So! Yak Track! What a lousy idea!
Yes, the Yak Track makes a return. Again. It’s got a Zarosian theme to it, but it’s just a theme; little more. The event itself is more or less the same as it’s always been.
50 levels of skill objectives, each with a good bounty of experience and stuff on completion. A sort of hardcore daily challenge list that one can strive through in the course of two weeks.
Not for me, though. With the previous Yak Tracks, I’ve not really had much interest in them. Basically they are meant to help give players something to do. An objective, if you will, spanning across the different skills of RuneScape, possibly even helping players try something new. And, being a veteran, I don’t really have need for these things. To me, all it is is a glorified incentive to grind, and that’s just not how I like to play the game. I do my dailies, I play quests, and I enjoy myself, not looking to show off or make any statements. Ergo, I’m not interested.
So, unless they can provide me some proper incentive, I don’t think I’m ever going to invest myself into-
… oh.
… um…
… OK. Alright. Alright, I’m interested. Doesn’t seem like it would take much to get this little guy. Yeah, this might not be so bad. What sort of progress do I need to-
… @#$%.
So! Yak Track! What a great idea!
I started off fairly strong. Only took a few minutes to half an hour for each task. The first ten go by quite satisfyingly quickly, and I did get a lot of experience lamps and stars for it, all things considered. Plus, it got me to use up some of the stuff I’ve been stockpiling since I never train any of those skills anymore. Seeing as I’m level 99 and all. Lost the need to train and grind. Bit sad, isn’t it.
But it was nice, getting to do those things again, and seeing how some things change. For example, I didn’t know you could craft dragonhide boots. That used to be a thing you could only get from Fist of Guthix. I don’t even know when that changed. Pretty wild. Fishing, Cooking, and making potions also helped me to restock my depleting supply of equipment so I can go on slayer and reaper tasks again… which the Yak Track incentivizes me to do with Kill Monster and Complete Slayer Task assignments as well. It’s like they thought of everything.
The tasks progressively get longer and more tedious, requiring more materials and a higher level. For example, where the earlier Crafting tasks let me make 400 green dragonhide boots, several levels down I had to make 700 black dragonhide boots (it only counts the thing made, not the materials used). One of them had asked me to make, and I kid you not, 1,555 items. Going bare-minimum on materials, I had to make 1,555 mahogany toy boxes. That’s over 3,000 (protean) planks, over 50 flat-pack compressors, and at 5 seconds per chest made, over a whopping 2 hours straight to complete. And this was only level 25; halfway through the list! Imagine the next construction task after that!
But, see, that’s the thing. Some of these tasks aren’t meant to be completed in one sit-down. That’s why we get a full six weeks to do this, after all. This is more something that players are supposed to do by routine. That’s why that, despite these incredibly long tedious tasks, there are several sort of freebies in between. Right after this Construction example, there’s one that sees you harvest 30 high-level herbs, which can be done in a single Farming round if you’ve planted them. If not, just buy quick-grow from Manor Farm, and you can get it in 5 minutes tops. And, let’s face it, a couple of these are troll-worthy freebies:
Oh yes, and there are skip tokens. Brilliant, brilliant tactic there. If a task seems like it’ll take 3 hours, you can skip it. Chances are good the next task is a lot quicker, you do that, and boom, you’re done both tasks in much less than 3 hours. How do you get skips? By redeeming bonds and though Treasure Hunter. Yes, you can buy your way through this list; entirely too, if you’re absolutely nuts about that dragon like me. However, if you play your cards right and think tactically, considering how much trouble and how long the tasks will take you, you don’t really need that many skips at all. There’s almost always a do-able choice.
Case and point; at the time of writing this, I’m already at level 37, and the first week isn’t even done yet. Only used two skips, haven’t bought any. We haven’t even hit the weekend yet! It’s intimidating and tedious, but definitely achievable.
… and, well, knowing me, Mollik isn’t going to be replacing Mordout Jr. anytime soon.
Until next time,
Cheers, cannoneers!
Oh, and in case you are curious:
Totally worth it.