Hunting

Upon reading the latest Runescape news which at the beginning of every month is the Behind the Scenes, I have seen the big surprise that brightened up my day. A new Runescape skill, hunting, is to be coming out around the end of November. This gets me going for two reasons. For one, I don't believe there was ever a Runescape skill that came out so quickly after another from my prior knowledge of reading a lot of Runescape-related sources. Construction just came out in May, and now only six months later this rather surprising update comes along. And for two, I am a hunter myself and I'm very into the sport, thus why I know even though there's no information out as of yet that I'm going to love the Runescape skill of hunting. The only way I'll hate it is if it involves a lot of money, like construction, but even then I still have 4.8 mil in nature runes that'll be made when I alch 6.2k yew longs and I have some others things to sell if needed, such as ahrims top and skirt, infinity boots, some rune items, etc. So if money is involved, I'll be prepared. Actually once I get my current goal of 76 fishing and 80 cooking (I'm 75 fishing at the moment) I'm going to try to clean out my bank a bit to make money and for room. Sure, us members are getting three more rows of bank space, but if "hundreds" of items are coming out for the hunting skill, 24 extra spaces will not help me. However if money is involved and I'm not ready with the amount needed, then I may not be able to try the skill right away which stinks because I want to level the skill up as soon as it comes out. Another things that stinks is that the end of the month goes from November 20th and on -- and the Nintendo Wii comes out the 19th. I may be too busy with a combination of school work and the Wii to even try hunting as soon as it comes out. I'm just hoping it comes out right before Thanksgiving vacation.

I'm thinking a lot about hunting and came up with a few predictions that we may see with the skill. I will now list some of my predictions below:

• Jagex, in the BTS, stated something among the lines of having many new areas to hunt in. With this, we may very well see new land above the Grand Tree and below the fishing colony up there, and maybe then to the west a little. I also predict some mountain routes in the mountains that are above the Underground Pass cavern and some land expanded south of the Ogre region. Also an expansion of the "elf world" with the long-awaited introduction of that crystal city, and maybe the crystal halbred. Why are these areas most likely the ones to be expanded? Because they would contain great and large areas for wildlife that you see in the real world, such as deer, turkeys, pheasents, squirrels, racoons, groundhogs, and the such; maybe even wild pigs, wolves, coyotes, mountain lions, etc. That's just speaking with realistic animals, as we'll guarenteed see fictional creatures that can be hunted, with maybe even in the long road demons and dragons. And also that's just speaking with the areas of the Runescape world we already know about. We may be entitled to new lands, islands, etc. Also maybe even the desert can get something for the hunt, along with the dark lands to the east of Varrock. As long as the hunting skill is spread out and there's enough animals to hunt in one specific area, I'm okay with the skill.
  
• If deer are introduced to the game, I can see bucks having different sizes of their racks. Bigger racks may score higher hunting xp, and also will look better mounted on the wall of your player-owned house. However bucks with large racks are rare -- such as big swordfish or shark may be that you can stuff. The rariety of great game can be perfected the same way monster drops are. For example, a monster buck can be dragon chain rariety to insure that not everybody has a buck killed that big, making them not as special. This can also go for other hunted animals in the sense of how much they weigh, or their racks, colors, size, etc. Maybe we'll see hunting contests that act as a mini-game, where the biggest animal hunted is entered, and the biggest in that category of animal wins.
  
• I hope that the rate of killing wildlife isn't too high as it would making hunting extremely unrealistic. Sure, the game is very unrealistic the way it is, with trees respawning before your eyes and such, but it wouldn't feel right from a hunter's perspective. This is just a minor concern I have.
• The higher your hunting level, the more accurate your shot is with whatever we'll be using to kill wildlife. With this being said, you might miss a lot with a low hunting level, but then you may shoot and hit a lot with a high hunting level.
  
• Besides just hunting and killing the animals, you can trap them and capture them with nets and other methods. I believe Jagex mentioned the trapping and netting part, but they didn't clarify whether we could capture the hunted for pets. As of yet, the only pet players could have are goldfish and cats, and they're getting old already. We still have those unusable bird eggs (a parrot on your shoulder would be nice, as Jagex has been keen on a pirate theme lately) and these eggs should be used in some way. Maybe have a bird of prey to scout out small game for you? Maybe. I also see the introduction of dogs as pets -- the perfect hunting animal. Cats are only good for things such as mice, rats, squirrels, rabbits, and birds. But, captured creatures should be pets. Could you imagine a lesser demon following you around and obeying your commands? It would be annoying as they would block the screen in many spots if there was a large amount in one area (World Two Falador) but just the thought of it brings chills to my spine.
  

That is all I have for you on the upcoming Runescape skill of hunting (as in my own thoughts, as what I stated is not confirmed by Jagex), but if I get any more ideas I'll be sure to post them here. I may not be posting another blog this weekend as school work is pretty tight right now, and I'm going turkey hunting tomorrow morning, so maybe next weekend as I have Friday off from school. Sorry about my inactivitey on the blog, as I realized that I hardly post anymore. I will try to be more active here, but with the skill of hunting, real life hunting, school, and the Nintendo Wii, posting may be an ardous task.

Picture of the Day


Blog writer Jenifer and I at my grandmother and grandfather's 50th wedding anniversity a few weeks ago.

Have a good life...I mean day.