Luckybucket

Luckybucket as of December 28, 2011

2011-12-28T22:51:00.000-08:00

I am completely in love. And she plays RS! (rsn: Ashtastic)

And she's awesome and I love her. And also I am going to marry her someday ^_^ That day can't come soon enough.

I met her a little more than a year ago through a mutual friend...and just, every minute of my life knowing her has gotten better and better.

Its only been almost six months of loving her, but every minute spent is another minute I fall deeper in the pit (that I'm not too anxious to ever pull out of). She really is wonderful though, in every aspect of the word in my mind. I can't get enough of her smile, or her hair, or her dorkiness, or her voice, or her laugh...I could go on and on forever, but I would probably just bore you.

tl;dr I'm completely doused in this love ^^

RSMVs - Thoughts on Restoring RSMVs

2010-12-31T20:25:00.001-08:00

So if you're reading this chances are you've read my challenge on my blog post for RSMV makers. Now let me explain my reasoning a bit...

I was driving to work earlier today listening to a CD I made for my sister as a Christmas gift. I made her like 15 mixed CDs, I picked one with some of my all-time favorite songs that I haven't listened to in a while.

One song in particular got me thinking. It was Thanks for the Memories - Fallout Boy. A spectacular song, which immediately upon hearing I'd feel the desire to make a video to. It's just one of those songs. What was the first thought that turned me away from it?

"There's already a popular video to it. Fantikerz's."

I thought a while on how it sucks that he's already done it, although I still to this day love his video for it. It means that making another video to it will result in comparison and stuff like that. Yuck.

Then I thought more on the issue about recent RSMVs, which I've almost completely lost interest in lately. At any given week I usually have 5+ new or incomplete RSMVs in my subscription box, and I "maybe" watch one of them. I wanted to figure out why it is that I don't bother watching them.

Personally I'm not a big fan of how effects are being used nowadays for one. They seem completely overdone and overwhelming for any and every song it seems, like it's either GO BIG OR GO HOME! mentality. I've never agreed to that idea. The most popular videos are so far from what the current standards are today, and people still like them. Proof to me of this was when Chaoshero uploaded her Never Take Us Alive RSMV. Simple editing compared to the trend at the time. It was well-timed flashes, good panning and cropping, and emote syncing. That was about it, and it turned out marvelously.

But that alone wasn't the reason. Though I don't like most of the editing, some I still do. The songs + editing work well together. Examples are Blow by Johnnyguttz and Don't Stop by RedNBlue.

So eventually I figured out it was the songs. Good songs with even adequate editing to me have been awesome. I remember the first RSMV I saw of Whispers in the Dark. The editing was nothing special, but I loved the video for the song. I loved Blow Me Away because I knew the song and loved it. I loved Diary of Jane because I knew the song and loved it. I loved Thanks for the Memories because I knew the song and I loved it. I loved Comatose because I knew the song and I loved it.

In MOST of my all-time favorite videos, I knew the song incredibly well before it was made, as did most of the community. And if they didn't, they still fell for the song once they heard it.

So now I realize that more than anything, song choice is still the absolute biggest factor in an RSMV, period.

Here's my example as something of a proof.

Imagine I put a poll up for two different videos I may do. The winning choice is gauranteed a video.

The choices are as follows:

1) Emery - Edge of the World
or
2) Skillet - Whispers in the Dark

Even though Edge of the World is a decent song (though I assume most won't know it), would you not predict Whispers in the Dark would win the vote by a longshot, and probably be eager to see it yourself? I mean it's an amazing song, and even the slight chance that someone might absolutely nail the video for it is worth taking that shot.

Then I got to some video makers that I personally admire, people like AncientTales or Boomertwins. I would absolutely DIE to see them do a video to a song like Thanks for the Memories by Fallout Boy. The new skill editing skills mixed with classic songs we all know and love would be AWESOME, would it not? Sure it's been done before. I DON'T CARE anymore. It'd be a great video, I would be gauranteed to watch it, and unless it's a pure copy of the other, I would probably adore it.

So I put the list up on my channel of songs with something along the lines of old videos now, with old editing standards, that I'd love to see redone in today's age. Some are ones I did. Some are ones that have millions of views. Others are incredibly popular but unfinished. ALL of them are fantastic songs that have been very successful as videos.

Will this make things more interesting and maybe refresh the community or something? Naturally it's hard to tell, since these are just my thoughts. I just know it'll definitely get me interested again, and I have a hunch that others would feel the same.

Luckybucket as of March 23, 2010

2010-03-22T23:01:00.001-07:00

So I'm currently looking at a total level of 2228, and just under 220m total experience, with my lowest skill being Herblore at 82, followed by Prayer at 84. In total, I have 8 skills under 90, 16 at or above, with 10 level 99s, and 2 levels from my 11th.

I've been getting into RS very heavily lately, and getting tons of exp. My main goals have been getting 99 Defence via Slayer, and 99 Construction largely from the bonus exp weekend. In those two, I'm at 95 Defence (134 Combat), and 97 Construction. With Defence, I can easily get around 50-70k exp/hour, which equates to around 13-17k exp in Slayer. Not a whole lot, but good enough for now. Besides, that's all estimates. I haven't actually clocked any real gains.

Right now though, my main focus is on 99 Construction, being that I'm so close. When I first considered getting 99 was when I bought a Saradomin Godsword and was about a week from the Bonus Exp weekend. The more I thought about the weekend, the more I realized I had nothing planned, and was about to pass up a tremendous opportunity for extra EXP and saved money. So I did calculations on a few different skills, and found out that I had just enough for 99 Construction on the weekend with the exp rates they provided (underestimating for caution). So I bought 15k Mahogany Planks and 50k Teaks, costing me 74m about at the time, and saving 3m more to pay my butler.

When I logged in for the weekend, I quickly realized the exp rates were different, and because of that, it threw off my plans. I still went from level 85 to around 94 or 95 in the weekend, getting near 6m exp, and getting 99 from the miscalculations is only an extra 10m or so, which I can live with. I used up all my Mahogany Planks first to get the most gain and have been using Teaks for Teak Wardrobes since. People have told me that I should go with Oak Doors and such, however I clocked 300k/hr doing those from prior tests, while I can get around 412k/hr doing teaks, and from when I bought them, the exp/gp ratio between Oaks and Planks were basically identical. So I'd rather get it a bit faster with Teaks.

Now although it is fast exp, that hour of training is pure hell. It's nonstop clicking, and even when I recorded 412k/hr, it was actually 30 mins of training doubled, since I couldn't stand doing an hour straight at the time. So although I'm only about 2m from 99 (5 hours at my rate), it'll take me a while since the training thus far has drained my focus and willpower lol.

Afterwards, I'm looking at Range a bit. I know 99 via chins would cost me around 30-40m, but with that I could also gain a bit of Defence exp (if there's the option, if not it's still good exp). Again from prior tests, I get around 200-250k exp/hr, which isn't bad, but not incredible either. I'd rather do Woodcutting (which is a bit closer and doesn't cost a dime, with 85k/hr speed), but the last couple days I've been looking at RSMVs again, and realized that the Range emote would be a great tool to have at my disposal for some clips.

While on the topic of videos, I'm still about halfway through my current one. I've put it off to focus on skilling for a bit, and after a couple capes, I want to try to finish it up considering I've been getting "R.I.P. Lucky" comments, and people talking about how all the old RSMV makers have quit, while I haven't.

One thing that's turned me away from vids for a while has been looking for the perfect song of sorts, and knowing the perfect emotes to go with it. But after watching a few recently and closely thinking about it, I realized... The emotes hardly matter lol. I watched a whole RSMV where no emote went with the line, yet I loved the video because I liked the song and the video flowed with it nicely; and because of that, I'm starting to care less about making a RSMV that people will call the best ever, and more about simply creating one that I know is fun and people will enjoy, even if they don't enjoy it more than some other.

I watched a recent vid for Crawling in the Dark, and I realized how much I still like the song, and remembered my prior short for it, and thought about how much I've learned since then. So.... although I'm far from certain on any commitments towards it, I am considering doing an RSMV to it.

The only downfall to any thoughts on RSMVs is that currently my graphics card is bust, and my monitor won't display with it in. So I need to work out that problem first. Afterwards I need to sort out all my current video files and brainstorm for a new vid.

Well, I think I've typed enough for one entry. There's a lot of things on my mind which I may post about later. For now though, that's what I'm up to.

Oh, on a final note, I rejoined the clan I was with years ago, before I started making videos: The Clueless Adventurers. It's a skilling clan and all levels are allowed, so long as they can fulfill the activity requirements. If anyone is interested in joining, Google "The Clueless Adventurers", go to the first link, go to the boards, enter the Recruitment section, and read how to apply and what requirements there are for activity. Feel free to ask if you have any questions.

Lastly, if you have any good, 'original' song suggestions that are in the 'ROCK' genre, please let me know. Looking for some new stuff.

Luckybucket as of February 6, 2010

2010-02-06T23:30:00.000-08:00

http://runetracker.org/track-luckybucket,0,2

Above is a link to my skill gains in the past month. You can check my profile on there at any time to see what I'm up to.

So recently I've been hitting a few different skills, switching on and off basically just focusing on gaining quick levels. I've been very jealous and somewhat frustrated that all my friends are now passing my total level, which I've always had a lot of pride in, so I'm trying to catch back up to them and put some distance between us again.

So basically my plan to accomplishing that is going for another minimum level goal: First 85, then 90. Currently I have the follow skills and levels for that goal:

86 Mining
82 Smithing
82 Fishing
84 Farming
81 Summoning
88 Slayer
81 Herblore
86 Agility
83 Prayer
85 Construction

So it's still quite a ways from either of the goals, since most of my skills under 90 are also under 85, plus a lot of the skills are either really slow (Fishing, Mining, Slayer) or really expensive (Herblore, Construction, Prayer). I don't have a real plan to go about getting 85+ or 90+, and instead am just going to switch between them as I please to avoid boredom. For the expensive skills, I'm going to craft Natures via Graahks, which is about 1m profit per hour, and I already have 50k Pure Ess saved for when I need it. I've used about 20m so far on Construction and Farming, so I don't have a whole lot left to spend, but I'm using what I can to get levels quickly.

As for 99s, I have a few thoughts on them. First, there's 99 Defence. I want to get it so I have all the melee skills at 99, and only have Range, Prayer and Summoning left. Then there's Range, which like the previous would be 1 step closer to having all the combat skills done. It's about 30-35m with Red Chinchompas, but for it's speed I find it very worthwhile. Aside from those two, I've been toying with the idea of 99 Woodcutting, as well as 99 Smithing. Now from my previous calculations with things like Steel Plates, or Even Iron Plates, 99 Smithing is crazy expensive. However, I forced myself to stop only considering the fast methods, and did a price calculation via Gold Smelting. It came out to around 60m for all the ores, and 40m if I sold all the bars afterwards. The experience rate is around 50-60k/hr. Now, considering how rare and respected Smithing is to see, that's a very very good deal. It's also a fantastic AFK skill, allowing me to do my homework while training. So although I'm not 100% motivated to get 99 Smithing, I am heavily considering it.

To rap things up, I have a few more analysis's to post, including Smithing and Herblore. I also want to update my Freewebs site again, considering it's been so long, and I might be able to upload my Excel files there, so that it's not just 1 per blog entry, and can be accessed easier. Because of my semi-OCD nature though, I'd have to update the entire thing as well, meaning new text art, banner, etc etc. =( And I'm rather crunched for the time to do all that, so it's only a slight possibility.

That's about it for this skill update. Thanks for reading.

Skill Update #2

2010-01-20T01:22:00.000-08:00

Almost forgot about these entries. I guess now would be a good time to give a run down on what I've been up to.

On New Years Day, I got myself 99 Hitpoints, which honestly just took a few days at Soul Wars to get the remaining 800k experience or so.

When considering my next 99, I took a look at Magic, knowing that the cost for 99 was relatively low, and with Plank Make, it wouldn't take long to get. My calculations showed that it'd be around 26m net loss from 90 to 99, so I bought as many logs and runes as I could, and started at it.

It took approximately 9 to 10 days from 90 to 99 with Plank Make, and I managed to get 5.3m experience during one week, and 1.1m in a day during that time. Nomad's Requiem was a nice little boost, with the 490k Magic experience I got from the zeal, as well as the 450k reward from Blood Runs Deep.

It was somewhat difficult to time how fast Plank Make was due to distractions, considering you have to click and cast the spell on each log, much like alching. However, I ended up logging my experience gains over a 10 minute interval, 20 minute, 30 minute, and 1 hour, and with those measurements, each one gave a solid estimate of around 160k experience per hour with Plank Make. With the current cost of supplies, it's a net loss of 242gp per cast, and considering it yields 90 experience per cast, it's approximately 2.69gp/exp. Very good method for 99, considering it's much faster than alching, and even though alching is cheaper in supplies (depending on what you alch), the time saved through Plank Make allows you to use your ideal money making method to earn that lost wealth back.

After getting 99 Magic, I spent an entire day finishing all the quests I had left, which was 10 in total. Here they are:

The Chosen Commander
The Curse of Arrav
Forgiveness of a Chaos Dwarf
Fur 'n' Seek
Hunt for Red Raktuber
Missing My Mummy
Myths of the White Lands
The Tale of the Muspah
The Temple at Senntisten
Within the Light

My favorite ones were The Chosen Commander, Curse of Arrav, and The Temple at Senntisten. Chosen Commander had a great storyline and cutscenes, Curse of Arrav had a very cool base infiltration (which I might use in RSMVs later on), and The Temple at Senntisten gave more info. on Zaros, as well as giving me some sweet Curses, which are the newer set of prayers focused on offense instead of defense.

Since then, I've been freelancing a bit, testing out a few different skills and training methods. I've tried World 84 Living Rock Caverns for mining, which is around 40-50k exp/hr, and an okay profit. It's still boring though. I've also tried the Gnome Agility Course using Summer Pies, which is also around 40-50k exp/hour. I'm almost 85, where I wouldn't have to use the pies anymore to complete the course. I've also been Runecrafting a bit to get some money back from Magic, trying to test the differences between crafting through the Abyss with a Lurker and using a Graahk. My final conclusion is that Graahks OWN Lurkers, although I initially thought otherwise. I've gotten a lot faster at banking recently. My previous best at Graahks was 4.4k nats during one summon, and when I managed 3.7k with a Lurker, the nats/minute was actually higher with the Lurker. However, when I tried Graahks, I managed to set a new record at 5.1k nats in one hour, therefore disproving my initial belief that Lurkers were better.'

As for my plans, I'm currently shooting for 85 Agility, and am around 40k experience away as I write this. Afterwords I'll probably head back to Runecrafting and try to get a bit more money. I'm looking towards getting 99 Range with Chinchompas, since it'd be so fast, and knock out 1 more combat skill. Otherwise, I might do some Power Slaying to raise my Defence level, which is a petty 89. I'm trying to catch up to a few friends in my total level, considering I've been passed due to my absence from Runescape as of late, and I'm taking any fast levels I can get my hands on. So as for what I'll end up deciding on, I have no idea, but my best guess will be 99 Range, though I'm still hesitant on losing 31m+ from it.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

2009-12-03T23:26:00.000-08:00

I'm going to post these here, and provide a link to this blog entry on my main channel, to save some space in my channel description. I should also be able to provide more detailed responses to the questions.

If you have a question you feel is frequently asked, and is missing, feel free to suggest it. If you need clarification on any of my responses, just ask.

Thanks.

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1) What programs do I use?
* Sony Vegas 7.0 (For all videos before and including In the End)
* Sony Vegas 8.0 Pro (For all recent and future videos)
* FRAPS (High quality, full screen recording)
* Hypercam (For recording quick scenes, that I may not need, such as quests)
* Audacity (I do any audio editing, such as voices, here)
* Adobe Photoshop CS3 (Most, if not all, my edited images are made through this)

2) Can I add you?
The answer is no, for many reasons. For one, I do not even have enough space to add all of my real friends, those who I talk to often and do activities with. But perhaps more importantly is that I probably do not even know you. It's rough when someone you may know so well doesn't even know who you are, but unfortunately, I can't seek to find out the names of everyone who watches my videos, speaking with them, and getting to know them. It's just beyond my capacity.

Some have asked me why I can't free up some space to add them, since surely I have at least 1 person who isn't on anymore. Again, I probably don't know you. I'm not going to remove someone I do know for someone I don't. Think about how the person I removed would feel if they came back and found out? Or better yet, imagine if you've been my friend for some time, and I remove you in place of someone I didn't know? It's just too unreasonable. So with great dismay, no, I cannot add you. Please do not ask and make me look like a bad guy by turning you down, because it is not done to hurt any feelings.

3) Can you be in one of my videos?
This is one I get a lot, and I know it seems like a reasonable request by those asking. However, I don't just create my videos with just any random people. In fact, my videos typically always focus simply on me and my character, and a good number of clips don't have any other characters in them except myself. Those who I do have with me are typically always friends, those who I have added, and people I know I can explain directions to, knowing they'll be followed. I can't get that kind of trust with strangers, unfortunately.

The only exception to this response is when I may need a large number of people for a clip. I will generally allow anyone within the vicinity or in my clan chat to join, so long as they have what I'm looking for in a clip.

Besides that scenario, I simply cannot create a list of all the people who have asked, and go down the list seeking out their help, without even knowing if they can fulfill my needs for a given clip. So as with the previous question, please simply don't ask.

4) Can I be in one of your videos?
This one I'm a little more lenient on. But just a little. Again, if I don't know you, chances are I won't. I don't like it when people want me in their video, simply so they can have a recognized name in their cast, and get people to view it for that reason alone, and ignore the actual quality of the video.

Typically I do lend a hand for friends if they ask, and friends of friends if need be. I rarely turn down the opportunity to help out a friend in their videos. I like to be a part of their work, and to see my character represented through their editing skills. So if you're my friend, and you want to ask me to be in a clip, PLEASE DO. Also, if your friend is looking for someone to help, but doesn't have anything they need, and you know I have that requirement, don't hesitate to ask. I typically trust that my friends have good taste in friends as well, so therefore the friends of my friends are usually my friends as well.

For those asking to do an interview, this section with their answers, and the existing interviews on YouTube are more than satisfactory. There truly is no need for another. If you are simply curious about something, and want my reply, ask. However, I will not sit down with you to be asked a bunch of questions to give you popularity for having contacts with known names.

5) Can I subscribe to your channel, rate your video, comment on the video or channel, rate a video, critique your work, or feature it?
If you ask me straight up, no. I don't like it when people ask me to do something such as that, because it tells me all they're interested in is the numbers, and it coming from someone whom others may recognize. As with all the other scenarios, I don't like that. If you have good quality work, act in a professional and friendly manner, and are an active part of the community, you WILL get noticed. Then when people notice you, and find out that you reached the point you're at without any assistance or harassing others, they will be more inclined to lend a hand in getting you the recognition you deserve.

For those who may think that such a thing cannot happen, I am living proof to say otherwise.

6) What would I recommend you do to get noticed and respected in the community?
First and most importantly, don't let everything you do be in an effort to get attention and popularity. If you want to be noticed and respected, that's fine, but don't let it mean everything to you, or it will destroy you.

So with that warning said, here's what I suggest...

Quality is always more important than quantity. This applies to more than just your videos. If I find a good video on YouTube, I check out that person's channel. I check for how often they deliver that level of performance. If it's not often, and their video quality is not consistent, I will pass them up. Others will as well. We want to see great videos when they come out. Yet we don't want 20 videos that were hardly given and effort to spam our subscriptions box and make us miss those quality videos. Also, do not think that having a large number of statistics on a video or on your channel means anything at all. Again, quality over quantity. I have seen countless videos with far more views, comments, ratings, and favorites than my own, yet when I glance at the comments left, and the average rating, they prove to be very misleading. Don't let yourself be mislead.

Another piece of advice I have is to act professional yet kind, and respectful yet tough. Although YouTube is just a place for people to get together and enjoy videos, people are going to be more trustworthy that a guy with proper grammar and sentence structure will deliver quality videos than sum1 who speeks lyke this l0l, u no? It has no real affect on the quality of your videos, but it does take away from your credibility. However, this doesn't mean you can't be playful at times. Nobody likes a person who can't smile once in a while. =) Enjoy the company of your friends, and let others see the fun side of you (when it's safe to show it lol).

When interacting with people you don't know, be respectful. Comments can easily be misinterpreted, considering you can't read a person's body language over the internet to see their emotions or a hint of sarcasm in their text. Therefore, when in doubt, give them a chance to redeem themselves. NEVER go on the offensive, and try to be more crude and obnoxious than the other person. It does not help your image, and I have lost respect to many great video makers because of their lack of respect towards others. However, this doesn't mean to let others push you around. Have confidence in yourself and in what you do, and don't hesitate to object to something you disagree with.

Although those things don't really help the quality of your videos, it does make people more inclined to trust you, respect you, and want to support you on the internet. It also helps to define you as a role model towards others, and be someone they can look up to. You may never meet a person from the internet face-to-face, but they can most certainly have a very positive influence in your life and your values.

Lastly, be active! If people don't know who you are, what you're like, if you act like a regular person, or don't know if you respond to any comments, they'll quickly lose interest in you. Try to talk with people over the internet, even those you don't know. Answer questions from time to time. Let someone know when they leave a touching or funny comment that you appreciate. They're little things, but it makes you a part of the community, gets your name out there, makes the experience more enjoyable for you, and it gives you a reason to stick with it.

There are probably a million other things I can suggest, but I believe that's a good starting point. =)

7) When is my next video?
Although it may be an unusual concept to some, I do not plan out every aspect of my videos, schedule when to record them, know how I will edit them, and when it will be uploaded. Go figure.

I work on my videos as I feel the motivation to do so. I never rush them, or simply record something just to get something completed in the video. For that reason, a simple video may take me months, simply because I lack the motivation to make it.

Because of this, I NEVER have a planned upload date for a video, or even a rough time frame of it's completion. My life is far too unpredictable for me to give such estimates. I often give updates via my blogs and occassionally update videos, so if you're interested, WATCH/READ THOSE! DON'T ASK ME!

On a side note, many are concerned about the fact that I haven't created a full RSMV in over a year. Well, if they watched the video with my RSMV Compilations, they would know I've worked on a great number of projects, and have not come close to calling it quits either. So although it's been a long time between RSMVs, I have no intentions of quitting video making any time soon.

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Questions may be added at any given time to reflect upon missed questions, or questions that have risen in their times asked. I will try to give notices of such changes, or mark newer additions in the list.

With that said, if you have any suggestions, questions, or need for clarification, simply ask and I'll provide whatever assistance I can. Thanks.

Luckybucket as of November 8, 2009

2009-11-08T01:19:00.000-08:00

Finally achieved 85 Mining. Took me about a week from 82, which was just under 900k experience. So I actually managed close to 200k experience a day. Not bad, in my opinion.

I powermined granite the whole time, using a Dragon Pickaxe. The Dragon is actually a nice boost from Rune. It's probably not too much, but something is better than nothing. And what was REALLY nice about it, was that since I was powermining, the ores didn't earn my any profit. However, since I was using the Dragon Pickaxe, the price changed during my time using it... by 1.8mil. =D So I basically earned 1.8mil by powermining granite for 5 days. ^_^ Ftw much?

I decided to exchange my 1.1k granite lobster pouches for shards, and then use up whatever Gold and Green charms I had left with a Kyatt. I needed 733 bananas to make Fruit Bat pouches with my Greens, but none were selling on the GE, even at max price. Stores only have like 10, since the update to them, and I didn't want to tele to Karamja over and over, collecting them myself. So I bought 800 bones via the GE and used the Bones to Bananas spell. Costed a little more, but saved me a ton of time.

I managed to use up all of my Gold Charms (1.8k of them) with Barker Toads, and got 81 Summoning from it. Now my 80 Construction is my lowest skill. =D I also knocked out 200 Green Charms before the Kyatt dissapeared. I'm not sure how good that is in comparison to others, but it seemed fast to me. I manage to craft 2k Pure Ess with a Graahk when I'm focused, and that's 54 essence per trip. With summoning, I only had 24 of the secondaries per trip. I'll keep track of the charms used next time too, so I can compare.

Anyways, 1 goal down, few more to go. 85 Agility is next, and I'm already 83. Shouldn't take more than a few days. Just wish it was a little more exciting. =| At least it'll be a bit faster once I hit 85.

Anyways, that's all there is to tell for now. Ciao.

99 Magic Analysis

2009-11-05T10:52:00.000-08:00

I created an Analysis on what the cost for 99 Magic would be by means of alching and plank make. Here is the result:

http://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=td9hsr6OdK5pdK_S10uwYkg&single=true&gid=1&output=html

An important concept to keep in mind is the time it takes to accomplish one certain method. For instance, in the Analysis, it takes me 114 hours to achieve 99 by alching. However, by Plank Make, it only takes 37 hours. Although alching would cost less to achieve 99 by, the time saved by Plank Make can then be used to earn my money back. With the time it takes to get 99 by alching, I have two choices: Alch, and lose 18mil, or Plank Make to 99, and Runecraft the remaining time, EARNING 39mil.

The decision on which method is quite easy to determine via that analysis.

Farming Analysis

2009-11-05T00:12:00.000-08:00

I created a Farming Analysis on a spreadsheet for Farming, both for self-reference, and to assist Swordking090 in his 99 Farming goal.

Here it is:

http://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=ta9IipAE_T0xnGzhv-1nC7Q&output=html

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I plan on releasing these analysis's somewhat often, as I create them for self reference at a rather frequent rate. The general content will be similar to what is provided in this Farming Analysis, and reflect a cost/exp relation. Depending on the skill, items, or methods, I may also offer a time/exp ratio, and/or a time/cost ratio (for skills such as Runecrafting or Mining). I'll try to keep them as clear and straightforward as possible, and explain how I arrived at my results.

If you have any recommendations or suggestions on an Analysis you'd like to see complete, feel free to leave a comment for it.

Thanks, and enjoy.

Luckybucket as of November 1, 2009

2009-11-02T01:45:00.000-08:00

I think I'm going to do little skill update blogs in this format. =o I used to do my bank videos as "Luckybucket as of..." videos, and I grew addicted to it; so I like the idea of reusing it now, in these blogs. ^_^

Anyways, today I went to task with my new plan of action, which for those who didn't read my blog on YouTube, is to tackle quick levels for the time being, and raise my total level.

I got on today with about 60k experience to level Mining. I went to the Desert Quarry and mined granite. Got it in a little over an hour.

I then played around with my new graphics card for a bit, a 9800 GT (IT OWNS), by playing Fallout 3 and Call of Duty 4. This card will be a HUGE help in recording full screen shots in good quality. Definitely worth the $180 I paid for it.

After messing around with my new card, I got back on RS, recalculated the cost of using all my Crimson and Blue charms that I got from 96-99 Strength, and found it to come out to about 5m. I sold my Bandos Chestplate, since I won't be doing Combat for a while, and went ahead and used up all my Crims and Blues. I used Crimson Charms on Granite Lobsters, which are around 13.6gp/exp; definitely not bad for Crimson Charms. I used my Blues on Adamantite Minotaurs, which are about 10gp/exp. Miths were a little lower in gp/exp, but I'd rather get the exp than worry about the slight cost difference.

The one thing that I truly enjoy about Summoning is its speed. Even though it cost me 5m to use the charms, I got levels 78, 79, and 80 within 23 minutes. In the process, I also got 131 combat. That also means that all my skills are now 80 and above, a goal long overdue.

I bought a Dragon Pickaxe the other night, more for fun than for serious use. However, now that I have it, I'm thinking I may as well hit 85 Mining with it. It's around 250-300k per level at this point, which is 6-7 hours per, but in comparison to my other skills, its not so bad. Plus, it's a very respectable skill to have a high level in.

Once that's done, I'll probably RC for a while, get some cash, and maybe make the push for 99 Hitpoints via Chins.

I also calculated out the price of 99 Magic, and it came out to be around 28m, so I might consider going for that soon enough. However, I'm also considering 99 Woodcutting, since the sawmill now makes it an 80k exp/hr skill

But for now, my plan goes as follows:

85 Mining
85 Agility
92 Runecrafting (via Dbl Nats)
99 Hitpoints (via Chins)
95 Ranged (gotten through 99 Hits on chins)

Rick Astley ftw?

2009-10-31T23:58:00.000-07:00

Most people just know him from the Rick Roll, or Never Gonna Give You Up. Of course, the video is hilarious, because it's a skinny little white dude with a crazy deep voice, and it's not expected.

However, out of curiosity, today I checked out a few more of his songs. Turns out, he actually has some REALLY good material. =o Here's some songs you should listen to:

Together Forever
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XLsJryWc5XE

Take Me To Your Heart
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eqQRN5OWgBw

Sleeping
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u9LH6lvrzAU

Sleeping is actually a more recent song by him, where he looks a bit different. =o

I also did a Google search on him to try and find more recent pictures of what he looks like, and I found this picture that I just cracked up over:

http://accidentalsexiness.files.wordpress.com/2008/10/rick.jpg

The URL looks fishy because of the accidentalsexiness part, but Wordpress is an official blogging site just like Blogger, so you can be assured that the link is safe.

So don't underestimate Rick Astley. =o The guy owns.

Custom GE Search Results

2009-10-28T00:23:00.000-07:00

Alongside my easier access to the Grand Exchange database, I've also been getting more involved in merchanting, by viewing the price changes of popular items, and buying at the right times, and selling at a profit. Although the actual profit is very minor for me now, it's because the profit grows exponentially as I gain more money. So although I may only get 100k by investing 10mil, when I get 100mil, that's 1mil profit. So at the very least, it's good practice, and fun. =D

Now, in order to help merchant, I worked on creating my own search results so I can view the price changes of important items. It's a pain to search herbs and get half a page of Herb Tea Mix. So what's the solution? Let me explain....

Nearly any search engine uses some basic search elements, especially "quotations". What quotations do is ONLY return results that match exactly what you put within the quotes. So if you did a search for Dragon Platebody on the GE Database, you'd get the Dragon Platebody, but also any other term with Dragon, and any other term with Platebody. This causes unnecessary clutter. So if you instead typed "Dragon Platebody", you'd only get that one result. Nice and clean.

So we know how to limit our results to what we want, but we don't want to create 500 different bookmarks, do we? Of course not! So how can we create a custom search results of differing items, on one page?

MOST search engines use Boolean Operators (AND/OR for examples), but since the GE database isn't as complex, it doesn't. So instead, we can simply put the next term following the previous, without any spaces. For instance, say I wanted a page result for just Dragon Full (Dragon Full Helm, Dragon Platebody, Platelegs, and Square Shield). Instead of having 4 different bookmarks, I can do one search like this:

"Dragon platebody""Dragon platelegs""Dragon full helm""Dragon sq shield"

and get this result:

http://itemdb-rs.runescape.com/results.ws?query=%22Dragon%20platebody%22%22Dragon%20platelegs%22%22Dragon%20full%20helm%22%22Dragon%20sq%20shield%22&price=all&members=

Now note the armour set and the corrupt sets. I don't want these in my results, since I want to merchant the individual items (The armour sets probably won't have that many in stock anyways). So at the end of the search, I'll make an adjustment by adding -corrupt -set.

Now my search should look like this:

"Dragon platebody""Dragon platelegs""Dragon full helm""Dragon sq shield" -corrupt -set

And here's what I get!

http://services.runescape.com/m=itemdb_rs/results.ws?query=%22Dragon+platebody%22%22Dragon+platelegs%22%22Dragon+full+helm%22%22Dragon+sq+shield%22+-corrupt+-set&price=all&members=

Brilliant! Now I just bookmark that page, and set the keyword as ge1. Now whenever I want to see what the prices of the day are for a Dragon Set, I can just type ge1 in my address bar, and there it is. =)

I personally have set up 13 different custom results, for things ranging from runes, ores and bars, food, logs, herbs, potions, seeds, barrows armour, weapons, and armour. Considering I have the ge search set up as "ge [termhere]", I have to make sure that my keywords DO NOT have a space after ge; therefore, it MUST be ge1, and not ge 1.

So if you have any interest in merchanting, be sure to set up some custom results so you can get a quick handle on the daily price changes. =D Trust me, it'll save you HOURS of time.

Banner Completed

2009-10-27T00:57:00.000-07:00

I took some time to create a banner for my site. I'm rather so-so on it, and would like to make improvements. But for the time being, it's good enough. =)

Tips and Tricks - Keywording Search Engines

2009-10-26T10:53:00.000-07:00

This is something I've just started to learn quite recently, and I love it. It is so incredibly useful for me while I'm using the internet.

Basically, whenever you do a search on a search engine, it will give a url in a format similar to this:

www.sitehere.com/search_[insert_search_term_here]

If you bookmark that page, set it to a keyword, and then replace [insert_search_term_here] with %s, it will search whatever you place after the keyword.

Let me use an example of the most common use I have for it: Searching the Grand Exchange Database.

First, I did a search for Bandos. Here's the page result:

http://services.runescape.com/m=itemdb_rs/results.ws?query=bandos&price=all&members=

Note where it says bandos in the url. Bookmark that page result, and set it somewhere that doesn't clutter your favorites.

Now go back to it, right click, and choose Properties.

In the location field, find where bandos was located, and replace it with %s. If you do it right, the url should look like this:

http://services.runescape.com/m=itemdb_rs/results.ws?query=%s&price=all&members=

Next, go down to the Keyword field. I chose to put ge as my keyword, since it's shorthand for Grand Exchange. You can change it to whatever you feel most comfortable with.

Then save the changes. From now on, all you need to do in order to search a price on Runescape, or see the prices in the past 30,90, or 180 days, just go to the address bar, and type "ge [item]". For instance, I can redo the bandos search by typing "ge bandos". Nice and simple. :)

This trick can be applied to any search engine. I have my browser set up to search Site Directories for music files when I type "music song.name.here", search youtube when I type "yt term here", and to search Runetracker by typing "rsc name here".

Skills Update #1

2009-10-26T00:23:00.000-07:00

http://dev.runetracker.org/

Above is a site that I've used recently to track my skilling. It's far easier than taking screenshots of my levels each night, which I used to do way back when. Basically it works by checking your hiscores at set intervals, but to prevent unnecessary data gathering, it only gathers data on usernames that have been manually searched. Meaning if you haven't done a track on your name, it will start from the day you first track yourself. So go do so now!

---

Over the course of the past month, I've mostly been working on Slayer and Strength. Although Strength is my least favorite combat skill, it's the closest I have to 99. I'm currently about 950k away from it. I'm doing it via Slayer to keep me on the task, as countless hours of fighting bandits would drive me insane. It's also more valuable to work on Slayer now, than by getting all my combat stats to 99 first, and then get all that extra experience just to get 99 Slayer.

Currently I'm using a Slayer Helmet, Saradomin Sword, Bandos Chestplate, and Torag Platelegs. It's the best I can afford for Strength training. I'm not using a Godsword because the speed doesn't make up for the high hits. Plus the Saradomin Sword is about 16 million gp cheaper than a Bandos Godsword, so this way I can actually afford the Bandos Chestplate. I'm a bit strapped on cash right now.

I'm planning on hitting 99 within a week or two, and then selling off my SS to buy a Whip, and train Defence to 99, still through Slayer. By doing that, I'll have 99 Hitpoints and 90 Slayer in the process. It could take quite some time though. Oh well, better now than later! :)

I'll consider creating a Drop Log of my Slayer drops and putting them on a Google Spreadsheet so that it can be shared. That way I can create a rough estimate of drop rates for items.