I am pushing 40 years old and playing Runescape for the first time. What tips can you all give me?
Title - I just wanna listen to chill music and grind. What should I do?
I’ve played this game since I was a wee lad and my biggest piece of advice is just take your time and enjoy the game.
Don’t get sucked into what’s most efficient or what you should be doing, focus on what’s enjoyable for you.
The amount of content in this game is unimaginable and there’s so many things to do. Set an easy goal if you need some guidance like Barrows Glove or Fire Cape, and grind accordingly.
Welcome to the grind my friend
I second following the optimal quest guide! Quests are a fun way to experience the world and the guide is a good way to set goals for quests and skills. That being said, don't be afraid to stray from it if you want! If there is a skill or other piece of content that you're digging just roll with it. The best part about this game is that there is so much to do and so many different ways to experience it! https://oldschool.runescape.wiki/w/Optimal_quest_guide
Ignore the hyper-optimized way to do everything. Do things in a way that make sense to you; learn from your mistakes and discover new training methods naturally.
Don't use quest guides or quest helpers, unless you're absolutely stuck (which you will be at some point as sometimes the game is not very intuitive). Read quest dialogs and interact with NPCs, as there is some genuinely hilarious dialog and well-written stories in the game.
Wear gear that looks cool. I'm still of the opinion that the dragon chainbody is one of the coolest items in the game.
Don't buy gold or take handouts from people. Players are often tripping over themselves to give gear and GP to new players but this absolutely ruins the early-game grind. Upgrading from a full steel set to full black is, in the grand scheme, a quick and tiny upgrade. But doing it yourself makes it rewarding and worthwhile. This goes double for a player who has never touched the game before.
Overall, just take time to explore the world and take it all in. The amount of content in the game is absolutely staggering, and it's easy to miss a lot of it if you are following the optimal quest guide and doing nothing but tick-manipulation training methods.
For many of us, we've played this game since we were kids so the magic has sort of worn off and nothing is as satisfying as seeing numbers go up as quickly as possible. But until you get to that point, there's a ton of cool things to discover.
On a different note, if/once you really get into the grind, set realistic goals for yourself. Personally, it's hard for me to sit down with no plan in mind and just grind away. If I have an idea in my head that I want to get X amount of experience by Y date, it makes it not only possible, but more enjoyable as well.
I am older as well and just started playing osrs again after a long break. I have been slowly working on getting most of my skills up to around lvl 30. That's around where the leveling slows down and things get a bit more grindy.
Also check out the optimal quest guide, I have been working my way through it and it's a great way to get exp and unlock new skills, areas, and features. The quests are also adorable and memorable, my household regularly makes reference to "One Small Favour". :)
https://oldschool.runescape.wiki/w/Optimal_quest_guide
Edit: Also, check out the Runelite client. It is a client to play rs in, and offers tons of quality of life fixes for the game. Some of my favourites are a graphics update making everything a bit prettier, and a weather plugin that gives dynamic weather. There are a ton of useful ones as well, for everything from inventory management to skill tracking.
https://oldschool.runescape.wiki/w/Optimal_quest_guide
Follow this guide little by little. You’ll burn out if you take it all on at once but questing is essential to unlocking new areas, activities and equipment
Don't slack on training your combat skills. It makes life much easier in many different ways.
Here are my thoughts as first time player in 2007, and then maxing a normie and an ironman in OSRS, in no particular order:
Quests usually get a bad rep because players usually encounter them by "I want to do x, but quest y is blocking me, so now I will do 30 minutes of resentful questing before grinding x content for 50 hours". Thinking about quests as their own experience rather than an inconvenience to overcome makes them a lot more enjoyable. The lore of the world is pretty great (most of the time), the dialogue is pretty funny (most of the time). It's worth slowing down for them and enjoying them.