The Tip.It Times


Issue 199gp

Letters to the Editor #14

Written by and edited by Tip.It

It's an Achievement Cape, Too!
Written by The Editor
Original Post on 9th March 2008

This was an interesting read for sure. I find myself agreeing with the article on the whole, but there are a few issues.

The first is that questing IS easy, but ONLY if you have the right levels. Someone with maxed out combat stats will not struggle with Dream Mentor like a player with 70s accross the board. It is true that a lot of work goes into raising skills like that, but the extent to which that can be used as a defence for questing as a skill-cape is limited. Most people gain levels regardless of quest requirements, with the quests providing coincidental boosts or a welcome break to skilling. The Quest Cape most certainly deserves some credit for achieving, but does it stand alongside a skill in terms of the sheer commitment? I'm unconvinced personally.

I also think the quest cape itself presents a new problem for jagex:

Because of the large number of people currently in possession of quest capes, it's now impossible for them to tailor quests exclusively to the best and worst players on runescape as they undoubtedly used to. If they make a quest too hard, people will be annoyed because they can no longer wear their cape, if it's too easy NOBODY will regard the cape as a worthy achievement since anyone can do it. It's a problem that now will not go away and will, i suspect, lead to a great number of disgruntled "questers". Quests like those I once saw suggested on the main runescape forum requiring multiple players to contribute to defeating a hard boss simply cannot be made now because it would offend/upset too many with the cape at present.

On the other hand, the fact that the quest cape is the ONLY cape that actually requires you to continually achieve a new goal at least once a month makes it a unique challenge. Personally it put me off the cape because of being a non-member most of the time and therefore being unable to keep the cape. Still, whilst raising a skill to level 99 requires over 13million xp, you never have to add to it. That makes it one thing I think does deserve credit, there's always another challenge in order to prove that you should keep the cape after gaining it.

In the tip.it forums I read a couple of posts stating that those who didn't enjoy questing didn't deserve to wear the cape. That is quite frankly ludicrous! I know people enjoy playing runescape and I know many people find it easy to get addicted and absorb themselves in their gaming. Still, who actually ENJOYS getting a 99? Assuming you have to click roughly 1million times for every 99 (at a guess), not even necessarily including banking etc, where is the fun?! The satisfaction of levelling generally comes from the new things it allows you to do, or in the case of 99s, the respect your skill cape will earn you. Reaching the top of a skill deserves congratulations only because it shows commitment, not because of how much you enjoy doing it. People work long hours in cities all round the world for no other reason than that they need to earn. They are not rewarded with a pay packet according to how much they enjoy the work, but whether they do it at all and to what level of expertise. The same applies with skills in the micro-community of RuneScape.

If questing deserves the same recognition as a skill, surely that is only because of the commitment it involves? Enjoyment needn't come into it.
Also, if the person with the cape didn't enjoy runescape, would they be playing at all...?

In summary, I do think Questing should be respected, but for its own sake, not because it is equivalent to a 99. I could complete every quest with a total xp of no more than 20million xp, less than twice that of a standard 99. The challenges are different, and as people perceive them to be simpler, respect is lower. It is for that exact same reason that fletching and wc are less respected than perhaps one of the combat skills, because quite simply they ARE easier and they ARE more common. Perhaps questing does belong to a lesser pantheon, but that should not strip it of its dignity and the achievement it does show in reaching the level of owning the cape.

waheera1

I have a few observations on the 03/09/08 article ‘It’s An Achievement Cape, Too’. The Quest Cape, the only one I currently have by the way, is just as hard to attain as the other skill capes. After reading your article I wondered what it actually takes to get a Quest Cape. Just in experience points alone the total is larger than the two million points guessed at. The total is actually 6,155,692 experience points, but even that does not begin to cover the scope. Here is a list of the minimum skill levels required to do all the quests in the game, along with the quest that requires it:

Agility-59-Grim Tales
Attack-15-Another Slice of H.A.M.
Construction-44-Catapult Construction
Cooking-70-Recipe For Disaster
Crafting-61-Lunar Diplomacy
Defense-65-Kings Ransom
Farming-53-Back To My Roots
Firemaking-51-As A First Resort
Fishing-62-Swan Song
Fletching-50-Devious Minds
Herblore-57-Fairy Tale Pt. 2
Hunter-48-As A First Resort
Magic-66-Swan Song
Mining-60-Lunar Diplomacy
Prayer-50-The Great Brain Robbery
Ranged-60-Mourning’s End Pt. 1
Runecrafting-50-Devious Minds
Slayer-59-Back To My Roots
Smithing-65-Devious Minds
Strength-60-Dealing With Scarabas
Thieving-60-Dealing With Scarabas
Woodcutting-72-Back To My Roots
Combat Level of 85-Dream Mentor

Looking at the above skills should give players greater respect for the amount of work that has to go into all skills, just to do the quests. A character with the above stats is not a Noob, or a Newb by a long shot. Even ‘Skillers’ have to admit that some of the above levels take a lot of effort to attain.

Lets look at materials for a moment. Working on most skills takes a lot of material to level up. Working to get the Quest Cape is no different. Just to complete the 18 Freeplayer quests a person would need, at a minimum, the following stuff:

Bronze Medium Helm, Iron Chainmail, a cabbage, a bucket, a pot, 2 buckets of water, 25 bones, 6 clay, 4 copper ores, 2 iron ores, Wizards Mind Bomb, silk, lobster pot, unfired bowl, anti-dragon shield, 3 planks, 90 steel nails, 2 hammers, 3 sets of goblin mail, red dye, blue dye, yellow dye, red bead, yellow bead, black bead, white bead, redberry pie, blurite ore, 2 iron bars, karamja rum, white apron, spade, 27 balls of wool, 3 onions, ashes, flour, redberries, pink skirt, soft clay, bronze bar, 3 beers, cadava berries, shears, stake, garlic, a piece of burnt meat, rat’s tail, eye of newt, and 120213 gold pieces.

Next, there is the matter of having to keep up with all the new quests that come out in order to continue wearing the Quest Cape. No skill cape does that. When you take a month or two off because real life intrudes on runescape playing, you cannot wear your Quest Cape until you complete the new quests that came out while you were gone. It really is a good feeling to be able to wear your Quest Cape the same day a new quest comes out, because it tells everyone that you already completed it.

Lastly, two of the quests require help from other players to complete; Shield of Arrav and Heroes Quest. Anyone who has asked other people to help them with anything in the game can understand how hard this can be to achieve, let alone coordinating with another player to go along with you to work on the quest. A skill cape does not require help from anyone to achieve. It can be accomplished without ever talking or interacting with anyone.

I hope the above information illustrates to players some of the depth of work required in achieving and maintaining the Quest Cape. I wear mine proudly and will continue to do so long after I begin attaining my skill capes.

welsbern

Did You Know...
...that the Rellekka area has everything you need for making Glass? Seaweed spawns, Sandpit, a Furnace, and if you have completed their Trials, you can puchase a Glassblowing Pipe. (Thanks to The Tal Shiar Alliance!)

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Author:

Will you use Menaphos to train your skills?



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