The value of getting "slimed"

This morning I was hunting yellow slimes in the mines north of Hurnscald when one dropped a Jack'o soul. Normally Jack'o souls are only dropped by Jack'o, and killing Jack'o at level 52 is virtually impossible, so it's a nice find. The nice thing about slimes is that they pick up items that get left around by other players, you never know what you're going to pick up.

In a comment on a previous post I mentioned that I'm still working on my steel shield. In storage I have quite a few Iron Ore (over 50), and a bit of coal, but not nearly enough for the shield. My strategy is to buy the coal. I managed to get 6 coal for around 1000gp, 5 roots for every coal, not a bad price, but Tradebot is now asking 3,500gp each. At this point I'm almost tempted to go back in and try to divide and conquer the mogguns.

I think one of the things that makes TMW so much fun is that some things require patience. True, you can buy/beg for things (though begging is not recommended, it can get you banned, and it's annoying), but sometimes it's just good old fashioned leg work (killing monsters) that gets you what you need.

In the comment follow up I also mentioned "stacking," something I talk about in much earlier 2009 posts. Stacking is the fastest way I know to level, but you need to group up with characters that are more powerful, but still low enough that you get a hit or two in.

A common place to stack is in the spider area of the Hurnscald mines (where people stack to get Infantry Helmets and keys).