Oldschool Runescape (OSRS) is a sandbox MMORPG that is quite different than most games you’ve played. Unlike World of Warcraft or standard RPG games, there is no linear path to take when it comes to leveling, questing, and obtaining gear.
Getting Started
This game is indeed a grind fest, although if you can find the beauty of its simplicity, it’s quite an addictive game that players stick with for years.
Money Matters in Runescape
Oldschool Runescape is a free-trade economy and had always been so since its inception. The re-introduction to the Grand Exchange had made it even more convenient to buy & sell items, and price fluctuations are based on player demand. The vast majority of gear upgrades, trade skill items, and cosmetics are tradeable between players.
Goals for the First Week
A decent goal to shoot for in your first week:
- Amulet of Strength, Power, and/or glory
- A full set of rune
- A Rune scimitar
- Green dragonhide & a decent bow
Methods to Get Starter Gold
Some recommended methods to get your starter gold include:
- Completing the Stronghold of Security for 10,000 gold. Requires phone authentication.
- Looting steel platelegs in the ruins north of the Graveyard of Shadows. (14,000 per full inventory)
- Cutting Oak Trees and selling logs on the Grand Exchange.
- Looting bones in Lumbridge.
- Killing cows and banking their hides, bones, and meat.
If you plan on sticking to free to play, the items above are the meta for what you need until you decide to move onto members or stick with high-level training in free servers. To skip the tedium of money-making, you may simply purchase OSRS Gold, but that is up to you.
Getting Started with Combat
Melee training is the bread & butter of this game, and is typically the cheapest form of combat. Your attack level determines accuracy, strength levels calculate your max hit, and defense level is your ability to mitigate damage.
Melee Training Tips
One tip as you are starting out is the Event RPG is the best weapon to use, even if it looks quite silly. You can buy it from Diango for 250 coins, and it is wieldable with just 1 Attack.
Train up your stats on low-defense monsters, which may include: cows, chickens, seagulls, or monks. Once you get to base 40 stats, you can equip Full Runite armor and start training on better monsters, like Flesh Crawlers or Moss Giants.
Ranged Training
Ranged training allows you to use ranged weapons like the bow & arrows, crossbows, and throwable items. You start out with a normal bow and bronze arrows, and as you level up, Oak, Willow, and Maple bows become available.
Magic Training
Magic training is quite different from ranged and melee training, and usually ends up being more expensive. There is a base amount of experience given for every combat spell, even if you splash or hit a zero.
A recommended path for a fresh account would be to train airstrike on low-level creatures, like cows, until 13 magic. From there, you can safe-spot Ogresses in the Corsair Caves with fire strike to make a profit from the runes that you buy.
Questing
There are 144 quests in OSRS, and all of them are technically optional. In the free version of the game, quests are rather lackluster compared to the Members content but are still worth it to unlock the Dragon Slayer quest.
Benefits of Questing
Quests have the benefit of giving experience and allows you to skip low-level grinds in some cases. For example, Doric’s quest will get you to Level 10 Mining by simply giving him his list of ores. Complete the Knight’s Sword quest to jump past Level 30 Smithing to avoid buying lots of ores & bars.
Is it Time to Upgrade to Members?
While you can purchase members with your credit card, the most preferable way to do so is via in-game gold with Oldschool Bonds. Bonds is a relatively recent concept in which players can sell them to other players for gold, and then they can unlock Members-only content.
If you need help scrounging up the last bit of gold to buy one of these bonds, simply buy RS gold to skip that extra grind. If not, making money in the free version of the game is quite slow and may take weeks for some people.
