Nablo's Pointless Musings

Mon Journée Idéale

2011-03-27T21:36:00.004-04:00

Une bon, longue marche

Je me suis réveillé à l'aube pour prié mes prières du matin, après quoi je dors. Je me suis levé à nouveau à 7 heures du matin. Puis, je me suis brossé les dents et me suis lavé dans la salle de bains. Après cela, je me suis habillé en tous les vêtements blancs et peigné mes cheveux. Je puis descendis les escaliers pour me suis nourris avec un petit déjeuner omelette. Après un petit déjeuner, je suis sorti dehors pour m'amuse sur une bon, longue marché. Une fois que je me fatigue assez, j’ai fait un pas dans la maison pour mange des fruits frais. Je l'ablution après avoir fini de mangé les fruits dans préparation pour la prière de midi. J'ai ensuite prié la prière de midi dans une pièce calme, après quoi je vais à la salle de gymnastique pour l'exercice. Une fois que j'ai fini l'exercice, j’ai marché à une mosquée voisine pour prié mes prières après-midi. Après avoir terminé mon prière, je suis vais à la piscine du centre communautaire à la nage.

Une complete pizza

Après la natation, J’ai rentré chez moi et mangé une complète pizza devant la télévision. Je puis me lève, d'où je regardais la télévision à la prière coucher du soleil. Après je prié les prières de coucher de soleil, j'ai lu le coran jusqu'à ce qu'il soit temps pour la prière du soir. Une fois qu'il est temps pour la prière du soir, je suis vais dans ma chambre et prié la prière du soir. Je puis me suis déshabillé. Après me suis déshabillé, je suis vais à la salle de bain pour me suis brossé les dents. Je puis me suis couché sur mon mou, vieux lit jusqu'à ce que je me suis endormi.

Activité
Verbe Pronominaux
Irrégulier Adjectif

Pensioner

2010-08-23T06:27:00.000-04:00

Somethings happen all of a sudden, other happen more subtly. Without me realizing it, I slowly quit Runescape. I started playing less and less everyday and soon I stopped playing altogether. I might still come one once in a while to say hi. The game is not fun to me anymore. The idea of grinding for something you want has become despicable to me (not that its bad or anything, just that i hate it). I also start school soon so I need to concentrate on school and I would also like to work on my editing and programming. I would like to take this opportunity to thank Full Of Pie, Dr Levi, Merch Gwyar, Red Greasel, Lance100Usa and all the other people who have been there for me over the past three years. I really appreciate it guys, I really do.

Gone

2010-07-17T09:37:00.002-04:00

I r unavaliable. Ps. If I hear Your Love is My Drug one more time something bad is going to happen to the one who turns it on.

Feeling

2010-07-02T16:10:00.002-04:00

stressed.

Slayer

2010-06-14T22:52:00.000-04:00

Lately I've been doing a little bit slayer and by "lately" I mean the past few days. For some reason I really feel like making an RSMV, just haven't found the right song... I've got dagganoths for slayer which are frankly a bore. My current combat gear really sucks. I guess I better do some farming and make some money. Now the tricky part is how to make money without grinding. A challenge indeed. I finished doing some alchemy earlier. By the way, did you guys hear Timothy Gold is back to Runescape. Tiz was right when he said whoever says they quit RS will go back to RS. So, Tiz's solution is to say he'll "retire". One funny thing that I noticed is sometimes I get the most fun out of the most boring things. Like having fun mining, I am fully aware it is boring yet I love it. Weird, anyways, bye for now!

The Essence of Fun

2010-06-14T22:39:00.000-04:00

According to Wikipedia, Fun is the expenditure of time in a manner designed for therapeutic refreshment of one's body or mind. In short, fun is supposed to be relaxing and refreshing. Everyone has their own idea of fun. Something maybe fun for one person, but maybe grueling, tiresome work for another. Fun for me maybe making RSMVs while fun for you maybe writing essays the size a book.

Runescape is fun, right? Wrong... well at least for some people. I'm sure we've all heard of the term "Grinding". If you haven't, grinding is a word used to describe doing a certain task over and over again to gain something in game, usually experience. The problem is most people don't even enjoy grinding. In this way Runescape is becoming work. Actually if you are forcing yourself to grind, you are actually paying $5.00+ to work. Last time I checked Runescape was a game and I suppose you are supposed to enjoy games. Games are supposed to be fun, but, isn't that what they were made for in the first place?

I ain't criticizing anyone but, if you grind and you hate it, you shouldn't do it.

Cake Recipe

2010-05-31T21:10:00.000-04:00

Ingredients
• 2 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/2 cups white sugar
• 1/2 cup shortening
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Directions
1. For a Yellow Cake: Sift together flour, baking powder, salt, and sugar. Cut in shortening until fine crumbs are formed. Add eggs, milk, and vanilla. Beat at low speed for 1 minute, then high for 2 minutes, scraping the bowl frequently.
2. Pour batter into greased and floured 9x13 inch pan. Bake in preheated 350 degree F oven (175 degrees C) for 25 to 30 minutes.
3. Variation for a White Cake: Prepare as for the basic cake except use 3 egg whites for the 2 whole eggs. Whites may be beaten separately and added for a lighter cake.
4. Variation for a Chocolate Cake: Add 1/4 cup cocoa powder to the basic cake mix prior to adding the milk.
5. Variation for a Spice Cake: Add 1 teaspoon cinnamon, 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves, and 1/4 teaspoon ground allspice to the basic cake mix.
6. Variation for a Pineapple Upside Down Cake: Melt 1/2 cup butter in the bottom of a 9x13 pan. Add 2/3 cup brown sugar, stirring into the butter. Arrange pineapple slices in the pan. Top with the basic (yellow cake) mix recipe. Bake 30 to 35 minutes, cool 5 minutes, and invert to serve.

The Blanket

2010-05-31T17:09:00.000-04:00

In a time not too far ago, there was a girl named Jaxana. Jaxana was like most small girls except for one thing, Jaxana could not go anywhere without her blanket. One day, her father, Vaskor got fed up and tried to take her blanket away from her but, when he did, Jaxana cried and her father eventually gave in. A few days later, Jaxana forgot her blanket at home. She wailed at her daycare and the daycare people had to call Vaskor in the middle of a very important meeting to bring Jaxana her blanket. Vaskor was furious when he arrived at the daycare with Jaxana’s blanket. Out of his anger Vaskor threw her blanket in the sewer while the city workers were maintaining it. The blanket ran with the water out of sight. Jaxana was in a mixed state of deep melancholy and fury. Jaxana refused to talk to her father for days. Finally, Vaskor decided to retrieve the blanket. Sneaking out of his home in the middle of the night, Vaskor headed to the sewers. Lucky for Vaskor, the city workers forgot to close the manhole. Vaskor carefully climbed down the manhole and began his search for the blanket. He walked through the muddy floors of the sewer until he reached a steep fall that would bring sure death if one would fall its length. Vaskor hesitated for a moment but then remembered his daughter. Vaskor saw a rope tied to a tree, maybe from another man who didn’t make it. It didn’t matter why; all Vaskor knew was that he had to find the blanket that was so dear to his daughter. Then he saw it, the blanket was dangling half way the fall. Vaskor only had one chance. If he messed up he would be dead. He put the rope around his waist and leaped for the blanket. Vaskor got lucky and got the blanket in his first leap. Vaskor started climbing up to go home when his rope broke. Miraculously he managed to get up to the edge of the fall again. When Vaskor reached home he quickly rushed to clean up Jaxana’s blanket. By mistake Vaskor tripped over a metal bucket and Jaxana woke up. When she woke up she saw a muddy Vaskor holding the clean blanket. Vaskor was expecting a tantrum to be thrown at him by Jaxana but instead she hugged him. Jaxana realized how childish she had been in whining over a simple blanket and father and daughter made up.

Hope

2010-05-25T23:47:00.002-04:00

Hope is the thing...

Hope is the thing with feathers
That perches in the soul,
And sings the tune without the words,
And never stops at all,

And sweetest in the gale is heard;
And sore must be the storm
That could abash the little bird
That kept so many warm.

I've heard it in the chillest land,
And on the strangest sea;
Yet, never, in extremity,
It asked a crumb of me.

- Emily Dickinson

[Piano] River Flows In You - Yiruma

2010-05-25T23:22:00.002-04:00

This piece was played by fellow RS layer and talented RSMV maker ChaosJessLove.This piece always manages to de-stress me. I hope it is as magical for you as it is for me.

Tormented Demons Guide

2010-05-25T23:16:00.000-04:00

This guide belongs to Overvoltage, a retired RS player and Zybez. I do not own this guide nor have I written it. All credit goes to Overvolatge and Zybez.

Tormented Demons
By: Overvoltage

Contents

1.0 [ Introduction ]
2.0 [ Requirements ]
3.0 [ Equipment ]
4.0 [ Familiars ]
5.0 [ Methods ]
6.0 [ Drops ]
7.0 [ Frequently Asked Questions ]
8.0 [ Credits ]

Special note: Everything in this guide is AFTER the 'nerf' update, the methods shown and spot locations work

1.0 [ Introduction ]
Hello once again guide seekers, I myself have recently finished While Guthix Sleeps JUST to fight these magnificent monsters, and there's too much hype about how 'strong' they are. In all honestly, it's not that they're hard to beat, it that nobody's mapped out how ... yet.

They're found at the old Stone of Jas site after Lucien takes it, it's a multi combat zone, so don't just go charging in there.
If you've forgotten where that is, you'll need a sapphire lantern [it might be best to have two, in case you die], then visit the tears of guthix cave and call over a blue thingy with your lantern and choose 'into the cavern', from there head south and climb up the goomba head to the second floor, and enter the mouth of the one on top there, then head down the spirally path to the location shown above and continue on past the open door [unlocked during the quest].

Tormented demons are a reward from finishing While Guthix Sleeps. They are level 450, they can use all three sides of the combat triangle [Melee, Magic, and Range], and they have an attack that hits for both magic and range damage.

They don't have tolerance [they're always aggressive],

======================

2.0 [ Requirements ]
1.) Completed While Guthix Sleeps
2.) 43+ Prayer (80+ recommended)
3.) A range level you feel comfortable fighting a level 450 with
4.) 70+ attack, 75+ defense, 70+ range (although again 85-90+ is recommended)
5.) A Darklight (you'd have had to do shadow storm to start while guthix sleeps anyways...)
6.) A Sapphire lantern [two helps quite a bit in case you die]
7.) A Range and Melee attack [besides the Darklight]

======================

3.0 [ Equipment ]

Helm: Helm of neitiznot > Armadyl Helm > God coif > God mitre
Neitiznot gives a prayer and strength bonus

Cape: Ava's accumulator > Skill cape (t)
[depends where you stand]

Ammy: Fury > Stole >Glory
Obvious, I hope

Weapon: Rune c'bow > Black salamander
Body: Karils top > Black d'hide top > Proselyte hauberk > Guthans top
Range attack + magic defense, both are important unless you're maging rather than ranging [not recommended]

Shield: Dragonfire[50] > Obby shield > > Spirit shield > Dragon sq
Reason should be obvious, best in the game

Legs: Karils > Black d'hide > Proselyte > Guthans chaps
Same as Torso

Gloves: RFD Barrows - I know you did the quest....
Requirement for WGS is RFD, so you must have them :)

Boots: Ranger boots > Snakeskin boots > Rogue boots
Range attack bonus on the first two, highest magic def for a boot on the rogue

Ring: Anything you want
I use a ring of wealth, because it might help with drops

you could bring Armadyl if you cared to, however it's not recommended as it lowers accuracy with melee, something you'll be using often and especially annoying when you're trying to bring down it's barrier.

Inventory: It depends a lot on your stats and gear
for me, I have a lowish prayer bonus (+8), but 99 prayer, so I bring 6 prayer pots usually
to go through 6 prayer pots + whatever I drink of super restore takes longer than the 57 minutes my first unicorn will be there with me, so I bring two of those also
for 'emergency' food, I use super restore and saradomin brews, as a single brew heals the same as about 3 shark, it has amazing potential, plus super restores restore prayer + summoning points as well: the ratio of use is 3 doses of sara brew to one of super restore
For weapons, I have an abyssal whip, a Darklight, and a Rune C'bow with diamond bolts (e), this is subject to change from person to person

======================

4.0 [ Familiars ]
The first time I went, I brought a Unicorn, and it worked out great for me, I usually had too much in my inventory because it would count for rather a lot of food, which is why I don't see why people with 88+ summoning take turtles/birds/yaks, they don't last very long as it is, and all they can do it hold stuff for you [most of the time food anyways, because when they run out, everything drops, so unless you're counting on a short trip, bring a healer]

Level 3-67 - probably not the place for you after all, bring a terrorbird with sharks or something and deal with having a short trip
68-78 - Bunyip is really the best of what you have
79-87 - Ice titan - lasts the longest, helps in combat, BRING SCROLLS, you're using it as a healer mostly
88-99 - Unicorn - Best healer for the area, doesn't do any combat damage and you're not poisoned ever, it's just there to heal

for a titan/unicorn, 200 scrolls will more than do it, but bring many pouches, as super restore potions restore summoning points, so you'll be able to stay down there through your prayer potions.

======================

5.0 [ Methods ]
Fighting these tormented demons is like fighting a mini-jad, but not really, as he prays and his max is 30.
They're similar as they switch off attacks systematically, and you need to be paying attention to what you're being attacked with - sound helps distinguishing magic from range, so keep your sound effects/area sounds on [it also lets you know when your demon spawned, as it sizzles with a fiery sound when they're close enough to lure]

This is multi-combat, meaning you don't want to fight more than one at a time, you'll need to be careful when you lure them [although they really stick to their boundaries well now]
my favorite spot is right at the front, although there are two other spots on the minimap that are perfect for use

And one a little farther away more towards the back of the cavern.

To use my spot

Start here behind the stalagmite, the demon you're attacking spawns exactly east of where you are, to lure him, turn on protect magic, walk one space north, wait until he targets you, then walk TWO spaces south, he gets stuck between the two bundles of rock

Now there are two places where you can stand, one is better if you have an Ava's accumulator, and the other is better for a skill cape (t)

Ava's spot:

any bolts you shoot come back to you as they should, in the other spot, they all fall to the floor

Skill cape (t) spot:

it doesn't matter where you stand, your bolts fall to the floor anyways, best that they're in one pile using this spot

They have FOUR methods of attack

1.) Melee (max damage 30)

2.) Range (max damage 30)

3.) Magic (max damage 30)

4.) Combo [Magic+Range] (Max theoretical damage 60, however you're usually praying one of the two attack types already)

Having your sounds on [not music] helps a lot in telling between the magic and range attacks
pray accordingly, the ONLY TIME THEY CAN SWITCH is when they switch overhead prayers, so when you see they switched overheads, click on your bow/whip and then open your prayer menu (f6) so you'll only have to take one of the new attacks. [also, if he uses his combo attack, his next attack type is melee, just a heads up]

So, I'm sure you're wondering why I told you to bring a darklight because it's rubbish in terms of strength, right?

Otherwise their forcefield will spank you.
To bring down their forcefield, you need to land a successful hit on them with the darklight when they're praying range

the glitch to bringing down their shield with a non-darklight by switching weapons mid shot has been fixed as of 20-Jan-09

======================

6.0 [ Drops ]

"Why in the world would I want to fight these?"

Drop list:
1.) Coins (7-13k)
2.) Noted diamonds (4-5)
3.) Super defense potion (3) (3-5)
4.) Prayer potion (3) (2)
5.) Sharks (7-12)
6.) Seeds (8 different)
7.) Grimy herbs (dropped in 6's)
8.) Half keys
9.) Adamant Battleaxe
10.) Rune medium helm
11.) Rune sword
12.) Adamant bars (not noted) (3-5)
13.) Adamant ore (1-4)
14.) Fire talisman (4-5)
15.) Blood runes (13-20)
16.) Death runes ( 23-26)
17.) Law runes (18-24)
18.) Lava runes (20-34)
19.) Charms (3)
20.) Rune long sword
21.) Rune square shield
22.) Rune chainbody
23.) Rune two handed sword
24.) Rune mace
25.) Ruined dragon armor slice
26.) Ruined dragon armor shard
27.) Ruined dragon armor lump
28.) Dragon claws

- sold, 65m
- sold, 8m

======================

6.0 [ Frequently Asked Questions ]
Q: How many can you kill per trip?

A: That depends on how many unicorns I bring, but usually 15-18 per unicorn, so 32-48 per trip

Q: How rare are dragon claws

A: Rare, about 1 in 250 from what I've experienced and what I've heard

Q: How rare are dragon shards/lumps/slice?

A: 1 in 70-85

======================

7.0 [ Credits ]
You Reading this guide
Vegury he knows what he did ;)
Maxman drop table suggestion
57175560 Typo

Guide Copyright Notice:
All Guides are Copyright © Zybez Corporation, RuneScape Community and the original author, 2001-2006+; All Rights Reserved.

All guides submitted to Zybez or RuneScape Community become property of the Zybez Corporation. Use on any other website is PROHIBITED!
Guides can only be used on other sites with permission from Zybez Staff AND the author.

Guide to Meleeing Waterfiends

2010-05-25T23:12:00.000-04:00

This guide is by Overvoltage, a retired runescape player. It is a very informative guide. This guide belongs to Overvoltage and Zybez:

Waterfiends
By: Overvoltage

Contents

1.0 [ Introduction ]
2.0 [ Barbarian Training]
3.0 [ Requirements ]
4.0 [ Gear ]
4.5 [Bunyips]
5.0 [ Methods / Recommendations ]
6.0 [ Drops ]
7.0 [ FAQ ]
8.0 [ Credits ]

1.0 [ Introduction ]
Waterfiends, not to be confused with Icefiends, are found in the Chaos tunnels and Barbarian training ground "minigame" under the Baxtorian falls

They are level 115 with 129 HP, they use range and magic attacks only (no melee) and are severely weak to Crush attacks.
They're also the number one dropper for Crimson charms, very useful for summoning, and are exploited for it.

They can be found after completion of the Barbarian training firemaking section.

======================

2.0 [ Barbarian Training]
To reach Waterfiends, you'll needed to have at least started the Otto Godblessed Barbarian training minigame.

Completion of the first step towards firemaking is required to gain entry into the caverns:
This requires a bow (non ogre, crystal, or dark) and some logs (he specifies), and takes a few minuets to complete.
(Regular, oak, willow, and Yew trees are all easily found within walking distance of his house)

======================

3.0 [ Requirements ]
In order to effectively harm Waterfiends in mass quantity, you'll need certain stats and items.
Most of the equipment can be swapped out, what I'll be showcasing is for higher level players.

My stats:
Attack: 99
Strength: 99
Defense: 99
Hitpoints: 99
Prayer: 99
Magic: 98
Range: 94

minimum requirements:
Attack: 80+
Strength: 80+
Defense: 85+
Hitpoints: 85+
Prayer: 40+ (protect range)
Magic: 55+ (High lvl alch) - not required, but very useful
Range: 70+ (Karils/d'hides)

======================

4.0 [ Gear ]
Ok, this is where it can get pricey
I'm pretty well off myself, but I sympathise that not everyone can have what they want.
Similarly, this is where there can be a lot of variation

4.1 - Recommended gear for people under 68 summoning, or with lower melee stats:

Helm: Helm of Neitiznot >> Berserker > Guthans
The Helm of Neitiznot gives +3 prayer, +3 strength, and +3 magic defense
Obviously use a slayer mask if you have waterfiends for a task [assigned in shilo village]

Cape: Skill cape of achievement (trim) > Fire > Skill > Obby > Legends > Easter
Skill (t) gives the extra +4 prayer, fire gives the extra +4 str

Ammy: Amulet of Fury > Sara/zammy/guthix Stole > Amulet of glory (1+)
The +15 magic defense from the fury makes a difference

Arrows: Keep open
Lots and lots of mithril arrows to collect

Weapon: 1h weapon or leave empty
only bring a 1h weapon if you plan to use it there, if you're fighting with a z spear or ss, leave it blank

Shield: Dragonfire = Antidragon
if you're using a one handed weapon, I'd advise a Df, the +10 magic bonus makes a difference, and it has +7 strength, however I would encourage borrowing a sara sword, zamorakian spear, or even a godsword over any one-handed weapon
an alternative is taking a dose of antifire potion before you leave for the trip

Body: Karils leathertop > Dragonhide body > Armadyl chestplate > Guthans body
Armadyl gives significant negatives towards melee accuracy, both Armadyl and Karils give high magic defense
if you're 95+ attack and you're not using an sgs for specs you might be better off with Armadyl

Legs: Karils leatherskirt > Dragonhide chaps > Armadyl skirt > Guthans skirt
Same as the Body

Gloves: RFD > D'hide > Klanks gauntlets
highest bonuses

Boots: Dragon > Rune > lesser
Defense and strength bonus

Ring: Berserker ring > Seer ring > ring of wealth
Str bonus on the berserker, mage defense on the seer

Killing weapon: Sara sword >> Zammy spear > D mace > Veracs flail > Guthans spear
Sara sword has an awesome crush attack, its very quick, and the special is unmatched by any other crush weapon.

for a familiar, a void spinner, or fruit bat will suffice, you can use guthans in addition to or instead of a familiar

if you're having trouble healing quick enough with guthans, I would recommend healing on barbarian skeletons/spirits wandering the caverns, searching bones might cause a skeleton to appear, and they only attack with melee [however they can hit quite hard if you're unprepared when you search], just be careful of dragons if you intend to search these out in the cavern. [on the spot near the stairs, they're a lot easier to find, in the vast melee area I outline, they're south near the brutal greens]

4.2 - Recommendations for people using Bunyips

(my sgs is for special attacks only)

Helm: Helm of Neitiznot >> Berserker > Dwarven
Obviously use a slayer mask if you have waterfiends for a task [assigned in shilo village]
The Helm of Neitiznot gives +3 prayer, +3 strength, and +3 magic defense
Berserker gives +3 strength
Dwarven gives +6 crush attack

Cape: Skill cape of achievement (trim) > Fire > Skill > Obby > Legends > Easter
Fire gives +4 strength and +2 prayer and +2 all defense, and +1 all attack (you don't rely on prayer so much this method)
Skill (t) gives the extra +4 prayer
Obby is just +9 magic and range
Legends is +7

Ammy: Amulet of Fury >> Amulet of glory (1+)
Fury for the good mix of Strength and Prayer, along with defense +15 and offense +10
Glory for the +10 all offense, the charge is for a teleport

Arrows: Keep open
Lots and lots of mithril arrows to collect

Weapon: Leave empty
Unless you're not bringing a 2h weapon, in which case wield that

Shield: Antidragon > Dragonfire
Antidragon is easy to drop, and less costly to drop also, unless you're using a 1h weapon, then use a Df if available
an alternative is taking a dose of antifire potion before you leave for the trip

Body: Karils leathertop > Armadyl chestplate > Dragonhide Body
If you're not using an sgs for specs then bring armadyl if you can afford it
I find it affects accuracy too much, so I use karils

Legs: Karils leatherskirt > Armadyl skirt > Dragonhide chaps
Same as the Body

Gloves: RFD > D'hide > Klanks gauntlets
highest bonuses

Boots: Dragon > Infinity boots > Rune > lesser
strength bonus mostly, infinity for the magic bonus

Ring: Berserker ring > Seer ring > ring of wealth
Str bonus on the berserker, mage defense on the seer

Killing weapon: Sara sword >> Zammy spear > D mace > Veracs flail > anything else with a crush
Sara sword has an awesome crush attack, its very quick

Weapon for Specs: Sara Godsword >> Sara sword >> > D Mace > DDS (no crush option)

4.3 - Method for those who choose to use Unicorns (88+ summoning)

Congratulations, you reached 88 summoning and it's time to show it off.

The reason I dislike this method is because it's more expensive and wasteful.
It would've been fine if the raw food drops from waterfiends remained noted [like after the smoking kills and slayer update], however with them in their non-stackable form, you're stuck leaving them on the ground :(

(my sgs is for special attacks only)
(my zammy spear is because the sara sword is on the verge of a crash, which I don't feel like taking a part of experiencing)

Each unicorn lasts for 54 minuits, and once you're out of them, you're done for the most part; you'll be able to rack up a few kills on the side, but your source of hitpoints is entirely dependent on the healing aura scrolls (so don't forget these :p)

Helm: Helm of Neitiznot >> Berserker > Dwarven
The Helm of Neitiznot gives +3 prayer, +3 strength, and +3 magic defense
Obviously use a slayer mask if you have waterfiends for a task [assigned in shilo village]
Berserker gives +3 strength
Dwarven gives +6 crush attack

Cape: Skill cape of achievement (trim) > Fire > Skill > Obby > Legends > Easter
Fire gives +4 strength and +2 prayer and +2 all defense, and +1 all attack (you don't rely on prayer really at all compared to the guthans method, and slightly less than bunyips)
Skill (t) gives the extra +4 prayer
Obby is just +9 magic and range
Legends is +7

Ammy: Amulet of Fury >> Amulet of glory (1+)
Fury for the good mix of Strength and Prayer, along with defense +15 and offense +10
Glory for the +10 all offense, the charge is for a teleport

Arrows: Keep open
Lots and lots of mithril arrows / sapphire bolts to collect

Weapon: Leave empty
Unless you're not bringing a 2h weapon, in which case wield that

Shield: Antidragon > Dragonfire
Antidragon is easy to drop, and less costly to drop also, unless you're using a 1h weapon, then use a Df if available
an alternative is taking a dose of antifire potion before you leave for the trip

Body: Karils leathertop > Armadyl chestplate > Dragonhide Body
If you're not using an sgs for specs then bring armadyl if you can afford it [although, if you can afford it, chances are you could also afford an sgs, which is highly recommended]
I find it affects accuracy too much [-21 crush], so I use karils

Legs: Karils leatherskirt > Armadyl skirt > Dragonhide chaps
Same as the Body

Gloves: RFD > D'hide > Klanks gauntlets
highest bonuses

Boots: Dragon > Infinity boots > Rune > lesser
strength bonus mostly, infinity for the magic defense bonus

Ring: Berserker ring > Seer ring > ring of wealth
Str bonus on the berserker, mage defense on the seer
I use a wealth, from a lack of owning the other two anymore

Killing weapon: Sara sword >> Zammy spear > D mace > Veracs flail > anything else with a crush
Sara sword has an awesome crush attack, its as quick as a whip

Weapon for Specs: Sara Godsword >> Sara sword >> > D Mace > DDS (no crush option)

SGS Spec is awesome at fiends - if you can afford it, I'd highly recommend you take it, even if it means taking a zammy spear instead of a sara sword

4.5 [ Bunyips ]

Requirements:
68+ summoning
40+ cooking (80+ HIGHLY recommended, if you don't have 80+ it's worth a lot less)

Bunyips are probably one of the most useful summons in the game
Requiring level 68 summoning to use, and available via GE for 1800ish gp, they're readily available for use to a wide market
Buying them in the GE might take a while, but people are always selling, so you won't be without one for long

They last for 44 minutes and cost 7 points to summon, so for those of us 75+ summoning, we can use two without needing a potion
Of their abilities, they heal 8 hit points per minuet (2 every 15 seconds), and their scroll ability "swallow whole" lets you eat raw food as if it were cooked (assuming you have the cooking level to cook it)

At waterfiends, Bunyips are the most useful familiar, as if they were made for this spot.
You know all those raw food drops? sharks 4-6 and lobsters 4-10? This is where those pay off.

While using a Bunyip, often times you get a huge drop of food, and you can't use all of it, so it ends up rotting on the ground - that would be because you've forgotten the less used ability - turning raw fish into water runes. They stack, you should have some in your inventory already, so what have you to lose? Just use the piece of food on your bunyip and it will turn it into a random number of water runes

Bunyips can also be used for Prayer conservation -- often you'll have food on you, your bunyips 8 hp per min healing will be keeping you at full hitpoints.
In situations like this, just stop praying for a while.

1.) It'll give you a chance to make room for other drops (or other food drops)
2.) You save prayer potions (useful more when your bunyip runs out, or when you're caught in a jam)

For it's healing ability, if you're bringing bunyips, it's recommended you not waste inventory space with guthans, and even less prayer pots would be advised (unless you have low defense or prayer)

======================

5.0 [ Methods / Recommendations ]
This is where methods differ, be it Number of prayer pots or shark, use of super restore, guthans / short trip.

What I bring is posted above ^^, but not everyone has that much money or the needed stats.

This is really where you find your balance: lower prayer - bring more prayer pots; lower defense - more shark.

You can also choose to not bring guthans at all and just do 4-5 prayer pots and the rest shark, or do only guthans and pray mage (+311 range defense vs +12 mage def) but it takes longer to get kills, and more attention must be devoted while using guthans.

I get down there with a games necklace to the barbarian assault minigame, and then use the bank box for the necklace.

67-

68+

from there I run south to the pond and jump in.

Anyways, when you first go in, turn protect from magic on and equip your Anti-dragon shield or Df (or take a dose of antifire) as there are dragons the entire way there.

either that or you die before actually reaching waterfiends.

Run to the south-west corner, there are like 14 spawns in a short distance of each other, and equipped your killing weapon (sara sword in my case).

I pray range, as my magic defense bonus is like +140 or something crazy, so it doesn't hit very often with magic and it has no melee attack.

When using guthans, you won't want to wait as long as you might on other slayer tasks, they use two attacks, so usually when I fall below 60% HP I would start trying to heal.

Again, if you're finding this troublesome, seek out an enraged barbarian spirit, or a barbarian skeleton which can only attack with melee, so you won't need to worry about magic or range attacks

======================
6.0 [ Drops ]

I'm sure you're wondering, why would anyone do this?

well, apart from the Strength experience (50k+ an hour), a number of reasons.

Waterfiends have a very high charm drop rate, most of them being crimson.
Waterfiends drop mithril arrows and water runes in large quantity frequently.
Waterfiends drop water orbs and water staffs and battlestaffs.

None - 1.4%
Blue - 1.5 %
Green - 6.2 %
Gold - 8.8 %
Crimson - 82.1 %

Other drops of interest:
(With the new slayer update, drops have improved immensely)
Mithril ore (1-6) noted
Sapphire bolts (15)
Herb drops (2)
Vial of water
Various alchable mithril and adamant items
Water staffs
Water Battle staffs
Rune Med helm
Mithril arrows (90)
Water orb (5-9) noted
Coins
Charms
Shark (cooked)
Raw lobster (4-10)
Seaweed (14-29) (noted)
Ranarr seeds (1)
Snapdragon seeds (1)
Watermelon seeds (1-4)
Snape grass (20) (noted)
Uncut sapphire (2) (noted)
Raw shark (4-6)
Blood rune (4-11)
Clue scroll (level 3)
Mithril bar (2)
Gems
Death runes (10-19)
Dragon square left half

Total value after one trip:

If you're unsure what to do with your charms, I might suggest
Rokyzz's Guide To 99 Summoning :)

======================

7.0 [ Frequently Asked Questions ]
Q: Do they have Tolerance?

A: - Yes

Q: What is Tolerance?

A: - When a monster stops being auto-aggressive towards you after 9-12 mins

Q: How long are your trips usually?

A: - Depends on how many bunyips I bring

Q: How many crimson charms per trip do you leave with?

A: - usually in the area of 350, but I've done over a thousand in one trip before :D

Q: Can you range/mage them?

A: - I've yet to see a method that can keep up with melee's speed and drop rate

Q: Why do you have a dragon mace if you use the Sara Sword special attack?

A:
three reasons:
1.) If I use a zammy spear or v flail I might take the mace to use special attacks -- keep in mind not everyone owns a sara sword
2.) +5 prayer bonus while protecting magic from the brutal greens
3.) Inventory space (equipping d mace and Df) if I want to pick up something, or am about to leave - and still want to be able to attack

Q: Why not use a godsword?

A: - They're slow, and don't hit as often as a crush weapon, they're mainly slash based, and if you hit a zero with a godsword, you've lost your advantage of power, whereas if you hit a zero with a sara sword, it's not that big of a deal. The same applies to when a waterfiend is low on hitpoints

======================

8.0 [ Credits ]
Name: Overvoltage - writing the guide
Site: Zybez - Hosting
Name: Yogosun - influencing interest in waterfiends
Name: Man_Whij_Me - Offering suggestions
Name: Abbysallorge - Adding to FAQ
Name: vegury - Adding to FAQ
Name: jason12512 - Correcting stats

Waitress Fired Over Facebook Status

2010-05-25T20:45:00.001-04:00

Ashley Johnson was unhappy with the way her shift at work went the other night, so she vented about it on her Facebook page – on her own time. The waitress, who worked at Brixx Pizza in Charlotte, N.C., stayed an hour past her shift to continue serving a table of guests who ended up spending three hours languishing in the restaurant. For her time and extra efforts, the young woman only received a five dollar tip from the table.

Ashley went home and posted on her Facebook page, which is set to private. Keep in mind that she was off the clock, and that she never mentioned the customers by name (or any other identifying factor). Her manager apparently decided to read her Facebook Wall, and didn’t like what he saw. The company fired the girl a couple of days later; she “violated a company policy banning workers from speaking disparagingly about customers and casting the restaurant in a bad light on a social network.”

The Uptown Charlotte Brixx location where Ashley Johnson received the $5 tip.

Public outcry over this is loud. There are hundreds of messages being left per hour on the Brixx Facebook Fan Page. People from all over the world are outraged that the company would fire an employee for invoking her right to express herself on her own personal time, in a semi-private place (and Facebook, as we’re discovering, is anything but private). The customers weren’t mentioned by name, nor were they identified in any way. Ms. Johnson simply expressed her displeasure over the situation, as any of us would.

I don’t pretend to know what the employment laws are in North Carolina, but I cannot believe that they extend to firing an employee over something they post on their personal social networking page during their personal (off-work) time. Her comment likely would not have harmed the company in any way. However, the manager’s decision to fire her just may lose them a bit of business. Many people are calling for boycotts, and word is spreading like wildfire. Perhaps the people higher-up at Brixx better take a closer look at who they have managing their restaurants, and the policies they have for dealing with employees who aren’t on the clock.

I can tell you that in the state of Washington, an employer can fire anybody for any reason (or without reason, for that matter). But when that dismissal is deemed wrongful by the terminated party, all hell could very well break loose and the business may find itself in the middle of a PR nightmare.

I’m not sure we have the full story, but maybe the moral to the story is… STOP SHARING THINGS YOU DON’T WANT THE REST OF THE WORLD TO DISCOVER.

Please note that this article was taken from chris.pirillo.com and this article belongs to them.

Naruto Shippuden Opening 3: Blue Bird (Piano)

2010-05-25T06:23:00.001-04:00

Do working mums make healthy children?

2010-05-24T10:50:00.005-04:00

Do working mums make

healthy children?

By Clare Murphy
Health reporter, BBC News

The debate about staying at home or working continues

A new study suggests the children of mothers who work part-time are healthier than those of their full-time or stay-at-home counterparts. Where does this take the debate on the effects of working mothers on the health and happiness of their offspring?

The study of 4,500 Australian pre-schoolers found those whose mothers worked some of the week were less likely to eat junk food, watch TV and over the course of the two-year research period were less likely to become overweight.

The authors suggested that mothers who worked part-time went to "considerable lengths" to ensure the time they did spend with their children was high quality.

"When mothers work part-time, there's obviously something about the way the house is run, and the way parents are looking after their children that is protective," said Jan Nicholson of Melbourne's Murdoch Children's Research Institute.

Mothers' messages

Her study - Do working mothers raise couch potatoes? - concluded that apparently they do if they work more than 34 hours a week, struggling to find the time for family cooking and activities.

The reasons why mothers who do not work have children with less healthy habits are not fully understood, the study says, and requires a closer analysis of "household dynamics".

The findings are the latest in the steady flow of contradictory information on the effects on child wellbeing of the mass movement of mothers into the labour market over recent decades - in the UK some 60% of women with children under five work.

It is a shame these studies always forget the father - if there isn't a healthy meal on the table, why is that always the fault of the working mum?"

Dr Martina Klett-Davies,
Family and Parenting Institute

Within the course of just one month at the end of last year, two major studies were published with different, if not necessarily conflicting, messages for working mothers.

One suggested they were damaging their children's health - with children of both full and part-time mothers less likely to eat an apple and get out and walk to school than those of stay-at-home mothers, the second that they were not harming their emotional and intellectual development in the slightest.

Meanwhile various studies have also thrown up differing perspectives on the potential pitfalls of the childcare they choose.

Nurseries have been accused of fostering anti-social behaviour and increasing stress levels in toddlers, but have also been found to improve educational outcomes and even to lower the risk of a child developing leukaemia because their immune system is stimulated through early contact with others.

Meanwhile grandparents, an increasingly attractive childcare choice for many parents as they tend to be both reliable and free, are now said to increase the chances of a child being overweight - although only in the wealthiest socio-economic groups.

"A lot of the time when you look at the actual statistical differences in these studies, they are really quite small. We see associations, but not necessarily causes," says Prof Heather Joshi, head of the Centre for Longitudinal Studies at the Institute of Education.

"All parents should perhaps derive comfort from the fact that what these studies really demonstrate is that there are no clear relationships and conclusive answers - that there is not a one-size-fits-all policy.

"Everybody needs to think carefully about what is right for them and their children, and be prepared to change if it is not working out. You play it by ear."

Forgotten fathers

And some may not have the luxury of choosing whether to stay at home or work, be it part- or full-time.

Limited and expensive childcare mean some who may want to work cannot afford to do so, while others need to work to financially provide for their child.

"Flexible working and better childcare is key," says Dr Martina Klett-Davies of the Family and Parenting Institute. "It is also a shame these studies always forget the father - if there isn't a healthy meal on the table why is that always the fault of the working mum?

"But we also need to be wary of turning parenting into a science. We like the idea that we can provide definitive proof of what is best for children, but a lot of the time all it does is make parents feel even more insecure about the way they do things and the choices they make.

"That, frankly, is not good for anyone."

The Millisecond of Glory

2010-05-24T10:29:00.009-04:00

It was one of the most tedious games that hockey has ever seen with one minute left for the game. The timer was counting fifty-nine, fifty-eight, etc... The heat of the game was so intense that you could feel it from the other side of the city. The Edmonton Oilers and the New York Islanders were tied 1-1.

Wayne Gretzky kept on going despite his efforts being thwarted by the Islander’s defense. The puck kept on going from one side of the rink to the other. It was like a game of tennis.

This was the fist time Gretzky came so close to win the Stanley Cup and he wasn’t going to blow it. Gretzky was feeling the pressures of a hundred men. One second felt like a year. It felt for him as if the fate of the universe rested on that game.

The Islander had enough and drove through all the players to make a narrowly missed shot. Gretzky was furious now. He gave it all he had and drove all the way to the defense.

Not even the legendary Islander defense could stop him now. He drove through them with all his talent. Nothing could hold him back while he was on his unstoppable breakaway.

There was only three seconds left to the game. The crowd started murmuring. It was only Gretzky and the goalie now. The goalie was known for being tough and rough but not even the toughest and roughest goalie was prepared for the shot Gretzky made.

Gretzky shot a shot that surpassed the speed of light. He shot with the strength of 100 men. He shot a shot that no man had ever shot before. It was the millisecond of glory. Then the Stanley Cup came, with all its glory and grandeur, presented to the best hockey player of all time. Gretzky had only this to say after holding the Stanley Cup,
“I’ve held women and babies and jewels and money, but nothing will ever feel as good as holding that cup.”

Please note that this story is a legend and has some fiction aspects that are included to make the story more dramatic. Also note that this story was written fully by me.

Farming Fever

2010-05-24T10:09:00.004-04:00

One of the skills I have always been neglecting was farming. But recently I have been quite busy because of it being near the end of the year and being bombarded with a mountain load of assignments. The only thing I could really do was farming because of the nature of the skill. It takes only 30 minutes to do a farming run but, the XP/Time ratio highly exceeds the other skills and at this time of the year, time is merely something I don't have. I have found a really awesome guide to farming done by Zaaps1 on Tip.It Forums which I personally use as a guide to my farming runs:

~~‡ MOTHER GAIA ‡~~

An In-Depth Manual to Farming by Zaaps1

X. Introduction

Welcome to my guide to the great skill of Farming.

Farming can not be described in a straightforward manner. It is not one-sided as many other skills are. If I said "firemaking", what comes to mind? "Boring" "Lots of clicking"? If I said mining, what comes to mind? "Hard" "Powermining" "Runite"? If I said magic, what comes to mind? "Ice barrage" "Teleblock" "costly". All these are pretty much halves of the same whole. But farming is not so simple. Farming is many things at once.

Farming is:

-A fast skill to train
-A slow skill to train
-A huge money sink, one of the biggest ways to spend money in the game
-A huge money gain, one of the best ways to make money in the game
-Boring
-Fun
-Perfect for low levels
-Perfect for high levels

Many of these are contradictory to each other. It's all the how the player decides to train farming. Because of that, farming has something appealing for every player. Whether that's fast xp for total levels, effortless money, or just something to spend time on doing every once in a while. Farming is a terrific skill. I know you can find a least one part of it you enjoy. I know I did.

This guide is aimed mostly at training the skill of farming, focused on getting levels quickly. However, farming does not have to be a grind like other skills. It's an excellent way to spend a handful of minutes to gain an insane amount of xp (900k xp per hour of effort. Interested? I thought so.) It's also great to spend a handful of minutes to gain an insane amount of money (1.2m per hour of effort.) So while I'll probably seem like I'm pushing farming to be like another grind skill and putting a lot of emphasis on speed, the important thing to remember is to have fun. If fun means taking a slower method, go for it. If fun means not using the most efficient plant, go for it. If fun means spending illogical amounts of money, go for that also. It's important to remember that this is just a game, no matter how caught up we get.

Note: This guide will review some of the basics, but if you are new to this skill, I recommend taking a look at the Tip.It guide beforehand. I may start to use terminology or information/methods you do not understand. If that is the case, read over the Tip.It farming guide. If you are still confused, do not hold back from posting your question.

XI. Contents

X. Introduction

XI. Contents
1. Farming In-Depth
2. The Patches
3. The Plants
4. What to Plant (training outline)
5. How to do Farming Runs
6. Tips and Tricks
7. Other ways for XP
8. End note
9. Credits

1. Farming In-Depth
First, let's start with the basics:

What is farming?
Farming is a skill in which a player plants his or her crops. The player then returns later to harvest the crop, reaping any rewards the crop offers. The waiting period requires no effort. You could even be logged off. The small effort investment makes farming a very easy skill to train.

Who can farm?
Unfortunately, farming is a members-only skill. F2P'ers can not enjoy farming.

However, former-members can still see their crops grown in their patches if the patch is in a f2p area, even on f2p worlds.

Where do I farm?
There are 40 specialized farming patches scattered all around the Runescape world. Visiting these patches allows one to train farming. However, there are methods to train farming outside of patches, but none of them are practical (see section 7 for more details).

When do I farm?
You can train farming whenever the crop in the patch is finished growing, or when the patch is empty. Most crops give xp when you harvest them, but trees and bushes give a majority of their xp when you "check-health" them. When a tree or bush is done growing, you get a "check-health" option. You can only click this once, but you can dig up the tree and replant it and "check-health" the new tree when it grows.

Why would I farm?
Great question! Why should anyone farm? For one, farming is a terrific moneymaker. Farming herbs is amazing money for the small time investment required. EVERY SINGLE FARMING PATCH has the POTENTIAL to profit. That's right. Every last one. Some are more practical than others, but the fact remains that farming is extremely easy to profit with.

In addition, farming is required for many quests/achievement diaries/minigames. You wouldn't want to be left out of those, would you?

Items (Basics)

First of all, let's go over the REQUIRED items for farming.

We call this a Rake. If you live where I live, you hate these in the fall. Their only purpose is to get rid of weeds in your patch. This is necessary because you cannot grow anything while there are weeds in your patch.

-------Funny story for those who care: Farming is often a confusing skill. Beginners are usually too perplex to know how to train. One of my friends started out this way. In fact, the only thing he knew how to do was to rake weeds! He got up to level 25 by raking weeds...--------

An all-purpose Spade. This is extremely useful. It lets you dig up your plants, mainly dead ones, but some plants you need to dig up with a spade, such as tree stubs and bushes. It also lets you harvest plants such as herbs. You also need it to plant saplings in patches.

Used to plant seeds IN PATCHES

Used to plant seeds IN PLANT POTS. This is a key thing to remember. Dibber = patches, trowel = plant pots.

A watering can is used mainly to water tree seedlings so they can grow into saplings. However, you can also water many patches, such as allotments, with them. Doing this helps prevent disease, although I usually do not do this since I believe it is a waste of time on such cheap seeds. You never NEED to water a patch, but doing so can never hurt.

These two are used to hold various types of produce. In the old days when you couldn't note your produce, players carried a few of these to allotments to save space. However, since you can now note your items with leprechauns at every patch, there is little need. Note that some farmers ONLY accept payments in baskets or sacks. Sacks are also used to make scarecrows.

Used to grow trees. You first plant the seed in the pot (remember with a TROWEL). Then you water it. Then you wait 1 "tick" (explained later) before it grows into a sapling and you can plant it in a patch.

You fill plant pots by using them on weeded patches.

The way to cure diseased trees and bushes. Using it on fully grown willows will yield willow branches, which are quite valuable. It is also a requirement for fighting the jade vine.

During Fairy Tale Part 1, your secuteurs are enhanced into this state. In this state, it retains the properties of the normal secateurs (except its cheapness, magic secateurs are bought back for a sum of 40k). In addition, it will increase your crop yields by 10% and allow you to deal damage to Tanglefoots (or is it Tanglefeet?).

Compost and Supercompost (they got creative with that one, right?). Compost is used by dumping farming produce into the compost bin, closing the lid, and waiting. Generally, higher leveled produce makes supercompost and lower leveled ones make normal compost. The compost mound familiar also makes normal and supercompost. The Compost Potion (Garden of Tranquility and Vinesweeper reward) turns any bin of compost or bucket of compost into a bin of supercompost or a bucket of supercompost. This is a powerful combonation if coupled with the Generate Compost scroll of the Compost Mound. The potions, however, are in extremely short supply, and therefore may take a while to buy. I would not rely on this method too heavily, although it does exist for those lucky enough to have the potions.

(Note: Buying the potions from Vinesweeper costs 5k points. This is a huge amount of points for what it is worth. Consider a pineapple seed is 10k point, and a spirit seed is 55k points. The supercompost you get is only worth about 10k, anyway, so I recommend AGAINST spending your Vinesweeper points on these.)

Compost is extremely useful. EVERY patch (with few exceptions) should be treated with supercompost. Here's what it does:

-Makes the patch grow faster
-Helps prevent disease
-Yield better harvests (if possible)

Supercompost does the same thing as regular compost, except better.

Hatchets are needed to cut down trees and fruit trees. However, since you can pay farmers 200gp to cut down trees, you only need to worry about fruit trees (if you're after farming xp. If you chose to cut down your tree normally for the WC xp, it slows down farming a lot).

ALL HATCHETS WORK EQUALLY WELL ON FRUIT TREES!

That's right. Bronze or dragon, it's all the same when you cut down a fruit tree. That being said, the best hatchet for farming is the mithril axe, since it is 1kg lighter than every other axe.

The Farming Process
Those are all the items you'll absolutely want for farming. Of course, there are more, but they aren't as critical as the above. I'll go over some of the "optional" items later, but first, let's go over HOW to farm.

Basically, you want to plant the seed/sapling, pay if you can, then come back later an harvest. There's it broken down:

1. Clear patch of previous plant (items needed: Spade and axe (for trees/fruit trees)
2. Weed patch, if there are weeds (items needed: Rake)
3. Add supercompost to the patch (items needed: Supercompost)
4. Plant seed/sapling (items needed: The seed/sapling itself, seed dibber if it is a seed, spade if it is a sapling)
5. Water, if desired (items needed: Watering Can)
6. Pay to Protect, if desired/possible (items needed: too many to list. Every patch has its own payment, and some patches cannot be protected)
7. Leave
8. Come back later and repeat step 1.

Excellent, now let's go to the advanced items:

Items (Advanced)

These items exist solely to speed up your farming runs. I'll list alternatives to them as well.

Runes are needed to teleport to certain patches. Common sense, but it's worth noting. Sometimes I start thinking about all these complex ways of getting to a location when I realize there's a teleport right next to it.

Ectophial. Best way to get to the Port Phasmayts allotment.

Alt: Kharyll teleport, or fairy ring to the Haunted Woods

Explorer Ring 3. Best way to get to the Falador/Draynor allotment and the Draynor Manor patches.

Alt: Glory (Draynor), Falador teleport

Skills Necklace (4). Best way to get to the Ardougne allotment. Fishing Guild teleport (Lunar level 87 spell) is just as good.
EDIT: The Ardougne Achievement Cape is now the superior option. However, unless you complete the amazingly high-requirement Elite diary, you are limited to one teleport to the farming patch per day. This is alright for most people, but for those who do multiple herb runs per day, you want to keep a few Skills Necklaces at hand, in case you need to do a run and your cape hasn't recharged.

Alt: Ardougne Teleport, Fairy Ring to Legends Guild

Combat Bracelet (4). Best way to get to the Champions Guild bush patch.

Alt: Canoes, Varrock Teleport

Lunar and Dramen staves. These grant access to fairy rings, which are often the best ways to reach a patch.

Alt: Too many to list. Fairy Rings are convenient, but you'll find there are many alternate ways yourself. The possibilities are endless, so I won't list them here.

Ring of Slaying. "But you noob Zaaps, you said this was a farming guide gtfo". Yes. But there is 1 important thing about this ring that makes it worthy of note. It teleports you to the Slayer Dungeon in Relleka, leaving you 2 seconds from a fairy ring. This is the CLOSEST TELEPORT TO A FAIRY RING IN THE GAME. Use it if you can. Buy the ability to make it for 300 slayer points. Then craft it with a ring mould, slayer gem, gold bar, and 75 crafting. You CAN use the crafting potion/evil stew to do this and you CAN get assisted to do this.

Alts: Glory (Edgeville), Ectophial

The old-school methods of getting to a Fairy Ring

Ring of Duelling. This allows you to bank with ease. But so does the glory. Why mention this but not the glory? This has one thing the glory will never get: a teleport straight to a spirit tree! Teleport to Mobilising Armies and you are 5 steps from a Spirit Tree, and 10 steps from a bank (and not a bank chest, a real bank).

Alts: You really shouldn't need any. This is cheap and easy to buy, and there are no requirements to use it. If you really can't, for whatever reason, you can glory to bank and use Grand Tree Pods to reach Spirit Trees.

Tip: If using duelling rings, bank the rings when they have 1 charge left and do NOT use the last charge. You can alch them when they are at 1 charge for 720 gp, saving you a lot of money compared to if you used the last charge.

Logs. You need these to transport on the Balloon network. The log differs depending on where you want to travel.

Alts: Various teleports can get you there as well.

Tiny Elf Crystal. Teleports you straight to Lleyta. It can recharged for a few coins by Eluned. Lleytan Elves also drops charged and uncharged versions fairly often. I recommend keeping at least 10 of these in your bank, so you need to recharge them only rarely.

Alts: There shouldn't be any. You need MEP1 to enter Lleyta, and therefore you can easily get more crystals. You shouldn't need any alts, although if you really need to, you could Charter ship to the Tyras camp then trek across Isfadar to Lleyta. I don't recommend it.

Various teletabs. If you're on Lunars for farming, you may find these helpful since you will not need Spellbook Swap as often

Alts: Normal spellbook

Ring of Charos (a). You don't really need it, but depending on what you do, it could help quite a bit by eliminating costs and saving you space. Situational, at best.

Alts: None.

A Note on Dungeoneering
Dungeoneering is almost worthless to farming, except for one thing, the Scroll of Life. If you use it, you havea 10% chance to get your seeds back when you harvest or clear a patch (5% for trees). This means that you can use more expensive seeds since the scroll's effect will greatly increase your profits (Snapdragons yield ~40k more profit/run). If you have the Scroll of Life's effect, ALWAYS[/u] farm Ranarr, Snapdragon, or Torstol!

Recommended Quests

Yes, yes, quests can be annoying. I will give you alternates if I can, but here's the deal: You'll probably end up finishing the quest anyway. I can guarantee you that sometime in the future (if you don't unexpectedly quit) that you will finish most, if not all, of the quests listed here. There are many reasons for this. Even those of us that hate quests will get bored and do them sometime. And as new content is released, we may find ourselves in need of the quests. (Remember when Curse of Arrav was released? Raise your hand if you didn't get 100% completion on the Missing My Mummy queen before that day. I know I didn't.) So if you're doing to do the quest anyway, why not do it earlier? This way you have more time to enjoy the benefits of the quest, right?

So I recommend you finish all of these quests. I understand it may get boring. That's fine. That's why there are alternates where ever possible. I'll leave it to you to judge which ones you really need to do, and which you can get away with.

Lumbridge achievement diary: Not really a quest, but you'll want this for the Explorer's Ring 3.

Alts: None

Ghosts Ahoy: Phasmatys Allotment

Alts: See Ectophial alternates

My Arm's Great Adventure: Trollhiem Patch

Alts: None

Fairy Tale Part 1: Magic Secutaurs. Also allows you to start FTP2. You don't need to finish it (in fact you don't even need to use any of the skill requirements yet). Just do enough to unlock Fairy Rings.

Alts: None for Secutaurs. Various teleports for Fairy Rings.

Enlightened Journey: Balloon network. Mainly to travel to Taverly quickly.

Alts: Falador teleport, House teleport (if in Tav.)

-Make sure you unlock the Gnome Strongold route, and maybe the Castlewars one

Back to My Roots: Jade Vine

Alts: None

Garden of Tranquility: Ring of Charos (a) and the White Tree. Picking it yields a small amount of farming xp and may be worth stopping by when you're at the Varrock Tree

Alts: None

Mourning Ends Part 1: Access to Lleyta. You only need to start it, not finish it. Just get into Lleyta and you're good.

Alts: None

Lunar Diplomacy + Dream Mentor: Lunar spells. However, I only recommend this if you're 92 magic (with magic pot) or 96 magic (without magic pot) for Spellbook Swap. Otherwise, the benefits of Lunars are not worth giving up the Trollhiem patch.

Alts: Normal spellbook is just as good

Plague City: Ardougne Teleport.

Alts: Skills Necklace (Fishing Guild)

Grand Tree/Tree Gnome Village: Spirit Trees

Alts: You could use a Grand Tree Pod for the Grand Tree. You could also use fairy rings for the Gnome Village fruit tree instead.

Legends Quest/Heroes Quest: To recharge Glories/Skills necklaces/Combat bracelets

Alts: You could simply not use them, or you could sell the uncharged versions on the GE and buy charged versions. Level 89+ summoners can also summon a Geyser Titan to recharge these items, or trade the items to a trustworthy friend so he or she can recharge them.

Recommended Skills

The following are what I recommend for farming, other than farming itself:

-A solid agility level. Farming is almost synonymous with running. Having a good agility level clears room otherwise used on energy potions. I am 71 agility and it does more than required. I would guess as low as 40 or 50 does the job
-40/52 summoning. For the run restore, but only if your agility is too low. This is better than super energies potions. Note a higher summoning unlocks familiars that may be beneficial to farming, but you don't "need" any of them
-A solid magic level. This varies. As long as you can use all the teleports you need, you are fine. This could be as low as 1 magic, or as high as 96. Of course, you could always buy teletabs for the teleports you can't use.

Other than that, I can only recommend 83 (77 minimum if Evil Stew, or 80 with Pie) farming for a Spirit Tree in Brimhaven.

Ticks

Don't be scared, I'm not talking about the bug. I'm talking about ticks and in "time".

You see, farming is calculated by real life time (the seconds standard). It's calculated by "ticks". 1 tick lasts approximately 5 minutes. At the end of the tick, everything related to farming is updated. That means patches grow, plants get diseased/die, saplings grow, etc.

Why is this important to know? Because knowing when a tick occurs can make your plants grow 5 minutes "faster". Ever plant a seed then see it grow immediately after? That's because you planted the seed RIGHT BEFORE the "tick". So once it was planted, and the tick occured, it grew for 5 minutes of real life time, even though you only just planted it seconds ago! This also applies to those cases when you just harvest a patch and immediately after, weeds grows. You harvested right before a tick, so when the patch was cleared, the weeds grew.

In summary, if you can plant your seeds before a tick, you can make them "grow" 5 minutes faster. You can find out when a tick occurs by using your clock in your POH. It will give a message such as "It is 10 to Rune" (Rune being an imaginary hour). When it changes from "10 to Rune" to "5 to Rune", 1 tick has occured.

2. The Patches

Here, I will take an in-depth look at all the noteworthy patches and the best way (with alternatives) to get to them.

Allotments

Allotments are known as the "low-level" farming patch, even though they contain the highest level farming plant (Torstol Herb at a whooping 85 farming). However, they are the best xp for low levels...because they're the only xp for low levels!

Allotments contain the "allotment patches", numbering 2. There is also a flower and herb patch, as well as a compost bin. This is a "full" allotment. There are "partial" allotments as well, containing only pieces of these.

Phasmatys

Requires "Priest In Peril"

Best: Ectophial

Alts: See Ectophial in Items (Advanced)

Ardougne

Best: Ardougne Achievement Cape

Alts: Skills Necklace (Fishing Guild) OR Fishing Guild teleport (87 Magic), or any alternates listed in the Items section

Falador/Draynor

Best: Explorer's Ring 3

Alts: See Explorer's Ring 3 in Items (Advanced)

Catherby

Best: Catherby Teleport (Lunar spell)

Alts: Camelot teleport

Trollhiem

This contains only an herb patch. This is a special patch since it will never be diseased. Requires "My Arm's Big Adventure".

Best: Trollhiem Teleport

Alts: Fairy Ring/Slayer Ring to Slayer Dungeon and take back entrance into Troll Stronghold

Harmony Island

This contains only an allotment patch. Requires "The Great Brain Robbery". You will be attacked by Zombies.

Best: Charter Ship to Mos le'Harmless and have Brother Tranquility Teleport you

Alts: None, except instead of charter ship, you could Ectophial then have Bill Teach give you a ride

Western Ruins

This contains only a flower patch that only allows Limpwurts. Requires "Spirit of Summer". Beware of Revenants.

Best: Games Necklace then run West.

Alts: Falador teleport and run north-west, or Glory teleport and run north-west

Hops

These are junk. I repeat: This are totally worthless. Hops are not worth farming, and you're better off not wasting your time on them. DO NOT FARM THESE.

They give terrible xp, take up too much time, and are located in out-of-the-reach areas that simply take too much time to get to for what they are worth.

Bushes

Bushes are often overlooked when training farming. At lower levels, they aren't so great, but at higher levels their good xp and decent profit as well. I'd say whiteberries and poison ivies are worth farming.

Champion's Guild

Best: Combat Bracelet (Champions Guild)

Alts: See Combat Bracelet in Items (Advanced)

Rimmington

Best: House Teleport (Rimmington)

Alts: Explorer's Ring 3, Balloon/Skills Necklace to Crafting Guild

Etceteria

Best: Fairy Ring to Miscellinia

Alts: Lyre + boat

Ardougne Monastery

Best: Ardougne Cape Teleport

Alts: Fairy ring (DJP), Ardougne Teleport, Spirit Tree (Khazard Battlefield)

Trees/Fruit Trees

I group these together because you farm them together. Whereas allotments are very profitable and slow xp, and bushes are medium profit and medium xp, trees are a huge money sink while giving amazing xp. When I said 900k xp per hour of work, I was speaking almost exclusively about trees. This is where the xp is. If going for any long-term farming goal, I would farm trees. To be sure, there's the huge price tag, but you won't find such terrific xp anywhere else.

Varrock (Tree)

Best: Varrock Teleport

Alts: None

Falador (Tree)

Best: Falador Teleport

Alts: None

Lumbridge (Tree)

Best: Lumbridge Teleport

Alts: None

Catherby (Fruit)

Best: Catherby Teleport (Lunar)

Alts: Camelot Teleport

Grand Tree (Fruit + Tree)

Best: Spirit Tree

Alts: Grand Tree Pod

Tree Gnome Village (Fruit)

Best: Spirit Tree + Elkoy

Alts: Fairy Ring

Brimhaven (Fruit)

Best: Spirit Tree

Alts: Shilo Teleport (Karamja Gloves 3) + Cart, Ardougne Teleport + Boat

Taverly (Tree)

Best: Balloon

Alts: Falador Teleport

Lleyta (Fruit)

Best: Tiny Elf Crystal

Alts: None, see Tiny Elf Crystal in Items (Advanced)

Special Patches

These are pretty much figments of Jagex's imagination that didn't quite fit in with the others. By no means, however, does that make them "bad". These can be extremely powerful, if used right.

Calquat (Tai Bwo Wannai Village)

Best: Run from Brimhaven

Alts: None

Port Sarim/Etcerteria/Brimhaven Spirit Trees

I would highly recommend planting it in Brimhaven since it is the only useful one. Explorer's Ring takes care of Port Sarim. Fairy Rings cover Etcerteria. While the Ardy boat takes you close to Brimhaven and fairly quickly, it lacks the speed and power that the Spirit Tree grants during Farming Runs.

Jade Vine (Handelmort Mansion in Ardougne)

Best: Ardougne Teleport

Alts: Skills Necklace (Fishing Guild)

Cactus (Al-Kharid)

Best: Duelling Ring (Duel Arena)

Alts: Glory (Al-Kharid)

Belladonna/Evil Turnip (Draynor Manor)

Best: Explorer's Ring 3

Alts: Glory (Draynor)

Bittercap Mushrooms (West of Canafis)

Best: Fairy Ring (CKS)

Alts: Kharyll teleport/portal, Slayer Ring (Slayer Tower)

3. The Plants

In this section I will explore each seed and its usefulness in training, or benefiting from, farming.

Allotments

There is not much to say here. With the exception of watermelons, these are all cheap forms of xp. The low level farmer can easily get his or her first handful of levels here. Watermelons, however, are bad xp for their cost. They cost as much as trees but don't give nearly as much xp. I would not farm watermelons.

For the high level farming, the only crop worth considering in the allotment patches are sweetcorn for the profit.

Herbs

Only 4 herbs are worth mentioning here. Ranarr, Toadflax, Kwuarm, and Snapdragon. The allotment patch sets are known for their money-making ability. Herbs are the best example. The four mentioned herbs usually yield the greatest profit. However, their prices change frequently. You'll often have to recalculate to find which gives the best profit per herb run.

Each herb patch, if you use supercompost and magic secutaurs, yields 6.5 herbs on average, INCLUDING deaths of herbs (chance of death if using supercompost = 10%). The number of 6.5 is generally accepted among farmers, give or take a few tenths.

To calculate the profit/herb run, use the following formula:

Let S=Price of Seed and H=Price of Herb

H x 6.5 x 5 - S x 5

The end number gives you the profit you get per each herb run. Note: If you only farm 4 herb patches, replace the two 5s with 4s.

I have often been asked whether to turn the herbs you farm into potions or not. This is not technically "farming" so I'll keep this short. Remember the herbs aren't actually "free". If you make them into potions you won't get as much money. If you get 400k profit for herbs and 300k profit if you sell them as potions, that means you just "paid" 100k for that herb xp. So it isn't free xp at all. You're still paying money. You're paying in POTENTIAL money. Bottom line is if you were going to buy that herb xp anyway, go for it. But don't be under the illusion that it's free herb xp. It's not.

I have also developed a calculator you can use to easily find which herb is currently performing the best. The link to it is: http://spreadsheets....puM0NLbXc&hl=en

Pretty self-explanatory. If you notice any errors, please contact me by posting here.

Flowers

Flowers are bad xp, but they have 2 uses: profit and protection. Profit lies in 2 herbs (mainly) limpwurts and marigolds, marigolds being the better. Every flower also protects a certain allotment when it is PLANTED (so don't pick it). However, since we aren't particularly interested in allotments anyway, this is useless. But, there are some of you who will seriously farm allotments. That's fine, as I've said before, whatever makes the skill fun for you. If you do farm allotments regularly, I would recommend you plant the White Lily flower. To obtain these, exchange mole skins with Wyson the Gardener while having the Falador Shield 3 equipped. When planted, they protect ALL allotments of EVERY type (but still have no effect on herbs). This means you never need to worry about switching protection flowers. In addition, they give a nice amount of xp when picked (250), but you will only get ashes in return.

Bottom line for flowers: plant marigolds for the profit. From 100 seeds (8k) you'll get about 85 marigolds (about 350k). You should farm these along with your herbs to save time.

Hops

I've said this before, Hops are worthless. Do not farm them.

Bushes

Bushes are a medium blend of xp and money. There are two we are interested in, Whiteberry and Poison Ivy. This is pretty straightforward. Farm whiteberries when you can, then poison ivy when you hit 70.

Here's the best part about poison ivy: it never gets diseased and therefore never dies.

I'll take this opportunity to introduce a new concept: ignoring compost. I've said before that you should always use supercompost, with few exceptions. This is one of them. Let's look at the benefits of supercompost:

-Less disease
-Less growing time
-More yield

Bushes grow in about 150 minutes, which is over two hours. 2 herb runs results in about 160 minutes of waiting. Therefore, you should do 1 bush run every 2 herb runs. You don't need it to grow faster, then, because even if it did, it wouldn't help you.

Bushes always yield 4. It can never give you more, so you don't need to increase the yield.

Poison ivy never gets diseased, so there's no need for that either.

As you can see, poison ivy is one of the few exceptions that do not require supercompost to grow efficiently.

Trees and Fruit Trees

If you noticed, all the patches mentioned above are farmed by relatively cheap seeds (exception being snapdragon and ranarrs, which profit anyway). However, when we delve into the realm of trees, cost becomes a major issue. You might begin to look at the farming chart and think:

"Hmm, acorns are almost worthless, willows cost a decent amount but nothing too big, maples are alright, yews...wow that's a lot...magics....#$@% that's gonna hurt...".

Well, it's true. The cost of trees increases a lot. This means the most cost effective tree would be oaks (acorns). But we don't want to settle for that puny amount of xp. (There is a similar story with fruit trees.) What do you do, then? You look at the trees and their gp/xp RATIOS. This gives you the best idea of which trees are best for you.

By looking at the gp/xp ratios, you can easily calculate the costs and you can easily see which tree is right for you. The normal costs and xp you see from any guide are extremely deceiving. The gp/xp ratio is the only real thing you can trust. You can use it to discover which trees are best for you to farm at the given moment.

How do I get my gp/xp ratios? Well, you could always calculate it yourself for the most accurate results. However, I would like to recommend this calculator for the best general overview. It is very helpful, although I would always check it work myself before finalizing my decision.

Why is it important to look at the ratios? If you were to take a guess, which of the following is the most cost effective: Maples, Yews, Magics, or Palms? The answer, in fact, is palms. That is because it is only 9gp/xp while all the others are over 12gp/xp.

Although, you should take note that the above calculator does not take into account the xp for picking the fruit on fruit trees.

If you are trying to calculate the time you save using efficiency formulas, consider that when you "save" time, you are not saving 1 day of effort, you are only saving about 10 minutes of effort for 1 tree run. So it may seem like you're paying 20m extra to save 15 days, but you're really only saving a bit over 2 hours of effort. Beware of this trap.

Specials

There's is little discussion to be had here. There are only 3 specials (maybe 4) worth growing regularly. Those are Calquats, Jade Vines, Cactus, and Bittercap Mushrooms (but only if you use Fairy Rings on your runs). If you can grow ANY of those, work them into your farming runs. They are good xp and cactuses are good profit.

Specials generally take a long time to grow, and only the Calquat tree and Spirit Tree can be protected by farmers.

I did not mention Spirit Trees in the above list. This is because the seeds are too rare to make them worth farming regularly. If you do have spare seeds, they may be worth farming (although they take 2.5-3 days to fully grow). Remember, however, that you would give up your Brimhaven Spirit Tree and therefore slow down your farming runs considerably. If you feel that waiting 3 days and giving up easy access to the Brimhaven patch is worth the huge 20k xp it gives, then use all the seeds you get.

4. What to Plant (Training Guide)

Training farming takes quite a lot of planning. It is not like every other skill where you can just find the best xp location and grind your way to the finish. Training farming has a lot to consider. For example, Should I do 3 tree runs per day instead of 2? How will that impact my costs and speed? Do I have the time or memory to do that many runs in a day? Or would I rather not worry about it once I do my first run of the day?

Oftentimes, you will find yourself planning your Runescape gaming around your farming cycles. For example, I try to do 2 slayer tasks as fast as I can so I can do an herb run at maximum efficiency right after both are over. This is natural, and is one of the things that makes farming great. You need to plan for success, and I believe there is a real life lesson in that.

Now then, onto the training guide:

This section mainly focuses on WHAT to grow, not HOW to grow them.

Roots: Levels 1-45

The first steps of farming are always the worst. You want to level this skill and move on, but no, you have to wait. That's fine, because you know the benefits of farming and how great it is once you get going with it.

Until you get to level 45, farm the best allotment you can and farm marigolds. Also, farm either ranarrs or toadflax, depending on which is best at the moment. When you can farm trees and fruit trees, farm the best you can. At such a low level, you shouldn't need to worry about the costs of trees just yet. Your most expensive trees would be willows at 4k.

There are no specials worth farming at this point.

You should take these first few moments to really get used to farming. Make mistakes here, if ever. If you're going to forget to pay a farmer, do it at a apple tree and not at a palm tree later in your life. Get used to the route you're taking. Time isn't an issue at low levels since you will gain your levels fast anyway. Do not worry about speed, just worry about consistency. Do runs as often as you can, whenever you can.

Alternative: While technically not farming, Troacctid mention and extremely efficient way to get these first few levels-quests.

Quote

Fairy Tale Part 1 has no farming requirement, and the xp reward takes you to at least 18 farming, which means you can go straight to planting oaks. Forgettable Tale of a Drunken Dwarf's xp reward can take you from 18 to 25 farming. Garden of Tranquillity will easily carry you from 25 to 30 farming from its xp reward. Then you can do My Arm's Big Adventure and Enlightened Journey to go to 30-something. The fact that all of these quests (except Forgettable Tale) are ones that you would have already wanted to do for various farming-related reasons (well, for Garden of Tranquillity, it's more for fishing, so you can do Swan Song and catch monkfish) means that you've effectively skipped those levels with no training at all.

As mentioned, those quests are very useful later on.

Seedling: Levels 45-75

Here is when you really must decide how much you care about farming. For most people, their farming journey ends sometime in this stage. After all, why go on? The last quest requirement is only in the 60s, and the only thing to look forward to after is a spirit tree, which will only help in farming anyway.

All valid arguments. Here you must make the decision whether to go on with farming after your goal or not.

After you decided how much you care, decide how much that means to you. From that you will discover how much you are willing to spend. This stage is the stage you decide what your comfort zone is in terms of cost. Are you willing to pay 12gp/xp for yews, or should you just dummy it down?

Begin to be concerned about speed. However, it still shouldn't be a big concern. With the introduction of powerful trees, you'll still find yourself gaining a level every 1-3 days at least.

Sapling: Levels 75-85

You should really concern yourself with speed now. You should have everything you need established. You should know exactly what to do at a patch and exactly what you want to plant. Now, you just need to improve your speed.

Make your runs faster. You may have to do some of the quests you previously neglected. That is fine.

At level 83 (or even before that with farming boosters), you can plant a Spirit Tree. I highly recommend you plant it in Brimhaven. It will speed up your runs considerably.

At level 85, you are able to farm the best plant currently available: Torstol herbs. At this point, you have "mastered" farming. There is nothing you can't farm.

Like in the last stage, you must ask yourself how much you care about farming. If you do care, then proceed to the next stage. If you don't, your journey ends here, since the skill of farming has nothing to offer you outside of levels and herb runs.

Grown Tree: Levels 85-99

Here comes the grind. You should have this masted by now. You should be using my advanced route and be challenging your speeds. This is obviously the hardest stage, but also the most potentially rewarding. After this is over, you will have one of the most respected 99s in the game, if that is any concern to you.

There is not much I can say. You should know what you're doing by now.

Elder Tree: Level 99+

Why did I add this? One reason and one reason only: herb farming. Even after 99 farming I high recommend you continue to herb farm. It is terrific money and a nice distraction from the normal xp grind of your daily activities.

In addition, you should plant your patches to allow the maximum profit when you go around and harvest them (but not replant them). Many of you may choose not to do this since it would be a waste of time to go on farming runs just to harvest stuff like coconuts and willow branches. But you should have them planted. When you run around doing your normal Runescape activities, you may find yourself harvesting those patches for some quick money. Heading toward the Brimhaven dungeon for a task? Why not pick your coconuts and add a few extra coins to your task profit? Remember you can note them, so it really only takes 1 space.

Max profit:

-Willow trees -> Willow Branches
-Palm tree -> Coconuts
-Herbs
-Marigold
-Sweetcorn
-Poison Ivy bush

Oh, and congratulations on 99 farming /icon_upup.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':/happy.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt='^_^' />:' />

Training Concepts

Now that you know what to plant and what to focus on at various levels, let me introduce a few concepts to help you maximize your xp and save as much money as you can.

Gp/Xp Ratios

Again? Yes. This is more of a reminder than anything. They are extremely important, so check them as often as possible. A month ago, maples were 9gp/xp. Now they are 15gp/xp. That hurts.

Compost

Remember the 3 benefits of compost: faster growing, less disease, and better yields. If you realize that you don't need any of those, then do not use compost.

Again, my example from before were poison ivies. For those of you who only do 1 fruit tree run per day, fruit trees are another example.

Time Effort

This is something important to understand. Let's use herbs as an example. Herbs from in 75 minutes right? And 1 run yields ~90k profit right? So logically, you gain 90k profit in 75 minutes, right? Wrong!

Here is the concept of Time Effort. Many people believe that herb farming only gets you that 90k in 75 minutes. What they are missing is that you do not actually "farm" for 75 minutes. It is not like conventional money-makers. If you camped 1 hour at aviansies, you might get 400k. That means you get 400k in 1 hour, since you spent 1 hour of effort. However, are you spending 1 hour of effort when growing herbs? Of course you aren't. You're only spending 4-5 minutes of effort when you do the herb run. So you really gain 90k in those 5 minutes of effort.

5. Farming Runs

This section will focus exclusively on the HOW of farming. How should I visit my patches? How should I arrange the order?

The farming runs I give are the FASTEST ways possible. I know of no methods that are significantly faster. However, if you have anything I have overlooked, whether in the main run or the alternatives, post or message me. I would be happy to edit it in and credit you.

I'd like to mention that the best way to farm (fastest and least confusing) would be to do your tree runs, herb runs, and bush runs separate from one another.

First, two concepts:

Paying Farmers
As you know, you can pay farmers to protect your patches. However, this isn't always worth it. All patches (if supercomposted) die 10% of the time, on average. What does this mean? This means if you planted 10 trees, you should expect 1 of them to die (this is not guaranteed, but you should EXPECT 1 to die and you should use that number in your planning).

So let's say I planted 10 Birch trees. Birch trees cost 20k per seed. The farmers accept 5 Asian Pears as payment, which are 500 each one the GE. So in total, the payment is 2.5k.

In those 10 Birch trees, I should expect 1 to die. So I am wasting 20k, because that 20k buys 1 seed that doesn't yield any xp due to death (this isn't true, because you get xp for planting, but let's keep it simple).

However, if you paid the farmer to protect all 10 Birchs, none would die, right? However, you would then pay 2.5k for all 10 of those trees. Therefore, you are wasting 25k, because that 25k buys payments that don't yield any xp.

See what happened? By paying the farmer, you actually wasted 5k extra.

So, if the total cost of the payment exceeds 10% of the cost of 1 seed, it is NOT worth paying to protect that tree.

Here's an example, yew seeds are 86k. They require 10 cactus spines, totaling 37k in costs. 37k is more than 10% of 86k, so you should not pay to protect yews at the current prices (which are subject to change, so you should always check).

Maple seeds are 52k and require a basket of oranges, which is 1k. 1k is less than 10% of 52k, so you should pay to protect maples.

Paying Farmers (again)
For regular trees, you can also pay the farmer 200gp to have him or her cut down the tree for you. You get no WC xp from this and you do not get the roots from digging up the tree, but it saves a lot of time. Try it yourself and you will see what I mean.

It is ALWAYS worth paying that 200gp for the farmer to cut down the tree. Do ALWAYS do it.

Tree/Fruit Tree Run

Let's start with this, since it is the most xp. Do as outlined below (without using any alts) and you should do your Tree/Fruit Tree runs in 8-9 minutes.

This is the standard inventory. Now there are a few things to note/replace:

-Personally, I got pked with my Penance gloves on and I do not have Agile Top or Bottoms. If you have any of those, wear them, since they can only help. However, I would like to mention that they are not necessary, since with that set-up I never fall below 50% run.
-You can replace the teleports with teletabs. In the above picture, that's one of each of: Falador, Varrock , Lumbridge, and Camelot teleports. If you farm with Lunar, bring a Catherby teleport instead of a Camelot teletab.
-If you do not have access to any of the items above, please go back to the Items (Advanced) or Items (Basic) section and look up the alternatives you have.
-It's worth mentioning that I do not need to bank with the above set up
-The compost is for the regular trees, which I do not protect (see the above concepts). If you do protect them, you will not need compost unless you do 3 tree runs per day. Always have 1 supercompost for the Calquat, at least.
-If you don't know why I chose a Mithril Hatchet, see the Items (Basic) entry on hatchets.

Now, notice that you only have 1 free space. Clearly, you can't farm fruit trees like that! So you don't. If you visit the Varrock, Falador, and Lumbridge tree patches (and drop all the empty pots/buckets) you easily have enough room for Fruit Tree yields. Remember to note them when you don't have room!

Now, just make sure your Duelling Ring has at least 4 charges (3, if you don't bank them at 1 charge left) and make sure your Tiny Elf Crystal is charged, and you're ready to go!

In the pictures provided, the red line indicates the path you are to run and the red dot indicates where you land after you teleport to that location using the method described. If you cannot use a particular teleport, see the Patches section of this guide and locate the alternative best for you.

1. Varrock Teleport

Farm: Varrock Tree

2. Lumbridge Teleport

Farm: Lumbridge Tree

3. Falador Teleport

Farm: Falador Tree

4. Camelot/Catherby Teleport

Farm: Catherby Fruit Tree

5. Duelling Ring to Mobilizing Armies, then take the Spirit Tree to Tree Gnome Village, exit the Village and have Elkoy lead you through the maze

Farm: Gnome Village Fruit Tree

6. Duelling Ring to Mobilizing Armies, then take the Spirit Tree to the Gnome Stronghold

Farm: Stronghold Tree, Stronghold Fruit Tree

7. While you're at the Gnome Stronghold, cut down 1 regular tree and use the balloon to fly to Taverly

Farm: Taverly Tree

8. Duelling Ring to Mobilizing Armies, then take the Spirit Tree to Brimhaven

Farm: Brimhaven Fruit Tree and Calquat Tree

9. Tiny Elf Crystal

Farm: Lleyta Fruit Tree

Outline

1. Tele to Varrock

2. Tele to Lumbridge

3. Tele to Falador

4. Tele to Camelot/Catherby

5. Duelling Ring to MA and Spirit Tree to Gnome Village

6. Duelling Ring to MA and Spirit Tree to Gnome Stronghold

7. Balloon to Taverly

8. Duelling Ring to MA and Spirit Tree to Brimhaven, then run south to Calquat

9. Tiny Elf Crystal to Lleyta

That's it. There's a bank at Lleyta also, so you can gear up for whatever you do next.

How fast is this? Well, as I said before, it's typically 8-9 minutes. My personal record time is [b]7 minutes 24 seconds. So challenge yourself, can you beat my time? And more importantly, can you beat your own time, whether it is faster or slower than mine?

Note: One vital change: If you are using a Giant Ent during your tree runs (to increase fruit tree yields), remember that you cannot take the Giant Ent aboard the balloon (which is a strange rule). Therefore, you must move steps 6 and 7 to the end, after you farm Lleyta. You would dismiss the familiar right after you farm the Gnome Stronghold fruit tree, and right before using the balloon.

Herb Runs

These typically take 5 minutes to complete.

You will only be going to the 4 "full" allotments and the Trollhiem one. Do not visit the Wilderness or Harmony allotments. They are too far and you can't even plant anything good in them.

Notes on the picture:

-Personally, I got pked with my Penance gloves on and I do not have Agile Top or Bottoms. If you have any of those, wear them, since they can only help. However, I would like to mention that they are not necessary, since with that set-up I never fall below 50% run.
-You can replace the teleports with teletabs. In the above picture, that's a Camelot teleport. If you farm with Lunar, bring a Catherby teleport instead of a Camelot teletab.
-If you do not have access to any of the items above, please go back to the Items (Advanced) or Items (Basic) section and look up the alternatives you have.
-It's worth mentioning that I do not need to bank with the above set up
-You could also EQUIP the skills necklace to save 1 inventory slot. I generally don't need to.
-The Ardougne Achievement Cape is superior, but remember you are limited to one teleport per day unless you have completed the Elite Diary. That being said, use the above set up if you haven't gotten that far in the Diary or have used your daily teleport. If you have the teleport open, simply replace the cape with the Ardougne Achievement Cape and forgo the Skills Necklace.
-I do farm cactus, but I only harvest it. I do not replant my cactus. If you DO, then add 1 more supercompost and 1 cactus seed

You'll notice there are 3 slots for runes. I do all the magic teleports first so I clear up those 3 rune spots in my inventory. I also drop all my empty buckets. I would note my herbs after every patch that gave me any, unless I clearly have enough space. I usually do not note the marigolds.

Now make sure your skills necklace and Duelling ring have charges left and you're good to go.

In the below maps, the red line is the path you run and the red spot is where you land after you teleport.

1. Camelot/Catherby Teleport

2. Trollhiem Teleport, run to Troll Stronghold, run to the Generals and up the ladder

3. Ectophial

4. Skills Necklace (Fishing Guild)/Ardougne Cape tele

5. Explorer's Ring 3

6. Duelling Ring to Al-Kharid Duel Arena

You should get about 30 herbs per run on average.

Outline

1. Tele to Camelot/Catherby

2. Tele to Trollheim

3. Tele to Ectofungus

4. Tele to Fishing Guild/Ardougne Farming Patch directly

5. Tele to Cabbage Patch

6. Tele to Duel Arena

My best time is 4:21. Can you beat it? Can you beat yourself?

Bushes

The least important of the 3. These typically take 4-5 minutes.

Many of you will probably decide bushes are not worth it. I do not believe so. They are often overlooked. They do not give a lot of xp, but its quick and profitable.

-The House teleport is directed at Rimmington
-It should be noted that the Ardougne Cape is better than a Spottier Cape since it teleports you almost directly in front of the Bush patch there.
-Personally, I got pked with my Penance gloves on and I do not have Agile Top or Bottoms. If you have any of those, wear them, since they can only help. However, I would like to mention that they are not necessary, since with that set-up I never fall below 50% run.
-You can replace the teleports with teletabs. In the above picture, that's one of a House teleport.
-If you do not have access to any of the items above, please go back to the Items (Advanced) or Items (Basic) section and look up the alternatives you have.
-It's worth mentioning that I do not need to bank with the above set up
-For those with a Wolpertinger, you should bring it. It gives 2x the yield and also 2x the xp (thanks Nicrune008).

Now make sure you're Duelling Ring and Combat Bracelet are charged and your Slayer Ring has 2 charges/

In the maps below, the red line is the path you run and the red dot is where you start after you teleport.

1. Combat Bracelet (Champion's Guild)

2. House Teleport (Rimmington)

3. Ardougne Cape tele (Kandarian Monastery)

During the following step, you should also Fairy Ring to CKS for the Bittercap mushrooms, which are like 5 squares from the Ring

4. Slayer Ring to Relleka Slayer Cave, go to Fairy Ring, Fairy Ring Code CIP

You can either Duelling Ring to MA or CW to bank after this, of you can go to the Etceteria bank if you have unlocked it.

Outline

1. Tele to Champ's Guild

2. Tele to Rimmington

3. Slayer Ring to Slayer caves, then Fairy Ring to DJP (Also Fairy Ring to CKS for mushrooms)

4. Slayer Ring to Slayer caves, then Fairy Ring to CIP

Best time? 4:22

A Note on Times

All of these times are by no means the best times possible. You could certainly get faster times. In fact, I encourage you to post your times! They don't have to be faster, but if you compare it with others, you'll see how you rank. In addition to my time, I'll also post the TIF'er who has the best time out of all of those who replied. A personal challenge, you might say.

There is only 1 rule, in order for a time to be valid, all your patches in that run could not have died. They all had to have lived. If a single patch dies, you gain an unfair advantage, so that run is disqualified. (Clearing a death patch is a lot faster than harvesting + replanting.)

I hope to see some really fast times out there

6. Tips and Tricks

Lunar Magicks

Lunar Magic is almost custom tailored for farming. It comes with 2 terrific teleports for farming: Catherby and Fishing Guild. It also has Spellbook Swap, so you don't miss out on Trollhiem teleport. In addition, Fertile Soil is outstanding as a replacement for supercompost. Cure plant also eliminates the need for plant cures, although you really shouldn't go out of your way to check plants' health anyway.

Lunars has a lot to offer. However, I would only recommend it to those with 91 magic. At that level, you can drink a magic potion and use spellbook swap. Otherwise, the benefits of Lunars is simply not worth giving up the Trollhiem patch.

Note: There is a back entrance to the Troll Stronghold. You go to the Slayer Cave and go to the rocky pass to the East of it. However, this is really slow and I do not recommend it. If you do chose to do this, I would switch to Lunars for Fertile Soil, but not before

For those who do farm with Lunar magic:

-For all the supercompost, simply take runes to match it using Fertile Soil. You may chose to bring a few extra runes for Cure Plant, in case you find any diseased plants during herb runs.
-Replace Camelot teleports with Catherby teleports
-Replace Ardounge, House, Varrock, Lumbridge, and Falador teleports with the corresponding teletabs. If you cannot use Catherby teleport, also bring Camelot teletabs
-If you can use Spellbook Swap, bring runes for it and Trollhiem teleport

Summoning

There are a few familiars which may be helpful. However, I find none of them necessary. I do all my farming runs without familiars. I never run out of space (if I note my produce) and I never run out of energy. I also do not need the farming level boosts that some of them give, although I understand some of you may. If that is the case, then certainly take the appropriate familiar.

A list of Farming-friendly familiars:

-Bull Ant/Terrorbird

-All BoBs

-Stranger Plant

-Giant Ent

-Dreadfowl

-Hydra

-Wolpertinger

-Compost Mound

However, there is one familiar that is worth using (perhaps 2): The Giant Ent and the Wolpertinger. The Giant Ent increases bush, fruit tree, and cactus yields by 50%. The Wolpertinger doubles xp and yield of bushes.

JoeDaStudd said:

Definitely worth taking Giant Ent on bush, fruit tree and cacti runs.

You get ~1.5x more fruit.

For me if adds a nice chunk of gp to a run.

5 x 3 extra coconuts (~19k), 4 x 2 extra poison ivy berries (~9k) and 1 extra spine (~4k) totals at ~32k extra per standard run. Which isn't bad at all considering the pouch is only 2k.

For more information, visit the Tip.It Summoning Guide here: http://tip.it/runesc...oning_guide.htm

Amulet of Nature

In short, the amulet of nature lets you bind it to a patch. It will then tell you exactly when the patch is finished growing and whether it is diseased of dead. If you are wearing the amulet, it will give you in-game messages. Otherwise, you need to check it manually by talking to the amulet.

You may only have 1 Amulet of Nature in your bank, inventory, or equiped at any time.

You can bind it to any patch.

The Amulet of Farming is a lesser version that can only be bound to allotments and flowers. In addition, it only has 8 charges, but you can have as many of them as you want. They are also a lot easier to get. You can buy them at any farming shop.

Get to an Amulet of Nature, take an emerald amulet. Then get magic tree roots and use them on a spinning wheel to get magic string. Use the amulet on the string to get a pre-nature amulet. Then use Level-2 (Emerald) enchant on it to complete the Amulet of Nature.

I recommend having an Amulet of Nature bound to the last herb patch you harvest (other than Trollhiem). This way, when it's gone growing, you know they have all finished growing. I would also check on it periodically when you bank.

Level Boosters

Comparably, there are a lot of farming level boosters:

-Garden Pie: +3

-Cider: +1

-Dreadfowl: +1

-Stranger Plant: 1+4%

-Compost Mound: 1+2%

-Evil stew: -6 to +6, although +6 is so rare it's impractical to even consider it. Think of the maximum as +5 instead.

The only practical ones are the Garden Pie and Stranger Plant. Use them during your runs if you need the levels. Compost Mound is decent as well if you use it anyway.

Misc.

1. If you plant the seed right after the supercompost leaves the bucket in the supercomposting animation, you instantly plant the seed even though you are still composting the patch. This let you speed up runs a little.

FAQs

TIF Poster said:

Is it realy worth paying the farmer at the calquat patch? since the payments are realy expensive. wont it be cheaper if you just use supercompost and not pay?

If you use the forumla I provided, it appears that calquats are not worth paying for, which is true. Paying to protect calquats is not economically efficient.

However, unlike other patches, there is only one calquat. Also, I farm poison ivies, so I don't mind giving up 8 berries each day. Therefore, I prefer to protect the calquat.

It is an expensive payment, however, you are right. Not paying is the most economically efficient way to farm calquats.

Other herbs, such as the level 85 Torstol, are a similar case.

TIF Poster said:

This distracts from your focus, but I don't think it'd be bad to mention adding in daily RS chores to a long farming run. Varrock teleport takes you right next to battlestaves, herb runs end at Catherby, and you can use the Seers' Headband in conjunction with Catherby/Camelot teleports.

It slows down the run somewhat, and it takes up inventory space you can't spare with my setup. Although you could bank in the middle of the run to make room. That just takes too much time. I prefer to just take care of all those chores after. It works out much quicker this way.

If you use a Lep to store your supercompost (and save inventory space), you would be slowing down your runs. Plus, it makes the runs a lot more confusing than they need to be, and you still can't fit in all of the chores in 1 tree/fruit tree run. That is why I do them separate (it's also why the tree/herb/bush runs are separate): it's less confusing and it's faster.

However, you may not think it is confusing at all. If it works out for you, by all means, do it. I know many other guides recommend doing so. Know that it is the slower option, but if it makes your life easier then go for it.

7. Other Ways for XP

Now there are other methods to get xp, other than brute farming.

Vinesweeper: I have been told you can get 20-30k xp per hour here if you know what to do. However, I personally hate the minigame, and farming herbs gives a better xp per hour of effort, and a lot of profit.

Evil Tree Sapling: You can nurture evil tree saplings if you have the required level to do so. You need no equipment, which is nice. It's decent xp, but you'll mainly do this for the WC and FM xp afterward. I recommend doing this, but only if you hunt trees anyway.

Construction: Building plants in your garden/formal garden DOES yield some farming xp. This, however, is extremely expensive.

8. End Note

Thank you for reading my guide! I hope it has helped you and allowed you to better your farming experience. It was a lot of fun to develop and write.

Now mistakes happen, so if you notice any (or just things I should have added), do not hesitate to tell me!

If you have questions, please post them! I would be more than happy to help. I wrote this guide didn't I? So why wouldn't I spend a few minutes helping you out?

Also, don't forget to post your farming run times. Part of the fun in farming is racing yourself and others to get the fastest time around!

If you enjoyed this guide and found it helpful, check out my other 2 guides, both of which are in the AoW.

-Guide to Shooting Star Hunting: Gives you inventories, locations, and everything else you need to hunt that star and save that sprite!
-Guide to F2P Combat Training: A complete and in-depth guide to the fastest f2p combat xp around.
-Guide to Mining: With the best methods all explained.

Links are in my signature.

Thanks again for reading!

9. Credits

-Jagex, for making this great game that I could enjoy and experience with people around the world
-Tip.It for the item pictures
-PMG mods for AoW status
-Crybaby111
-Nicrune008
-FinsToTheLeft
-JoeDaStudd
-Troacctid
-2noob4you1
-Frogact

Banana Bread Recipe

2010-05-24T10:08:00.008-04:00

Freeze overripe bananas in their skins in a plastic bag - when you've got 6, you're ready to make the best banana bread you've ever tasted.
You can add frozen blueberries but don't mix them into the batter - the colour runs. Just alternate batter and blueberries as you fill the bundt pan.

Ingredients:
1 cup (250 mL)butter
2 cups (500 mL) sugar
3 cups (650 mL) mashed ripe bananas (6)
4 eggs, well beaten
2 1/2 cups (625 mL)flour
2 tsp. (10 mL)baking soda
1 tsp. (5 mL) salt
1 tsp. (5 mL) nutmeg

Instructions:
Preheat oven to 350F (180C). Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add bananas and eggs and beat until well mixed. Mix dry ingredients and blend with banana mixture, but do not overmix. Pour into 2 lightly greased loaf pans or a bundt pan. Bake 55 minutes to 1 hour; test for doneness (toothpick inserted in middle comes out clean) and cool on rack for 10 minutes before removing from pans. Freezes beautifully.

Please note that this article was written by http://www.bestofbridge.com and fully belongs to them.

The Art of Negotiating

2010-05-24T10:07:00.001-04:00

Negotiating is a part of everyday life, but in business it's absolutely critical to your success. Poor negotiation can cripple a company just as quickly as losing key customers. While most negotiating strategies seem like common sense, it's not uncommon for people to get caught up in the emotion of the moment and ignore their basic instincts. Emotion, luck and magic have no place in a successful negotiation. It takes an iron gut, homework, street smarts and unblinking discipline. These keys will unlock your ability to get the best deal possible under any circumstances.

While experienced negotiators sometimes refer to their methods as the "negotiating game," it's really a misnomer for a process in which the stakes are often extremely high. Check your ego at the door and keep your eye on the big picture at all times. This is all about business.

Preparation is Key

Know about the party you're negotiating with so you can capitalize on your strengths and the party's weaknesses. If the other party is very experienced, that means he also has a history that could contain useful information. If possible, talk to business associates who have dealt with this person before. Many negotiators develop patterns and certain styles that you may be able to use to your advantage.

If you are a buyer, make sure you are thoroughly familiar with the product or service that will be the subject of the negotiation. If the other party senses you are weak on such details, you may be a prime target for a bluff or another technique designed to create anxiety and uncertainty. Psychology plays a crucial role in your ability to make the most of the other party's lack of preparation and anticipate their next move.

Most negotiators have a price target or goal in mind before they start. It should be based on realistic expectations considering all the constraints that will undoubtedly surface. These may include budget limits, direction from management, pressure to make sales goals, and a myriad of other external forces. During the course of the negotiation, the goal may change based on changes in scope and other unforeseen actions by either party. While your ultimate goal should be realistic, this should not constrain your first offer or counteroffer.

Before you start the negotiation, ensure that the other party is fully empowered to make binding commitments. You don't want to find yourself in a position where you believe you've struck a deal, only to discover that your agreement must be approved by someone higher in the chain of command.

Have a Strategy

There are basic principles that apply to every negotiation. The first offer is usually the most important and the benchmark by which all subsequent offers will be judged and compared. You'll never get what you don't ask for, so make your first offer bold and aggressive. The asking price is just that, and will typically include a pad or margin to give away during negotiations. You want to take all of that and hopefully more, so start lower than the seller expects. Don't worry about insulting the other party. As long as your offer is not ridiculous, the other side will continue the negotiations in hopes of settling at a better number.

As a buyer, do not disclose your budget or other limitations in your negotiating position. A favorite ploy of salesmen is to reshuffle the product specifications, schedule and other parameters in order to sell you an inferior product to fit your budget. You want the best product you can get for the money you have to spend, so employ an approach that maintains the possibility of spending less than you had originally planned.

Always have something to give away without hurting your negotiating position. If you're submitting a price proposal to a buyer, consider inserting decoys and red herrings for the other party to find. For example, if you are bidding a project, consider including some nice-to-have items that aren't critical to the success of the project. You could also include spare parts that may or may not be needed in the end. If the buyer takes those items out to reduce the overall cost, you haven't lost anything but it may help the buyer reach his price target. Such distractions will help to divert the other party from attacking the meat of your proposal. Employing this strategy must be viewed in the context and in consideration of what other bidders may be doing. If you know that the only way to win the bid is to provide a barebones cost, then this strategy may not be appropriate.

Watch for clues such as body movement, speech patterns and reactions to what you say. Be prepared to suspend or cancel negotiations if you feel things are getting nowhere or the other party seems stuck in their position. Indicate your reluctance to continue under those conditions and make the other side wonder if you are ever coming back. If they are on the hook to cut a deal, they will feel the pressure to move. Be patient even if the other party isn't. This can be difficult for those with a passion for instant gratification, but the last thing you want is for the other party to think you're under the gun to finish quickly.

From a contractual standpoint, a counteroffer automatically rejects all previous offers. Once an offer is made, you should expect an acceptance or rejection of your offer, or a counteroffer that keeps the negotiation open. If your offer is rejected and you are asked to submit a new and better offer, do not fall into that trap. That would be tantamount to negotiating with yourself, and you should never do this. If the last offer on the table is yours, always insist on a counteroffer to force the other party to move his/her position before you make another offer.

Find the Leverage

In addition to exploiting the other party's weaknesses, concentrate on taking maximum advantage of your strengths. If you're the only source available for a particular product, you have tremendous leverage across the board. If economic conditions have created a market in which the product you're selling is in great demand and low supply, that gives you more bargaining power to name your price. If you are the buyer in a depressed economy, you normally have the advantage of too much supply and lower demand. The current housing situation is a classic example of what happens when supply vastly outweighs the demand and market prices fall dramatically.

Establish a strong foundation early in the process by demonstrating your knowledge and expertise of the negotiation subject matter. This may intimidate those on the other side and put them on their heels before they've a chance to establish their own credibility. Playing catch-up in a tough negotiation can be challenging, so it's much better to take the initiative and steer the process in the direction you want.

The Offer

An offer is more than just a dollar amount. It must encompass all of the elements of the bargain and will normally comprise the basis for a contract that formalizes the agreement. If you make an offer without nailing down all of the specifics, you may find out later that there was no meeting of the minds with the other party. The basis of the bargain should include: offer price (in proper denomination), statement of work (scope), identification and quantities of goods or services, delivery schedule, performance incentives (if any), express warranties (if any), terms and conditions, and any documents incorporated by reference.

Trading one element for another--such as a lower price for a more relaxed schedule--is a common tactic. These bargaining chips should be kept in your hip pocket until you need them to close the deal and get the price you want. While your primary focus is normally on price, you should always keep all the other components of the deal in the forefront of your mind. Don't be pressured into accepting boilerplate contracts represented as the "standard of the industry" or something that "we always use." Everything, including the fine print, is open to change. If the other party refuses to alter onerous terms, consider taking your business elsewhere.

To avoid misunderstandings, offers should be presented in writing and include all elements of the bargain. It's a good idea to keep notes containing the rationale for each offer. While these notes won't be disclosed to the other party, they will prove to be invaluable should things go awry and you need to restart negotiations. Part of the process is benefiting from lessons learned and refining your approach and technique. If you work for a company or the government, those notes are usually required to document the negotiated outcome and complete the contract file.

Go For a Win-Win Solution

Throughout the negotiation, try to determine what you believe to be an acceptable outcome for the other party. It may be a combination of different things that aren't necessarily tied solely to price. For example, the delivery date may be the most important thing to the other party, while product quality may be your primary driver.

Understanding the other side's priorities is just as important as understanding your own, so figure out what you would do if you were in his shoes. When constructing your offers, attempt to satisfy some of his priorities if doing so doesn't weaken your overall position. Be prepared to give up the little things in exchange for the big things you don't want to concede. Know your limits and how far you're willing to go on all aspects of the deal.

While you have the power to influence the negotiation process in your favor, your goal should be to secure a good deal without extracting the last pound of flesh from the other party. This is especially true if you will be negotiating with the same party on a recurring basis. The most effective negotiators are professionals who know their business and don't let personalities and irrational behavior interfere with their mission. They are capable of making the other party believe they got the best deal they could under the circumstances.

Once the negotiation is completed, you want to be able to work effectively with those in the other party during contract performance. If they are threatened and pounded into submission, they probably won't negotiate with you again, possibly cutting off any future business. While heated confrontation is a common occurrence during negotiations, at some point collaboration and compromise are needed to get a deal.

Closing the Deal

Successful negotiation is like horse-trading in that it requires a sense of timing, creativity, keen awareness and the ability to anticipate the other party's next move. Negotiation is also like chess in that each move should be designed to set up not only your next move, but several moves down the line. Generally, your moves should get progressively smaller, and you can expect the same from the other party.

Always have the endgame in mind as you plot your strategy, and be prepared at some point to split the remaining difference. It's almost inevitable when the parties are close but can't seem to make that last leap to a single number. It's completely arbitrary, but it gets the job done. That's why all the offers leading up to that point are so important: they will set the stage for the final handshake.

Path to Success at Work

2010-05-21T19:35:00.006-04:00

This is a strictly mathematical viewpoint...it goes like this:

What makes 100%? What does it mean to give more than 100%? Ever wonder about those people who say they are giving more than 100%? We have all been to those meetings where someone wants you to give over 100%. How about achieving 103%? What makes up 100% in life?

Here's a little mathematical formula that might help you answer these questions:

If:
a b c d e f g h I j k l m and o p q are s t you v w x y z

Is represented as:
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26

Then:

H-a-r-d-w-o-r-k
8+1+18+4+23+15+18+11 = 98%

And

K-n-o-w-l-e-d-g-e
11+14+15+23+12+5+4+7+5 = 96%

But ,

A-t-t-I-t-u-d-e
1+20+20+9+20+21+4+5 = 100%

And,

B-u-l-l-s-h-i-t
2+21+12+12+19+8+9+20 = 103%

And, look how far ass kissing will take you.

A-s-s-k-i-s-s-i-n-g
1+19+19+11+9+19+19+9+14+7 = 127%

So, one can conclude with mathematical certainty that while hard work and knowledge will get you close, and attitude will get you there, it's the bullshit and ass kissing that will put you over the top.

Procrastination Leads to Rhoonkreftin

2010-04-05T20:56:00.004-04:00

Wow, my 93 hunting goal only lasted 10k xp. I think thats a new record. However, I have more important stuff to discuss today. I have been procrastinating. This time, that means I have a ton of school assignments to do prior to Wednesday morning. So, I'll be taking a short RS break. Lately, I have been dealing with procrastination with more procrastination. This time that means Grand Theft Auto 3 and Rhoonkreftin 2k natures.

Hunting Extravaganza

2010-04-03T08:55:00.005-04:00

As usual, I have done something beyond stupid. This time I accidentally sold my royal set which i got off a friend for 5 mill for 2 mill in g/e while I was tired. Other than my total stupidity I decided to go for 93 hunter for Kingly Implings. Hopefully, I'll actually enjoy it and go for 99 hunter or it could be the usual and give up in a few days gathering a measly 20k xp.

Took a picture while on a slayer task earlier this week.

Inactive in Blogging

2010-03-03T07:57:00.003-05:00

Sorry guys for not blogging recently, I have been busy irl. I will blog when I have time. Btw, I recovered my old account and thus have been playing on air stallion less. I'm planning to make another blog for that account.

May Bob Be With You!

Mining

2009-12-14T22:58:00.007-05:00

I felt the need to update you on what I am up to. So I decided to make a haiku:

Mining is fun.
It makes me sleepy.
Pie is awesome!

If you guys don't know what this mean then take a look at this picture:

May Bob Be With You!

Thanksgiving Event '09

2009-11-24T07:06:00.023-05:00

At first it seemed like a normal event. Do the guy a favour you get the reward, right? Wrong! This time I was running all around Lumbridge. First, I tried to kill the trukeys by myself. Fail! Then, I tried to kill the turkeys with two more defence levels and one more attack level. Fail! Then, I brough some roasted chickens. Win! It was a marvelous sight to see my level 3 (now four) pixel hitting a 199 barehanded. Did I mention I also got total level 138. I just can't wait till that is my combat level. Here are some pics:

May Bob Be With You!

Just Like A Kid On His Way To The Icecream Shop

2009-11-22T20:37:00.018-05:00

I'm so happy despite me dieing with a full load of iron. I lost my black wizard hat too :-(. But I was treated by meeting my favorite bloggers: among them I found, Full of Pie, Vaskor, G, Nezantra, Zach, Merch Gwyar, and so many more! Sorry that I don't have much to say other than I got 10 smtihing soley on smelting bronze bars and then getting 30 by finishing Knight's Sword and getting 33 mining. Alls good for me at the moment.

May Bob Be With You!