Bonus XP Weekend!

From the Jagex Website:

"When you initially log in on the weekend, you will gain approx 2.7x XP for all "normal training" activities (see the question below for a list). While you are logged in, a timer will be running over the time you are logged into the game. Over time, the bonus will decrease to a minimum of 1.1x your usual rate."

HOLY CRAP!

Something of this magnitude needs careful and meticulous planning.  Priorities need to be set and materials need to be gathered.  Because when that timer starts, Wrthlss Noob is going to explode.  I have Friday and Saturday off, so I fully intend to spend every waking moment possible training something.  Apologies in advance to Dylan and Zack.

Expensive skills are currently a priority, followed immedately by hard to train skills and skills which require special, untradable materials (Summoning).

Herblore immedately rises to the top of that list, as does Construction.  Both skills are skills that I really want to train up.  Smithing makes the list from the "hard to train" category, and while Summoning would normally be high on this priority list, I'm happy with my current level.  Fletching makes the cut as a wildcard, from the "skills I hate to train" category.

Current Priority List (as of 3/8/10):

#1)  Herblore
#2)  Smithing
#3)  Construction/Magic
#4)  Summoning
#5)  Fletching

My weekend rounders will be Fishing, with possibly a little bit of Slayer and Runecrafting thrown in for good measure.

Preps:

Herblore:  I have bought about 3m gp worth of herb seeds, and I plan to continue to farm and possibly do more Herblore throughout the weekend.  *NEW*  I realized that I would save a lot of time by making unfinished potions, and so this is done.  I currently have over 2.6k various unfinished potions stockpiled.

Smithing:  I have made plans for trips to GWD to obtain Adamant bars, and I'm saving the bars made from ores obtained from star bonuses.  While my goal is 2.5k bars, I will continue to add to this total as time permits.  I need at least 89 Smithing for the Ardy Achievement Diary.  2.5k bars will insure at least 80 Smithing.

Construction/Magic:  I have a signifigant number of mahogany logs, which I intend to use Plank Make during the bonus weekend.  I have not yet made sure that I have enough runes/money for this, but calculations are forthcoming.  I have no particular goal for either skill, other than "higher than they are now."  *NEW*  Plank Make kills a lot of time, so I decided to make the planks beforehand.  While Magic is not necessarily off the table, making planks is.

Summoning:  I do not intend to persue charms (outside of daily Bork battles), but I will be gathering the necessary secondaries to use the charms I have.  *NEW*  I've changed my mind, and decided to do a little Slayer in order to boost my charms.  This is not a signifigant focus, however.

Fletching:  This is an extremely small priority, and really I just want to save myself some time in the future by boosing it a level or two in a short time.  Bank space will quickly become an issue, so I don't want to have a lot of logs hanging out in my bank.  So, I need 431 Yew logs to train my Fletching to 85 (Mage Longbow).  I intend to have 1k Magic logs that I will fletch and string.  These will either be sold or alched.

Fishing:  I have a goal of 90 Fishing, so that I can fish Rocktail.  I'll be switching back and forth between Monkfish (to sell) and Sharks (for food).

Slayer:  Not a terribly large concern, but I can't pass up the chance of some bonus Slayer xp.  Iron Dragons is up currently, and I'll stick with that for starters to save a few charges on my Gloves of Dragonslaying.  This is just to break up the monotny of Fishing.

I will not repost, but instead, will make relative changes here.

Chapter 2-Episode 3: Transportation Solved (Part 1)

I've grown dramatically tired of walking, and not having the patience to wait until I've trained my teleports, I decide I need to gain access to the Fairy Rings. This involves two quests (one of which I've already been planning on doing. Before I can even think about fairy rings, I need to gain access to Zanaris.

For the Lost City quest, I need a 31 Crafting and a 36 Woodcutting. For the Crafting, I decide to make oil lanterns. From 27, it'll take at least 99 to get me to 31. I head from Varrock to the mines and mine 112 iron, which I then smelt in Lumbridge and smith into the frames in Varrock. The glass, however, is somewhat more of a problem.

I don't have nearly enough buckets to effectively make glass. The best sand pit is in Yannelle, so I head there (via Castle Wars) to see if there is a general store in town. There isn't (of course, that would be too easy), but there is a general store in Port Kazzard...which has the deposit boxes for the Fishing Trawler minigame very close by. So I take a little walk north, buy 4 inventories (well, 27 anyways) of buckets, depositing them in the bank after each load. I then return to Yannelle and fill the buckets from the nearby bank.

The final obstacle I need to overcome is soda ash. Without teleports, gathering this isn't an easy task, so I head to the GE to see if I can buy any. It's well over 200 gp each, so I decide it would be easier to gather it myself. I head over to Karajima where I'll gather seaweed on the shores and bank it in Tz-haar (I burn it into soda ash on one of the sulphur vents in the city). I then make the glass in the lava forge.

To get the blowpipe, I head to Entrana, since I can't remember exactly which store sells them. I hate going to Entrana because you can't take any weapons or armor (although a knife is just dandy), which means I have to bank everything. I teleport back to Varrock and assemble the lamps. Now for the fun part: I have to fill them with oil. I need 112 swamp tar, and picking those up will be a chore.

It doesn't take as long as I thought it would, but actually filling the lamps does. All in all it takes about an hour and a half to fill 112 oil lanterns. I take them and put all but 2 on the GE to see how long it takes to sell them all (4:20, 5/4).

I now need 4 levels of Woodcutting, so I decide to cut and fletch my way at least to iron arrows (15 Fletching). I home teleport and grab a knife from the kitchen. I intend to stay close to the Lumbridge general store so I can quickly unload my inventory of fletched bows (which are of no particular use to anyone).

I get to 15, and make arrowshafts untill I hit my Woodcutting level (I'll need them for iron arrows). Cutting regular logs isn't the most efficient way to train Woodcutting, but it's the only way I can train Fletching at the moment. But since my Woodcutting is still low, it doesn't take all that long. I have my requirements for the quest, and well over 2k arrowshafts. Arrows are good Fletching and Smithing experience, and better arrows will help with range (I really do not want to spend all that money on a dwarf cannon).

I set off on the quest with only my woodcutting axe, a knife and enough runes for exactly 100 casts of the Water Bolt spell (I got about 100 chaos from a maze random!). I head to the swamp and talk to the warrior (and he's a real hoot), find the tree and chop at it. The leprecaun gives me the information I need and I head to Port Sarim (banking my axe on the way).

I head to the cave, and find a bronze axe after killing my first zombie (first time ever, and I've done that quest 3 or 4 times). I make a mad dash towards the rear of the cave and face the Spirit. It doesn't go very well, and I get killed and lose all my runes. It's not a huge loss (as my lamps all sold), but I've discovered an important thing: You can't hide from the nature spirit anymore.

I head back to the GE to buy some more runes, and I return to Entrana (this time, with the rest of the sharks I bought for Dragon Slayer). While it's not pretty, I get it done. I make 1 staff to start with and set up autocast so I can finish up most of my runes before I head back to finish the quest. Quest Complete: 3 Quest Points, Access to Zanaris.

Zanaris is a cook's dream. You have pretty much everything that you can't grow yourself, all within a short distance walk of both a bank and a stove. Since I usually carry a Dramen staff with me everywhere I go, I make sure I have a lot of them (if you die, you automatically lose it). After I'm done, I head back to Entrana with my remaining runes and only 2 of my remaining sharks (I would have done this earlier but I had probably 15 sharks left, and I didn't want to waste them just to make room). I cut a full inventory of sticks, and then teleport back (after a 14 minute layover on the home teleport) and make them into staves.

Now that I have access to Zanaris and Dramen staves, I'm ready to shift into the next phase of my transportation plan.