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29 March 2009

An IRL Blog

I didn't do much on Runescape today, in spite of it being a Sunday.

A chunk of my time was taken up by a certain competition I had to participate in back in the real world. All I ended up doing in RS was some cannonball Smithing and going for a few Farming rounds. I managed to squeeze in a little Construction training towards the evening, however.

Lately, I've been toying with the idea of starting an actual IRL blog to document the stuff which has been happening to me back in reality. I've long had a nasty habit of slipping in real-life events in my entries, even though this blog - strictly speaking - is supposed to have a central and sole focus on Runescape-related issues. Perhaps an IRL blog would put an end to this by providing an outlet for me to discuss real-life matters.

The only thing I'm concerned about presently is commitment; the last thing I want is to start a new online journal and then abandon it prematurely. I can't stand half-finished projects.


Stuff achieved today: Nothing much

Posted by Timothy Gold at 10:22 PM |

27 March 2009

Dwarf Quest Series Revival

The first of a new line of Development Diaries was released yesterday.

Several weeks ago, Jagex made clear its intentions to replace the usual monthly Behind the Scenes articles with these diaries. I can't say that this first issue has gotten me as excited as reading the old BTS updates.

The main focus of the diary is on reviving the Dwarf storyline, by adding another quest to the series. However, since Mod John A has only just started up on the project, discussion is limited to the initial planning stage of the quest's creation. We also won't be expecting to see this new addition to our quest list any time soon. According to the announcement page, the process of developing and testing new content takes "many months", so the diary hasn't exactly gotten me riveted to my computer. The long wait has pretty much killed any anticipation towards the update.

Needless to say, the new Development Diaries have yet to wow me, though I am sure that future issues would be more engaging and fully fleshed out. But whether they'll prove to be an adequate replacement for BTS articles has yet to be determined.


Stuff achieved today: Nothing much

Posted by Timothy Gold at 10:53 PM |

25 March 2009

More Bang For The Buck

I was interrupted by a system update in the middle of a Farming round.

Fortunately, the changes made weren't limited to maintenance, unlike yesterday's reset. A certain Pre-Purchase Advice Tool has been introduced to all shops, including the Grand Exchange. When attempting to purchase something, players are now able to make use of the tool to very conveniently access any relevant information about the item they're intending to buy.


Information of items can be readily accessed by using the
new Pre-Purchase Tool.

Additionally, several smaller scale improvements were made during the system update. Much to my delight, the exorbitant prices of wares sold in the Culinaromancer's Chest and the Grand Tree stores have been brought back down, so I'll be able to get a cheap supply of Pineapples, tomatoes, grapes and apples again.

Jagex has also finally fulfilled its promise to change the appearance of the Dragon Platebody. Though I've seen the latest version of this piece of armour, I've already completely forgotten about its previous look, so I have no basis for comparison. Regardless, I am curious about general player feedback due to the numerous complaints about the platebody back during the previous year, in November and December.


Stuff achieved today: Gained 100k Construction exp

Posted by Timothy Gold at 10:13 PM |

23 March 2009

My Friends List

So school's started again.

I only had enough free time to do some smithing and play a couple of Stealing Creation rounds; Mondays always seem to be the most tiresome of days. Then again, it's not like I had anything important planned to do in the game today. No new content from Jagex has been introduced and I wasn't even in the mood for Construction training.

Which reminds me; assuming I consistently gain a modest 100k exp a day, I've calculated that the Construction Skill Cape will be mine within three weeks. This gives me ample time to decide on a suitable venue and look (as in clothes) for the level up screenshot, but I am actually having much difficulty picking a friend for the event. After giving my Friends List a cursory glance, I've realised that my choices are limited to old acquaintances whom I haven't held a proper conversation with in months, or players who have already made an appearance in one of my previous fourteen 99 screenshots.

I blame myself for keeping my Private Chat almost permanently off. Runescape may not be an Internet chatroom or a Habbo Hotel, but even if I were to ignore my tradition of inviting good friends over to celebrate my level ups, I probably should try to be more sociable.


Stuff achieved today: Nothing much

Posted by Timothy Gold at 10:49 PM |

21 March 2009

Poor Zanik

Ouch!

I've been skimming through some of the threads in the Recent Updates forum for the last couple of days, and have seen the Chosen Commander take quite a bashing. I think that player feedback is so negative because people were simply expecting too much from the 150th quest. Its requirements have been criticized for being too low, and many have also complained that the rewards were inadequate.

I blame While Guthix Sleeps for spoiling them, though I do see where these irate questers are coming from. Admittedly, I view Zanik's Crossbow as nothing more than an inferior version of the Dark Bow, and am equally unimpressed with the new Agility arena.

I guess I'll have to come to terms with the fact that most players go on quests primarily for their rewards, as opposed to enjoying their rich storyline. Poor Zanik.


Stuff achieved today: Level 97 Construction

Posted by Timothy Gold at 11:42 PM |

19 March 2009

The Chosen Commander

Quest complete! And what an amazing finish to the Dorgeshuun storyline!

The Chosen Commander picks up where Land of the Goblins left off. With Zanik missing, the Goblin city of Dorgesh-Kaan is left at the mercy of the fanatical Saradominist cult, HAM. Several Goblin toddlers at the city's nursery have fallen ill, and Captain Undak suspects that the organization may have somehow been involved. I aid the captain in his investigations and was able to confirm his suspicions.

A HAM agent had indirectly caused the sicknesses by supplying the Dorgesh-Kaan market with poisoned food. A duel between me and the HAM member ensued when he refused to be taken into custody, but was interrupted when Zanik mysteriously appeared from a portal and helped me to defeat the criminal.


Zanik leaving Bandos's Throne Room through a portal.

After the fight, Zanik explained that the Strange Box (from Land of the Goblins) had teleported her to Bandos's Throne Room, and that time there travels at a manner of seconds to Gielinor's days. She put on a special pendant she found in the room, before escaping through a portal in the room, and materializing in Dorgesh-Kaan at an oddly convenient moment to help me bring down the HAM member.


Zanik had just shot down the HAM prisoner.

We both then reported to the Dorgeshuun Council, where a mini-trial for the HAM agent was conducted. Much to Zanik's anger, the council members decided against executing him. She stormed out of the Council Chamber, and killed the HAM agent with a shot from her crossbow after the meeting had ended. For murdering the prisoner, the Council had no choice but to banish her from the city in spite of her past heroic deeds.

After saying our goodbyes, Captain Undak asked another favour of me and requested that I investigate whether HAM was planning any more attacks. I visited the HAM base in Ardougne, which was headed by HAM Leader Sigmund, the chief antagonist for most of the Dorgeshuun storyline. I discovered that a Goblin was being held captive there and attempted to free him. However, some time in the middle of the rescue, a large group of Goblins led by Zanik stormed into the secret base and began attacking all the HAM members who were present.


Zanik leads a small army of Goblins to take on the HAM members. Sigmund can
clearly be seen activating the Protect from Melee Prayer.

Zanik killed Sigmund, before turning on me. Flummoxed by her apparent betrayal, I soon deduce that Bandos had somehow possessed Zanik through the pendant she had picked up from his throne room earlier. Although still under the War God's control, Zanik was able to summon enough will power to take off the pendant. However, another Goblin unwittingly puts it on and transforms into an avatar of Bandos. The avatar then teleported away.

Fearing for the city's safety, Zanik and I make our way back to Dorgesh-Kaan, where we found out that the avatar had already made his appearance there and had warned its inhabitants that they would be completely wiped out, unless they submitted to him. Though thoroughly demoralised over the prospect of challenging a god, Zanik was determined to defy Bandos.


Me and Zanik fighting the level 125 Bandos Avatar. The irony of me using my Bandos
armour to help win the fight did not go unmissed.

Against all odds however, we were both able to vanquish the Bandos avatar in his throne room, countering our foe's regenerative powers with the help of a specially-designed crossbow. We headed back to Dorgesh-Kaan victorious and the Dorgeshuun celebrated our triumph against the evil god.




Stuff achieved today: Completed the Chosen Commander

Posted by Timothy Gold at 10:45 PM |

17 March 2009

The Goblin-HAM Storyline

No school, so I had the whole of today for myself.

I kept myself busy with Construction training and several rounds of Stealing Creation, until the game went through a system update sometime in the evening. I have to say I was deeply impressed with Jagex's work this week, especially after taking into account March's poor start.


The revamped Runescape main page

Players were treated to the final installment of the Goblin-HAM quest series, which is personally one of my favourite storylines. It is evident that the Jagex staff are also taking this latest quest, the Chosen Commander, very seriously. The Runescape main page has been completely redesigned, and now even features Zanik, the protagonist of the series. And during the previous week, a new entry was added to the Lores and Histories collection, which offered the backstory of the aforementioned quest character.

The icing on the cake? Summaries of the previous quests in the Goblin-HAM storyline have been added to the QuestHelp system, in order to remind players of what has happened thus far in the series. Jagex has thought of everything.


Stuff achieved today: Gained 200k Construction exp

Posted by Timothy Gold at 11:22 PM |

15 March 2009

Blessings Turns Two

There were a few changes made to the event's schedule at the last minute, but the Blessings Anniversary celebrations went off without a hitch.


Me and my clanmates, geared in full Rune, about to face off against a
20-strong clan. Only two of our opponents are present in this screenshot.

The clan function started out with a few rounds of F2P Clan Wars. I hadn't played the mini-game in months, but was still able to decimate any opponents even more swiftly as my Combat level had been beefed up during my absence. My clanmates fared equally well, and we even managed to take out a 20-strong enemy clan with surprising ease in spite of their numerical superiority.



Clan Wars was followed by Castle Wars. We secured a win in our first round and then lost the next; the results aren't too fantastic, but we were able to get our kill counts up in both matches. I skipped the Pking event as I had grown tired by then, but eagerly participated in the fourth and last activity, Stealing Creation. I can't seem to remember the outcome of the two rounds we stayed for, but I recall that I did a pretty decent job fulfilling my role as thief, one-itemer and Melee Warrior for the team.


Me gleefully adding an enemy Mage to my list of kills.

As far as clan anniversaries go, this one was certainly as good as it can get. I thoroughly enjoyed myself.


Stuff achieved today: Nothing much

Posted by Timothy Gold at 11:51 PM |

13 March 2009

Brief Respite

It's Friday the 13th, but I certainly don't feel unlucky.



I reached level 96 Construction today and have a whole week off school, starting tomorrow. Hitting level 97 before the break is over is very manageable, which means I probably should begin looking for a friend to appear in the 99 screenshot soon. The distance between me and mastery is closing very rapidly. It'll only be a matter of a few weeks before I'll have yet another Cape of Achievement to add to my collection.

However, I will admit that this optimistic outlook towards my skilling is somewhat offset by the hefty amount of school work I need to complete during the week. But although pressured to strike a balance between these two activities, I am still thankful for the brief respite.


Stuff achieved today: Level 96 Construction

Posted by Timothy Gold at 10:36 PM |

12 March 2009

Happy Birthday To Us

Three separate events have been planned for this Sunday to celebrate Blessings' second birthday.

In light of the fairly recent setbacks the clan has bumped into, I'm actually quite surprised that it's been able to hold out until March. I expect that there'll be a slightly less jovial atmosphere compared to the previous year's celebrations now that Blessings is going through a rather difficult stage, but I'm going to show my support and attend the clan function.

As busy as I am at the moment, it's not like I'll be pressed for time anyway; the week-long school break starts this Saturday.


Stuff achieved today: Nothing much

Posted by Timothy Gold at 11:49 PM |

10 March 2009

Inflation

No system update to boot me off the game yet, but it seems that Jagex has managed to slip in a small change when I wasn't looking.



Prices of certain items sold in NPC shops across Gielinor have been fixed at significantly higher values. Grapes, which - until today - had been selling for 1-2gp a bunch at the Culinaromancer's Chest, are now worth over half a grand. And much to my extreme irritation, apple and tomato prices weren't spared either, so I'll have to spend more in order to procure the necessary baskets of fruit for gardener payments.


The Culinaromancer's Chest's wares remain untouched, as most buyers
have been scared off by their crazily exorbitant prices.

As established earlier, these price changes were made in secret, which means that Jagex hasn't publicly acknowledged them, let alone provide players with a rationale for their implementation. I can, however, come up with a deduction for the motives behind the update. The last time Jagex meddled with the prices of these seemingly ordinary items was during the anti-RWT updates period in late 2007.

Apparently, bots had been buying up large quantities of these commodities from shops, and then selling them back to players for profit at their respective street values, which were considerably higher. Ignoring the annoyance honest Runescapers felt, the company's solution was straightforward and effective - the Jagex staff simply increased the shop prices to make these bot buying practices no longer as lucrative.

I fear that we may be experiencing a repeat of the November '07 anti-gold farming era, albeit on a smaller scale. Already, the Bounty Hunter mini-game has been taken down indefinitely, due to cases of RWT during non-peak hours. The price changes are the second warning sign. I hope that Jagex doesn't do anything more drastic.


Stuff achieved today: Nothing much

Posted by Timothy Gold at 10:49 PM |

08 March 2009

Repetition

More Construction, Smithing and Stealing Creation today.

I fear that my entries are slowly becoming repetitive, but my excuse is that there's been hardly anything new to discuss. Though practical, the small improvement to banks last week doesn't bring the same excitement as a good ol' quest (or even mini-game. Yes, I'm that desperate).

But although the updates to be released during the rest of March remains much of a mystery due to the lack of Behind the Scenes articles, I still have much to look forward to back in the real world. This Friday the 13th signals the end of the first school term, and this will be followed by a one week break, which means more gaming time.

Though I expect my total exp to balloon during this period, I'm still hoping that Jagex would release something engaging by then to keep me occupied with an activity other than skilling.


Stuff achieved today: Nothing much

Posted by Timothy Gold at 10:05 PM |

06 March 2009

The Little Things

Due to my daily teleports to the fruit tree patch in Lletya, I've been slowly accumulating a pile of uncharged tiny elf crystals in my bank.



I was visiting Eluned to get them re-enchanted when I discovered that she's now equipped with an "Enchant All" option; the change was probably discreetly made in a recent update. The feature's certainly a real time saver. Previously, I had to individually use each of the crystals on Eluned and go through loops of dialogue to get the elf to recharge them. Sometimes, it's the small things that really matter, which is why I welcome Jagex's current policy of fixing up old content.

I also came across my first Bee Keeper random today and have experienced an overall reduction of Random Event occurrences, which shows that Jagex has held true to their earlier promise as well.


The Bee Keeper random

However, I'm still somewhat peeved about the absence of the Behind the Scenes articles. I hope they have a quest planned for the month.


Stuff achieved today: Nothing much

Posted by Timothy Gold at 9:19 PM |

04 March 2009

No More Spoilers

Some modifications have been to the bank interface, as well as to PvP combat.

The updates struck me as odd because they weren't accompanied by March's Behind the Scenes article, and then I remembered that Jagex had already announced that they were intending to replace it with Development Diaries. There's been no sign of the latter yet; I suspect that the write-ups are only reserved for larger scale updates.

I think I've grown a little too reliant on the monthly spoilers. At the moment, I'm feeling a sense of frustration over not knowing what will be released into the game in the coming weeks.


Stuff achieved today: Nothing much

Posted by Timothy Gold at 10:03 PM |

01 March 2009

An Interesting Sunday

Today wasn't at all like my daily routine of Construction training.


Some of the items which were dropped during the drop
party.

While in the middle of a Farming round, I spotted the entire group of bankers at the Falador East bank making an announcement of a party drop worth 127 million gp. Unsurprisingly, a crowd had already amassed at the Party Room by the time I got there. The entire mini-map was covered in white dots and the huge numbers of players actually made the area lag up.


Where's Waldo?

I'm a little disappointed that I wasn't fast enough to pop a single balloon, but my luck at party drops has always been quite poor anyway, so it was really not unexpected. I'm still wondering, with a slight twinge of regret, who had the immensely good fortune of picking up the godsword and Bandos armour.

A little later during the day, I trained Prayer for about half an hour and reached level 91 Prayer. My P2P Combat level's remains the same, but my F2P's now up at 125.



Part of the evening was spent at the God Wars Dungeon with my clan. We were planning on another raid on Bandos's Stronghold, but it turned out to be a total flop. We found an empty Lootshare server only after over 30 minutes of constant world switching. The four of us defeated General Graardor once, but after the first kill, another team of players swarmed into the room, dealt the majority of the damage in all subsequent spawns, and claimed all of the drops.

Another annoying reminder to not go God Wars hunting on weekends.


Stuff achieved today: Level 91 Prayer (Level 125 F2P Combat)

Posted by Timothy Gold at 10:02 PM |




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