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30 December 2008

The Level 2200 Milestone

There was no more Ranging to be done, and any extra exp for Crafting would've gotten me the level up prematurely, so I decided to try my hand out at training Prayer to kill time.


Me using a set of Dragon Bones on a Gilded Altar to gain Prayer exp.

I had already bought the Dragon Bones as far back as a few weeks ago, but purchasing the Marrentills to keep the incense burners lit was probably unnecessary.

There were no shortages of generous hosts who were willing to leave their houses and Gilded Altars open to pious players, in addition to keeping their burners lit for an extra Prayer exp bonus. Training the skill involved me running from the Yanille bank to the host's house, where I would use my entire inventory of bones on the altar. I'd then rush back to the bank to refill my inventory and repeat the process, using a Spirit Terrorbird to help me carry an extra load of bones.



Though mundane, the rate at which I gained exp came out to be an astonishing 195k per hour. It was not long before I hit level 79 Prayer (I leveled a second time later that night), raising my total level to 2200.

A couple of hours later, Zelda finally showed up and we had the 99 screenie together in front of the Al Kharid Palace. I would've gone with a more appropriate background theme, such as by leveling next to a pottery kiln, but I had felt that all the rooms which housed any Crafting-related equipment didn't look impressive enough. But I have no complaints against using the castle. I'm really pleased with how the screenshot turned out.



The two of us, along with Dg and Mat, then went over to the Crafting Guild where I bought my fourteenth Skill Cape. Its emote is among the most elaborate and cutest I've seen; when activated, my avatar would hurriedly carve out a statue of a cat - which I assume is Bob - and then proudly raise it above his head!


The Crafting Cape emote.


Stuff achieved today: Level 80 Prayer (Level 134 Combat), Level 99 Crafting, Reached a Total Level of 2200

Posted by Timothy Gold at 11:04 PM |

29 December 2008

Lucky Thirteen

Level 99 Ranged is in the bag!



Dg and I met up in the Ranged Guild for the final level up. I thought it was a very suitable area because I could get the bullseye targets into the background of the screenshot. Though I had absolutely no problems with the scenery, I was met with some trouble with the timing of Dg's congratulatory message.

I gave her a count down, before hitting the confirmation button on the exp lamp I had taken along. However, instead of immediately granting me the 1k exp needed for the level up, yet another message popped up. By the time I had selected the "click here to continue" button, the flashing, wavy text over Dg had already disappeared.



The level up message remained, but Dg's Private Chat was switched off, so I had to pm Zelda to tell her via clanchat to type everything out again. The screenie came out great in the end, and the two of us were joined by Zelda, Kicky and Tiz for my purchase of the Skill Cape.


Me performing the Ranged emote with my newly purchased Skill Cape.

I later spent the evening narrowing the gap for Crafting. Level 99s on consecutive days is pure l33tness.


Stuff achieved today: Level 99 Ranged

Posted by Timothy Gold at 11:05 PM |

28 December 2008

A Spectacular Finish

I'm feeling frustrated with myself.



I've gotten completely hooked on this new computer game I had received as a Christmas present. It's taken up a lot of my Runescaping time over the last few days, though I am relieved that I was able to close the exp gap for tomorrow's Ranged screenshot.

I leveled Slayer earlier, which means that maxing out Ranged will get me a total level of 2199. Crafting, which I'll take care of on Tuesday, will be my 2200th level.



As if ending off the year with two more Skill Capes under my belt wasn't enough, a very good real-life friend of mine, Reuben Sa, has decided to start playing Runescape again, after a two-year long hiatus. During his prime, he was ranked as one of the top chefs in the entire game, even attaining the #30 spot on the highscores at one point.

He was the one who had inspired me to train and subsequently master my first skill, Cooking. Reuben had also gotten me started on my tradition of inviting one friend over to be featured in my level 99 screenshots, by appearing for my Cooking screenshot.

Hackers have left his bank account in a sorry state, so he's now decided to spend his next few weeks fishing back his wealth. It's be a pleasure being able to play RS alongside him again.


Stuff achieved today: Level 92 Slayer

Posted by Timothy Gold at 11:36 PM |

25 December 2008

Final Preparations

I sold all my Dragon Platebodies for a profit of 1 milion gp each.

This time, I think I'm finally out of the D-Plate market for good. It's no longer the volatile item it used to be and its price has stabilised, making it significantly less lucrative for merchanting. I'll probably just return to my original cash cow of seed merching.

Presently, I'm at the final stages of my Crafting and Ranged training. I've already arranged with Dg to meet up for the screenshot on Monday. The Crafting level up with Zelda would most likely take place on the day after. Annoyingly, there's still the venue and the clothing I'll be wearing to choose, but I'll try to reach a decision by tomorrow.


Stuff achieved today: Nothing much

Posted by Timothy Gold at 10:32 PM |

23 December 2008

Dagannoth Defeat

Mat organised a raid on the Dagannoth Kings at Waterbirth Island for this evening.


The four of us, Mat, Kicky, Spam and I, about to enter the Waterbirth Cave.

Most of us were really new to fighting this group of boss monsters, so we adopted a strategy which would only put us in combat with only two out of the three Kings. The plan was for me to first enter the boss cavern alone, lure Rex, the Melee Dagannoth, to the east and then mage him down with Slayer Dart.

The others would then immediately join me in fighting off Rex and Prime (the Mage Dagannoth), while the remaining King, Supreme (the Ranged Dagannoth), would be left alone in the western part of the cave where he would be unable to reach us. The strategy, at least in theory, would defend us from virtually all attacks, as we would be taking out Rex at a distance and activating the Protect From Magic Prayer to make ourselves invulnerable to Prime's spells.


Me using Slayer Dart on Dagannoth Rex from a safespot.

But we were just unable put this ultimate plan into action.

I couldn't fight Rex from my safespot effectively, because whenever the rest of the team approached the Melee boss to help me take it down, he would divert his focus away from me and move out of the area he was stuck in to attack them.


The whole team trying to range down Dagannoth Prime. Only his legs are visible, as we
wanted to keep our distance from Supreme in the west.

We couldn't get Supreme to ignore us as well. After Prime died, I rushed too far west to pick up my bolts and its drops, and promptly got the Ranged King's attention.

So the clan event was pretty much one epic fail. We were forced to teleport to safety after only a few kills. There were no casualties, though some of us got frighteningly close to dying amidst the fight.


Stuff achieved today: Nothing much

Posted by Timothy Gold at 11:54 PM |

22 December 2008

A Packed Day



I bought a total of nine Dragon Platebodies at their minimum GE values earlier this evening.

There are signs that a rise may soon be approaching, but I'll spare you the details. A lot of other stuff happened today; I finally got round to completing the Christmas holiday event. It involved me trying to track down the Queen of Snow's son, Jack Frost, who had escaped the Plane of Snow and entered Gielinor.


Jack Frost giving me a not-so-warm welcome after I located him south of
Barbarian Village.

After a short scuffle with the boy and the arrival of his mother, the Queen of Snow, I was able to help him return safely to his realm. I also learnt through the holiday event that Santa Claus was actually the father of Jack Frost. Jagex has a rather unusual take on real-life personifications.


A family reunion!

Sometime in-between my search for Jack, I took a few minutes off to watch Mat reach level 99 Strength. I also accompanied him to the Warriors' Guild, where he purchased a Strength Cape. It will be my turn for Ranged and Crafting soon enough...


Mat performing his Strength Cape emote, along with Dg, Spam and I.


Stuff achieved today: Completed Christmas 2008 event

Posted by Timothy Gold at 11:43 PM |

21 December 2008

Exp P10x

Mat's been poking fun at my bad decision of claiming my Swept Away exp rewards by drinking up all of Maggie's goulash.

Players who completed the quest were allowed to use a bowl to scoop up some of the exp-granting soup, and could do so at any time they wished. This property made it a useful tool to help me successfully take level 99 screenshots, notably for combat skills such as Ranged. I could close up the exp gap for the level up and then gulp down the goulash to finally hit 99, without the need to fight any monsters.

This would effectively prevent me from getting attacked which would disrupt the level up message, and would also grant me the freedom to max out the stat at any location of my choosing, even in an area devoid of creatures to range down.

Although I have already greedily eaten up all the ten portions of goulash Maggie had given me, I was able to find a suitable substitute - the exp lamp which I've yet to claim for completing all the Easy Falador Achievement Diary tasks.


Me slaying a Skeletal Wyvern to complete a Hard task in the Falador Achievement
Diary.

I've even begun systematically crossing out the Medium and Hard tasks. I got round to killing the irritating Mogre and Skeletal Wyvern earlier today, and am now very close to completing the entire diary. I'll probably use their respective lamps on Runecrafting; using up the larger exp rewards on a faster skill like Ranged would be a waste.


Stuff achieved today: Nothing much

Posted by Timothy Gold at 11:33 PM |

19 December 2008

Crash & Burn

What the hell just happened?!

Within a period of just 24 hours, the 20 million gp offers which kept pouring in for Dragon Platebodies suddenly halted, and the once highly sought after piece of armour is now getting dumped below its minimum Grand Exchange value.

I spotted signs that confidence in the item was faltering during the previous night, and had even confided in Mat and Zelda about my concerns, but we were still pretty certain that the price hike would last at least a few more days. An overnight crash was completely unprecedented.



Presently, Mat and I have done our best to salvage our profits. We put up all of the armour at the GE minimum and they eventually sold. We both still reaped in a tidy sum, but considering their sky-high values during the last two to three days, I'm somewhat disappointed that the Dragon Platebody failed to live up to its potential.

Anyway, I was able to pocket a little over 13 million from the investment, while Mat managed 1.8 million. Zelda simply decided to hold on to the platebody, optimistic that it'll soar back up. My plan of action right now is to continue monitoring its price. I intend to jump back into the market and buy the platebodies all up as soon as I receive any indication that their renewed plummet would make a turn around.


Stuff achieved today: Level 83 Summoning, Level 77 Agility

Posted by Timothy Gold at 11:07 PM |

18 December 2008

God Wars & Ninety-Nines

The Blessings Event Team has been slacking off on its responsibilities lately, so Tiz and I had two out of four of its members replaced.


Yet another face off with General Graardor and his war-hardened Sergeants.

Kicky and Zelda now have been promoted to the rank of Event Leader, and the former lost no time in organizing a God Wars raid for the clan, which was scheduled for today. I thought it went really well; we encountered no crashers and General Graardor even dropped a Bandos Chestplate during one of the kills.

And much to my relief, Kicky had also magnanimously taken up the Tanking role, making this the first raid I wasn't picked off to be the group's meat shield. Constantly getting pummeled by the Generals Ranged attacks gets tiresome after a while...



Oh, and on a completely unrelated note, I've finally chosen the two players who will appear on my level 99 screenshots Ranged and Crafting. Dg was an easy choice for the Ranged pic, since I know that's her preferred form of combat (which she has also maxed out), while Zelda has agreed to be there for my Crafting level up.



At the start of December, I had deep misgivings on whether I'd be able to obtain those two Skill Capes before 2009. But I am glad to say that my training's back on track; the 99s will both be in the bag before January arrives.


Stuff achieved today: Level 98 Ranged

Posted by Timothy Gold at 11:30 PM |

17 December 2008

The Final Lineup

The Christmas holiday event and quest are out. Jagex has also finally made the necessary changes to the Stealing Creation reward system, so I guess just about wraps it up for the year 2008.



It's been quite an impressive twelve months, with notable gaming content like the advent of the Summoning skill, PvP servers, a massive graphical revamp for the whole of Runescape, and even the creation of the first (and recent) Grandmaster quest.

As usual, I'm going to wait at least a couple of days for the crowds to clear out, before attempting to try out the holiday-themed updates. I prefer the areas to be empty for my screenshots. I still went for a few rounds of Stealing Creation and had a chance to check out the modified point system. My 3.2 million score has been reduced to a mere 200, but at least the costs of the mini-game rewards have also been severely cut down.


It's all uphill from here...

Meanwhile, Dragon Platebody prices continue to skyrocket. 20 million gp offers dominate the forums, though its real value is probably closer to 25 million. The frustrating bit of it all is that the actual GE prices fail to keep up with the platebody's street value. It'll take quite a while for me to sell the armour away with ease (no junk trades, please!), while still maximizing my profit.


Stuff achieved today: Gained 125k Ranged exp, Gained 150k Crafting exp

Posted by Timothy Gold at 11:39 PM |

15 December 2008

Chaos Elemental Revisited

Got so caught up with my merching activities that I had neglected to mention the successful Chaos Elemental hunt last night.



Seven guys showed up, which was probably overkill considering this particular boss monster's relative weakness, but the extra firepower helped us to fend off any wandering Revenants.


Dg, Kat and I battling a Revenant Knight.

I'm glad to say that there weren't any fatalities this time, though the Revs still posed quite a bit of a threat. We were attacked by a group of three Orks immediately after killing the first Elemental spawn and had to switch servers. Subsequent assaults generally proved to be more irritating than an actual cause for worry, with the exception of Kat who only narrowly escaped death at one point. The drops made up for those ghostly ambushes though. We were lucky enough to pick up a Dragon 2h during our third kill.


A Dragon 2h drop!

Anyway, to keep everyone updated, it seems that today may actually be the turning point of the Dragon Platebody's plummet. People are presently willing to pay way above its maximum GE value, which currently stands at 12.9 million gp. The forums have been flooded with 15 mil offers, with a few payments even exceeding 16 million.


Stuff achieved today: Nothing much

Posted by Timothy Gold at 11:42 PM |

14 December 2008

Nothing Ventured, Nothing Gained

The Dragon Platebody continues its steady descent in the Grand Exchange.


This offer came in overnight.

And as mad as it sounds, I bought half a dozen more last night; one at 11.9 million gp and the rest at 11.7 million. It also appears that my first purchase has had a bit of a ripple effect. Zelda, Kitt and Mat have gone off to the GE to buy a set each, after learning about my transaction.



Clearly, the stakes have been raised, which is really making me more nervous over this investment's outcome. There are signs that the platebody may be approaching for a recovery however, which is definitely a huge comfort to me at this juncture.

There is an increase in the number of players attempting to buy the armour in the forums (one guy even buying as many as ten); the upsurge in demand should raise prices. The item's also now selling way above its current GE minimum value, which shows that platebody owners are no longer abandoning ship.

Finally, the drop rates of the Dragon pieces have been lowered as early the 4th of December. The effects of the reduced influx of platebodies into the market should be felt sooner or later. (Please let it be sooner...)


Stuff achieved today: Gained 200k Crafting exp

Posted by Timothy Gold at 11:30 PM |

12 December 2008

The Dragon Platebody

Prices of the Dragon Platebody continue their free fall in the Grand Exchange.



The piece of armour peaked at around 39 million, but is now under a third of its former value. I've witnessed similar patterns with other items, and such massive drops were usually followed by big recoveries, before prices finally stabilised.

I decided to take advantage of this earlier today and put up a 13 million offer at the GE for the armour. It took a few hours, but the trade finally came through and I am now the proud owner of the ultimate piece of Dragon equipment. I'm banking on my speculations that it'll reach its floor value soon, and then swiftly bounce back up. I am not expecting it to hit the 40s like it almost did during its first week of release; cashing in on just a few mil would already make this a worthwhile investment.


A bulky, yet stylish combo.

Risky deals at the GE aside, I was feeling equally reckless when Lapalok assigned me to kill eight Mithril Dragons. I usually shy away from completing metal dragon tasks, but because slaying one was listed in the Fremennik Province Achievement Diary, I thought I'd proverbially kill two Evil Chickens with one stone by becoming a step closer to claim the diary rewards and receiving Slayer Points at the same time.



No Full Helmet drop to complete the set, but at least the task was quick.


Stuff achieved today: Gained 150k+ Ranged exp

Posted by Timothy Gold at 10:40 PM |

10 December 2008

Page Two

Runescape Wiki's being reliable as always.

Most of the new Achievement Diary rewards have already been listed there, even though it has been less than 24 hours since their release. Investing the time needed to finish both diaries really seems to be worth the effort, but I'm likely to end up procrastinating. Collectively, the diary tasks strongly remind me of a giant Maplestory fetch quest, which I find a bore.

Everyone else appears to be more enthusiastic towards the update, however. I've seen quite a sizable number of players already wielding the special Falador Shields, though the Fremennik Boots were harder to spot.



So it was pretty much just the usual skilling for me, while the rest of Runescape ploughed through the time consuming Achievement Diaries. Though I do not have any of the rewards in my possession, my progress in Farming easily made up for this. I'm now ranked #42 and have made it to the second page of the highscores for the skill. The exp gaps are huge at this point, so I'm taking baby steps. I'll target #40 for now, which is only a modest two ranks up.


Stuff achieved today: Reached the 2nd page of the Farming Highscores

Posted by Timothy Gold at 11:39 PM |

09 December 2008

What A Day


Has Jagex been smoking
Ranarrs? I look just like a

O-kay. I think I might have to pass on the new haircuts. The Long Curtains style suits me just fine.

The Falador and Fremennik Province Achievement Diaries are similar to their predecessors. Skimming through the two lists in the Knowledge Base, I've found that the various tasks are very do-able, but equally mundane.

I have already completed a few of the simpler ones, but I'll only seriously attempt doing the diaries after I find out more about their rewards. Save the few vague hints the news articles provided, the type of payment given out is still a big question mark.



Anyway, before I began checking out these updates after they were released in the evening, I busied myself with some Summoning training. I amassed an impressive number of Charms during weeks of Slayer assignments, and finally used up most of the Crimson variety to make Granite Lobster Pouches. I gained over 200k exp under an hour and was able to reach Level 82 Summoning.

Additionally, level 91 Slayer had been achieved earlier during a Greater Demon assignment. This has turned out to be quite a day...




Stuff achieved today: Level 91 Slayer, Level 82 Summoning

Posted by Timothy Gold at 11:32 PM |

06 December 2008

By The Way...

My Crafting, Slayer and Ranged training continues as I wait for the release of the next set of gaming content.

My collection of crafted tiaras is steadily growing. In spite of my efforts to cash in by using them as junk for unbalanced trades, this accumulation has already exceeded the 30k mark. If this keeps up, I may eventually have enough to sell off the set of Dagon'hai Robes I received during While Guthix Sleeps. Its GE value is worth just a fraction of what players are truly willing to pay, and I may need up to 50k tiaras to address the huge price difference.


Score! Whip drop!

Progress for Ranged and Slayer is also satisfactory, though I was forced to switch to using Melee for the Abyssal Demon task today. But I managed to get a Whip drop for my trouble, so I'm not complaining.

And before I close off, I've finally figured out why I've been unable to appeal my Rule 1 offence. I performed a search in the Knowledge Base, and found an article there which really helped to clear things up. It stated that all offences are unappealable for players whose accounts are in the Green Zone (such as I).


I am still in the Green Zone because
I've only committed a single, minor
offence.

Jagex reasoned that the negligible number of Black Marks "will not have a noticeable impact" on their game play experience. It appears that the smear in my account's otherwise clean record is permanent, unless - Saradomin forbid - I break more rules and advance to the Yellow, Orange or Red Zone.


Stuff achieved today: Nothing much

Posted by Timothy Gold at 11:05 PM |

04 December 2008

God Wars Crasher

The successful raid on the God Wars Dungeon a fortnight ago prompted Air to host another one.

I was able to round up a four-man team, and we made another visit to General Graardor and his Sergeants. The minions of Bandos weren't as generous on this occasion, but we still gladly pocketed the multiple Rune items they yielded.



And although we were fortunate enough to not have to compete with other clans, we still had to deal with this annoying crasher. He suddenly waltzed into the boss room, whittled the Sergeants' health to slightly below half, and then left us to deal with the General and later finish the three off. Since he had dealt the majority of the damage on the Sergeants, he was able to pick up all of their drops.

The most infuriating bit of it all was the fact that the crasher didn't take a single hit. Being true soldiers, the Sergeants only focused their attention on players who assault their commanding officer, even as they got hacked up by a Godsword. All the crasher had to do was activate his Protect From Range prayer to deal with Graardor's attacks, while everyone else who was pulling their weight had to bear the brunt of all three corners of the combat triangle.

At the very least, the Sergeants only yield semi-valuable items at best, so we can safely assume that the looter had even worse drops than we did.


Stuff achieved today: Nothing much

Posted by Timothy Gold at 11:19 PM |

02 December 2008

The Final Batch

Considering that November saw the release of gaming content such as Stealing Creation and that massive quest, While Guthix Sleeps, December's promised updates seem somewhat plain in comparison.

Jagex will be placing a huge emphasis on expanding the Achievement Diaries; there will be separate diaries for Lunar Isle and Falador. Rewards such as the improved lyre for teleportation caught my attention, but my interest towards this set of updates remains only lukewarm. The diaries just don't appeal to me very much and my completition of the existing ones is at a sorry state.

The hairstyle additions for players sound cool enough though, and expanding the current array by 20 is definitely very generous. The Christmas event is likely to be as elaborate as the one for Halloween. Jagex is intending to treat their players to yet another holiday-themed quest.

I can only sigh at the redundancy of the French language update. I think it's safe to assume that all Runescapers are able to speak English, at least to a certain degree. They wouldn't stick around to play a game they don't understand a word of, after all. It's a pity, really. Looking at how well November had gone, I had high hopes that Jagex would end '08 off with a bang.


Stuff achieved today: Nothing much

Posted by Timothy Gold at 11:07 PM |




Looking For Group
Level 99 Mining, here I come!