Post-Weekend Update

I didn't take screenies, so all I can do is tell you what happened.  My bad.

First of all, the bonus percentage dropped dramatically faster than I anticipated.  Aparently something was changed to maintain some kind of balance.  Smithing and Construction both got skipped because by the time I got done with Herblore, clay hammers offered a better bonus.  I also didn't spend a lot of time Runecrafting, as I wanted to spend some time working on Fishing.  But here's what I managed to get done:

Herblore:  75 to 82
Farming:  78 to 79
Summoning:  80 to 81

And a large dent in 87 Fishing.

Once I started leveling Herblore, I saw rather quickly that I would get access to Saradomin Brews before all was said and done...which added another few million to the total value of my weekend Herblore supplies.  And about 34 million gp in herbs and secondaries condenses down to about 6 million gp in potions.

Glad I didn't buy any of it.

----------------

All in all, I was rather happy with the end result. 

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.

Back From Vacation

After spending a week getting 75 Runecrafting, THEN spending a good deal of time getting 1k tickets at Brimhaven Agility Arena, I had to take a break.  When it starts feeling like work, it's time to do something else for a while.  But the vacation is over.

I'm officially down to 3 skills below 75:  Herblore (74), Thieving (71) and Hunter (71).  And Herblore is getting close.

There were also 2 quests to do when I got back, and both were a little tough.  Blood Runs Deep in particular gave me a good measure of trouble (and I died twice), and it took me a couple days to finish.

A mixed blessing out of The Temple of Senntisten (the other quest) are the Curses.  It's an alternate "prayer book" if you will.  Gone now are the low level prayers that are pretty much wasted because of Chivalry and Piety.  Likewise, Piety's equivelent Curse (as far as I can tell) requires 95 Prayer.  And the price of dragon bones continues to skyrocket...not that I would ever buy them.  All penguin points are now going to Prayer.

Of course, now that those two quests are done, Jagex has released their second Grandmaster quest.  And from what I've been hearing, it's nasty.  I meet all the requirements (except for the two Soul Wars requirements), but with my "all skills 75+" goal being just around the corner, that quest is way on the back burner for now.

My origional goal is likewise on track.  I managed to get 75 Farming (for Magic Trees), and I'm 2 Summoning levels from 80.  As close as I am, I still imagine it's going to take several million GP to get there (not to mention several Slayer assignments).

A New Set of Goals

I was kind of at a loss after getting the Adze (much like I was after getting my Quest Cape to begin with and after completing While Guthix Sleeps). When you train for a really long time on one thing, it's difficult to figure out what to do next. But during the course of Firemaking and getting the Adze, I had learned some things.

First thing I learned was that burning maple logs takes a great deal of time. I've always been a "work smarter instead of harder" type of guy, and things that take a long time annoy me...especially when I could be doing something else to make it faster (I.E. burning mage logs).

I also learned that the Spirit Hydra's scrolls regrow your trees in farming plots. The Summoning level required for these familiar is 80. To plant a Magic tree, you need 75 Farming.

I'm sure you see where this is going...

This got me to thinking: having easy access to free magic logs could help me out in countless ways. While the Firemaking aspect is obvious (I still want a skill cape), I also have an 80 Fletching and can fletch Magic Short Bows (and work towards another cape)...which I can Alch for money and Magic experience (enter cape #3 in the long term). This is not to mention that Magic logs themselves are worth somewhere in the neighborhood of 1.3k each. And the whole process of this would give me a whole lot of Woodcutting experience (yet another cape!)

It's a great plan, with a sole hitch: my Summoning skill is currently 66.

I've shown my humble readers (if any) that I'm not opposed to power-training a skill when I want something. Power-training the Summoning skill is limited, however, by how fast you can get your hands on charms, specifically crimson and blue charms. This is not to even mention the fact that most of the charms I can make will cost insane amounts of money to infuse en-masse.

Charms are easily found in most monster drops. However, the drop rate and type is highly unpredictable and the process is slow. I have also heard that you can get charms as rewards from the Castle Wars-esque minigame: Soul Wars. But it's relatively new and I know little about it.

I've had a plan to increase my ability to make money (a more dangerous way than I'm currently working on): God Wars Dungeon. People brag about making ludicrious amounts of money here, and that's exactly what I need. From what I understand, I have the basic skills I need to go, and I have purchased the necessary gear. This is where the wheels fell off the wagon: the two people who were supposed to show me the ropes to get me started haven't been around. Time to start looking for a "Plan B." I'll probably handle it in typical Wrthlss Noob style by researching it myself and having a go at it alone. This will require careful planning, and before I go, I'll want to be able to make my own Range Potions (72 Herblore).

That's just for Summoning, however. I still need a 75 Farming to pull this off as well. This is easy, and I'm already prepared to start. I have a huge number of bird's nests (containing tree seeds) stockpiled from my kingdom at Miscelania. All I really need to do is get back to planting trees.

With these new goals in hand, I set out...

Small Fortunes

Before I get into the ludicrous amount of money I just got done spending, I'd like to note that while training Slayer, I met the requirements to do Path of Glophrie. It's not a spectacular quest or a difficult quest...and I didn't get much of anything out of it other than a bit of xp and the ability to make crystal chimes...which I hope I never need. I still need 2 Slayer levels, 3 Defence levels, 3 Prayer levels and 12 Ranged levels. I'm still Combat level 80.

Over the past two days, I've spent well over 1 million gp to get Herblore to 57. While my out-of-pocket expenses only amounted to a bit over 600k, I sold the potions I made to get more money for herbs. I didn't waste money by making any Super-Strength Potions, since the herbs were 3 times more, with the added expense of limpwort root. Besides, the Super-Energy potions sold for more.

This allowed me to finish Fairy Tale part 2, and gives me a total of 249 quest points.

I also made 3 more attempts at finishing Contact!. The third trip resulted in my third death during this quest. My next attempt I think I'll try melee, and weather the melee attacks while protecting from the magic attacks. But that will come another day...

I've decided to spend some money on levelling cooking. I'll take me 3,651 Salmon to get 70 (which I have just bought), which I need to finish Recipe for Disaster. The lamp from finishing this quest would also be a nice little boost to my Slayer level.

Chapter 4-Episode 6: The Last Little Bit

Legends Quest is so close I can taste it! I start off this run with a 54 Magic and 42 Herblore, which puts me 5 total levels away from where I need to be...with two of those levels being extremely close.

I'm out of runes now, so it's back to making Mithril Bars so I can buy more Death and Air runes. I go back and finish the potions I have to make, and when I'm on my way to the GE to sell them, I get a Maze Random that gives me about 230 Death runes! So lucky...

The skill calculator that I'm using tells me that I now need 85 more Combat Potions to get 45 Herblore (I bought 50 with the money from the potions), so I head off to make a few more Mithril bars, so I can get my levels and finally be done with it. Before I know it, I'm done, and I go and buy back my "Cash Kit", get enough Harralander to get me to 45...and have a tidy profit left over!

I'm concerned about my HP level. Very Concerned. I'm concerned because the last time I got a HP level, I got a Combat level too. Now at 61, I can't handle too many more levels before I put my goal in jeopardy. On the bright side: my Ranged skill is relatively low (33 Ranged), so I could get quite a few levels before it affects my combat level. But regardless of everything, I'm going to get HP experience. It's inevidible.

I decide not to worry about it, and head back to the goats. I use Magic until I get 56, then I grab those 1k iron knives I had just made last week (did you notice how I said then; you never know when you'll find a use for something? I said that because I wasn't joking). I rack up 3 Range levels getting the goat horns I need for the potions.

I get off light once again: no HP levels, and no Combat Levels. I'm still Combat Level 61, with one quest in my way...which won't get me a whole lot of combat XP.

Before I start Family Crest, I pop over to the GE to sell those potions I made. I sell them all, since I can now make super Attack potions...which is one part of the highly coveted "Super Set" (3 potions sold as a set: super Attack, super Strength, and super Defence. This term is pre-GE, and as a result, all but obsoltete. But the potions still exist are still readily available separately). They don't all sell right away, so I set off to do the quest.

I look at the shopping list, and I make sure I get everything I need. While I also need cooked fish that I don't have, I take the necessary gear to get it, since I'll be in Catherby when I need them. With any luck, I'll be able to do the quest without stopping at the bank.

Now, Family Crest requires a 59 Magic to complete, but here's where I did a bit of out-of-the-box thinking. I head to Falador and stock up on Wizard Mind Bonbs, which at my level add 3 to my Magic. Again, this isn't exactly a secret, but it's something that isn't obviously aparent. You have to look at how the quest is phrased. If it says "Requirements," that means you can't start the quest without it. If it says "You need x Skill to complete this quest," it's not a requirement to start, but you need the equivalent level to finish the quest. It also helps to know what all the food items do, and how you can scrape up an extra level here and there. On a side note, all my potions sold while I was buying my Mind Bombs: a total profit of more than 107k.

I just want to be clear on this: Family Crest is not a difficult quest by any stretch of the imagination. The hardest part of this quest is training for it. Once you got the levels, the rest is easy...with the possible exception of the lever puzzle east of Ardougne. Personally, this is probably the 4th time I've dealt with this puzzle (the second time for the quest), so I pretty much have it memorized. All in all, the quest's a breeze. Quest Complete: 1 Quest Point, Steel Gauntlets, a skill embue for the gauntlets. This was, of course, done at 56 Magic.

The gauntlets are one of those "must have" items. Of course, the only way to "have" them is to do the quest. They have 3 imbue abilities:

Cooking Gauntlets: Possibly one of the most useful imbuments for the gauntlets. It increases your odds of successfully cooking fish.

Goldsmithing Gauntlets: Another useful imbument, but secondary in my opinion to the above. It increases the XP from smelting gold ore into bars.

Chaos Gauntlets: In my opinion, this is the least useful of the imbuments, but it does have it's uses. It increases the damage done by spells powered by Chaos Runes. These gauntlets are useful for power-training Magic cheaply.

I don't bother imbuing the gauntlets just yet, since I won't be needing them immedately. I have my eye on something else now.....

Chapter 4-Episode 4: "I'll take 100k worth of Herblore XP pl0x!"

I absolutely HATE buying skill levels. This is because I can only think of about 12,382,483,934 different things I would rather do with all that money...give or take. But there are times when it's difficult to avoid...this being one of them.

I need a bit more than 7 levels in Herblore for Legends. It could potentially take me a week to get enough herbs to acomplish this. Sorceress' Garden is far from reliable, and killing Chaos Druids will undoubtedly give me a bit more combat experience than I'd like right now, since I've already got a 60 Combat Level. And the #1 thing on that list of 12 billion+ things I'd rather do with the money? Magic. Heavy sigh...

My recent smithing venture has given me 100k gp, and I intend to see exactly how many Herblore levels I can buy with that. My plan is to make enough combat potions to get me 1 more level, and then make Prayer Potions for as long as I can. I may adjust this based on cost and ease of obtaining the necessary materials.

I immedately see that Ranarr weed costs 6 times as much as Harralander, and only gives 4 more XP per potion. I decide to make combat potions the whole way. I buy 97 Harralander, 100 chaos runes and 300 fire runes with a bit over 100k. I had forgotten that I already had 8 unfinished Harralander potions, and 17 unfinished Ranarr potions. I guess I'll get a few Prayer Potions after all...

The reason that runes became a necessity is because I have to kill desert goats to get the other ingredients. I plan to melee them untill I hit 50 Strength, and then Mage the rest of them.

Shortly after I switch to Magic, another problem became apparent: I need runes. I head over to mine mithril and coal south of Lumbridge, and while I'm mining I realize something. I could buy the ore relatively cheaply, and simply mine coal...using Superheat to make the bars immedately. I rush back to the GE with an inventory full of mithril bars, which gives me just enough to buy 100 Nature runes and 100 Mithril ore. I then head over by the Legend's Guild and mine coal by the Grizzly Bears. It's relatively close to a bank, and works incredibly well. I sell the bars, buy 100 more Nature runes and 100 more Mithril ore. The net profit when all is said and done is a bit over 100k. I've discovered my new cash factory.

The initial 100k bought me exactly 3 levels, although Combat Potions actually sell, so I make most of my money back (after buying vials of water to replace the ones I lose in the process). After I run out of herbs, I head over by the Crafting Guild and finish up those Prayer Potions. I end up with about 15 full Prayer Potions (cash value, had I bought them: about 100k gp).

I check a skill calculator to see how many more Harralander I need to get to 45 (which is 255). I then set off to make the next 100 Mithril bars.

I make about 200 more Mithril bars, with which I buy runes and herbs, which eventually gets me up to 54 Magic and 42 Herblore. While Mining, I got a book from Mr. Mordaut...which reminded me I needed to pick up my Varrock armor from Achievement Diary. I should get another lamp in the process. Sure enough, I get another lamp for 1k more XP, which I add to Herblore. This puts me about 1.7k XP from 43.

On a side and unrelated note, I got another Mining and Smithing level in the process.

Time for a little break.

Chapter 3: Episode 11-Herblore 30 to 36

I'm getting closer to Legends with every passing day, so I've decided it's time to buckle down and start reaching those requirements. Herblore is probably the farthest right now, so I decide to start there. I head over to the Sorceress' Garden to start picking herbs.

Depending on which garden I currently have access to, I may make a trip through to gather sq'irk juice first, if it looks like I may get enough to get in a better one. I need 15 levels to get into the next highest garden, but even though I don't think I'll get enough in one run, I need the thieving levels and it may very well be worth it to get inside.

Spring Garden:
First trip: 24 glasses of juice/32400 Thieving XP (42 Thieving)
Second trip: 12 glasses of juice/16200 Thieving XP (45 Thieving)

The next trips are for herbs, in the autumn garden. 2350

First trip: 1 glass of juice, 1 Ranarr, 2 Harralander, 6 Marrentill kept (17 herbs to sell)
Second trip: 1 glass of juice, 5 Marrentill, 3 Harralander, 3 Ranarr kept (13 herbs to sell)
Third trip: 1 glass of juice, 3 Ranarr, 6 Harralander, 5 Marrentill kept (12 herbs to sell)

I sell those extra herbs and use the money to buy 57 Harralander. This gives me 68 Harralander to make Energy Potions out of. This also means that I need to get ahold of 68 chocolate bars. I use the respawn in Zanaris, since the one in the Cooking Guild always has someone grabbing it. Collecting respawns is one of my least favorite activities. I manage to get them all made, as well as making the Marrentill into Anti-Poison. This gets me to 33 Herblore.

First trip: 3 glasses of juice (47 Thieving), 6 Tarromin, 1 Marrentill, 3 Harralander, 4 Ranarr kept (10 herbs to sell)
Second trip: 5 glasses of juice (48 Thieving), 3 Tarromin, 3 Marrentill, 5 Harralander, 1 Ranarr kept (10 herbs to sell)

I only need a few more potions to get to Agility Potions, so I buy 10 Harralander so I can get there. I also buy 4 Toadflax, which I will need soon enough (I also have 6 from a random event for a total of 10). I sell 45 of the energy potions, buy 45 vials of water, and bank the rest (this gives me about 15k towards my new rune battleaxe).

My current Thieving XP total shows that I'm 6 glasses from 50, which is what I need for Legends. I decide to split those up between my first 2 trips.

First trip: 3 glasses of juice (49 Thieving), 2 Ranarr kept (22 herbs to sell)
Second trip: 3 glasses of juice (50 Thieving), 3 Ranarr kept (21 herbs to sell)
Third trip: 1 Ranarr kept (27 herbs to sell)

I can't sell the Harralander and Marentill right away, so I save the Harralander and make Anti-Poison with the Marentill. The money I get from selling the herbs buys me 20 more Toadflax. I make the potions west of Falador, and it gets me to 35 Herblore.

I'm growing tired of the Sorceress' Garden for now, so I decide to make some iron bars to get the money for herbs (and my battleaxe: I ended up spending some of that money to get my character back the way he used to look after Recruitment Drive).

I need a little over 42k for the herbs alone, which is well over 200 bars. I would only need about 75 steel bars, however. I decide that steel would be better, and it will give me more Smithing XP as well (which I need). The bars give me more than enough, and I get 36 Herblore, and I also have just enough money to buy back my axe!

I think I've had enough Herblore for right now...

Chapter 2-Episode 11: Bat wing, snake skin, and other petty evils

(The title was taken from the movie "Excalabur")

I'm down to just a few skills that are below 25 (which is one of my goals for this round), and decide that herblore is next. Herblore is a super-handy skill that can make you a bit of money at higher levels, and is almost a necessity for successful and cost effective Barrows runs.

For the herbs, I'm gathering them from the Sorceress' garden. I'm only going to make the best potions I can, and I'll sell all the other herbs to suppliment my current needs. I'll be working out of the garden of spring.

This will just be a log as well, since I've already discussed in some detail the actual garden itself.

Start: 1 Grimy Avantoe, 1 Grimy Guam, 1 Limpwurt Root (6 Herblore)
Load #1: 5 Avantoe, 7 Guam, 3 Irit, 6 Harralander, 4 Tarromin (sold for 22,838 gp)
3 Marrentill kept/23 marrentill , 21 Tarromin, and 20 Limpwurt Root bought (15 Herblore)
Load #2: 6 Guam, 7 Marrentill, 3 Harralander, 5 Irit, 4 Avantoe (sold for 23,783 gp)
3 Tarromin kept/15 Tarromin and 18 Limpwurt Root bought (18 Herblore)
Load #3: (2 trips) 3 Harralander, 7 Avantoe, 13 Irit, 9 Guam, 12 Marrentill (sold for 34,642)
12 Tarromin kept/45 Limpwurt root, 33 Tarromin bought (22 Herblore)
59 Strength Potion (4) sold, 200 vials of water, 28 Harralander (24 Herblore)

I then spent 7k of my own money to buy 8 more Harralander to get to 25 Herblore.

Tips on Herblore:

Combine your potions. Lots of people don't bother to do this and sell these potions as (3) dose potions. 1k of 3 dose potions will condense into 750 4 dose potions. If you're buying large lots of water filled vials and selling 3 dose potions, you're wasting 25k gp per 1k potions.

Train combat and herblore at the same time. Chaos Druids in Taverly dungeon drop herbs very regularly, as do lots of other monsters. Use help sites to find out what drops what you're looking for.