Micael Fatia

God damnit! This damn forum remains a deadly trap. Yes I believe it happened after I tried to send the same status update one too many times. It seems I can’t make status updates anymore for some reason, the button just acts as if it’s not being pressed. Trying to many times got me blocked most likely. Because only the destroyer of worlds himself can spare me!! (But apparently in this case he’s as useless as the rest of us bwahahaha)

Help! Someone alert Yuanrang, I’ve been IP banned AGAIN!!I mean it! I’m using my mobile data to access the forums lmao.

The link leads nowhere to me. But yeah I appreciate the incentive Fatalysm, but my desire to play is long gone. Like I said it'd require a miracle like these forums reviving for me to even consider coming back. I'm happy to know you made your way back and are having fun though.

Two of my most prized RuneScape related possessions were made here, by two extremely talented women of Sal's Realm: @zellychan and @Cresenne! (I hope I got your tags correct) Both were (and likely still are!) amazing artists, capable of turning into amazing pieces of art anything you requested of them using only their pens and imagination. I've used and abused their amazing gifts here and every other RuneScape forum, ranking as my top used signatures online, anywhere. Words cannot express how grateful I am that they sacrificed their time to make a relatively unknown at the time RuneScape player (and noob) this happy. Santa hats off to the two of you. The first piece shows my RuneScape character in a Clan War, sporting 3xtermination (a Sal's based clan) colors (red), 'tanking' enemies from a green capped clan. White medium hair, because in my youth I was a huge fan of Devil May Cry and Dante. Zamorak armor because the lore lover in me enjoyed showcasing my preferrences when it came to the Gods. And because, let's face it, it was mad stylish. The second piece was done years later, and shows my evolution as a RuneScape player from your basic "F2P PKer / Clanner" to all around PvPer claded in P2P mage armour. The switch in combat style came with my love for the skill of Magic, which quickly became my favourite combat skill and area of expertise. Magic was never made to be viable as a single combat skill in the F2P version, with it being only useful during clan wars with the added protection numbers provided. P2P on the other hand, it was deadly, cool and very satisfying.

Hahaha that's a perfect analogy! Spot on! Ultimately most people simply ignored and/or dismissed F2P PKing as pointless, especially those with little knowledge about PvP. And it's understandable, who cares about watching extremely talented performers in a 2nd or 3rd rate show, when you can watch the big mountains of muscles lifting 100 kilos of meat above their heads with better titles at stake and shinier gear? P2P was the big leagues, but F2P was fun too and that's all what matters.

I wonder if Sal ever made it to level 90. And yup, I was maxed combat, or at least was passed as maxed combat in 2013. I legit have no clue if they introduced more levels or skills. Ah I wish that was possible. I am aware it's against the RuneScape rules, so maybe I shouldn't have done it... but it just felt like such a gigantic waste to never use a perfectly fine account again and the result of over a decade of dedicated gaming. I gave it away to an online friend a long time ago. I haven't had contact with him in forever, but even if I had it just wouldn't feel right to get it back now (assuming he didn't get the account banned or something of the sort) or recovering it - again assuming I could even recover it to begin with, I remember next to nothing about it. For all purposes it's no longer mine, regardless of the moral validity of what I did when I gave it away. To play again I'd have to start from zero, and I really do lack the motivation. Sal's suddenly being revived with a burst of activity and going back to the levels of 2006 is literally the only thing that could bring me back to the game at this point, in a new account.

Hard to fight back when I unintentionally roasted myself a long time ago.

That is a more than valid point! You did illustrate well what I meant though, as Dharok's PKing was a prime example of it. It did require quick and accurate swaps, but fights were usually over in a matter of seconds and heavily dependant on you hitting these sweet 50+ hits. F2P on the other hand didn't have such high sweet hits, thus making fights slower and requiring a lot more strategy. You'd have to change combat styles all the time, plan when to use your limited prayer, and spend a considerable amount of time (often minutes) doing swaps that too required timing and accuracy, even if ultimately less... decisive. We could use (fake) Wrestling (WWE-esque) as a comparison: P2P were these big, destructive guys like Triple H, Brock Lesnar or The Undertaker. Usually quick and hard hitting fights where all what matters was how hard you hit. F2P would be the smaller, more technical wrestler fights where you won't be seeing any big hits or feats of strength, and instead a more methodical dance anyone can win, requiring more strategy and planning, and less "EAT MY STEROIDS FUELLED GREATAXE NOOB".

Ah you're not going crazy Yuan, you're just missing the context of the event. It is Old School RuneScape, but the actual Old School version of it and not the 'Old School' days aka RuneScape 2. Most participants did not play Old School RuneScape but EoC RuneScape aka RuneScape 3, and thus our Old School levels were super duper low.

A not-so-brief-introduction: Back in the day players who considered themselves "PvPers" (or the most used word: "PKers") were essentially split in two very basic main categories: the F2P PKers, and the P2P PKers. P2P PKing usually involved more risk, as the equipment was more valuable, and weapons more overpowered and dangerous. It made for quick and deadly duels, usually with considerable amounts of gold being gambled. F2P on the other hand was looked down upon by the P2Pers - who considered anyone who did F2P PKing was "below" their tier and level - as well as by a considerable portion of the non-PvP community who merely did not understand it. F2P PKing, however, despite not as expensive with a rough average of 200k in armour being risked, arguably required more skill. And why was this the case? F2P fights had a mix of high defense armour and only average damage-dealing weapons. Meaning with appropriate food, and equally armoured/armed foes, fights could last a long time. Much longer than P2P encounters. Because it was impossible to KO your opponent if they were at full Hitpoints or near full, and players would run after expending all their food, an unofficial rule was introduced in the F2P PKing community: the "no-safing rule". What was the no-safing rule? Safing was the action of 'eating' / using healing food while above the amount of lifepoints considered 'safe' or free of risk that could cause the player to get 'KOed'. 'Honorable' PKers (or at least smart ones who wanted a chance to earn kills and loot) were expected to maintain their lifepoints at around a low, albeit reasonable amount; so that an opponent could lower their lifepoints with their primary weapon, and with a quick switch of weapons to a secondary, usually much slower but harder hitting weapon, potentially inflict a large hit and KO/defeat their foe. It depended heavily on luck to inflict the important final hit, and fights consisted of minutes doing this 'dance' trying to KO their adversary. It required better timing, stress control, prayer points allocation and timing, luck and everything else than almost everything P2P PKing required; where damage was consistently high and brutal and less dependent on skill and timing, and rellying far more on specials and luck. What were/are 'Corrupt Weapons'? Corrupt Weapons were introduced after the free-trade removal; a system introduced by Jagex to combat RWT/RMT. Essentially - as many of you surely remember - Jagex removed the concept of gifts, free trades/exchanges or item drops to limit/eliminate the perceived threat of RWT/RMT to their game, without any care or second thoughts on how it'd impact the manner the game and it's community functioned. It was highly damaging to the PvP community as a whole, who no longer received as a reward for killing their opponents said fallen opponent's 'gear', usually expensive. The drops became randomly generated, in a tremendously unfair system that relied on pure luck for the most part, and a weird and unreasonable kill/death average formula. With the new system now in place, Corrupt Weapons were added as potential drops not just for P2Pers but also for F2Pers, adding a new layer of difficulty to F2P PKing. And why's that? Corrupt Weapons were/are the 'corrupt' versions (aka degradable after x uses) of the famed P2P Dragon Weapons, weapons and armor previously unnacessible to F2Pers. They hit harder and faster than Rune weapons, and gave a massive advantage to anyone using them, thus becoming highly sough after by the top F2P PKers as KO weapons. Getting a Corrupt Weapon drop was a guaranteed couple mils, and bank made. The chief of which was the Corrupt Dragon Battleaxe, the dream of any F2P PKer. Personal opinion / disclaimer: I by no means wish to offend or bellitle P2P PKing and P2P PKers. It does require skill, and considerably more risk given that you can get killed much faster and easily, completely out of nowehere with the added bonus of risking more wealth. I have personally however tried both, and always felt F2P appealed more to me, and reminded me more of the RuneScape of old. Both types of PKing similar mainly in the basis that you had to kill your opponent, but very different in the way you went about doing so. Excellent F2P PKers could fail utterly doing P2P PKing the same way expert P2Pers would get their behinds handed to them in a glorious manner trying F2P PKing.

2/10 every1 knows there's no wind in space

Cheers Adam. I have a ton of stuff to share that I've found in a drive of an old laptop. Sadly most of the really old stuff was lost, but still got heaps of things. Some will surely be boring or uninteresting, and sadly most will be focused on my character and experience. I wish I had saved more community focused stuff rather than just "Micael stuff". I want to post something new everyday, for old time's sake, even if you're the only faithful Sal's member checking.

The first level 99 I've ever achieved. 99 Woodcutting. I had a small party attended by Sal's members, and an adequately small drop party (for a poor player) to celebrate. July 24th of 2011 is the earliest date I can find associated to the screenshot, but it could be older considering I began my RuneScape career in 2005. 6 years seems too long for my first 99, so 2011 is possibly the oldest recorded modification to the image.

Classic Sal

Sal's Realm Old School Castle Wars Event Team Santafish Vs Squirtle Squad Far from the high attendance standards of the Sal's of old, these events hosted roughly a decade ago were the final days of Sal's activity, when we could still pull a small but consistent group of people to attend fun events. This event, an Old School Castle Wars competition between teams Santafish (led by Salmoneus) and it's rivals the Squirtle Squad (led by Micael Fatia) was possibly one of the final few times Salmoneus himself attended an event. Needless to say we all had a blast. My pictures have been copied and transferred multiple times, so it's hard to find an accurate date of creation for these screenshots. The oldest date associated to them I could find was March 4th of 2013, nearly 10 years ago, but it's potentially older than that.

That's a very tough one. I'm sure many of my favorites are well know books that most of you will have read by now, so it seems pointless to mention them. But if I don't, it leaves out very few if any books that aren't history books, and these tend not to be everyone's cup of tea. Taking the risk of making some boring choices, I would personally recommend SPQR - my favorite book about Rome, written by Cambridge's Classic's teacher Mary Beard; two books by Dan Jones: The Templars: The Rise and Spectacular Fall of God's Holy Warriors; and Crusaders: An Epic History of the Wars for the Holy Lands. I am by no means a religious person, much the opposite given my historical knowledge and experience in historical subjects, but the Templars and the Crusades are ever always a fascinating subject. Finally, not historical books but they're books I quite enjoyed. By no means award winning books or even books a lot of people have heard about, my love for them is surely augmented by how much I am a fan of the franchise but... Lord of Souls and the Infernal City (two separate books, not the same title) by Greg Keyes. Small, simple books that tell a tale between TES IV: Oblivion and TES V: Skyrim. I found them quick and satisfying reads. Anything else coming to mind right now is surely either too boring (if you don't like the same types of books as me) or something everyone has read. Thank you for asking. What would you recommend yourself?

It's amazing you guys kept all of these. Piece of Sal's history right there.

Fantastic as usual. It has always amazed me the amount of work you put into small details, and bringing life to some scenes. Truly remarkable. I quite enjoyed the read and look forward to more.

It was a really good episode, well done Adam?!

As the first entry I'll use a piece of artwork made by @Zooey. Zooey and I didn't know each other that well all things considered, but from my part I can say he was someone I grew to respect a lot and consider a Sal's friend. He was always willing to create cool signatures and avatars for me, without asking for anything or much at all in return. A tremendously nice person and Sal's user to have around. In this one in particular Zooey highlighted my background as Sal's resident F2P PKer/PvPer, as well as my involvement in the Clan World of RuneScape. In all my years as a RunesScape player and Sal's user, I've had countless avatars and signatures made specifically for me. Many of them of considerable high quality, which I plan to share here in the blog in the future, in another nostalgic entry or multiples. And yet, this piece is the one I choose to represent the blog as it truly captures the essence of who I was as a RuneScape player: a PvPer of the minor F2P leagues, and Clan World aficionado. Many thanks Zooey!

Totally understandable. It's very exciting at first when you're experiencing things for the first time, but it does definitely become overly repetitive. You always reach a point it stops feelings exciting discovering new planets, as they look similar to others you've found before even if they're still unique. The star-ships(s)/base(s) customization etc aren't that advanced enough to keep you entertained for long. Like, it sounds like I'm bashing the game but it's important to reiterate it's a really good game with lots to do, just not everybody's cup o' tea. Sadly I feel I've gotten a bit bored of it already, but there's a new update coming soon so who knows. True. The first few steps are a nightmare, but then it becomes infinitely times easier the moment you establish a good base. Once you're there admittedly crafting never gets much easier, but at least gathering what you need for the things you want to make stops being a nuisance for the most part. It's very entertaining, but it does feel a bit like it lacks a proper goal. That's kind of the point of the game though, so it's not a very solid negative aspect.

The walls of reality are crumbling, and the line between dream and waking life are blurred. The promised day Salmoneus shall return is approching quickly, I believe.

Surely most here have heard of this game. Was a big deal a few years ago, it had spectacular ads for the game which created lots of hype and expectations... only to turn into a Major (capital M) disappointment. Went from a game everyone expected to win all yearly awards, to disappointment of the year. That is, of course, until the dev team sat down and actually began working on how to fix it. Consistent updates, upgrades and bug fixes turned it into a gem of a game and undid most of the sins the release version was guilty of. It's quite the fun game to play nowadays, which I do play occasionally. I enjoy massively the entire space travel and exploration concept, and was wondering if anyone else here played and would like to share anything about their adventures and discoveries. Maybe even tips or suggestions as I'm pretty newbie. I've only recently (month or two ago) got into it, despite actually having pre-ordered the game. I am one of the many who gave up on the game immediately after the release, when it was very sub-par.

I actually play this. Not very actively and nowhere near as much as I played RuneScape back in the day, but often enough to be considered a veteran, albeit not an expert / pro. I'm up-to-date with all the content quest-wise, bar the Thieves guild and Dark Brotherhood that I haven't finished yet. I play Imperial (shocking from me, always have always will ) in the European servers. If anyone around here plays feel free to write here or drop me a message, and next time some good content comes out if you'd like you can join my group to do it together.

I love reading too and I'm particularly fascinated by actual physical books. The way they feel, smell, which I guess contributes to the experience and how much I enjoy reading. I'm not particularly a huge fan of fiction bar a few exceptions like LoTR or GoT. I just find it hard to get into anything else, but provided I get a good taste of the contents of these books before attempting to read them (ex - I read LoTR after watching the first movie; I got into GoT after the first season) then I get hooked and end up enjoying the whole set. A few like Eragon or the Mists of Avalon I got into because they were gifts from family or friends, but they're a rarity as for the most part I prefer real history to fantasy. Which brings me to my absolute favorite type of books: History books. I read anything that pertains to historical events, civilizations, advances etc for as long as it predates the concept of modern days. Mostly anything WW2 and below will attract me, whereas past the 40s it stops feeling as interesting to me. I don't know why, just personal taste. I've read about everything I can get my hands on from authors like Mary Beard or Adrian Goldsworthy, but also the likes of Martyn Rady, Katja Hoyder, Neil Gaiman (this one is a bit more of fictional history - his books I've read are his interpretations of religious myths such as the Norse Pantheon myths. Qualifies as mythology I suppose.) and countless other 'minor' writers with very specific areas of expertise such as Inazo Nitobe and his 'Bushido'. Currently reading 'The Fall of Carthage' (Punic Wars), after which I will finish (been on hold for a few months in the last chapters) 'Blood and Iron' (History of Germany).