Marduk_God

I speak relatively quickly as well, but my experiences are from the opposite side of the spectrum. I think too much when I speak, and sometimes my mouth can't keep up with my thoughts. For most words/sentences I'll have at least one synonym or alternative ready in case those fit the situation better. You'd think that'd be ideal for forming coherent, well-articulated sentences, only sometimes I get them bungled up when I suddenly change my mind mid-sentence or even mid-word. Instead of saying one or the other, I'll blurt out both at the same time. For example, instead of saying either "I'm reading the page" or "I'm browsing the page", I'll utter something along the lines of "I'm breading the page". #-o Or, instead of asking for either the "check" or the "bill", I'm asking for the "chill". These are fictive examples as I'm not a native English speaker, but they fit the chill bill closely enough. A related frustration would be where I have a clear picture in my head of something (an idea, a concept, an image) I want to get across, only I can't pour it into words for the life of me, and as such fail to do it justice. An image truly is a thousand words.

I hate people who always postpone things until the very last moment, so everything has to be done in a hurry. Chronic procrastinators, I think they're called. It's even worse when they are apparently oblivious of the annoyance this causes, and expect you to cope with it. Bah.

I'd prefer more integration of the existing skills as well, to be honest. The past few years have seen a step in the right direction, with ancient curses/overloads and the like, but there's alot more potential. For me, dungeoneering was a hit-and-miss, for example: while it marvellously integrated the existing skills into it, the skill itself stands pretty much separate from the existing content (it's a one-way-street, so to speak). I've never quite understood why some of the existing content HAS treated separately from everything else. In light of the Player Owned Ports NukeMarine mentioned above: why not expand the 'Player Owned House' into a 'Player Owned Estate' that could function along the lines of 'Manage thy Kingdom' (Miscellanea)? This would revamp the POH which currently has some nice functions but overall is completely separate from the existing game. Instead of building a house and its contents, you could construct a castle or manor (with construction), plant trees, herbs, flowers and fields (farming), cut said trees (woodcutting), develop your estate (building houses, workshops, bakeries and invest in them) and exploit your estate (mining, fishing, hunting) etc. They could even combine the currently useless 'Loyalty program' titles with them, which currently serve no function other than cosmetic. I like some aspects of the way the game is currently heading, which emphasises revamping/updating existing content and bringing it more in touch with each other. I only wish for them to pursue this road further before adding brand new content to the game, which would most likely be stand-alone.

I think most of them quit, to be honest. Don't ask me how I know, but traffic to certain parts of tip.it's website plummeted after the nuke. I don't know about that. Immediately after the bot nuke there would be between 40k and 60k players online during weekdays, whereas the past few weeks it's been as high as 80-100k (granted, the holidays might have something to do with that, but still). Some of those were new (p2p) players, but the majority would have been players who resubscribed. I'd wager not all of the latter have always been legit. The past few weeks, for example, I've been seeing numerous of the generic level 90's/100's something again: those sporting herblore, mining, magic, construction, crafting, runecrafting, woodcutting or fishing capes with little or no other mentionable skills whatsoever (some of their skills don't even show up in the highscores, and they're not pures). In the case of buyable skills they may have obtained their wealth by dicing, but not in the case of mining etc. Those "players" were almost gone immediately after the nuke. One one occasion, I've even seen a few of the aforementioned individuals (conversation started out with 2, and two others joined in) chatting in my own language (Dutch) about how they used to bot and are glad they got as far as they did with it - they're now playing "legit". And, of course, some areas are overrun with the dragon med - granite body - dragon platelegs/skirts "people" again (not to mention the "repopulation" of Sorc's garden). This a subjective experience, of course, and a number of individuals can hardly be called representative; but I believe it to be somewhat indicative of a certain trend none the less.

So that's where I read about it. :oops: My apologies, I read through this thread earlier and then browsed some other threads. By the time I came back to read the new replies in this one I wanted to share the information, but had forgotten where I'd obtained it from (I figured from the 'behind the scenes' thread). I'll add in the credit where it's due. ;)

If you're using logs (maples, for example) that can be used for both fletching and firemaking, the fletching option always comes first ('craft') and the firemaking option second ('light'). If you're using logs that can only be used for firemaking (but not fletching, such as teak logs) you have a left-click 'light' option. Got the info from Turothking, from an earlier post of his in this thread.

How would one go about reconciling the two seemingly opposed sentiments that are becoming more and more prevalent nowadays? A not insignificant portion of the playerbase is taking a stance against 'the grind' (and not without just cause, I should think) whereas on the other hand we have a growing number of people who have reached 99 in an increasing number of skills, who wish for the level cap to be raised to 120. In themselves, they're two perfectly valid sentiments, of course. I say they're 'seemingly opposed' because they're really two different things. People advocating a decrease of the grind aren't necessarily asking for skills to become easier to attain; they're instead asking for a decrease in the number of repetitive actions required to attain those skills. Make gameplay more interesting, so to say - but not easier. Conversely, I'm not entirely convinced of the merits of raising the level cap to 120, without changes to the gameplay (how one gains xp) as well. I don't really buy the argument that the level cap should be raised only because more and more have attained the 'max' level, if only for the reason that it doesn't actually solve anything. What if more and more people attain level 120 in skills in ten years time? Increase the level cap once more? Seems like a never-ending alley we'd be entering here. Point being: by merely increasing the level cap one is merely postponing the inevitable. A raise of the level cap (which I'm not against per say) should, in my opinion, coincide with an overhaul of the gameplay (how one goes about gaining xp). Don't make skills easier to train, but make them more interesting. I don't wish to turn this into another debate about 'the grind', however - we've seen enough of those already. I'd like to see a raise of the level cap to 120 as well, but in a way so that it doesn't actually increase the grind (which can be quite burdensome as it is). There needs to be a delicate balance between both sentiments.

If you're purely looking for length and not difficulty/usefulness, have a look at this list and order it on 'length' (by clicking the down arrow in the 'length' tab, they'll be ordered from short to long). You'll have to sift through them on prerequisites (both quests and skills), though. Alternatively, as has been mentioned multiple times before, you could aim for those quests that are a requirement for useful quests and tasks. It'll save you a lot of pain in the long run.

Free to play is conditional. In this case, Jagex says "alright, we'll let you play for free as long as you'd like, but while you are free you have: 1. A severely reduced bank space. 2. Severely reduced access to the game world, quests, mini-games, equipment, etc. 3. Restricted access to skills (16 of 25) 4. Not everything in the 16 usable skills is craftable. 5. If you subscribe, you lose access to benefits when the subscription ends. Like it or not, companies put out free versions to coerce people into paying, and the people on here who believe Jagex's statement that they want free to play to be its own "full game," probably aren't aware that every freemium/free to play game with a membership/cash shop has said that exact same thing. The limitations you're citing aren't conditional in this context, however (as Quyneax pointed out before me). Conditional, in this regard, would be "you can play free to play, but only for three months - after which you have to subscribe". This is not the case - the stance you quote "alright, we'll let you play for free as long as you'd like" is exactly what I meant with 'unconditional'. You can enjoy the free content for as long as you like, without condition to pay. Hence, it is unconditionally free.

If a service is completely and unconditionally free to play, making use of said service cannot be considered, under any circumstance, as freeloading. It's the very definition of unconditionally free, you know? How exactly does using an unconditionally free service make you a freeloader, nevermind a "leech"? A freeloader (or free rider) is someone who consumes a resource without paying for it. As free to play is available for free, and it being free is unconditional, there is no cost or condition to be avoided, hence you cannot freeload. Of course f2p costs money for Jagex (upkeep of servers etc.), but making use of a service that they make available for free without any conditions in no way makes you a freeloader. You are not obliged to get members, after all. It's a conscious choice you make, but choosing not to do so in no way diminishes your value as a player, or a human being. Most importantly, it doesn't give you, or anyone else for that matter, the right to judge them. A few other things to consider: - for most high levelled f2p (i.e. top 250 f2p etc.), it's definately not a question of money, but of pride. Training skills in f2p is harder than in p2p, because it is less efficient and more expensive. Hence, you take greater pride in your accomplishments. - the parents of some of the younger f2p'ers simply aren't willing to shelve out money to get members. Should those f2p'ers be downplayed because of this? No. The sad irony is that for most people that judge others based on this criterium, their parents paid for their membership somewhere along the line. - F2p does generate an income, through ads. I would hesitate to call it profitable - because of the low amount of f2p'ers currently - but it's an income nonetheless.

I should hope so as well, but it doesn't seem likely, does it? I haven't seen a soul there since the nuke (despite visiting three to four times a day), and all of a sudden dozens of people are coming there (all worlds combined, mind you - I visited multiple worlds to be sure). Not to mention they're almost all level 3 as well. The chances of these being legit players are rather slim, I fear. EDIT: by the way, you can edit your signature in your profile, that should save you the hassle of copypasting this link in your post every time. ;-)

Some bots do seem to be back online, though. I pass by Sorceress' Garden several times a day, as I use the broomstick to bank in Shantay Pass (I train combat at bandits). Ever since the bot nuke, it's been positively deserted, but right now there are between 1-10 people there in several worlds, whereas others are deserted still. They're almost all level 3 too. In fact, there are more of them coming online as I post this (logged in to world 6 10 minutes ago, there were 2 level three's there whereas now there's nearly 10). Also note the white dots on the screenshot (it was somewhat difficult gathering multiple of them into a single shot, as there's not oodles of them... yet :/). Their pathfinding does seem to be broken, though.

Of course they are, people are posting 'stock up on resources' and 'prices will soar' everywhere, both on RSOF and fansites (including here). There's alot of excitement, it's nearly a hype. Some people are actually selling lower tier rares to scrape together enough money to invest in bulk resources. Either way, prices will likely crash soon after the update: - Either it won't have the effect they hoped for, in which case the result speaks for itself. - If they do get rid of most bots, however, people will be sitting on a huge stockpile of resources they'll be trying to get rid of as fast as possible, hoping to make a quick buck. In this instance, prices will crash before they stabilize and rise again.

I'm afraid you may have misunderstood me - in retrospect I should have worded my reply more carefully. I was neither trying to whine nor accusing you of doing so (there would be no point in that other than trying to stir things up, which certainly isn't my intention), which is why I didn't quote you. I was merely voicing the opinion (not directed towards anyone in specific) that holiday items should be viewed as unique opportunities, and that they shouldn't be inflated beyond their point or purpose. They're just there for fun, after all. Yet I see people (again not directed towards anyone in particular, but people in general) complaining all the time about having missed this or that certain holiday drop and how Jagex should re-release them, more often than not just because this accomodates their whim. Is that really in the spirit of the holidays they are intended to liven up? My reply (which is only an opinion, after all) was made in that light. As I said, as long as the item is unique, I don't have a problem with it at all. It's not like a scythe (as a typology of items) is out of bounds just because they were dropped the better part of a decade ago, I fully agree with you on that one. Personally, I certainly wouldn't mind another scythe drop, just as long as there is an obvious difference between the two. There's no reason for an elitist attitude (on my part). I would like to maintain, however, that there should be better reasons for having a scythe as a holiday drop rather than referring to the 2003 scythe drop and how "people missed them because of time constraints or because they didn't play" - which is the most frequent reason given. That doesn't really fir in to the spirit of a holiday event, I think.

I have both a scythe and bunny ears, and I don't really care either way - as long as the resemblance isn't too blatantly obvious. But knowing Jagex isn't exactly known for their considerate attitude towards "veterans", I wouldn't get my hopes up. I don't buy the whole "re-releasing the scythe for the people who didn't receive one back then" argument, though. If you were online and got one, yay, if you weren't, nay. Whatever the reason, tough luck. I haven't got every single holiday reward myself due to those "unfair time constraints", that's just the way it is, you don't see me complaining about it (and I would really have liked those ghostly robes - they'd fit my scythe perfectly). Re-releasing them every once in a while would go against the very point of those holiday rewards and be the umpteenth sign that this game really has jumped the shark. And yes, the scythe drop was held twice indeed...

Did you have a bank pin? If so, and they bypassed it, chances are it's someone you know... There is software to find that out, but it's slightly more complicated than a mere keylogger; and I doubt anyone would go to such lenghts just to steal a mask. I got recovered for a blue p hat in 2005, and it turned out soon afterwards it was my own brother who did it... Apparently, answering your recovery questions truthfully was not as good an idea as it seemed at first. You can't trust anyone.

I received the same message not three days ago, only it was on a noob account of mine I'd only made a couple of weeks ago as I was waiting for a succesful account recovery and wanted to explore the game after years of hiatus. Not sure what they would be gaining there. Also, that email address is only linked to that account (I don't use it for anything else), so not really sure how they sniffed it out. Speaking of account recovery, I supplied one yesterday evening, and not even two hours later I recovered an account I originally made in 2004 by only supplying the approximate date the account was made (as in year, without months) and the country I'm from. That was it... No recoveries, no previous passwords, nothing. I'm a bit baffled at how easy that went. :mellow: The login screen did mention I last logged in some 2730-odd days ago ago, perhaps the fact the account had been idle for so long has something to do with it.

RuneScape has changed yes, for better of for worse. Regardless of that, it's not the game you played ten years ago. I'm afraid you'll find the RuneScape of today is vastly different from the one you remember. That can either be a good thing or a bad thing. The community back then was alot smaller as there were far fewer players - and that made alot of difference (even though it was never the paradise some people would have it be). Today's RuneScape is vastly different from that. In my experience, it's much more an anonymous thing - it just comes with the age of the game and the size of the community I guess. I can't help but feel some of the 'magic' is lost, however, as the community grew and the game advanced.

These days, most people seem to be all about the package and not really about the concent. At least, that's how many games are advertised these days: mind-boggling graphics, but the gameplay is a bit lacking compared to "older games" (generally speaking, of course. There are also games which provide both excellent graphics and innovative gameplay). To answer to your question: no, it will not become acceptable for those that judge games by their graphics, as those players will be very hard to satisfy anyway (you'd have to have graphics close to Oblivion to come even close, and that's not even a next-gen game anymore). The current graphics are 2001-ish, the new graphics will be 2005-ish. They remind me an awful lot of Stronghold 2, which came out in 2005 and had very similar graphics. ~Mardvk

Not like I had much of a choice, at that time it was either this or RuneVillage... And I didn't like the RuneVillage skin/layout much. So TipIt it was. ~Mardvk

I've heard the total cost is more like $20 per month... At least, that's what I've been told by a mate of mine who tried it. The membership might be a "mere" 7, but apparently you're spending as much (if not more) on merely using the feature. If this is true (and I have no reason to believe otherwise), it's a bloody ripoff :wall: . ~Mardvk

Unfortunately, with hundreds of thousands of accounts, there isn't really very much room for creative input anymore seeing many, if not most of the more "original" names have already been registered. Chances are, if you come up with something "original", someone else has thought about the same thing as well. So, unless you come up with something original that means something to you but is nonsensical to everyone else, you're pretty much obliged to make use of numbers in your nickname. Two years ago, I made two scouts to mine rune in the wild. I tried to provide original names for them, yet every single one of them and their most logical derivates had already been taken or were otherwise not available (we're not talking about three or four, but somewhere in the vicinity of around two dozen here). In the end, I got fed up with the process and just settled for a nickname with numbers. It is hard to be creative when you have artificial boundaries imposed upon yourself. In the end, many people don't even want to bother anymore and just settle for whatever is easiest. ~Mardvk

Truth be told, combat levels haven't been anything special since Classic. No, this isn't a post about "how much better it was back then" - because, it wasn't, not really. However, it did feel like a closer "community" because back then, a high combat level really was something out of the ordinary, and pretty much every single 115+ was relatively well-known. This started to go downhill with rs2 and the eventual implementation of methods that facilitated the training of various skills - ectofuntus etc., and most of all Pest Control. Since then, the game has seen an ever-increasing amount of "high level players", to the point where nobody is even surprised anymore to see a 126 (in f2p)/138 (in p2p) around - let alone that all high level players know each other by name. All this was to be expected, however. As the game progresses, an increasing number of people attain higher levels, and they (the highest levels, not the people) lose a bit of the mystical aura that is attached to them. It's like that super-expensive must-have oddity: when only a few people have it, it's exciting, glamourous and even a bit "mysterious", but as soon as it becomes so common that everyone and his neighbour have it, it quickly loses much of its original appeal and splendor. ~Mardvk

I suppose I liked the old forum better, but only from a conservatist point of view: it'd been around for so long that it had a homely feeling about it to me - the state of tip.it was almost a reliability of sorts. No matter how the appearance of the game changed, the tip.it forums always remained the same (more or less). That doesn't mean the revamped forums are "bad", they're just different and will require some getting used to in my part. I'm sure it'll grow on me. ~Mardvk

Lol, mining isn't even anywhere near the easiest or fastest skill to max in f2p... Actually, it's one of the 'hardest' (e.g. most intensive) skills out there, both for f2p and p2p (there's a reason only 225 people have 99 mining ;)). In f2p, you get a max of 32500 xp per hour powermining iron, and that's if you really no-life at it and don't talk to anyone... Plus, you have to click every single rock, which is more than most people are willing to do to get a 99 skill. As has been said, your best bet (besides cooking, which can get you over 80k xp per hour easily) would be firemaking. As far as I know it's perfectly possible to get 60k+ firemaking xp per hour (and that's a modest estimate), although it's indeed rather intensive ;). ~Mardvk