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TWIRP Player Profile Indexes TWIRP Combat Affordability and Drop Value Indexes

The TWIRP skill indexes, ta-da, measure the impact of RuneScape price changes on the various skills within the game. I track 17 of the current 23 skills; omitted are the skills that really are trained as part of combat (Attack, Defence, Strength, Hitpoints and Ranged), as well as Agility, since it has no essential items for either input or output.

I do track Prayer separately, since it is trained in a manner only indirectly related to combat, and the Slayer skill, since it is subtly different than regular combat. These skill indexes are shown below, but note that they are not included in the higher-level Skill Composite Index (TWIRP-S), which only measures non-combat skills; they are part of the Combat Composite Index (TWIRP-C) instead. I realize that's a bit confusing, sorry!

There are two different ways that I break down the higher-level composite indexes: by level and by skill type.

I created the individual skill indexes by assessing item use and production not for every skill as a whole, but rather three different ranges of proficiency in each skill: low-level, medium-level and high-level. For the sake of this project, I defined low-level as being approximately levels 1 to 40, mid-level as 41 to 70, and high level as 71 to 99. Again, though, note that word "approximately"!

The levels used for these indexes do not represent just the items involved at skill activities with those levels, but rather, how regular players tend to train the skill at the levels in question. Phew, that's confusing—example time. Consider the Mining skill; at level 70, you gain the ability to mine adamantite ore, and at 85 to mine runite ore. That doesn't mean, though, that the high-level Mining income index would focus only on adamantite and runite. Because training that skill is so time-consuming using high-level ores, most high-level miners do the bulk of their mining on lower grade ores, so that's what my indexes reflect.

After I had the low, medium and high level indexes for each skill, I combined them into a set of level-based skill composites. These allow you to see at a glance how much impact price changes have on those with varying amounts of experience. The three level-based composites are:

• Skill Composite Yield (l) [TWIRP-S(l)]: Indicates the relative yield from all non-combat skills at lower skill levels (1 to 40).
  
  
• Skill Composite Yield (m) [TWIRP-S(m)]: Shows the relative yield of all non-combat skills at medium skill levels (41 to 70).
  
  
• Skill Composite Yield (h) [TWIRP-S(h)]: Reflects the average relative yield from all non-combat skills at higher skill levels (71 to 99).

These level-based skills are combined to yield the overall Skill Composite Yield (TWIRP-S), weighted based on approximate numbers of players at different levels and my assessment of how much they contribute to and rely on the economy.

Of course, the more traditional way of breaking down skills is by skill type. These individual indexes allow you to see how each skill is affected by marketplace shifts. As mentioned in the TWIRP general description, some of these indexes measure income (for output-only skills), others show affordability (for input-only skills), while most are yield indexes (for ones that have both significant inputs and outputs).

Here are the names and index abbreviations for each of the skills:

• Construction Affordability (TWIRP-S-CONa): Skill index measuring the affordability of the Construction skill; higher values mean the skill is cheaper and easier to train.
  
  
• Cooking Yield (TWIRP-S-COOKy): Relative yield index for the Cooking skill.
  
  
• Crafting Yield (TWIRP-S-CRFTy): Index measuring the relative yield trend for Crafting.
  
  
• Farming Yield (TWIRP-S-FARMy): Measurement of the relative yield of Farming.
  
  
• Firemaking Affordability (TWIRP-S-FMa): Measures how affordable it is to train Firemaking; lower levels mean higher cost, and higher levels mean lower cost.
  
  
• Fishing Income (TWIRP-S-FISHi): Indicates the relative income potential trend for Fishing.
  
  
• Fletching Yield (TWIRP-S-FLTy): Shows the relative yield for Fletching. Note that this index does not include the cost of nature runes. Even though alching is often done along with Fletching bows, it’s not technically part of the skill; I have a separate High Alchemy Affordability Index that tracks the impact of price changes on the cost of alching.
  
  
• Herblore Yield (TWIRP-S-HERBy): Measures Herblore profitability over time.
  
  
• Hunter Income (TWIRP-S-HUNTi): Specifies the trend for the output value of the Hunter skill.
  
  
• Magic Affordability (TWIRP-S-MAGICa): Indicates the trend in the affordability of Magic training. This index focuses specifically on the items used for non-combat Magic.
  
  
• Mining Income (TWIRP-S-MNGi): Shows the trends in Mining skill output over time.
  
  
• Prayer Affordability (TWIRP-C-PRAYa): Indicates the relative affordability of training the Prayer skill. Also see the note immediately following this list.
  
  
• Runecrafting Yield (TWIRP-S-RCy): Measures the yield trend for the Runecrafting skill.
  
  
• Slayer Yield (TWIRP-C-SLAYy): Indicates the relative yield of the Slayer skill. Please see the note immediately following this list.
  
  
• Smithing Yield (TWIRP-S-SMITy): Measures Smithing profitability trends.
  
  
• Thieving Income (TWIRP-S-THVi): Specifies the income value trend for Thieving.
  
  
• Woodcutting Income (TWIRP-S-WCi): Shows Woodcutting output value trends.

Again, please note that while Prayer and Slayer are listed here for simplicity in organizing the data, they are not part of TWIRP-S. (You'll note that their abbreviations start with "TWIRP-C", for "combat".) I should also point out that skill indexes do not generally take into account "one-time" item purchases. In particular, there is really only one skill that has an expensive, noteworthy tool used just to train it, and that's the dragon woodcutting axe. This item is used in TWIRP but as part of higher-level indexes.

Finally, remember that all indexes have a "buffer factor" that is used to compensate for the fact that some skills are not really as dependent as others are on item costs for input or output. This is all worked into these skill indexes as well.

TWIRP Player Profile Indexes TWIRP Combat Affordability and Drop Value Indexes