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 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 4-Episode 4: The Bizarre Relationships of Skills

Skills maintain strange relationships with each other, as I was quick to discover. It's not at all uncommon for a higher level in one skill can make it easier to train others, and you are occasionally able to train two skills with the same action. Power training is made much faster and easier with planning and a bit of creative usage of other skills.

For example: I currently need levels in both Magic and Smithing for Legends Quest. Of course, we all know about the spell: Superheat Item (in case you don't, it basically allows you to to get Magic XP while Smithing without running to a forge, all for the cost of 1 Nature rune and 4 Fire runes). While it isn't a big secret, most people choose not to do it and get their Magic XP and Smithing XP separately.

If you can't cast High Alchemy, Superheat Item is the greatest spell for power training. People believe that it costs too much, but if you do it correctly, it won't cost you a single gp. If you aren't concerned with making money, Superheating will more than pay for itself if you mine your own ores and sell the bars (and it's not like anyone ever got pwned at Bounty Hunter because they had a high Mining).

I'm going to train Magic and Smithing with Superheat for as long as I can stand it. I get bored easily, so I'm going to do this by the truck load of coal (meaning I'm going to fill the coal trucks in Seer's Village once and make the bars).

The coal truck holds 120 pieces of coal, and you can carry up to 28 in your inventory (provided you don't get a lot of gems). 148 coal is enough to make 74 Steel Bars, and thus I'll need at the most 74 Nature runes per load. Now that I can teleport to Camelot, the trips back and forth will be a bit cheaper (teletabs are almost 1k gp, and fairy rings don't really get you as close as I'd like).

Current GE pricing shows me that in order to buy enough Nature runes each load, I'll have to sell 32 of the possible 74 bars per trip. This leaves me with 42 extra bars. I plan to make 1k iron knives, and possibly sell the rest of the bars to buy Death runes. Knives are very fast range weapons, and they may (or may not) come in handy in the future.

Somewhere along the way, I decide to finish Elemental Workshop II (since I was in the neighborhood). Doing this gives me a 50 Crafting, and a Smithing level (from 48 to 49 at the point I did it). One more requirement off the list, and another will very soon be joining it.

It takes a long time, and near the end I simply decide to stop selling bars and I smith them for the experience. I make 10 total full sets of steel armor in the process. After almost two whole days of mining and smithing, I finally get 50 Smithing and a 51 Magic.

Doing all the mining myself has also given me another benefit: access to lots of sapphires and emeralds. A while back, I had unwisely choosen to sell a lot of Games Necklaces and Dueling Rings for extra cash that I needed, so I was down to single digit quantities of both. I now have close to 40 of each.

I also broke down and finished the last of the Lumbridge achievement diary. It was worth it, as I got another lamp for 1.5k XP, which I added to Herblore (my next target), and it gives me a teleport to the cabbage fields south of Falador. It'll come in somewhat handy for farming there, as well as trips to Port Sarim and Rimmington. It's not extremely handy, since I've already got a teleport to Draynor Village with my Amulet of Glory.

This leaves 3 more skills...

Chapter 4-Episode 3: Need...More...Magic!!!

My magic skill is really, really low, so I decide to get to work on that. And where do I usually start when I want to power train? Quests!

There are two things that stand out in my mind immediately. The first is Imp Catcher. While it's small potatoes in the XP department, I've already collected the beads from imps over the past few month so it will be quick. The other thing that jumps out at me is Troll Stronghold. Now that I have Protection from Melee, I should be able to take down that troll general without a free trip to Falador.

Imp Catcher is as easy as a trip to wizard's tower. Quest Complete: 1 Quest Point, 875 Magic.

Then it's off to Burthorpe. I quickly find out that I'm a bit more rusty than I thought as I was as I make two noob mistakes which results in my death. I got lost and went up the wrong path, right into that death zone just past the wounded soldier. After realizing my first mistake, I tried to turn on Protection from Missiles and turned on Protection from Magic instead. Ah well, time to fish.

150 raw lobsters later, I have my rune helm and battle axe back (my orange cape is a total loss unfortunately). And this time I go up the right way...and turn on protection from magic again. I quickly realize my mistake this time and fix it, but not before I waste two lobsters in the process. Unfortunately, the rest of my trip was a waste as well: the troll general outlasted my 43 Prayer points (33 by the time I got past the troll throwers). I need a Prayer Potion. Back to the GE.

The second trip goes better, since I get back to find that the troll I was beating on was still there and still injured. I annihilated him in short order, and didn't even need the potion. Quest Complete: 2 quest points, 2-10,000 XP lamps. I use them both on Magic and it jumps up to 45. Not as high as I hoped, but about where I expected.

Then Watchtower catches my eye. I know the quest and it's nothing I can't handle now.

Shopping List:

2 Ropes
Jangerberries
Dragon Bone
Bat Bone
Tinderbox
Pickaxe
Water-Filled Vial
400GP
Death Rune
Pestle and Mortar
Gold Bar
Guam Leaf

Lucky me again: I got most of this stuff. I do have to buy back a dragon bone that I just sold to get the Glory that I just lost (heavy sigh). But everything else I can get in Varrock or near where the quest takes place.

It's a long quest, but it allows me to pick up a few novelty items (rock cakes and nightshade). Quest Complete: 4 quest points, 15,200 Magic XP, 5,000 gp, Watchtower Teleport. I'm now up to 47 Magic, and very close to 48.

I'm tired now, so I'd say that gaining Protection from Melee, almost 7 Magic levels, and 107 total quest points makes this a productive day. Good stopping point.

Chapter 3: Episode 3-Training Magic With Slayer

With my recent power fishing session, I ended up with far more food than I really needed. It might seem odd to hear someone say that, but for me it's true. Having a lot of food on hand only gives me an excuse not to train skills like Fishing and Cooking. I like to keep up on my skills, as more Hit Points always means the need for better food. What all this nonsense really means is that I sell off 500 of the cooked lobsters I have in the bank. This gives me enough to buy enough runes to cast about 800 Earth Blast (and eventually Fire Blast) spells.

The best way to train any combat skill is Slayer. So I start hitting up Vannaka for tasks. I'm not shooting for any particular Slayer level...I'm just looking to use up my chaos runes.

Assignment #1: 87 Shades/39 Magic, 43 Hit Points, 29 Slayer
Assignment #2: 40 Earth Warriors

The earth warriors were a bit of a concern, as the only place to find them is in the Wilderness. And that means Revenants. I did see a level 7 Revanant Imp, but it wasn't high enough level to cause me any problems.

I ran out of chaos runes with 27 earth warriors to go. I ended up close enough to 41 that 3 teleports got me there. At 41, I no longer need chaos runes as my most effective spell component; I now need death runes. This is how I was hoping it would work out, but in all honesty, there was no formula that I followed to get it this close. I just simply happened to have just enough money for just enough runes to get me where I wanted to go. Sheer, blind luck.

And every would-be hero needs a heaping share of luck.

Chapter 2: Episode 1: "Oh, Oh, Oh It's Magic!"

Finally. I get to train what is probably my favorite combat style (a majority of people use melee, and if you know how to mage, you'll totally own). Before I do that though, I want to do Witch's Potion. The main reason I want to do it first is that I'll at least get a level or two out of it. Maybe it's just psychological, but it seems like it's more worth doing at level 1 Magic.

Before I leave Edgeville, I head over to the GE to pick up some wizard robes and to the staff shop to buy a couple of staffs (one of each of the elemental staves). The staves of will boost my Magic Attack by a good amount, which I'll want at early levels. After I run out of a certain type of runes, I can change staves to use a different type. I have 500 mind runes and a couple thousand elemental runes and the plan is to use up all of the minds.

Witches Potion is possibly the easiest quest in the whole game. If you already take the burnt meat, you can get everything else within walking distance. There are onions along the road to the north of Rimmington, there are rats in the house just west of the witches, and you can pickpocket any man or woman (if you're in members) and walk to the rune shop in Port Sarim and buy an eye of newt. This quest can be done within 5 minutes. Quest Complete: 325 Magic Exp (4 Magic).

I also decide to use my mage to gather what I need to complete some of my other skill related quests. I need four types of meat for Druidic Ritual and I need some wolf bones for Wolf Whistle. I grab some food, my games necklace and a teletab and head to Varrock to get what I need. I kill the rat and bear southeast of Varrock, then head a bit south and kill a chicken and a cow. Then I use a games necklace to head to Burthorpe to talk to two druids in Taverly and then head directly to the dungeon to the south. The suits of armor that usually guard the door aren't here, so I have no problem getting inside. I dip the meat inside and take them back to Sanfew, who sends me back to the quest giver. Quest Complete: 250 Herblore Exp (3 Herblore).

Now I head up on the edge of the mountain to get wolf bones for Wolf Whistle. I head back and do Wolf Whistle as well (it takes a total of about a minute). Quest Complete: 276 Summoning Exp, 275 Charms (4 Summoning).

Doing all of this has got me to Magic Level 11 (with a Combat Level of 43). I return to the mountain and continue to kill wolves for Magic exp. After I run out of food, I head over to Catherby to get more. It is here that I realize that I'm close to Seer's Village, and decide to do Elemental Workshop 1 (which if I remember correctly gives Magic exp). I need about 6 more Crafting levels, so I head up there to make bow strings (I usually stockpile those anyways).

After I get 20 Crafting I start Elemental Workshop 1...only to discover that I can't find any thread. After my 10th time searching the crates, I give up and teleport to Al Kharid to buy some. While I'm here, I stop off in the mine and use up the rest of my mind runes. 514 Mind Runes gets me to 26 Magic with the help of the Witch's Potion quest.

I use my last tab to Varrock, buy a Camelot tab and head back to finish the quest. Quest Complete: 5,000 Crafting and Smithing Exp (27 Crafting, 38 Smithing). No Magic experience though. But in the end, my goal of using up those minds was a complete success.