In Runescape, there are some skills that can be bought for fairly cheap. These skills, like Cooking and Fletching, do not get much respect in the Runescape Community. That is because they are so easy to achieve Level 99 in. However, similar skills that can be bought, like Herblore and Construction get a lot of attention when Level 99 is achieved. But what has construction ever done for other players? The answer is very little. Now, with the exception of Herblore, Cooking and Fletching are some of the most beneficial skills in all of Runescape to other players.

Cooking is a very important skill. It is more than just the assumed total level booster. For all reading who don’t cook, and who buy all their food on the Grand Exchange, think about this: Someone had to cook that food. Someone had to take the time to make them edible for others. Now, that is not to say there are the few who cook all their own food, however this is rarer than just buying it. It makes one wonder how would Runescape be different if everyone did that. Spending precious minutes going to cook all the food. When burning is factored in, this could take a very long time indeed. From that, it can only be reasoned that there would be less combat, and therefore fewer rare drops on the market. Because of this imagine the prices of these rare drops sky-rocketing. It would throw off the economy of Runescape greatly.

Fletching is equally as important. There are almost none reading that could say they have never used a bow in their entire Runescape career. Now unless it was made by them, chances are they probably bought it. That is just where fletchers come in. They waste their hours making bows to sell to other players. Of course, there are the people who train Magic by means of Alchemy, which bows are good for. Now, let’s apply the method above to Fletching. First people would have to make their own bows. Meaning that Range Levels would probably be lower because people would not have the Fletching Level to buy the bow they need to train Range. The next affected would be the mages. Without the proper masses of bows, almost none could train using Alchemy. That would make having 99 Magic a more respectable achievement. Magic is another one of the skills that can be bought, because primarily of fletchers, and people training using Alchemy.

Now, people train these skills for a whole assortment of reasons. Some being for money, others for love, and others just to get 99 in a skill. I caught up with a player, Coorslight35, who said this about why he was training cooking, “Me and my friend are having a cooking contest to 99”. When asked about if he enjoyed training the skill, he went on to say, “Today I did it for money”. It can be assumed that some people do this for profit, which is a fairly legitimate source of money, and having 99 is a good boost to this. I also talked to Mli699, who said “I also had the money”. So in the eternal quest to max out a characters skills, 99 Cooking as an easy stop. A player, Oldschool06 confirmed this when he said, “It’s the easiest skill, and need to get another 99”. So there are many differing opinions when it comes to the why, but the what remains the same: Provide good eats for other players. I, as a player, have 99 Fletching. It may be different, but I loved the skill. Many players can agree. That is why it almost seems ridiculous that other players will not recognize an achievement of 99 in those skills. Most just blow it off, or call it a “filler 99”. Saying that just because you wanted a cheap easy solution. However cheap the skill, none of these are easy. Unless of course a bot is used, which is against Runescape rules and should never be used. The time that goes into these gives a sense of satisfaction into those who achieve 99.

How does Cooking and Fletching benefit the Runescape players it may be asked. Well cooked Lobsters and completed Yew Longbows are on the first page of the Most Traded in the Grand Exchange, with hundreds of millions sold within the last month alone. All of these foods eaten, and all of these bows used or alched to keep the demand up for these items. There is even one of few player-made guilds associated with these skills. That would be the Fletching Guild. It is hosted in Yanille Bank in World 132, where around the clock, players fletch with each other, easing the boredom by talking about whatever is on their mind. It has been seen that even great in-game friendships have formed from this, by players who play at the same time frame with each other, by just fletching with them.

It can be concluded that some skills are over-looked when it comes to achieving 99 in them. Many are passed off by other players as just mediocre. But what is failed to be realized is that these skills contribute so much to Runescape. All of these “easy skills” have a web of effect across all of Runescape, even totally un-related parts of it. A game like this is so intricate, that no part of it is stand-alone and does not affect any other parts. Fletching effects Magic, Range, and a variety of skills. And Cooking can even influence the number of rare drops in the game. These not-so-impressive skills can can have far-reaching, very impressive effects.