A different experience

Hi all! As I am typing this post, I am currently enjoying a game of cards with Kat and Tim. Being on an overseas vacation trip with two of my closest irl friends is indeed an exhilarating experience. Life’s been ok, except for the annoying fact that the ridiculously expensive internet service is not as good as it sounds. Connection is so bad that I find difficulty in completing a farming round after almost two hours of futile attempt, which would have usually taken me a little over half an hour. Ask Spamicken and you’ll have an idea how bad the connection was. Within the hour I was on chatting with him, I have disconnected more than 5 times, in fact, I would estimate about 8 times. Even a simple action such as making willow long bows using the ‘make x’ option could set off a disconnection problem, and the same goes with entering my bank pin. It wasn’t long before I lost all patience to carry on playing Runescape. It seems that the connection was kind to Tim though, he managed to complete many of his stuff without much problem arising from the pathetic connection.

All’s not well with Tim though. While in the hotel room one day, I heard the news that he was muted under rule 1, for Offensive Language. That came as a major shock. Tim has had a ‘clean’ account for over 4 years now, and having a record/ black mark wasn’t such an appealing idea after he has kept it ‘clean’ for so long. I guess its now up to JaGex to decide if they want to leave the black mark as it is or give Tim his ‘clean’ record back, on the account that he has been a rule-obeying player till now, and this being his first offense. Well, all we can do is hope for a positive response from JeGex and pray for the best.

Also, I would like to congratulate the Blessings mod, and a close friend of mine, Demonmage386 on achieving 99 defense a few days ago. I’m terribly sorry that I wasn’t able to be present due to the internet situation and all, but it was nice to see you reach another one of those incredibly tough goals you set for yourself. You would officially be able to hold the position as a tank for the clan! In my opinion, the combination of maxed range and defense could prove to be deadly to the many unfortunate victims we encounter during our pvp trips in the future.

In addition, I would like to wish the best for two other members of the clan that have been working on a skillcape, Spamicken on Fishing and Forminable on Firemaking respectively. I can definitely say that Blessings is getting stronger, with a tougher member base in terms of both skills and combat. Soon, Blessings would be two years old, and I personally see that as a rather impressive achievement. It has been a long journey, with many hiccups on the way, but the vision of Blessings making her mark in the Runescape community is getting clearer and more within grasp. As Blessings enter a new year of establishment, I hope to bring the clan to greater heights and (hopefully) gain some recognition as a clan of not merely fierce fighters but also elite skillers.

With that, I guess it’s time for me to end this rather dry post. It’s getting late (wait, it is late, already 3am) and I want to rest my eyes and relax a little, maybe another game of cards or two before I get some well deserved rest. So, ta-ta!

Achievement today: None.

Nubs.

Throughout the ages of MMORPGs, the word noob has experienced many changes, even got itself developed for the use on specific groups of people. Nub and fr00b are just some of the many variations. In Runescape, it is not uncommon to see people with 99 def, or relatively higher defence being called a def nub in pvp based activities such as pking or clan/castle wars. I myself, despite only having 80 defence, had been greeted with that warm remark for a few times. As long as they are unable to break through your defences, you are a def nub. Or sometimes even, its just Nub! You're a nub. Plain and simple. I often find this word so overused that it no longer served as much impact that when i had just started the game. Of course, that could be a problem of me getting used to the insult, but it could also imply that the meaning of the word noob/nub had been confused, or "diluted" in the sense of intensity or effect.

I remember that early last year, i made a blogpost entitled "Noobs, The Pollutants of the Runescape Society". In that particular post, i defined the term noob as a player that is generally considered to be experienced, yet often makes mistakes that would more likely be attributed to a "newb." The term "noob" can also be applied to someone who is experienced, but blatantly disregards rules and etiquette through personal choice. Now it seems to me that the usage of noob/nub is no longer within the confines of noob-ish behaviour. The player who k0-ed you is a nub, the person next to you who doesn't want to help you with price checking is also a nub, even the person who refused to sell you the only pair of dragon legs he owns is a sad nub. As the usage of the word is diversified, the meaning of the word is inevitably changed. Nub can now mean a lot of things, so many that i'm not sure if the general meaning behind his word atill stands anymore.

Indeed, how do you define noob?

Almost over...

Finally, the month-long examinations are coming to an end. How i fared, I'd rather skip that. I definitely underperformed. Still, I'm looking forward to the packed schedule after the end of the exams. I'll be away for 3 overseas trips. Woots. I get all excited just thinking about them.

Back to Runescape, training have been rather hard to do since my computer had not been functioning properly. Sometimes i can switch it on, sometimes i can't. So yeah, i already lost the fishing race i ha with Zelda. The boy's doing great though, and i see a 99 from him pretty soon. Anyway, yeah I've been doing things i enjoy doing today. Ranarr rounds, clue scrolls, spending some time training with my irl friends, i am rather surprised at how Runescape can be a simple, fun game when what we are not just obsessed with money-making,exp-gaining, and skilling. This seem to be all i had been concerned with lately. The need for speed in skilling, the need for profit, the need for levels even. I guess we all need to take a break occasionally and do the things we like, the things that puts a smile on our face as we go about doing them.

Anyway, Halloween event was great. We got 2 Halloween tasks, a quest and the usual event. For the quest, we had to enchant a broom for Maggie by taking it to 3 other witches located in Rimmington, Port Sarim and Draynor respectively. We also had to complete a series of tasks and puzzles in order to receive their help. For the event, we had to trick-or-treat in the areas of Draynor, Rimmington and Port Sarim. We had to don a Halloween outfit, and i decided to go with an impressive-looking one rather than a scary one. After some contemplation, i decided to go with my outfit for 99 cooking. Chef's Hat, Desert Robes, Holy Symbol, a Tambourine and completed the look with a dashing cooking cape. I even got a compliment on my look! :D Trick-or-treating took slightly longer since the residents simply refused to give me the wrapped candies i wanted but barraged me with popcorn balls instead. Still, after some convincing, i managed to gather enough sweet treats to complete the event. I was rewarded with a new set of costume (which i dumped right after because i thought it looked disastrous). The quest reward was so much better though, i got 10 gulps of Maggie's goulash which got me 8k exp for farming. Overall, i would rate the Halloween event this time a decent 7/10. I definitely preferred last year's event and would definitely like to see more events of that standard. Still, the areas had a really 'Halloween' feel to them and i would applaud Jagex for that.


Peering into the cauldron in order to get the emote

First puzzle, easy as pie.

I told you someone said my costume was l33t!





Thanks Kat! ps. You could have checked my highscores, ya know



Even the penguins were being festive!

Kat, Tim and Me. A picture of the leaders of Blessings ^^

Stuff achieved today : 65 slayer.