Have you ever just jumped into a skill, trying to obtain that high level, only to waste all your money halfway to the end of your goal? A lot of us do this, or did this, for many reasons. We try to compete with others, beat our friends out, and show off to our friends when we get that trimmed skill cape. A lot of people just go right at a skill, blow all there money, and either run out of money during the process, or have little to none left by the end of it. This is a common mistake among young players, and many of them do not realize they are losing so much money until they are finished, or have no money left. Try not to become one of these people. If you follow a few easy steps, you can complete your skill, and not waste all your money doing it.

The Goal

To start off, you need a goal. A lot of people get 99 skills. Choose a skill you enjoy. Find out if it is a money making or losing skill. All collection skills (fishing, hunter, woodcutting, mining) make you money. Any other skill can lose money or gain money. It depends on which way you decide to complete your goal. After you decide what skill you want to train, decide on a level. If your goal is to raise your skill from 70-99, or 70-85, it doesn’t matter. Set this in your Objective tab. Prepare for your training in the skill.

Do the Math!

Before you start your project, your going to want to know how much it will cost you. Find out the best way to complete your goal. Lets say you are getting 99 Fletching, and you decide to make Magic Longbows all the way to 99. You are going to lose some money. Find out how many you need to make until you get 99, and find out how much money your going to lose. This will give you a good estimate of how much money you will need to make to complete your goal. It will also show you how much money you will make if you are doing a collection skill, such as woodcutting.

Never Trust Guides or Gold Farmers Source: Runescapeguide.com

Make Your Money

Making money is simple. Find the skill you are good at, and you can make a fair amount of money from. (List 1) If you complete this step, you won’t be putting all of your money into one skill, and you will gain some experience in a money making skill while you are at it. Once you have enough money to complete your project, look into reducing the time it will take you to complete the skill. You only need to complete this step if you are buying materials. If you are mining, woodcutting, fishing, etc, you are going to be making money as you complete your goal. One thing to remember is to NEVER buy money from gold farmers, or buy money making guides. Stick to in-game rules and make the money yourself. If you ever see anything like what is pictured above, NEVER trust them.

Reduce the Time

One great way to reduce time on certain projects is Stealing Creation tools. For those who don’t know, Stealing Creation is a mini-game south of the Wilderness Volcano. You collect clay and process clay to put into your team’s base to increase your score. Rewards include morphic tools, which you can transform into items such as a Fletching knife, hatchet, pick axe, hammer, and butterfly net. When you use these tools, you gain double experience, saving time, and money. These can be really helpful when doing skills that waste a lot of money, and are worth the time to obtain. They may take a good amount of time to obtain, but think about what they are actually doing. You only have to do half as much work, spend half the cash, and all in the same amount of time. This allows you to do a lot more training of other skills, rather than spending more time on one specific skill.

Start Your Project

This is perhaps the best part in the project, other than finishing. This is where you start your project. Make sure you have a good location if you stay in the same place, or have a well thought out bank route for collection skills such as mining, woodcutting, and fishing. The start is key. If you get a good start, and get a good amount of experience quickly, the training will go much quicker. Choose a time where you do not have outside conflicts, such as school, where you can get a good start with a lot of experience. If you don’t like a lot of distractions, and you are staying in a bank, find a quiet world, and an obsolete bank. Try not to go to places where the banker moves around, as if they move far away, you can lose time.

During Your Project

During the project there are a few things to do. You want to be doing Kingdom runs to keep your cash in good standing, and maybe a few herb farming runs. This will keep you with a decent supply of cash. Also, you want to be watching the price of any items you use. If your logs go up, your going to be losing more cash. Buy when prices are low to minimize cash loss. Always be checking the amount of money you are losing or gaining, so you have a fairly good idea of what you made or lost. Lastly, keep count of the items made, supplies bought, or the items collected.

Completing Your Project

Congratulations! You are finally done with your project. If you got a skill cape, it is time to throw a party! You can now move onto a new skill. If you did a skill you had to make money for, such as Fletching, or Smithing, try a money making skill next time. This is a good way to keep things balanced, so that you make money, and don’t lose any.

Some Things to Remember…

• Remember, Runescape can get boring during extended skill training. Take breaks if you need to.
• Keep track of the amount of money you spend, and the amount of money you gain when you do herb runs and Kingdom runs.
• Talk to people. Go into clan chat, and talk, so your not totally bored out of your mind.

List 1- Money Making Skills

• Runecrafting
  • Nature Runes
  • Double Cosmic Runes
• Woodcutting
  • Yews
  • Magics
• Farming
  • Herb Farming
  • Cactus Spike Collection
  • Marigolds
• Combat
  • PVP
  • Slayer
  • Green Dragons
  • Avansies
  • Boss Monsters
• Fishing
  • Sharks
  • Lobsters
  • Rocktail

Along with my article, each month I will be writing a brief section on how the updates this month have affected the economy.

High Level Potion Update

• Drove the price of herbs up
• Drove the price of seeds up
• Taken out of PvP, so the need for the Extreme Potions will not be needed as much, so it is possible that herbs and seeds will drop slightly, back to what they were before the update.