Xelronia

By the way, I quit

noreply@blogger.com (Alex) — Thu, 16 Feb 2012 10:23:00 +0000

I quit RS more than a month ago. It was over Christmas, and I realised that despite the time off school I had, I was only logging in for weekly events or when I was more or less forcing myself to train.

I mean, the bits I found fun - idling skills while having a chat, questing, the odd bit of slayer - were all either exhausted or I was struck with the feeling that I was a severely second rate player. Quests were the only time in game I really felt like a hero anymore, everything else has become so refined into the "right" way of doing things and everything else is discarded as XP waste. I'm almost out of quests.

I mean, this whole phenomena of skilling efficiently and unefficiently is not new - I've been calculating and scheming on how to get the most bang for my buck when training for years. But the problem is, nowadays the right way to do things all seems to rely on vast sums of gold being available, which it is assumed any competent player will acquire through the "right" ways of making money. The whole build of any modern character seems really defined whereas in the past you were more free to do what you wanted.

But I'm not a luddite. Too many players get to the point where I'm at and complain endlessly about how the game isn't as good as it used to be. And for the record, while I don't think the changes are positive as such, I also think some change is inevitable and am willing to accept it might just be nostalgia on my part. Fair enough, I've been left behind in the wake of the changing game, or I've just grown out of it, or whatever. I didn't bother emptying my bank or anything, I just logged out one day, and when I realised I hadn't logged in again cancelled my subscription.

The fact I felt some anxiety about my members loyalty bonuses vanishing when I cancelled reaffirmed that the fun was gone, really. You used to either be a member, or not be a member, but increasingly now there's this strange place which is above your three quid a month. Well now it's five quid a month. When the price went up and I didn't resubscribe, I knew that was it for me. It's hard to play a game and enjoy the game, and really immerse yourself when you're indirectly paying for ingame benefits. It brings an element of the outside world into it that cheapens the whole thing.

So anyway, an observation or two about what the modern game is now I've extracted myself from it... Pretty much, the core change in the game is that skills are no longer half as valued as they used to be. They used to be the main limiting factor on your progress through the game, and nobody was really expected to get high levels. Sure, you might get a 99 or two if you really enjoyed something, but 1600 total level was something to be proud of. Nowadays, it's much more commonplace for people to get 99 in one or more skills as a matter of course. There never used to be an endgame, you just kept on skilling as and when you wanted, slowly improving your character.

The endgame is the big change. To have a maxed character, in combat at least, is not seen as rare at all. It's something a lot more expected that you will get there, and you'll get there quickly. And once you're there, the game becomes about equipment and the rate at which you make money to pay for that equipment. Combat has a much, much greater emphasis. And of course, if you're maxed in some skills, it's seen as logical that you can max others as well. This is reflected in the arguments over Nomad, or the 91 FM requirement. It's a clash between the players who are like me and cling onto the older ways of thought, who haven't moved with the times, and the new generations of players.

The modern game is much more of a game. I played RS not for the gameyness but the freedom and the exploration. So pretty much, I'm out.

Quick fix for the new RS homepage

noreply@blogger.com (Alex) — Tue, 22 Nov 2011 19:56:00 +0000

Winding down

noreply@blogger.com (Alex) — Fri, 14 Oct 2011 19:12:00 +0000

You may or may not have noticed an extreme lack of RS-related posts recently.

Sorry for that.

Pretty much, the reason is that my school and real life have been stepped up a lot recently. I know in the past I've been inactive, but this time I have the feeling it will be rather more permanent.

So yeah, I'm not closing up entirely, but I'll be going super-extremely inactive as far as RS posts go.

The story of the now #9

noreply@blogger.com (Alex) — Sun, 09 Oct 2011 10:41:00 +0000

Shadow cabinet reshuffle

Ed Milliband has added new members to his Shadow Cabinet after some stepped down to spend more time with their families
The new members are generally younger members of the party, some only having been elected in the last general election
11 of the new members are women
Notably Tom Watson has been promoted to the front bench with a role as deputy chair of the Labour Party, leading for calls for him to resign from the Commons culture committee as he is no longer independent from party policy to the same extent
He has refused to leave, with Ed Miliband backing him, saying it would be "wrong" to take him away from "serving our country"

New colleges announced

New "university technical colleges" have been announced, as specialist centres to teach highly technical subjects
The first of these is being set up at Silverstone race circuit in conjunction with Northampton University
At the same time, more free schools have been announced, with 55 new approvals
These centres will teach students from 14-16, cutting down on academic subjects and focusing on technical studies instead

£75bn cash injection

The Bank of England has added a further £75bn to the UK economy by quantitative easing
This is after £200bn of QE has already been used
Quantitative Easing is when the government buys up banks government bonds, replacing them with cash, in order to give banks more liquid cash to spend
However, using QE has negative impacts on pension yields, as they rely on profits from these bonds in order to make returns to pay the pensions with
Standard & Poors, the credit rating agency, has recently confirmed that the UK's credit rating is stable

The story of the now #8

noreply@blogger.com (Alex) — Sun, 02 Oct 2011 17:13:00 +0000

Protests in New York

Over 700 people were arrested yesterday in New York for protesting the uneven distribution of wealth in the USA
They complain because 1% of the people hold 40% of the wealth
Wall St has been occupied by protesters for 2 weeks now
However the Mayor Bloomberg of New York criticised the protests, saying that the protesters are disrupting the lives of average citizens, however he defends the protesters right to be there
Critics have attacked the protest for having vague goals and no real leadership

Weekly bin collections

The government is putting £250m forward to help councils restore weekly bin collections
More than half of councils run some fortnightly collection
People believe bin collections and public works are core responsibilities of councils

Cameron promises jobs and homes

David Cameron has promised up to 200,000 extra affordable homes and 400,000 new jobs
The homes will be freed up by increasing the "right-to-buy" and releasing government land
However critics compare the strategy to the one employed by Margaret Thatcher, and suggest the government is running out of ideas

Call to axe human rights act

The home secretary has called for the Human Rights Act to be scrapped
This is because it causes problems for the Home Office especially when deporting foreign suspects
However this has caused conflicts between Conservatives and Liberal Democrats

The best addition to citadels

noreply@blogger.com (Alex) — Wed, 28 Sep 2011 21:04:00 +0000

...more detailed tools for the resource system.

Seriously, Jagex have made resources a key thing in working the citadel and keeping it ticking over, why can't they give us more insight and control over who does what. If they're going to be so absolutely necessary, and make the requirements quite tight in terms of organisation and dedication, they really should have more options for how clans can moderate themselves.

I'm saying this after the second week of one particular member getting 700 charcoal, no ores, and making no bars with the mound of charcoal they gather. This of course means that another member has to use their entire cap to clean up after them, or more or less the entire 700 charcoal will go to waste. It's a constant struggle to keep discipline within the clan and make sure that the more unruly members collect the right damned resources.

But, surely the data is there that some interface could be made so clan admins can check out how much each individual member has collected. That would be valuable information as far as deciding promotions goes, as some members contribute each week and go relatively unnoticed. Equally, it means that we can keep an eye on high ranking members and make sure they're not being lax in their duties.

Ideal would be to lock resource plots to members below a certain rank. This would mean that the footsoldiers of the clan would only be able to gather say, stone and timber, whereas the higher ranks (who are generally more reliable) could manage the more complicated task of ores... and also keep on track of stone and timber when the bars are done.

And another useful addition would be the ability to call up the resource stats without visiting the citadel, say through a web interface or an item in game.

The story of the now #7

noreply@blogger.com (Alex) — Sun, 25 Sep 2011 19:54:00 +0000

Saudi women get the vote

Women in Saudi Arabia, a Muslim country that relies heavily on strict Sharia law are getting to vote for the first time
They will also be allowed onto the Shura Council as well as municipal councils, the only elected bodies in the country
Saudi women have less rights than Saudi men in a lot of areas, notably in that women can't drive

Labour promise a £6000 cap on tuition fees

At the Labour conference, the party promised lowering the cap on tuition fees
However, many people are criticising him for allowing any fee rise after Labour MPs were whipped to vote against the rise from £3000 fees
It also works out that the £6000 cap is not actually cheaper for students until they earn over £60000 a year, and as the proposal introduces new taxes at £65000/year the gap in which there is a benefit is very small

Public sector pensions

The government have announced a new plan to save money on public sector pensions
Public sector workers will have to pay more or receive less from their pension from two years time
The pension age will also be raised from 65 to 66 saving £300m
This will save about £900m a year
Unions have threatened a general strike in response to the announcement, with strike ballots being put to members

The story of the now #6

noreply@blogger.com (Alex) — Sun, 18 Sep 2011 18:00:00 +0000

Northern Ireland University Fees

Students in Northern Ireland have found out that they will not have to pay the new £9,000 tuition fees for university courses
The cap will be £3,465 in 2012
Students from elsewhere in the UK will pay higher fees in order to deter "a flood of applications"
This means that English students will have the greatest fees of anybody in the UK

Tax inspector recruitment

2000 tax inspectors will be recruited in order to crack down on tax evasion
The inspectors will be directed to investigate the 350,000 top earners more thoroughly, who each own more than £2.5m
The plan is to raise an extra £7bn of tax by 2015

Gay marriage

The government has declared support for changing the law to allow gay marriage by 2015
At the moment marriage is only for heterosexual relationships, and civil partnership is limited to same-sex relationships
David Cameron backed the drive and included equal marriage in the 2010 manifesto
Religious groups are divided on the issue, some consider it homophobia to prohibit gays from getting married, while others consider it their religious right to deny marriage according to scripture

ROTM

noreply@blogger.com (Alex) — Fri, 16 Sep 2011 16:26:00 +0000

So, continuing my trend of posting about quests well after they've been released because of how long it takes me to complete them, here's my account of Ritual of the Majingos.

Yes, I know, it's Majaraa-something but I can't spell it. Majingos makes them sound like genies anyway, which is what they look like. Well, they do now they're not skeletony anyway.

Yes, ROTM was much anticipated. Yes, it was hyped as providing loads, and loads, and loads of lore and a conclusion to the story While Guthix Sleeps began. And was it a good quest? Yeah. Did it advance the story? Yeah.

But did it conclude the story? No.
And was it... a Grandmaster? No.

ROTM was a lot of fun, with some amazing cinematics and great new tech. And yeah, the final battle was pretty epic of sorts. But the quest felt like it could do with another challenge, another act. The opening act where we introduce the villains, the agility area where the plot thickens, the build up to the climax... and then the fight is upon you, and it feels like there was something more to be done.

Pretty much, the quest is great on paper, but I think it's missing something. I mean, the rewards are telling that perhaps at one point the quest was planned to be something more, as they seem somewhat tacked on in the end. Perhaps there should have been an episode at the Barrows, perhaps there should be some explanation for the Armadyl runes. The Bane Ore was the biggest thing, for me - found only at the ritual cavern, by some coincidence? Perhaps there should have been a short episode of mining some Bane in order to explain the defeat of Lucien better.

The boss battle was also a little lacklustre. Considering you had the power of the Stone to help you out, I think you should have had a chance to fight Lucien directly, even if it wasn't a long or difficult fight. I mean, I've long complained that quests have too difficult boss monsters, and actually I think that this one had a pretty good balance of difficulty, but really? For a Grandmaster, you're fighting some ice titans and demons as a final boss? Hell, it would have been suitably epic still if you fought them all one after another, but the cutscenes here got in the way. They were too long, and split up the fighting too much.

The hype of the quest and the quest itself suggests to me that ROTM was not all it could have been. Perhaps it's just that While Guthix Sleeps is such a high standard, but it didn't hit the same high note as its prequel. In lore terms, it delivers, but the gameplay was just missing something for me. And of course, even in lore terms, it's hardly the end of a series, but the beginning of a whole new one, and who knows how much longer they're going to try and string out the Dragonkin line. It seems like Jagex can never resist the chance to add "one last quest", or in this case a whole lot more quests, rather than letting a storyline end.

The story of the now #5

noreply@blogger.com (Alex) — Sun, 11 Sep 2011 10:23:00 +0000

World Trade Center Memorial

10 years since the attacks on the world trade centre which led to the deaths of nearly 3000 people
Attacks were also carried out on the Pentagon and there was an unsuccessful attempt by hijackers that crashed in Shanksville, which killed all passengers on board
America (especially New York) is on high alert for a followup terrorist attack to disrupt the memorials
The response to the terrorist attack was part of the reason for the war in Iraq and continued operations in Afghanistan
The attacks resulted in racial and religious tensions across the western world, due to the religious motivation behind the attacks

Union calls for "civil disobedience"

The head of the Unite union, Len McCluskey has called for wide-ranging protests against government cuts to public sector jobs
He has called for "direct action" and a "campaign of resistance", calling the cuts an "attack" on pensions and conditions

Sinn Fein running for Irish presidency

Sinn Fein is running for the presidency in the Irish Republic for the first time next month
They are the fourth largest party in Ireland with 10% of the vote, previously having been banned from appearing on TV or the radio as an outlawed party

Bonus XP weekend

noreply@blogger.com (Alex) — Thu, 08 Sep 2011 20:25:00 +0000

So, it starts tomorrow. After a really unproductive day today where I did pengs and nothing else, I'll be starting with a fast farm run and then herblore. Then it's time for firemaking with yews until 83, before I go to the jadinko lair for what is apparently seriously fast XP.

It's a bit annoying really, that they've made a free, fast XP source. I mean, it's of course better for players (or at least easier), but it does mean that firemake is no longer an easy second skill for bonus XP weekends. It's now just as viable to do RC, FM or Agil, and they're all money-neutral.

Ah well. I'm gonna get a ton of levels either way.

Is the class system dead?

noreply@blogger.com (Alex) — Sat, 03 Sep 2011 16:46:00 +0000

The class system was at its height in the Victorian era of strict social etiquette, but now is apparently irrelevant for the most part. Apart from odd cases on either side, such as the super-rich and the very poor, everyone is in the same social group.

One poll showed that 24% of people still identify themselves as working class, with the other 71% of people claiming to be middle class. Nobody in the sample claimed to be upper class. This would suggest that the middle class is indeed expanding, and that even if the class system isn’t entirely gone there’s still a good chance that it is in decline.

However, this result could be based less upon genuine social mobility and more upon the nature of modern workplaces in the UK. The class system was if not appropriate, at least relevant when Britain was a manufacturing powerhouse, however now the office jobs that would previously have qualified someone as middle class are much more common. With fewer jobs in manufacturing, people who are still at a disadvantaged position in society are partway between working and middle class and are left unrecognised.

It is important to be aware of the different backgrounds people have in order to ensure social mobility can happen. If people falsely claim that the class system is abolished, then there will be no effort to counter it, and so some people will end up getting ‘left behind’. It is vital that everyone has as equal opportunity as possible to make a contribution towards society, otherwise those who are disadvantaged will become disinterested and groups will become fragmented.

There is no right answer as to what is the best way to counter social injustice. Education is generally accepted as being important, with some people championing the system of grammar schools. The government’s current policy of creating Free Schools is in part a way to replace grammar and specialist schools. Perhaps the biggest project against social injustice is the concept of the Big Society, proposed extensively by David Cameron as encouraging participation in the community by everyone regardless of social status, volunteering where needed. However, the Big Society has come under a lot of scrutiny and criticism by Labour politicians and the Unite union as being an excuse for the government to evade responsibility for lacking or poorly-funded public services, which are most critical to the least solvent members of society.

Vanstrom Clause

noreply@blogger.com (Alex) — Fri, 02 Sep 2011 17:40:00 +0000

Isn't he tough, eh? A very interesting, and possibly overpowered, quest boss.

In case you didn't catch the drift, I've been doing Branches of Darkmeyer today. Well, actually, I started it as soon as it came out, and got up to the boss battle on Wednesday. It was a very, very good quest. Enjoyable throughout, with a nice new area and interesting dialogue. And a little set of mini-mini quests for bragging rights.

Seriously, well done Jagex. I'm really impressed. The Myreque storyline is one of the biggest and best, and it's showing up for a great finale sometime soon. Perhaps a small quest sometime soon to tide it over and answer a few of the questions raised, before a big bang. The ending of this series could be of WGS-level awesomeness. Perhaps even ROTM-level, we'll find out later this month. (I can't wait!)

The only thing against the quest is it's boss. Because, yet again, I've finished the quest and I'm left facing only the boss two days later. He is allegedly not that tough. A lot of people fighting him died once, perhaps twice or three times (there sure were a lot of graves on release night), and then clicked onto his strategy and nabbed him. They say he's annoying but tell you the tricks of the trade and assume that's enough.

The problem is, it's not. I have no doubt some people did OK against him, and didn't suffer that much damage. I didn't in the end, actually. I died somewhere around twenty times, either getting piled by special attacks in borderline glitches or running out of food in a pretty protracted battle. The boss was really hard, and perhaps could do with a nerf. But in the end when I won, I used under half of the food I was carrying. I had a run where the specials didn't stack, I dodged a lot of darkness, I got some nice gold hits and more importantly than anything, I cracked how to run and avoid the blood bombs (for the most part). In other words, I made a breakthrough but also I got lucky. If I hadn't been "unlucky" previously, I would probably have beat the boss at seven attempts rather than twenty.

I can't use my Nomad argument here, that the boss is unjustified. He's not. This is the first major boss in a very long quest series, and there's a huge amount of lore and justification for Vanstrom being a tough fight. Everything you ever heard said that vampyres are strong, and that Vanstrom is a very powerful vamp.

But like I said, he's still very hard for some players. The blood spell where you get teleported is almost certainly broken for me, and I'm not suffering a lot of lag for that to happen. I get teleported to the middle and then can't move until the attack has already hit or it's too late to avoid damage. It's like I'm frozen or bound by a mage. And then other times, the same attack will fire, but I'll not be teleported and will get away free. I'm pretty sure that's not meant to happen. What I'm even more sure is not meant to happen is that you get that same spell fired multiple times in a row, with no gap between, meaning that on one occasion I got four casts of that chained against me one after the other. It's a miracle I actually survived the first two, let alone getting a scant second to eat and resist another shot and a half.

The multiple casting bug isn't just the blood spell, either. Darkness can often multicast, and while this is actually not so hard to deal with as long as you know what to do, there are occasions where Vanstrom doesn't properly run to the middle, leaving you with almost no warning, or he falls off the side of the screen so you can't see where to face, or the game doesn't register a character's position properly and you take the hit anyway. Sure, learning to turn away and face the camera to the back of Vanstrom's head is a part of the boss's technique, but it seems very hit and miss whether following the correct procedure actually stops you being hit. I mean, I was going to write a bit in this post about how the tech involved in the Darkness attack could be used against bots, but with the amount of grief the attack gave me even when I did everything right, I'd hope Jagex aren't trusting players' accounts to it.

The final gripe is the pathfinding within the boss room. I don't know why, but a lot of the old-school running back on yourself mechanic came into play for this boss battle, and when the aim of the game is to avoid things on the floor, that's deadly.

My internet connection is good and reliable, it doesn't freeze or lag often at all. If you have much latency at all, I feel very sorry for you trying to fight this boss. He's not that hard if you're lucky, but there are occasions where the game can (unfairly) KO you from almost max health, and at nearly any time if you're damaged. Remember the standard advice not to panic-eat, and remember that your stuff is pretty safe. At least he's a pretty fun boss to die to, right? I know I at least enjoyed fighting him today, even if it's cost a lot and I got a bit frustrated, it's a testament to the quest and the core boss design (even if the timings and bugs are squiffy) that he's fun to fight.

The story of the now #4

noreply@blogger.com (Alex) — Mon, 29 Aug 2011 13:00:00 +0000

Libyan conflict

The rebel government, the NTC, has taken control of Tripoli in Libya
After fighting in the capital, Gaddafi's forces have been largely defeated, although the leader himself is currently missing
Remaining soldiers are thought to be barricaded within the town of Sirte, Gaddafi's hometown, under the command of one of Gaddafi's sons
Concern is now emerging for thousands of prisoners, who have not been found and may be abandoned within secret military compounds that are strongly hidden
There is now a medical crisis as people arrive at hospitals fled by the medical staff during the violence
The provisional government is now organising how the seat of power can return to Tripoli and include more eastern leaders

Exam results

Record numbers of exam passes have been recorded for GCSEs this year, with 69.8% of grades being C or above and 23.2% of grades being A or A*
Especially notable is the widening gap between female and male achievement, with 19.6% of boys' entries being As or A*s, compared to 26.5% for girls.

...and the rest

noreply@blogger.com (Alex) — Fri, 26 Aug 2011 10:31:00 +0000

Sorry, little late. I was celebrating and didn't actually come home.

In total, 8 A*s, 4 As, so I'm really really really happy. The As were in English Lang, Graphics, Stats and French, and everything else (Sciences, Maths, Geography, RE and Literature) were A*s.

Thank god for that, my life is somewhat vindicated.

Edexcel

noreply@blogger.com (Alex) — Thu, 25 Aug 2011 06:04:00 +0000

Exam results day

noreply@blogger.com (Alex) — Thu, 25 Aug 2011 04:54:00 +0000

It is currently 5:46 AM. I woke up at around 5:30, and I'm writing this to pass the time and relieve some of the pressure before the magical 6AM mark.

What happens at 6? The first batch of my exam results become available on the internet. For some reason, Edexcel provide their results online, whereas all the other exam boards require you to go in and collect the results personally. The end result of it all is that I'll find about about 5 of my subjects in 11 minutes now, and the rest about three hours later.

I need 10 points to get into sixth form, which I can just about do now. The points are three for an A*, two for an A and one for a B. Nothing for C's or anything else - it's a pretty tough school. Hopefully I'll get an A in Graphics, an A* in Citz and some combination of 5 points from English and Maths, which I'm collecting in 8 minutes now.

Aaaaargh!

Refer-a-friend and miscellaneous others

noreply@blogger.com (Alex) — Tue, 23 Aug 2011 09:07:00 +0000

It might be a bit surprising I haven't made this post before. This year, like no other, Jagex have been spewing out policies, updates, schemes that people like myself can find a lot to talk about. By all rights, I should have made this post before, more than a few times before.

But then, everyone else already has. There's a lot to talk about when it comes to Jagex's "marketing", but not a lot to actually say. Everyone has the same expression of shock, disgust, whatever - everyone condemns these schemes. My own voice added to that doesn't do anything for the cause, and in fact I'd rather not join the "Jagex can't make money" brigade. Complaining about anything without a sound business case to say why Jagex should do what you want is a waste of time. And saying "or people will quit" is not a sound business case, because what you mean is "some of my friends and people like me will quit", and anyone who's complaining about this stuff is probably in a minority of RS players anyway, the intellectual class that don't really make up that much revenue for Jagex. Even then, the amount of people I've seen actually quitting is minimal.

I could now say "Jagex, what are you doing?", and give reams and reams of reasons why the overt commercialisation of RS is a bad thing. I do think it's a bad thing, from the player's perspective. But not really for Jagex.

A lot of people are calling for people to vote against RS for the Golden Joystick. I don't think that's right. RS has perhaps gotten worse than it used to be in all sorts of meta-game ways, but it's still a great game. It's still better than the other games up for the running, even if we as the players are having a hissy fit right now because we're not getting the good deal we used to get.

But here's the thing: our hissy fit is nothing to Jagex. They have tried to keep our custom, and keep us happy. It's an impossible task. Some people are up in arms about MMG's article where he says "we're not listening to the trolls", and take that as an insult against them. It's not an insult, it's the truth. The RS community is so fragmented and schizophrenic that we can't send out a coherent message - there is no consensus on the free trade issue despite the vote, because now people voted they're deciding they've changed their minds.

Jagex have given up on the old guard of players, because most of us are too thick to know what's worthy of complaint and what's not. The arguments against the marketing strategies are drowned out in the white noise of rants after every update. Jagex are a company, they aim to make money, and these marketing strategies will make them more money. There will be a new crop of players raised knowing no different, and if some of us older ones fall by the wayside then Jagex don't care. We had our chance, we blew it. RS is dying slowly without new players, so they're hoping the gains they make from these cheap tricks are more than the losses from those who've had enough.

This was my point about the Golden Joystick: to a new player with no biased and rose-tinted feelings about "the past", RS is a great game. It is a great game. Jagex are fed up with those of us who fail to ever see that because of their own nostalgia, and so they're recruiting a new crop who won't complain so much.

They are right when they say "every other game does this" - the MMO market is flooded with godawful moneygrabbers, Jagex are now owned by investment groups who want returns on their stakes, why would those groups not say "do it, do it to make money". It's terrible that these schemes are implemented, but it's not surprising. The things that stopped this happening sooner were Jagex's "indie" label, and the fact the fanbase would have quit. Well the investors don't care about "indie" and the market's current state means we're so acclimatised to microtransactions that we'll put up with this without quitting in too large numbers that the naive newbies will replace us. We were lucky to have the game as it was for so long.

There is one form of protest that will get through to Jagex, and only if enough people do it.

Quit.

But do you really want to do that?

Temple trekking

noreply@blogger.com (Alex) — Thu, 18 Aug 2011 16:21:00 +0000

So, Temple Trekking has been revamped, in a very successful update from what I can see. The random rewards are gone, you can now choose what you cash your tokens in on just like the new random event boxes. The herb rewards for high level trails are pleasingly valuable, as well as the various stuff you pick up along the way, and the lower level XP rewards are nice enough. I haven't bothered with anything else so I wouldn't know about those, but they all seem much less subscribed to.

The biggest change is the XP system for followers, which inspires the same sort of bond I have with my pokemon. In my clan we've been doing a lot of trekking, and everyone's becoming fond of "my paz" and "my jay" as they level up and get stronger and more useful. The XP also serves as being the basis for the more long-term rewards - Construction outfits and easier transport routes around Morytania for the most part as well as a ghast familiar for maxing out all the characters (no easy task) which provides prayer points in the same way as a bunyip provides HP as far as I can tell.

Of course, we do have our foibles - for me it's Vyrewatch events which take an age, and inspired some new solutions for how to kill them as only the fairly weak flail can be used at the moment. The problem is that the Vyres have some sort of mind reading ability that allows them to predict attacks, and they're only vulnerable to silver weapons as we learned in Legacy of Seergaze.

So, methods to kill them from the clan chat:

The Mourning's Ends bazooka filled with silver shrapnel ("blunderbuss style") - "They can predict where you fire, but there's no way to avoid a wall of bullets"
A gnome dipped in silver that you throw at them - they'll never see that coming! (Although it has been pointed out that they could read the gnome's mind)
A silver plated clockwork cat with battle claws - clockwork doesn't have a mind
A silver titan familiar - hoping Vyres won't have a high enough Summon level to understand it

Now it's time to go back and find out how many snakes Smiddy is being eaten by currently. Snakes are evil!

The story of the now #3

noreply@blogger.com (Alex) — Sat, 13 Aug 2011 16:14:00 +0000

Rioting in London

People have been rioting, looting shops and burning buildings in London, especially in Tottenham.
The riots were sparked by a protest over the police shooting of Mark Duggan, an accused drug dealer, who was shot after being followed in a special operation. He was carrying a modified replica weapon at the time, capable of firing live ammunition.
The riots quickly degenerated into wanton violence and looting
Rioting spread to other areas in the country and the capital:

Birmingham
Nottingham
Bristol
Liverpool

Government cuts and racial tensions have been blamed for the cuts
Turkish vigilantes stood guard over their businesses carrying improvised weapons such as baseball bats and even chair legs. Two turkish men were killed trying to defend their property.
The internet, including social networks such as twitter and facebook have been used to spread word of riots, as well as BBM
A counter-rioter group devoted to cleaning up riot damage has emerged, also organised over twitter

Linkdump:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-14450248

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-14436499

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-14504294

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-14511109

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-14504005

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-birmingham-14515632

I'm back

noreply@blogger.com (Alex) — Sat, 13 Aug 2011 16:02:00 +0000

After two weeks mucking about the Adriatic, I'm back. The holiday was great, the first week was a cruise around Croatia, Slovenia, Montenegro and Italy where I saw some really weird sights and met some great people.

The first stop on my cruise was Kotor, Montenegro. This involved sailing through the southenmost fjords in Europe to get to, which was a really amazing view. The massive cruise boat was travelling along a river with straight up mountains on either side, and then we reached the town which had ancient walls around, stretching up to fortifications on the side of the mountain. The streets inside were all higgledy-piggledy and narrow and twisty.

The next stop was Koper, Slovenia. I know, similar name. This was the least nice of all the stops, it was a fairly modern-looking town with a nice little beach but nothing really special. The docks were all commerical and boring, which is a shame as we were stuck there for a long time when the boat broke down!

You see, Koper seems to be the boat's refuel stop. So, when we were in our cabins getting ready for the evening's entertainment, the lights all went out. A few minutes later they came back, we thought nothing of it. A few hours later, waiting for a comedian to come out for the night's show, the lights went again. And the music. And a lot of other things besides. And we waited for the problem to be fixed, but it wasn't. There were announcements - "we found the fault, it'll be back in minutes" - well hours later it was getting very hot with no aircon, no working water dispensers, and no toilets working. When the power finally came back, me and some of the other kids noticed the roar coming from the emergency generator compartment. The engine was dead, even if the announcer said we were due to leave any minute. We went to bed.

The next day, we woke up in Slovenia still. There was an announcement explaining the problem - the fuel we'd taken onboard was faulty somehow and the engineers had been up all night fixing it. The next stop, Venice, the one everyone wanted the most, was still on track but was going to be in the evening and a lot shorter - 3pm-9pm instead of all day. Still, everything was going to be OK. We set off at last and promptly came aground on a sandbank. For half an hour the swimming pool filled up with sand, and we went nowhere. Our landing slot at Venice was cancelled and we were told we couldn't arrive until 6pm. Eventually we escaped the sand and sailed off, with the news that we'd be at Venice all night and the next day, but as a result we'd miss out the stop of Split, Croatia.

Venice was very nice, and in the end we got a special sight - we saw Venice in the evening when you don't usually stay that long. Sailing in, the boat went right past St Mark's Square, and we saw lots of the outlying islands as we cruised past. That night we got lost in the weird maze-like streets, crossed a bunch of canals, and saw some of the more obscure sights. Venice is a damned odd place, who knows what idiot thought it was a good idea to build on water! The next day, we toured around the Realto Bridge, the Bridge of Sighs, and the towers and churches around St Mark's Square.

Skipping Split, we went straight to Dubrovnik, Croatia. I walked all the way around the ancient walls, wandered about the church, and got very hot! It was baking there, no shade up on the fortifications! Also, as compensation for Split, we got £150 each - £600 total! Not so bad considering we got to see more of Venice as well.

The next week I spent at a hotel on Corfu. It was really nice and relaxing, I just chilled out and mucked about with the other kids, swimming and getting up to mischief. Oh and playing faaar too much Advance Wars on my DS.

Away on holiday

noreply@blogger.com (Alex) — Wed, 27 Jul 2011 11:06:00 +0000

I'm going away tomorrow, and I'll not be back for two weeks.

So yeah, there's the holiday I mentioned.

The Katana

noreply@blogger.com (Alex) — Wed, 20 Jul 2011 10:59:00 +0000

Today, I read a post by The__Orange which suggested in part that the katana is OK because it doesn't cost any extra.

That's only true in a (fairly limited) circumstance.

You only get the katana if you buy a RuneScape membership card from specific shops. The actual shop, for my purposes, doesn't matter as they all cost the same anyway. However, what does matter is that said cost is more than what I'd pay for membership using my card.

Therefore, the only way to get a katana is for me to pay extra. The katana in this way "costs" £2.40. And, because of the sneaky way they make you pay for it, I nearly fell for that trap. But then I worked out the cost, and I thought "would I pay £2.40 for that item if they straight out charged for it" - the answer is no, I'm not getting one.

Now it is true to say that if you buy membership using the pre-paid cards anyway, then you get the katana for free as a bonus. But, most subscriptions are by credit/debit card, and so for most people they will pay more. While the pre-paid cards are useful for people without credit/debit cards, such as myself when I first bought membership, it does seem a bit off that most players will pay more if they choose to get a katana, compared to the "free bonus" this is marketed as.

Perhaps it would be fairer if the items were given to all subscribers? Or even if they were free to pre-paid card users, and a loyalty reward to everyone else? Then again, I still don't really like the idea of the loyalty programme or giving what is in effect rares/holiday items to members just for subscribing.

Finally, a side note about subscribing without a credit/debit card - when I first got membership there was no such thing as a membership pre-paid card, and so I had to use something called a UKash voucher instead. I bought a voucher worth £35, which covered a year worth of membership with minimal change left over on the voucher. I don't know about the prices nowadays, but £35 for 12 months is £2.90 per month, cheaper than credit/debit card by quite a lot! However, when I got membership again a year later, I bought a pre-paid branded card which was a lot more convenient and professional although less value for money. I don't know if UKash vouchers are still about, and it's a bit awkward to buy, but it's worth knowing about to give the chance to save some money.

The story of the now #2

noreply@blogger.com (Alex) — Sun, 17 Jul 2011 10:05:00 +0000

Phone hacking continues

Despite the closure of the News of the World, the scandal has not abated
News Corp.'s bid for BskyB has been dropped under pressure from politics, the media, and the public
Rebekah Brooks has resigned from News Corp. due to pressure from the media over her editorship of the News of the World when the hacking occurred
The scandal has spread to the police forces, as it is found police officers accepted money from journalists in return for information and running mobile phone traces using RIPA (Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act) tools
The focus of criticisms over police activities has been David Yeates, the Metropolitan Police commissioner
Rupert and James Murdoch have been issued with summonses by the House of Commons, failure to obey this summons and appear before the house is a criminal offence
Politicians have promised to make this episode change the relation between politicians and the media, so they will be less likely to pander to the media in return for good publicity
Ed Milliband has called for new laws to be made concerning media ownership, thereby restricting the amount of newspapers or media sources one company can own. His proposals would require a breakup of News Corp. in the UK

Afghan pull-out

Military chiefs have warned that pulling UK troops out of Afghanistan will cause a dangerous power vacuum that will endanger remaining UK and foreign troops.
The plan is to remove all UK troops by 2014, and remove 500 troops by September 2012 reducing the number to 9000

Working and what

noreply@blogger.com (Alex) — Sun, 17 Jul 2011 08:22:00 +0000

Heya

Sorry for the inactivity. I've been working all day, and I only got my laptop back up to full capacity yesterday so my RS playing has taken the back burner. On the plus side, working means I now have money!

Anyway, since I got my laptop back I've been chilling out at the lava flow mine, getting levels and awesome looking golden suits. The rewards aren't great in terms of XP, but it doesn't require a lot of attention and the people are quite good to talk to. I'd recommend it as a pretty decent way to kill time and still get XP in a pretty irritating skill - I plan to chill out at the lava mine until 77 mining.

Now the laptop is fixed it also gives me better options for dunj and questing, so hurray! I plan to get levels in both.

In other news, in two weeks I'm going away, so I thought I'd give some advance warning.

Sorry for the slightly brief post after a bit of a hiatus, but there's not an awful lot I can do seeing as I don't get in until late, and I've not had a computer to play RS on until now.