Do you play Age of Conan?  I looked forward to this game for a few reasons.  I like PvP, and I loved the Conan movies, so I really thought this game was for me.  Sadly the servers were desolate, and the average mental age of the others players seemed to be about 12.  They have a great mentoring system that underutilized, and basically broken as wellfor the sole reason that people don’t understand how to use it.

My rant today is not about game playability though, it is about the free trial they have spammed all over the internet.  I saw it on eurogamer, and though I mgiht give the game a second try.  No such luck.  I still have the game installed, but in order to get the free trial, I need to install another ‘broken’ version of the game.  No trades, and a few other things.

Again, I paid $50 for the game and still ghave it installed, why the heck would I want to download a few gigs of game again?  There is no way to get the free trial otherwise.  They might as well have chiseled the promo code into a huge chunk of stone and delivered it to my front door for all the good it has done me.  If you are trying to get people to play, then why not go after low hanging fruit?  Send those of us who have paid for the full game, a free 2 weeks or month of membership in an attempt to get us back.  Don’t make me jump through hurdles.

Here is a down and dirty guide to profitable farming for you.  I was asked this in a PM, and though others might like the info as well.  Here is what you do from level 1:

Buy 24 potato seeds (96gp), 4 marigolds (66gp), and 10 compost (970gp).  Buy any utensils you will need form the farmer.

Remove weeds from any farming plot and place in the compost bin.  That is 12 weeds for 156 xp.  Use the compost on all 4 plots and plant your potatoes and marigold for another 42xp.  You will have made it up to level 3 at this point.  Pay the farmer to look over your potatoes.  It costs less than 200gp (compost) and the xp is well worth it.

Now the challenge is to set a goal.  Do you want money?  XP? Herbs for herblore?  A good starting goal is 35 farming.  At that level you can plant ranarr with relatively little chance of them becoming diseased and reap some huge profits.

The easiest route to 35 farming?

Plant at least 2 areas at a time for faster farming xp.  It is passive training, so the most time is spent in preparation, and preparation for 2 areas is nearly the same as for a single one.  Explorers ring for the Fally area and cammy tele for the catherby plot is an easy route for 2 areas.

What to plant

After harvesting your first crop, add another 3 potatoes to the compost bin and make compost.  You should be making this every round for later use as payments, for your crops, or just to sell.  You will now be at level 5.  Plant two more areas with potatoes, and 2 marigolds.  These are in demand for summoning, so it is better to pick them and plant again than to use them to protect your allotments.  (Marigolds sell for almost 3k, payments only cost 180gp).

After harvesting your potatoes and marigolds again, you will be at level 10.  Now it gets interesting.  Guy some guam seeds.  They are cheap enough that you can let them die at a higher rate.  All crops tend to get diseased and die a lot more until you are at least 3 levels above the min to farm them.

At this point if you have the ectophial, you can start farming all 4 areas.  Ecto to the port P, Cabbage tele to Fally, Cammy to Catherby and then run to the Ardo plot.

One trip to the 4 areas planting cabbage, marigold, and guam will net about 2,400xp, do that twice and you will be up to level 22.

Now you can plant sweet corn, a very profitable farming product.  Seeds cost 455 (1365 an allotment), and the produce sells well for a profit.  Make yourself some scare crows and you are good to go.  Plant whatever herb seeds you can.  Real money doesn’t come from those until you are level 29 and can do Harras without a reasonable chance they will die.

One more trip planting that will get you to 25.  Repeat again twice and you are to level 30, and can start doing fruit trees.  Start those at 27 if you pay for the gardener to watch them though.  3 more farming rounds or 8 apple trees   will be at 35, and ready for some serious cash making opportunity.

Thoughts on farming

Super compost costs 500gp, Ingredients can be had in bulk from the GE for 100gp eacy, and no requirements to make it.  Make it every round, if you don’t, then make normal compost every round.  Running out of buckets?  The RFD chest stocks them and Catherby has them in unlimited supply.  At a free 135 xp per area, that adds up fast, not to mention the higher yields it gives you for allotments and herbs.

Ask away if you have any questions, or pm me in game and I will give y ou the tour. – kamakiri88

As an avid farmer, I am feeling the crunch of seed prices lately. It an easy jump to see the reason they are going up. The tool Leprechaun will now note your produce and grimy herbs for free at each plot, effectively eliminating bank stops for farming runs. This is an extra 10k xp per plot for high farmers, and at much cheaper prices and in less time than it takes to grow trees.

Watermelon seeds are rising like mad, and strawberries are in a close second. Surprisingly sweet corn hasn’t been affected at all, so there is still a pocket of profitability there. Grow sweet corn and sell the produce for cash. (6 seeds is 2868, and I average 50 sweetcorn per plot that sell instantly for 10900).

Herb seeds are on the rise as well, and you can see the demand from high level farmers, as Torstol seeds have risen over 145% in the past 30 days. Another interesting thing here is that Zammy Brews have followed the same demand curve. makes me wonder who is driving the demand for those as well.

Here are some numbers I was doing just as an FYI:

• Torstol seed: 10,100
• Average Yield: 7.3
• Zammy brew: 1,151
• Vial: 88
• Jangerberry: 423
• Cost per pot: 1,662
• Loss per seed: 3,738

I plant 4 torstols and 1 snapdragon and come out ahead buying all vials and seconds. The occasional corn allotment is just a bonus.

I haven’t posted much this month, as I have been madly training to get the minimum levels for While Guthix Sleeps.  Like Dream Mentor this quest had a useless Attack and Strength level minimum.  I had to train str and att from 60 to 65 so I could get into the Warrior Guild (It requires a combined level of 130).  I didn’t even use the levels, and in the final battle, it doesn’t matter what your melee skills are anyway as they are boosted to 250.

I do wish I had know about that before.  I could have trained less Def, and then been able to keep my combat level at 85.  For those who don’t know, I did get my quest Points Cape at level 68.  I occasionally say 69, because the quest reward bumped me up a combat level, but I got the last quest I needed while still 68, so I use that # more often.

After all that training, I am now level 90.  I do enjoy a stroll through F2p though.  There, without summoning, I am level 83.  Many people still claim that I can’t have finished all quests, despite clearly wearing the quest cape and doing the emote, as my combat level is only 83.  Ah well.

With that goal aside, I will be getting back to more regular posting.  If you see Kamakiri88, my in-game alter ego, then say hi.

One style of blogging I have always enjoyed was the top 10 list. If this one is popular, I am actually thinking about a monthly top 10 list series, so after reading it leave a comment and let me know what you though.

While digging through information on rings for the previous post, I found a ton of info on the magical properties of some of the other rings around RS, and at the same time found no definitive list of the various rings that you could wear.  In the old days it was pretty easy.  You had the 4 basic rings, Saph – Diamond and Dragon Stone, and depending on what you were doing at the time you pretty much didn’t have much choice.  Enough with the nostalgia, on with the list:

10.  Beacon Ring - This ring is from the What Lies Below quest, and is freely replacable from Zaff in his Varrok Staff shop.  With a decent bonus and a low replacement cost this one eeks in as #10.

Bonus:  +2 Magic att, +1 Magic Def

9.  Ring of Stone - Yes, I know.  This ring is pretty useless, but hey!  It turns you into a rock.  How cool is that?

Bonus:  You get to be a rock!

8.  Pineapple Ring - Yes, you can’t wear this one, but it is a tasty treat that not only heals, but looks cool when dropped on the ground.

Bonus:  Heals 2

7.  Lunar Ring - This is the cheap man’s Seer ring.  With a replacement cost of 2,000gp, it is also very expendable.

Bonus: +2 Magic Att and Def.

6.  Ring of Fire - The coolest thing about this ring is the examine message, “It burns, burns, burns…”.  To get one you need 62 FM, and complete All Fired Up.

Bonus:  +2% FM xp.

5.  Ring of Charos - Although this ring has no stat bonus, it is extremely useful.  There is a long list of places you can use the ring to get something special, Just make sure it has been activated.

Bonus:  Too many to list, google it

4.  Archers Ring - This one makes the list, but only as the least of the great Fremennik Rings.  It has pretty bad cost performance, but as the only ring that offers a range bonus it ranks as a 4.  I am sure if rangers stopped killing mages, you might get more enchanted rings.

Bonus:  +4 Range Att and Def

3.  Warrior Ring - The weaker of the 2 combat rings, this one is far more cost effective, at about 1/10 the cost of its more desirable brother.  Well worth the investment if you like to carry a scimitar.

Bonus:  +4 Slash Att, +4 Slash Def

2.  Berserker Ring - A ring reputed to bring out a berserk fury in its wearer.  What to do the highest possible damage in the game?  This ring is for you.

Bonus:  +4 Strength, +4 Crush Def

1.  Seers Ring - You regulars know my penchant for all things magic related, so this one shouldn’t come as a surprise.  Down from it’s price in the millions, this ring is a must for the fighting mage.

Bonus:  +4 Magic Att and Def

Honorable Mention

Ring of Wealth – The original expensive ring.  This stayed at 100k for months, and I remember when I purchased my first one, thinking that it would be my ticket to riches.  What a rude awakening that was.

Ring of Slaying – The teles are convienient, but it is the name that gets this one into the honorable mention.  “Ring of Slaying”, yep, still like the sound of that.

Ring of Visibility – Pretty useless in and of itself, but you need one to get the ghostly robes, one of the best free items in the game.

And that rounds out my list.  Hoiw was it?