What do you think? Personally, I'd go with
RuneScape Gold the Ascension(s) however, I always choose the best equipment over all other when such questions are asked. I'm biased as fk in regards to things like due to the kind of RuneScape player I am.
I didn't buy the premium membership this year since I thought it was useless. It's nice to have the every day Treasure Hunter key sure but it's nothing special and the rest is meh. If they had made it so you could choose the color of your star, then perhaps it would be better, but they didn't and I'm not a fan of blue stars. Also, I was not thinking of using the extra worlds that members who have premier membership enjoy, and I only actually use W71 and W33.
The gear of Barrows is great however, if you pass away the gear degrades to 0and repair is expensive. I'd recommend looking into Dragonrider equipment; it's hybrid (meaning you can use it to train in three different combat styles) and the entire set comes with a prayer bonus that is around +46.
The Elder Kiln grants you the Tokkul-Zo ringthat is capable of taking you directly to a bank , and the fairy rings. If you complete Fairy Tale part 3 and The Elder Kiln, you are able to reach all places in RuneScape in a matter of seconds. I would suggest that you finish Shilo Village and go to Duradel. Once you've reached 75 slayer go to Kuradal within the Ancient Cavern, and then go to Morvran to complete your last few levels.
For herbs, I believe that RuneScape Wiki has a spreadsheet that lists the most effective herb to currently use. Most commonly, snapdragons, toadflax and ranarr are good choices. I would suggest focusing on Slayer at the moment as it's a good investment (more than at higher levels however still profitable) and
Buy RS3 Gold you can train the majority of your abilities while you slay.