To get to Miscellania, you can either: Take a boat from Rellekka, or teleport using your Ring of Wealth, take a mine cart, or use a fairy ring (code C-I-P).

The first step is to complete the quest: Throne of Miscellania. It is a rather easy and quick quest. To start it, you need to speak to King Vargas in Miscellania. To complete the quest you will need: about 45gp, an Iron Bar, some Logs, a  pickaxe, a woodcutting axe, harpoon and lobster pot, and a Ring with a gem in it. Male characters will need Flowers, and a Bow. Female characters will need a Cake. (Information from Sal’s Realm) This quest will unlock the kingdom feature.

Additionally, it would be a very helpful if you completed the quest: Royal Trouble. To start this quest speak to Advisor Ghrim on the 2nd floor of the Miscellania castle. All you need to complete this quest is a pickaxe and 5 coal. You will need to defeat a level 149 sea snake (EASY; IF YOU THINK 149 IS HARD, IT’S MORE LIKE A LEVEL 90). The Sea Snake only uses melee. Bring an antipoision and food accordingly. When you finish this quest you get increased resources to use for your kingdom.

After you do those, you finally will have access to all of your kingdom. Before you start, I recommend getting 100% of the people’s approval. You can do this by chopping some maples, mining some coal, fishing, or farming outside the castle walls. You can find out your approval by talking to any NPC near each of the areas I mentioned.

So now, we can finally begin to set up our kingdom. Talk to Advisor Ghrim. Firstly, put money in your kingdom coffers. Every day is 75K, so I’d recommend putting at least 750K in your coffers. Secondly, you want to put your kingdom on the resources that are worth the most at the time. I always put all all on herbs (click the up arrows near the herb until the “meter” reaches to be full), and I put the rest on maples since they can have nice bird nest loots. Of course this is mainly subjective, but I’d do a little bit of research so you can get the most money out of this. When you wish to collect your kingdom, just get your approval back to 100% and go back to Advisor Ghrim and ask him to collect your kingdom.

The kingdom is definitely chance. Some weeks you may have an amazing profit, and other maybe your record lows. I leave my kingdom out for 30 days, and I get a nice profit.

Thanks to my clan, Avon, for helping me with some of this info, and thanks to my friend Emily who suggested  this topic for me and proofread this. If you have any comments, feedback, or questions feel free to leave a comment.

-Maxwell K.

Is it possible that the prices of these items are dependent upon the intervention of long time merchants like myself? or is it a natural supply and demand issue?

In the first of four posts on making GP with the GE, I will outline some effective trading strategies (Fundamental, technical and speculative), and in the last I will debunk some of the poor strategies (like buy outs for example). If, after you are done reading fee free to post any questions you may have. There is also a forum over at The Grand Exchange (Thegrandexchange.com) where you can register and ask specific questions about trading and the various methods I will outline here.

Part I – Fundamental Trading

First off, I will start by saying that fundy trading is the easiest and fastest way to make money off the GE. It is fairly straightforward, and is based on real stock trading methods. The kind of trade you do also determines which items you will trade.

There are three prerequisites for items to determine if they are a good thing to buy as a fundy trade. They are:

1. The item must be traded in high volume (Anything in the top 100 most traded items list is good)

2. The item needs to be used up in the process of skilling (People use them up in large quantities)

3. The price graph must be relatively straight (little volatility)

The goal with a fundamental trade is a 5% profit. In general, buying at 2.5% below med and selling at 2.5% above will accomplish that. Done on a consistent basis, you will see your money double every 14 trades. (See the rule of 72 for further study of the reasons for that).

Why high volume? You need lots of buyers and sellers. Items like gold leaf, for example, are used in the ‘value chain’ of making gilded items in construction, but there are so few traded on the GE that it is nearly impossible to make money off them. Teak planks on the other hand are traded in huge volumes, as well as being used far more frequently in skilling.

Finally, why a straight line? You don’t want to choose an item that might jump down after you purchase it. Coal is another example. It is used up in large quantities, and is the 19th most traded item, with 97 million chunks of coal trading hands yesterday. With a 4 hour limit of 10k coal, it is impossible to manipulate, as it is not a matter of purchasing power or GP at that point. You would need a clan 20,000 members strong buying and selling 10k coal each to even make a dent in the price, and no one has anywhere near those numbers, not to mention all of the coal miners would keep pumping cheap coal into the GE to offset any attempted price increase.

An example of value chain for Rune Essence: Rune ess is mined, air runes are crafted, water blast is used to kill an NPC. The final product is a drop that you can either bank or sell (or leave on the ground). Either way the ess is converted and finally used up in the process. Why does it remain flat? As rune crafters skill, they buy rune ess when it is cheap and mine it when it is expensive, keeping the price relatively stable.

As a beginner, once you go through the initial work of finding some items, you can continue to trade them without constant checking of the prices in the GE, making fundy trading ideal for those who either don’t have the time or the inclination to check the market regularly. 90% Of my trades are fundy trades, as I can pull a 5% profit in 5-6 hours. That beats the pants off the return you would get with a buyout clan that only makes 5% every time the GE updates (26-30 hours).

I want to tell you otherwise.

I have played RuneScape for roughly 4 years. It will be 5 this June, not counting the breaks I have taken. For most of those 4 years, I was the model player. I reported players when I thought it was neccessary, I didn’t break rules (except swearing, but hey, that’s been lifted a bit) and most of all, I didn’t bot. RuneScape was never really boring. I was a member for most of the time, and so I had plenty to do. RuneScape was good.

Shortly before 2008 breathed its last breath, I re-kindled a friendship with an old mate. He introduced me to sites such as Sythe and Fagex, and taught me the art of scamming. Together we scammed two accounts, and several membership PINs. Sythe and Fagex also have a RSBot section, and I looked through it and eventually downloaded RSBot.

I wish I had done it sooner. RSBot is easily the best thing I have done in my RuneScape career. I am botting right now! Jagex claims they will find you, and yet in 3+ months of near constant botting, I have not been warned nor banned.

As the title proclaims, robots don’t get Carpal Tunnel. If RuneScape is getting boring, you can do what I always did, and take a break. Alternatively, you can take the step and get RSBot. You will never be the same.

What the scenario mentioned above is called is a Merchanting Clan, or a group of investors who invest in the same thing. Many merchanting clans have millions in the market (a few clans are expected to have close to a billion) meaning that they can either crash the price of an item, or catapult it. With the exception of price-locked items due to Jagex updates, this usually works. Most merchanting clans make the Clan Name the item to buy, and say when to sell it. The only downside is that when the item is sold, the market is often flooded with so many orders that many investors cannot sell it, or lose lots of money. 

With a merchanting clan, your  prospects for making money are greatly increased. Usually, the price will increase. However, make sure you sell before the “Dump ” order comes in, or you’ll be caught in a stampede of selling. If you are interested in a clan, try “efd923″. The item to buy is posted in the Clan Name, and the clan is reasonably large. Try looking around for other clans too, and diversify your investments. But be warned: Merchant clans are NOT for the long-term; on the contrary, they usually employ a buy-one-day, sell-three-days-later technique. Forget to sell your items, and you’ll probably be left with huge profit loss when everybody in the clan does.

As Real World Economy retreats, so does Membership and P2P items

GRAND EXCHANGE, VARROCK, WORLD 2- It was just 1 year ago that the life of a P2P player seemed perfect. Cash was flowing freely, and member items were stable. And with the creation of the Grand Exchange,  the wealth of investors soared tremendously. Now, both Members and Free Players are bracing for a serious shock to hit the Exchange market. Most are expecting many member objects to crash, and many F2P objects to rise. Why? It’s simple: Less members are subscribed currently, meaning less members are buying. Some players have even cut their Internet subscription. This creates less demand, and a possible massive shock to the RuneScape Economy.

         There have always been more Free-to-Play players than members, meaning that some items are more valuable if they are Free-to-Play. For example, players will pay almost 10 times the amount of a Dragon weapon for a Corrupt Dragon weapon that degrades. Why? Because Corrupt Dragon is Free-to-Play, but plain Dragon isn’t. However, with even less members placing orders in the Grand Exchange, we might well see prices sink incredibly for member objects. But with Non-member objects, investors are holding their breath, hoping for an increase in valuable Free-to-Play items like swordfish, lobster, etc. These will become the Manta Ray and Shark of RuneScape, as members switch to Free-to-Play worlds. Other items that require to be made or aquired in Member worlds may also rise, such as Green Dragonhide.

         Wealth has also been decreasing for members, as they either cannot make money on Members’ servers or cannot sell their items for higher prices. One former member, Hulpul, commented on the matter. “My membership expired about a week and a half ago,” says Mr. Hulpul. “I just didn’t want to renew it. When I was a member, though, I made my 1 million gold in about 3 days off of slaying dragons. Now, I pretty much can’t do anything as profitable.” What this RuneScape millionaire  says is true. Very few things in Free-to-Play worlds are as profitable as things in member worlds. A drop in total wealth is expected greatly.

         However, many players doubt that membership decreases will harm the RuneScape economy. One player, Blaze1982, claims that General

Stores and monster drops will keep the Economy afloat. For instance, Rune Platebodies and Green Dragonhide Armour may be obtained from Oziarch, who has an unlimited supply. The same goes with arrows, which can be bought from a range store. But whether or not these unlimited general stores are a lifeline to the RuneScape economy entirely depends upon whether or not players buy or sell on the Grand Exchange. Most players do all their shopping at the Grand Exchange, and few are loyal to the specialty shops located around RuneScape. An entire merchanting clan, efd923, has been investing in Member objects despite the current situation.

         However, one thing is for certain: during these tough times, RuneScape WILL change, and there WILL be a drop in membership subscriptions. And member items probably WILL NOT rise; most have been dropping already. Most Grand Exchange analysts are advising players not keep their investments in member objects, and are suggesting to buy stock in top-of-the-line non-member objects like Rune armour, Food, Corrupt Dragon, etc. A word to the wise: If you’re an investor, watch out for the possibility of a crash in the market

Magic Potions – Drink Me!

Should you use these while training mage? Absolutely (well, unless you are casting high alch over and over again…). At today’s cost of 235gp a sip, these are a bargain as well. They increase your mage by +4, significantly increasing not only the chances that you will hit more often, but also that you will do more damage.

I know that some readers are thinking, hmmm, “My inventory slots are more important than having a potion.” I agree to an extent, but you have to be aware that a potion’s effects don’t wear off instantly. I wouldn’t carry one along to a blue dragon task, but I would sure have a sip every time I banked hides and bones. The stat bonus carries me through the entire time.

Can’t make magic potions? I don’t know any high level herblorist who would turn down free herblore XP. I certainly wouldn’t. Today Lants are 1,163 and potato cactus is 965. That is 2128 per potion or 709gp per dose. Is it worth it for a +4 mage bonus? I think so.

The non-combat uses are also worth mentioning here. At level 70, I trained using teleother to Lumbridge with magic potions. On a crowded server, people beg to be teleported, and it is some of the fastest magic XP in the game. (at 71, you should switch from magic pots to Wizard Mind Bombs though).

Ranging Potions – Shoot this!

With Pking gone, these have lost the majority of their value, but are still very worthwhile potions. Today they are 431 a dose. Range potions give a 4-13 (10%+3) level boost. At 60 range that will boost you up to nearly 70. Starting with 70 range will get you up to 80. This is a pretty hefty increase, and will significantly decrease your kill times, saving you arrows (darts, knives, cballs, charges), time, and increasing the rate at which you level up.

In conclusion…

It really is worth it to use what ever stat increasing items and tools you can while training. With the potion market being what it is, they are well worth the investment. With both range and magic potions, it is more expensive to buy the ingredients and get assisted, but still not unreasonable, especially if you happen to have a few lants and dwarf weeds sitting in the bank. The seconds for both are about 1k each, and many people will assist you. Just call it out in the GE, and you should get offers.

Stay tuned until next week when I will outline some of the highest potions in the game and some uses for them that you probably haven’t even though about.

Part 1: The basics of using potions to speed up leveling and XP per hour

Super Attack Potions – What they do and why you should use them.

These increase your attack by 20% for a 5-19 level increase. For example if you has an attack level of 80, one sip from a Super Attack would boost your attack level to 96. Not bad for 80 gold pieces, especially when you compare it to a slayer mask that only gives a 15% increase but costs nearly a mil. You could buy 12,300 Super Attack doses for the cost of that one mask, but since the bonuses stack, you really should use both while training slayer for a whopping 35% increase in attack.

Strength Potions – Drink this for Strength

Strength potions, or str pots, increase your strength by 12.5% for a 3-12 level increase. A sip of this boosts a strength of 80 to 90. This is especially useful in F2P, where str increases are few and far between. Increased str makes you to hit for higher damage, causing: faster kills, more XP per hour, and increased drop rate per hour (the more you kill the more drops you get).

Barbarian Mixes – Eat your pots

These are one of the greatest underutilized parts of the game. Cost wise they are pretty bad to make from scratch, but they are great to make if you already have the potions, especially if you are fighting monsters that occasionally hit you and do damage. To make a mix, you need a 2 dose potion and roe. You can decant 2-2dose potions using a 4 dose potion on an empty vial. adding the roe to either an attack or strength potion gives you attack mix(2) or strength mix(2) respectively, and turns the potion into food that heals 6 hp (3hp per dose). Roe is easy enoug to fish near the barbarian outpost, they even have a drop box 1 click away at the Barbarian Assault mini game, it is also very cheap, at only 35gp on the GE, so it is well worth buying, unless you want some fishing XP.

In Conclusion…

Even if you are only killing a monster that just drops bones, it is worth it to use potions. Bones sell for 90gp. Super Attack and Str mixes sell for 80gp and 100 per dose, and easily last more than 2 kills. I am not recommending you stop training to bank normal bones by any means, but I wanted to illustrate how cheap it is to use potions for training. Some more examples are:

- 1 dose of each gives higher bonuses than an Amulet of Fury. Cost:3.2mil vs 180gp
- At lvl 99 str the bonus is 300% better than bandos chest str bonus costing about 15.1mil less
- At str level of 32 the bonus from a str pot is eqivalent to the bonus from a berserker ring for 1/36000 the price.

Happy Potting!

Note from the editor: We suggest you check out Turbo’s blog for some more interesting reading: RS Investor

My friends and me were once talking about earning GP, when I started wondering if it was possible for the value of the Gold Coin to decrease like the American Dollar. The more money in the sytem, the less that currency is worth, right? After a few minutes of pondering, I realized that this was not possible because the big “J” has implemented a few factors into the game that do not allow this to be possible.

The first one is probably obvious. The players with lots of gold quit and when they do, the money pretty much leaves the system because the coins will never go to another player who might be able to use it Of course, they may give it out in the Falador Party Room, but lower-leveled players leave the game even more often than the more higher ones. The second one is the one most players might not suspect…Summoning. “What do you mean?” you might ask. Where do the Spirit Shards and Pouches come from? Players can’t make them, and the only way you can actually acquire them is to buy from NPCs. Well where do the Coins go when you buy the shards and pouches? They get destroyed. And the amount of Shards and Pouches needed to get to 99 Summoning is 120 Million gp! The amount is never achieved by most players.

That’s all I could think of for now, and hopefully I have answered some of your guy’s questions out there .