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The ZMI Ourania Altar - Comparison to Other Runecrafting Methods TruthScape Special Reports - Understanding the RuneScape Assist System

Well, it happened again—I set out to write a short review of the new ZMI Ourania altar and went overboard. But you’re the beneficiary, as I hope all the information I’ve provided will be useful to you in deciding if and how you want to use this new feature. J

I’ll wrap up now with a summary of good and bad points, along with a general assessment and my recommendations.

By way of summary, I’ll list here briefly the good and bad aspects of the new altar for you to ponder.

First, the main positive aspects of the new altar:

• Great XP: The altar gives more XP than conventional Runecrafting for pretty much all levels: typically 50% to as much as 100% more than walking to altars or using the Abyss. It approaches the XP possible even by powercrafting with runners once you hit level 75, and then surpasses it.
  
  
• Increasing XP as Level Increases: No longer will level 95 Runecrafters be stuck getting the same XP per essence as level 65 Runecrafters.
  
  
• Can Craft Runes Above Your RC Level: You won’t get a lot of them, but even a few deaths, bloods and souls at my level 60 Runecrafting was a nice bonus.
  
  
• Blood and Soul Runes: The new altar is the only way to craft these runes, and you can get decent numbers of them at higher levels.
  
  
• No Skulling or PKers: You can make fast XP without having to deal with the hassles of Abyss Runecrafting, such as being skulled or getting attacked by PKers.

And now, some drawbacks:

• Junk Runes: Especially at the lower levels, a decent proportion of your valuable pure essence will go to make low-value runes like fires and bodies.
  
  
• No Multiple Runes Per Essence: You get only one rune per essence, period.
  
  
• Need for Lunar Magicks: To really get the most from this altar you need to have high enough levels to complete Lunar Diplomacy, and then level 71 Magic to cast the Ourania Teleport spell.
  
  
• Inventory Hassles: Having to dump 10 or 12 types of runes on every trip is annoying, as is the need to take extra steps to empty your essence pouches.
  
  
• Aggressive Enemies: The aggressive enemies on the short path to the altar will be a problem for lower-leveled players, and a nuisance even to higher level ones.

Many Runecrafters have been exceedingly critical of the new altar, but I believe this is because they have not taken the time to actually run the numbers and compare Ourania to the other options. I have just done so, and based on my experimentation and analysis, I give this new feature a strong overall passing grade.

The ZMI altar seems to have been carefully designed by Jagex to resolve several long-standing issues for higher level Runecrafters: slow XP, the need to use runners, and the lack of reward as you increase your RC level. With the Ourania altar, there is finally a way to trade off gold in favor of experience without being forced to buy the services of other players to bring you essence. It is an excellent choice for those who want to make their own runes, don’t care about maximizing profits, and don’t want to spend their time standing around trading runners.

I think most Runecrafters who are at least moderately high in level can greatly benefit from the new ZMI Ourania altar. When and how they use it will depend mostly on their Runecrafting level, and how they balance their desires for good runes/money versus experience.

Here are my thoughts for those at different Runecrafting levels:

• Under Level 44: I do not recommend the Ourania altar for low level Runecrafters. While you can indeed get higher level runes than would otherwise be possible, most of your rather pricy pure ess will go to making cheap elemental runes, which is a waste. For example, in a test, my son got 3 cosmics and 1 astral rune out of a load of 28 essence, which is nice—but the other 24 ess made bodies, fires and so forth, which are worth 10 to 20 gp each. In terms of XP, the situation isn’t much better; you certainly get more XP per trip, but most low level players can’t use Lunar Magicks, and the XP per hour drops quickly if Lunar cannot be used.
  
  Those trying to get fast XP below level 44 should stick to powercrafting fire runes. It will be easier, faster and you’ll lose less money since you can use regular (non-pure) essence.
  
  
• Levels 44 to 53: In this range you have a choice. You can either craft your own nature runes to make money but get less XP, or lose a small amount of money in using the Ourania altar, but get more XP. It’s pretty much a straight trade-off. Fire rune powercrafting is still a viable option, but here we’re starting to get to the point where Ourania is better.
  
  
• Levels 54 to 74: Ourania is a good option here if you want to make lots of XP and only a little gold. If you want to make money while leveling more slowly, I recommend the balloon method of law crafting. To power-level at high cost, use law runners on World 66; fire rune powercrafting is strictly worse than Ourania at these levels.
  
  
• Level 75 to 90: In this level range, Ourania is the way to go to make a modest amount of money and get lots of XP. The only alternative would be balloon laws or Abyss deaths if you want to make more money at the cost of leveling much more slowly. World 66 is flatly worse than Ourania at level 75.
  
  
• Level 91: The classic RuneScape choice of profit versus XP: lots of gold and moderate XP (making your own double nats); no gold and very fast XP (using runners at the nature altar); or a modest profit and still very good XP (Ourania).

Overall, I think the ZMI altar is going to have its biggest impact between levels 75 to 90. Before Ourania, the only decent options that these high level crafters had in their quest for the “magic 91” were slow XP using conventional Runecrafting, or blowing millions at World 66. The new altar is going to be very attractive to these players.

For some of those who have actually achieved the double nat milestone, Ourania will also be very useful. Many experienced players don’t want to use runners or the Abyss, and for them this option will really hit the spot. However, I think most level 91 Runecrafters will stick to double nats due to its huge profit or XP potential.

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Well, that’s it! Hope you found this report helpful, and happy Runecrafting! J

The ZMI Ourania Altar - Comparison to Other Runecrafting Methods TruthScape Special Reports - Understanding the RuneScape Assist System