Dungeoneering.

Well, I guess I am back on Runescape full time since Tim decided to start playing. I can't really say that I'm surprised by his decision to make a return, but I'm enjoying his company again. Mat is back too, which makes things even better.

Anyway, I've been dungeoneering a lot with Tim recently, we usually do a few raids as a team when we meet up. I remembered having a really bad impression of the skill when it was first released due to its similarity to Stealing Creation, and didn't really like it when I gave it my first try. I think playing in a group improves the experience greatly. Though I was reluctant to train this skill for a long time, I decided to give it a second go when Tim invited me for a game, and found myself actually enjoying the skill. I've made it a point to train by myself everyday since to keep up with Tim's progress.

Only one little thing about group raids that I'm not so fond with though - the aspect of playing this game with other strangers. Not that I have qualms with helping out others in my team as we go along, I've yet to meet a team that I thought was working along well. It seems that there is also someone in the team that (intentionally or otherwise), seem to be a little lost. Wait... make that very confused. I just ended 2 raids with this team that I was with, pretty decent guys, but there was just this one player, who was blatantly waiting for us to kill the guardians before proceeding to loot everything he can after we kill them. Yes, he went to the extent of waiting on the spot the guardians were on so that he could start looting the instant they were finished off by us. Thing is, he wasn't, by any measure, the weakest member in the team, and I am pretty sure that others on the team were not too fond of him either.

Later on, during one of the boss fights, I got a pleasant surprise. He was owned by the boss. I couldn't stop smiling when I saw his character performing the death animation.

Maybe its just one of those bad streaks, since I've only grouped with strangers thrice, but I really hope that I would be able to meet better, more responsible players. If not, I'll resort to going for solo raids. Still, I find dungeoneering somewhat fun now, especially with the company of friends.

Another thing that I've noticed with Dungeoneering, it might actually motivate players to train up other skills in order to unlock/equip more items. I know that is what I am experiencing now, trying to get my smithing up so that I don't have to rely Tim to smith me those awesome armor he always has to that much. Maybe it will have the effect on others as well, not to mention the bonus in Dungeoneering experience obtained when more skills are used, if I'm not wrong.

And, welcome back, Tim and Mat! :)