. It was this evening's set of two games that proved to be especially enjoyable. Tiz and I managed to convince Zelda, Dg and Kat to join us, and all five of us were fortunate enough to be able to play on the same team in both games.

We decided to stick around our the castle and protect the flag. And together, we built up an impregnable defence not a single enemy could break through. We would lay barricades at strategic locations in the upper levels of the castle, and then focus our efforts on the second floor (the healing room). At least two layers of barricades were put up to block any would-be invader from climbing the staircase.


I'm somewhat annoyed that I don't have any screenshots of me actually
turning my foes into blocks of ice.

Whilst our enemies struggled with penetrating the wooden blockade, Tiz, Dg and I mowed them down with volley after volley of Ancient Magicks spells. Survivors, if any, still ended up immobilized by the freezing magic. Zelda and Kat, who both came with Melee gear, would then seize the opportunity to mercilessly hack up the weakened foes.


Someone wielding a Godsword decides to take a whack at poor Tiz.

Our opponents wised up during the second match, however. Instead of going solo or dropping by in couples, they now made massed charges in a desperate attempt to get past our spells, sword strikes and barricades. Very occasionally, a player would manage to get to the very top of the castle and steal our flag, but none were able to make a successful escape. The opposing team was unable to score a single point.

A particularly memorable fight took place on the third floor. A level 120 had captured our flag; I stood right at the top of the staircase and built a barricade to halt her descent. She ran up to me as I Ice Barraged her and threw an explosive potion at it. However, my battle magic stunned her and prevented her from crossing, so I quickly set up another wooden barrier and proceeded to freezing her with my spells again. She then destroyed it once more, and I continued with the process of rebuilding the obstacle and attacking my persistent adversary.


Though very similar (left), this is *not* the fight at the third floor.

This carried on for over half a minute, before she finally decided to ignore the reappearing barricades and fight me instead. If I recall correctly, she dropped the flag, whipped out a Godsword and began cutting me down. My health diminished rapidly, but at the very last moment when I was down to my last sliver of green, she ran out of bandages and a well-aimed Ice Barrage finished her.

The hour's worth of training I had spent at Castlewars was, without a doubt, worth every exp, and the runes, every gp.


Stuff achieved today: Level 92 Crafting

Posted by Timothy Gold at 11:35 PM |

09 October 2008

Why I Play

Another day of grinding.

I spent my entire time on Runescape Crafting and Ranging, which isn't a very good gaming strategy considering that real life is already boring enough with all that studying. I'm thinking I should at least take some time off to try out a mini-game tomorrow, preferably one that involves PvP. Killing noobs is much more satisfying than fighting in a seemingly endless battle of unresponsive, spawning NPCs.

It's these instances of mundaneness which make me wonder why I bother training in the first place, even when I sometimes find the ordeal so - for a lack of a better term - frustratingly dull. A large chunk of my sessions in RS is devoted to skilling. I mean, aren't games supposed to be fun?

Pausing to reflect for a moment, I guess I derive a lot of pleasure in Runescape just by being good at it. Aiming to push my Ranged to level 99 would mean that I'd be better than the millions of players who are at 98 and below. I realise that it's nothing more than a cheap thrill, but I am sure that many other Runescapers are guilty of harbouring this ambition to be top banana.

But I suppose there's nothing wrong with aiming for that front page spot in the highscores, as long as that doesn't become the sole driving force of a player's gaming.

Think I'm gonna indulge in a few rounds of Castlewars tomorrow.


Stuff achieved today: Arrived at an epiphany

Posted by Timothy Gold at 10:24 PM |

07 October 2008

Silver Crafting

My Crafting training has resumed.

The Snapdragon market has recovered slightly, so a substantial number of my seeds finally sold on the Grand Exchange. I decided to invest some of the proceeds on a cheaper method of Crafting. As it turns out, making tiaras out of silver is significantly cheaper (albeit slower) compared to sewing up Green Dragonhide bodies. I got the idea from Kitt, who recently maxed out the skill.


I've been camping at the Port Phasmatys furnace for a while now.

Working with silver is less click-intensive, so I'm able to type out notes for studying or even this blog entry whilst playing.

Besides that, there haven't really been any new developments. Tiz and Frit got excited over the system update today, thinking that the PvP servers were finally coming out. A check on the RS main page didn't yield anything, but a quick search in the Recent Updates forum confirmed that Jagex was just fixing a problem in the game client. A shame, really.

But at least I'll have something interesting to do tomorrow, even without the servers. Wednesday's coming up, which means I'll be able to go penguin hunting and circus performing again.


Stuff achieved today: Nothing much

Posted by Timothy Gold at 10:38 PM |

04 October 2008

Dancing With Death

I went Chaos Elemental hunting this evening with a few clan mates.

It was my first attempt at battling the boss monster; my previous encounters with it have purely been accidental, or just suicidal missions which involved me running up to it a few times and taking screenshots. The trip started off rather shakily. We began our trek through the Wilderness over 15 minutes late, and the event leader, Lil J, got a little lost while trying to find the teleporting obelisk near Edgeville.


One of our fights against the Chaos Elemental.

We were met with even more trouble after finally locating the obelisk and then using it. We were ambushed by a Revenant Ork waiting at our target destination, and Lil J and Zelda ended up getting poisoned in the fray. Since no one had brought an Anti-Poison, we were forced to head West, bypass the spawn point of the Chaos Elemental and then replenish our supplies at the Mage Arena Bank.



The long detour itself was uneventful. Lil J lagged out in the bank, so the rest of us decided to wait for him outside, at the lever room.

This proved to be a disastrous mistake.

Three (I shit you not) Revenant Knights came out of nowhere and charged right at us; I had just enough time to hastily type out an "Omg!!!", before darting across the room to pull the lever. The others got out safely as well, but Green lagged behind and got teleblocked. Boxed in by the webs blocking the exit and the lever which no longer worked, Green was slain by the spectral assailants.


Zelda and I safely watching the GS wielder fight off the Revenant Knight
from behind the cobwebs.

Dg intervened by killing one of the Revenants and blessing his grave. The second Rev Knight mysteriously vanished, while the third got trapped within the other side of the lever room. Lil J, who logged back in shortly, was able to convince this player wielding a Godsword to fight it off, since it was blocking our way.

Anyway, Green soon returned to his grave to pick up his stuff and we were able to resume our hunt for the Chaos Elemental. The first kill was easy, but as luck would have it, we were attacked yet again by a Revenant Knight and Ork. We sought refuge in a small room (which I jokingly named Fort Timothy) next to the Rogues' Castle.


Trapped like rats! Surrounded by two Revenants and a newly spawned
Chaos Elemental, the clan resorts to hiding within the safe walls of Fort
Timothy.

After managing several kills, we were joined by Spam and Tiz, who had decided to participate in the clan event at the last minute. And because Zelda, Lil J and Green decided to leave shortly after, the Dragon 2h Sword we later picked up was split between only four people. We, Dg, Tiz, Spam and I, each received a 340k share.



It was not so much the drops which made the trip enjoyable, but the thrill and danger involved. Though the Revenant attacks (we were attacked several more times) hindered our efficiency at fighting the Chaos Elemental, they certainly made the hunt even more exhilarating.

After the O-Levels are over and done with, I'm intending to indulge in more of such events.


Stuff achieved today: Successfully killed the Chaos Elemental for the first time

Posted by Timothy Gold at 11:59 PM |

02 October 2008

A Month Of Boredom

My last day of school today. It's been a fantastic four years.

Although I'll be staying at home, I've only got two and a half weeks to prepare for the big exams coming up later this month, which means I'll be online less often. It will not be a complete break from Runescape since I'd probably suffer burnout if I went cold turkey, but do forgive me if I fail to keep to my usual schedule of one post every other day.

Having established that I'll be going through this harsh, self-imposed regime of studying for the rest of October, I really think that the timing of this month's Behind the Scenes issue was impeccable. Only three updates have been planned for the four-week long month, which means I'll be less likely to get distracted from my work.

Of the three promised game features, one of them is a holiday event, which - even including the time I spend on taking screenshots - should be completed within half an hour. And though I am interested in visiting the special PvP servers planned for the month, my enthusiasm towards this much anticipated update is only lukewarm.

So, yes. When it comes down to it, I am actually grateful that October will be a dull month (for me, anyway). Hope the rest of you who aren't bogged down by exams would still get to enjoy the updates.


Stuff achieved today: Nothing much

Posted by Timothy Gold at 10:49 PM |




Looking For Group
I want my Chameleon now!