Tip.It Times - 18th March 2012

[tripsis]

Time for a new release of the: >>>Tip.It Times!<<<

 

 

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Enjoy the articles!

[Radicap]

Regarding the second article, it's a slightly over-simplified (understandably so, to relate it to the game rather than the real world) lesson in economics, and overall a very enjoyable read. It almost makes me want to see a server reboot to see the economy development in action.

[RU_Insane]

Not sure if typo, but last editorial is classified as "Accompanying Article" :P

 

Looks like a quality list of articles this week. Can't wait to read them all. :)

 

@Radicap:

 

Thanks for your comments. :) I would like to see a reboot as well. Especially as our current economy developed under a very unique set of circumstances (one example being the item duplication bug), it would be interesting to note the key differences between the two, or even a whole host of them if we rebooted several servers. Just imagine, for instance, what RuneScape's economy would be like if the item duplication glitch were never found. How would that impact the price of rune armor? If we carefully reconstructed the economy up to this point, we may get an accurate answer.

[NukeMarine]

All three articles were very good this week.

 

One item missing from updates with the most impact is the PvP Server update. That introduced 76k'ing and had a large economic impact on all worlds. While others including myself were glad to see 76k'ing go away, I'm kind of disappointed they never reintroduced a PvP server as I'm sure one or two of those would be very popular.

 

With respect to a rebooted economy, two things can radically impact the path: presence of a Grand Exchange and presence of alchemy spells. Personally, I think the GE is essential to stabalize prices early on and help view is real time how the economy is progressing. There can still be bartering as the article puts out, but older players know the tedium of World 2 trading and would prefer not to go back to that. In addition, removing of mass high alchemy will limit introduction of gp into the game keeping the value of gp very high compared to the original economy. Of course, that'll put enormous strain on the gp intensive construction skill.

[RU_Insane]

I don't quite understand how Construction is expensive or cost-intensive, counter to the trope that runs through here. I spent six million GP on my house (very convenient layout, by the way) and ten million or so to train it to 69 from level 1. I think that's a decent price, considering the benefits I receive. It's worth noting that I trained Construction when Wilderness was revenant-free, so I'd pwn green dragons for quick cash. Good times. :) Also, 1 to 99 Construction is not more than a few hundred million. I understand it's easier to make cash today than before, no? Maybe I'm completely our of sync. O_O

[Hamtaro]

I don't quite understand how Construction is expensive or cost-intensive, counter to the trope that runs through here. I spent six million GP on my house (very convenient layout, by the way) and ten million or so to train it to 69 from level 1. I think that's a decent price, considering the benefits I receive. It's worth noting that I trained Construction when Wilderness was revenant-free, so I'd pwn green dragons for quick cash. Good times. :) Also, 1 to 99 Construction is not more than a few hundred million. I understand it's easier to make cash today than before, no? Maybe I'm completely our of sync. O_O

In context, it is quite expensive to get it to 99 and it was even more difficult to do so before the hyper-inflation of Summer '09. That hyper-inflation was unforeseen by Jagex and was caused by (as NukeMarine reminded me) the 76k trick. Nowadays, it might not seem so expensive as it was intended to be.

[Alg]

In context, it is quite expensive to get it to 99 and it was even more difficult to do so before the hyper-inflation of Summer '09. That hyper-inflation was unforeseen by Jagex and was caused by (as NukeMarine reminded me) the 76k trick. Nowadays, it might not seem so expensive as it was intended to be.

On the other hand, I checked out con a while before BXP. Unsure if it was due to BXP hoarding (Though it's likely) but oak planks were around 700 GP each. Even from my level that's still quite a bit more than the average player has to spend on a skill that stops being useful in the mid-70s (Though it remains very fun to play with). And then there are the really nice decorations...

 

It's definitely expensive for something that's completely cosmetic and can't be sold again, but by the time you can afford to make the nice things you can probably do so without too much pressure (So, by the time you can work with gold leaf, 130k isn't going to be your entire bank, though it's still a not an amount you'd spend lightly).

[Diomedus]

I had been pondering a scenario in my head for a while. I was curious what a player would do if they logged in one day and found their bank was completely empty, and they had nothing to give them a head start to rebuild (no planted torstols, no MTK, no torstols already planted, and no friends for a loan)

 

Honestly, a complete server reset, while an interesting idea, would probably be the end for me. I loved doing the quests, and I like playing now, but I can't imagine starting over. I've been somewhat debating about quitting video games all together. That's part of why I am trying to resist my brother trying to convince me to buy Skyrim with him. I don't want a whole new time sink, as much as I think I'd like it.

 

Also, I loved playing on the PVP servers. I had so much fun fighting in cities, running away through buildings, climbing stairs and crossing second floor connected buildings (ardy marketplace). I would support bringing back a server or two for PVP worldwide.

[RU_Insane]

@Alg and Hamtaro

 

Your responses make sense. Most certainly when Construction was first released, it was seen as a money sink as there was comparatively less capital flowing around in the economy. Luckily for myself, I trained Construction at a time where it was abundant and easily accessible, so even frivolous purchases like gold leaf were not a concern. So I'm not so easily predisposed to the notion that it's costly (then again, I haven't tried training my Con past 69, but I have a gilded altar thanks to boosts). :P

[NukeMarine]

I had been pondering a scenario in my head for a while. I was curious what a player would do if they logged in one day and found their bank was completely empty, and they had nothing to give them a head start to rebuild (no planted torstols, no MTK, no torstols already planted, and no friends for a loan)

 

Honestly, a complete server reset, while an interesting idea, would probably be the end for me. I loved doing the quests, and I like playing now, but I can't imagine starting over. I've been somewhat debating about quitting video games all together. That's part of why I am trying to resist my brother trying to convince me to buy Skyrim with him. I don't want a whole new time sink, as much as I think I'd like it.

 

Also, I loved playing on the PVP servers. I had so much fun fighting in cities, running away through buildings, climbing stairs and crossing second floor connected buildings (ardy marketplace). I would support bringing back a server or two for PVP worldwide.

He described that part poorly. It's not about resetting all servers, just some of them. The idea is a group of servers are set aside with a reset economy and anybody logging in for the first time will find their character has fresh stats/quests/bank/etc. The normal servers would still be there. In that case, a majority of people aside from checking out the new servers, will go back to playing the normal set as they have developed characters there. However, many people will still take a stab at the idea of a fresh character in a relatively fresh economy. The author is just theorizing what the initial economy will look like during that time.

 

I too would like to see a PvP server or two brought back on line. I wouldn't go there myself, but it seems like a nice idea for people that enjoy pk'ing.

[Riptide Mage]

I had been pondering a scenario in my head for a while. I was curious what a player would do if they logged in one day and found their bank was completely empty, and they had nothing to give them a head start to rebuild (no planted torstols, no MTK, no torstols already planted, and no friends for a loan)

 

Sell DG floors for 6 mil an hour, bank rebuilt in no time.

[Fourfoxes]

Hope for Tip It Times: Renewed. Infinitely better than last week and much better than a lot of recent weeks. Haven't quite finished the second one, but damn if that isn't long and well-thought out.

[Shady Character]

i agree with fourfoxes, finally got some really good articles that were very well thought out and thought provoking.

[Cow]

Nice insight into penguin hunting. Thanks for three years of helping everyone train runecrafting :thumbsup:

[RU_Insane]

Thanks for the replies :) I tried hard to make my article engaging as well as informative without putting my readers off due to length or content.

 

... I think. :P I could have rewrote the first couple of paragraphs; I thought they were a bit wordy.

 

Great to see positivity too. Much improvement from the gloom and cynicism of last week.

[Hamtaro]

So did anyone have any thoughts on the list-style article? Is that something that you would like to see again in the future?

[RU_Insane]

So did anyone have any thoughts on the list-style article? Is that something that you would like to see again in the future?

 

I wouldn't mind seeing another list :P Maybe the next topic could be... hmm.

 

Notable player-organized events (riots, parties, etc.)?

[Bows]

Great articles, I especially enjoyed the one about the Penguins!

[Platinum_Myr]

Construction could be solved by lowering some of the material prices.

 

I like the idea of removing high alch, as picking up monster drops would be good again. The main issue is that without high alch *many* items become value-less, (random rune/addy drops, at least once you get past the ability to wear them profitably).

 

Being able to prevent millions of gold from entering the game is kind of cool, but I think we'd still need some way to make items exit the game. Maybe make high alch change to convert items to experience. (More xp for more valuable items)

[Vezon Dash]

Construction could be solved by lowering some of the material prices.

 

I like the idea of removing high alch, as picking up monster drops would be good again. The main issue is that without high alch *many* items become value-less, (random rune/addy drops, at least once you get past the ability to wear them profitably).

 

Being able to prevent millions of gold from entering the game is kind of cool, but I think we'd still need some way to make items exit the game. Maybe make high alch change to convert items to experience. (More xp for more valuable items)

 

You just make the money only usable in shops.

[Jonanananas]

Glad to see that the articles this week are well received :)

 

Regarding my article: Would you be interested in a "sequel", explaining the basic mechanics of how herding works? It was something I couldn't focus on in this one, and I thought it might interest people, even if it won't be your usualy style of article.

 

 

 

Also...

 

 

 

Also, I loved playing on the PVP servers. I had so much fun fighting in cities, running away through buildings, climbing stairs and crossing second floor connected buildings (ardy marketplace). I would support bringing back a server or two for PVP worldwide.

 

 

I believe the issue Jagex has with introducing PvP servers is that it would increase testing time a lot. At the moment, every server has the same code. You test one server, it fits for all of them, unless there's a real hardware error.

 

If you introduce PvP servers...you basically have to test everything twice, on two different servers. Yes, if the update doesn't affect PvP then theoretically it should work the same...but well, bugs are hard to predict, and sometimes it just doesn't work the way it should.

When the wilderness was removed, Jagex put up with having different server versions because they had to try their best to keep the PvP players of Runescape. Today, it's not that sure if PvP worlds would really be worth the effort.

[WoodenFruit]

Nice set of articles this week...Jonanas! I didn't know you were writing one about team penguin, it is a good insight for anyone who doesn't know how it works...though you missed the part where everyone has different ideas over if it's a canifis or a mort spawn and if it's a castle wars or a feldip spawn and we all get confused and crawl under rocks from the stress of it all ;)

[deacon377]

I've been playing since late 2005.

 

I remember literally all of these updates, and the resulting feedback.

 

I really do wish Jagex would remove the grand exchange...and possibly allow world 2 Fallador to resume operation.

The GE is such a lazy option, it removed an integral social aspect of the game from what is, without a doubt, a socially centered game (because let's face it, we're not hanging out here for the graphics.)

[Vezon Dash]

I've been playing since late 2005.

 

I remember literally all of these updates, and the resulting feedback.

 

I really do wish Jagex would remove the grand exchange...and possibly allow world 2 Fallador to resume operation.

The GE is such a lazy option, it removed an integral social aspect of the game from what is, without a doubt, a socially centered game (because let's face it, we're not hanging out here for the graphics.)

 

To be fair though, I don't want to sit about in w2 Falador again to sell my MTK loot.

[Crocefisso]

Just posting to congratulate Ham on his article - your article had me hooked throughout. Certainly agree with your choice of free trade and PVP wildy as the top, following by the GE and POHs. I disagreed only with #7, though this is more of a personal thing - I've never been much of a quest fan.

 

Great job overall. :thumbup: