dutchdreams

They sure are putting alot of emphasis on agility lately with the penguin course not too long ago and now yet another course.

I used to alch lots in Seers bank. That way, I could keep an eye on bargains and pick up the magic logs/ string sellers.

It's on their corporate site, branching off RS into other countries and has been there for a few months already.

Dutch native speakers: about 20 million German native speakers: about 100 million. They're not making a translation of the game to cater to the current players, they do it to open up a new market. Which one would generate the most return on investment for Jagex ? German of course. Add the already pretty strong Dutch contingent of people currently playing. It's a perfectly sound marketing strategy to make a German version. French and Spanish version next.

I've been on the recieving end of this 'prank' a little too many times to find it funny. Real funny minding your own business, buying and selling when all of a sudden somebody decides to mess up your game play. Seems to be the fad to do these days, to take out the competition when trading on world 2. Somebody buying items at a higher price/selling lower than you ? Go stand on him and yell something insane to drive him off. He comes back ? Do it again, repeat until he logs. Yep, funny You call it a prank, I'll call it luring. This goes a little beyond having some harmless fun, don't you think ?

More quality = better impression. Better graphics, better playability, more things to choose to do gives a better first impression. After a week, people should be aware that once they pay, they get a game lightyears different from F2P. If people throw away the trial version after a week, they will not be sufficiently enough aware how much different/better the P2P game is compared to F2P (in my opinion). They will have encountered a game that revolves around mostly on mining/fishing/woodcutting/combat and doing the odd quest. The later quests are so much better quality compared to the ones currently in F2P (story line, graphics, rewards). There is so much more diversity on P2P to make money, so much different items on it that fresh F2P won't know the existance of. As I see it, as it is now, it's like testdriving a horse and carriage to decide on whether or not to buy a Rolls Royce. Make the test car a Mercedes and you get a better feel for what to expect of the Rolls. Like I said before, it may not be a problem now to attract fresh F2P-ers, but may become in the future to keep them interested long enough (compared to what competitors have to offer) to get them hooked and start paying. (the balance wasn't aimed at the actual item-balance for PvP combat triangle, it was just the balance that Jagex needs to keep between making an appealing appetizer and the main course)

I agree F2P doesn't deserve updates for their longtime freeloaders. However, Jagex has to walk a fine line here. And I'll use a word that you like throwing in every now and then as well: balance :P. On one hand they have to provide a (free) trial version of the game that will make people want to play more and actually pay for it. So, to entice people to become members, they cannot make the trial version too good. On the other hand, they cannot make the trial version so lousy that people will turn away from it quickly and spread the word that RS is an outdated game with bad graphics and not good enough content (variety, playability, entertainment factor). To lure in a fish, one needs a good bait. If the bait isn't good, the fish will only nibble on it, then leave it be before one can lure it in. The decision whether or not the F2P version is still good enough bait compared to other baits on the market, is of course up to Jagex management. They probably have monthly figures of the number of people becoming members after playing F2P, at their disposal. If the first impression of the game is bad, causing too many potential members to quit too quickly while playing F2P, then the trial version needs to be udpated. I am guessing that the graphical updates (the first ones were F2P locations and monsters) and the introduction of the tutors, were probably induced by feedback provided by people quitting the F2P version quickly: bad graphics (compared to other games), too complex/difficult. Potential customers raise their levels of expectation of a game's content as time progresses. I mean, Pong, Pacman and Atari games were awesome decades ago: there was nothing better around. If given the choice now between a Nintendo system and the Atari system, I'm pretty sure most will opt for the Nintendo. Jagex has to safeguard the content and playability of their F2P to prevent it becoming the Atari system amongst other MMORPGs on the market. Jagex has to keep in mind that they have competition from other games. It has to keep in mind it caters to a young audience, which often decides on eye candy rather than gameplay. Jagex also has to keep in check that their trial version doesn't give a wrong impression of things to do on P2P: to me the F2P version doesn't give a good representation anymore of what you can expect on P2P. Jagex has to keep in mind that it needs to stand out somehow, amongst all the other games available to potential customers. So, in short, Jagex doesn't benefit from giving F2P updates at all with their current F2P playerbase. It may benefit from giving F2P updates for a future playerbase. They don't benefit at all either from too many people turning away from F2P after only a few days of playing. Do they currently have problems attracting fresh blood to F2P? No, I don't think so. Could they have trouble in the future if they leave F2P unattended/not-updated for too long ? I'd say so.

Nice to read. Of course the first post why there are only level 3 auto-ers (jagex is so quick to catch em) is uhm well not exactly accurate to put it mild. These level 3 auto-ers have all the time in the world to level their woodcut level up to yews (or fish level up to sharks), but no time to raise combat ? Hard to swallow that. I'd say they're only level 3 because there is nothing to gain (RS/RL-currency) from combat. Yes, I'm aware of the green dragons debate (provided those are autoers as well), but their combat is raised as a side effect to getting the valuable hides.

Don't forget enchanted gem-tipped bolts for range-special attacks.

A discussion related to this one, is also going on in the topic found here. I agree that Jagex seems to be putting content into the game that one half of the player base doesn't want to play and the other half doesn't have the right mind-set to play.

I see where most are coming from, having the option to do what you want when you want it. I too had difficulty finding a trustworthy partner for shield and dragon quest. Typically because these quests are done when you are new to the game. I was lucky enough to have done the shades quest when it was introduced, so there were actually enough random people building the temple when I wanted to do the quest. I came from a teambased online game 3 years ago. I liked the aspect of it, camaraderie, mutual goal and going for it together. The game engine was specifically designed for that purpose and supported it in every way (regiments). This is my main objection against the team-based minigames currently in Runescape: there is strategy involved, but the game itself provides hardly any means to tell the player what goes on in those games. E.g. in castlewars, there is no way of telling what goes on in the other castle to my teammates. In trouble brewing, I can see what ingredients we have, but there is no effective way of communicating that somebody is actually getting those ingredients already. The few PC games I played, I could see what was going on at my portal, but had no idea what was needed at the other portals or at the knight. In short: the overall picture of what goes on is lacking or not available to everyone involved. A strategy aspect involved in those minigames, but there is no support from the software to actually make a strategy successful. I can talk to one person in pm at the time, I can tell people next to me what's needed in public, but I can't tell Johnny 20 squares away. When people don't know what to do in such a game at what time, or aren't told what to do, they will start doing their own thing, resulting in losses, frustration and even grieving (purposely sabotaging the team-effort). If programming in Java is the main limitation in implementing an interface more suitable for strategy, then in my opinion Jagex should rethink introducing those strategy aspects into Runescape in the first place. For team-based play to be successful, there has to be a community sense. An awareness that you are part of a bigger picture. This is lacking completely in the Runescape we play today. There are micro-communities in the form of clans. It is a prominent display of what is labeled 'emergent gameplay': clans. Emergent, since no content inside Runescape actually has anything to do with formation, upkeep, organisation and promotion of a clan. The formation of these communities was and is left to the players. Without the use of third party means, clans are hardly viable even. There's also a different part of emergent gameplay that even the loneliest of the lone adventurers might recognise: a homeworld. It has however a huge potential for passive or active team-based play on a macro-scale. Regardless of what made people decide to play on a certain server, alot of people will stick to a certain server in the long run. Over time, the lone adventurer will start recognising other regulars on that server, no matter where his adventures lead him. He will chat to them, trade with them, support them, they become familiar faces (but not necessarily friends list material). These are the people you will be more likely to cut deals with, give that extra few laws for free, because they're not exactly strangers. You give them stuff you don't need, because you know they're not the random professional beggar. These are the people you help when asked upon, because you will see them again. These are the people even though you're a lone adventurer that make you part of a bigger community. These are the people you would like to have aiming alongside you for a mutual goal, on a small scale (minigame) or on a bigger scale. Personally, I would love Jagex to play onto this kind of community sense. Content geared towards servers/worlds specifically. Just brainstorming here, but imagine world 12 researching to unlock a certain skill or weapon, while the competing world 99 decided to research and open up a completely different skill. More togetherness on a server-wide scale, through differentiation between the various servers. Wars between servers/worlds. Rivalry between worlds, allies in worlds, opening up a diplomacy aspect in the game. Elections on servers for their inhabitants to choose their representatives. Macro scale, so the lone adventurer can venture off, but still be part of a bigger community. I'm fully aware the above posted ideas are not feasible in the current Runescape and will never be implemented. In the end its success would depend on what all MMO's depend on: maintaining balance to make sure not one skill/world/person is overpowered or has too much an edge over others. However, this is the kind of team-play I would like personally. Doing your own thing, but part of a bigger picture. Runescape3 anyone ? ;)

Runescape is a massive multiplayer game. However, up till a while back, it was surprising to see how much one can achieve and do in the game as a lone adventurer. Till about two years ago, there wasn't much game content that required you to be part of a team to achieve something with a common goal. Almost every action in the game at the time was geared towards bettering your own character, without directly making your effort benefit someone else (yes, there are skills, but they aren't setup in a way that you require others to raise your own levels). If memory serves me, there was multizone wilderness of course, KBD-killing, KQ-hunting (yes, both can be done solo, but its best done in a group) and the fish trawler minigame. That was basically all the multiplayer content in the game. The way I see it, breaking point was the release of shades of Mor'ton quest, where the quest was specifically setup to be part of a team to get the quest done. Later additions, such as pest control, castle wars, trouble brewing minigame, barbarian assault, chaos elemental, DK-killing: these all require a team to get to the goodies. Jagex has promised releases supporting clans. More content gets added specifically geared towards teamplay. What are your thoughts on this, suggestions, ideas and expectations ? Is Jagex too late with it, with respect to trying to implement this kind of play in a for a large part egocentric game/ player base (judged on the gripes people have being griefed in barbarian assault/pest control/CW) ? Disclaimer : no, this is not a whinge how a lone adventurer doesn't get enough content or has nothing left to do, through new updates.

The mith seeds I got from legends quest are in my bank still. I never used them, never did anything with em, but they have been in my bank for over 2 years now.

Netherlands, 126 combat

- lunar magic : string amulets (comparable to cutting bows) - leather armor crafting, walking from tanner back to bank - put on Guthans and kill anything not too hard - range/mage/melee blue drags.

Can speed it up some by removing an unequal amount: I typically do 15 strings, 13 bows. That way you lose some slots in inventory, but that way you won't have to rearrange the string to the one spot you show in the pictures (when you withdraw 14-14) *withdraw 15 strings* *witdraw 13 bows (u)* *rearrange string to right location* *click till you drop* *withdraw all bows(u)* *store strung bows* *withdraw all strings* *click till you drop* ....... 2 weeks later.......congrats you're level 99 fletching ;)

Part to blame is Jagex, I think. They are, or should be considered authority figures on the field. When Jagex keeps on pounding on account safety through various means, on their website, in the game and on the forums they either create awareness or instill fear in their player base. If authority figures tell the general populace that the earth is flat and that you will fall off if you sail to the end of the world, and the message is repeated over and over again, strictly, with authority, sternly without debate then the populace will start to think the earth is flat (because 'they, the authority figures' said so). If no room is left for those people trying to prove the authorities wrong and are repressed, if no other voice is heard other than the authorities, then yes, the general populace will start to think the earth is flat and they will start fearing falling off the edge. This happens when the populace is uneducated or considered incapable of making own decisions. 'We decide what's good for you'. Jagex tries to educate their player base on account security, through the stronghold minigame. Which I think they did a pretty good job, considering how big a gap there is between the subject of account security and Runescape-lore. Educating the player base on what files/sites are potentially harmful and which not, is beyond their scope I'd say. Aside from all the extra work that would be generated by endorsing certain sites/clients/downloads, they also have a reputation to uphold and a product to sell. This is what led them to their strict policy: 'everything other than Jagex product is bad and should be regarded as potentially harmful.' If they overshot their goal and made the player base scared, rather than aware, may be attributed to the configuration of said player base. The larger part of that player base is in the 13-16 age bracket. The average player in that bracket is or can be rather impressionable, misled and not fully aware of all the dangers that lurk outside of their firewall (I said average player, so I obviously don't mean you who's reading this, so don't shoot me down on this generalisation). So, as much as they can be misled by people with malicious intent, they can also easily be misguided by good ol' Jagex Ltd. 'we decide what's good for you'. Which in turn, creates an atmosphere of everything downloadable is bad and automatically contains malware.

That's basically the concern of some high levels: because the quest cape requires for all quests to be done, it would make Jagex think twice about releasing a really really really hard quest (with high skill requirements). Alot of people would start complaining, specially on the official forums about it being too hard, not being able to get the quest cape anymore. Jagex has to cater to the majority of the playerbase, the majority has average stats. That's why some 'high-levels' are concerned a really challenging quest will not be released again. Personally, I think the quest-cape requirement should be changed to a set amount of Quest points to be achieved rather than a floating requirement. The requirement changes each time a new quest is released, I don't find that particularly logical considering how the achievement capes are set at a fixed level. I'm perfectly fine if it stays the way it is however, because I'm not an avid quester anymore. And all the props to everyone getting the cape, whatever level you are, it's a great achievement no matter what people will tell you. The quest cape has also been discussed in this topic (rants forum) and another topic found here (debate club)

Of the ones I can wear myself, I like defense best: it goes well with sara armor and elegant/naval outfit. Of the ones I would want, I like firemaking best: it looks....well.....fiery !

If the complaint is equal to the topic title, then no, it's not justified, because there are ways around it: they just involve more clicking, the xp you get from it, should still be comparable to before the update.

As said in the rants forum post, they made something a little harder for once, so I think it's a good update. You say a waterskin, is gone in 5 mins (I'll take your word for it). With 27 full skins at start, that would last you well over two hours without banking. With teleporting and carpet rides, you can get a fresh load within 5 mins and get back to mining again and stay out for another 2 hours. I don't know how long you play a day, but that would mean having to leave the spot ONCE during a 4 hour session. Is that really that big a deal to just give up on your whole plan of getting to 85 ? So, you're saying take 27 full skins and mine 1 rock, drop, mine 1, drop? That's ridiculous. Mine one, drop one, mine one drop one, till your first skin runs out. Drop skin, mine two, drop two, till your second skin runs out. Drop second skin, mine three, drop three.........oh boy, it takes effort ? Or take 20 instead of 27 skins...still gives plenty of time in the desert.

and as you empty your skins, you drop those as well, freeing up more inventory space the longer you stay out, thus making it less straneous. So as you stay out longer, the clicking you dread so much gets less and less.

As said in the rants forum post, they made something a little harder for once, so I think it's a good update. You say a waterskin, is gone in 5 mins (I'll take your word for it). With 27 full skins at start, that would last you well over two hours without banking. With teleporting and carpet rides, you can get a fresh load within 5 mins and get back to mining again and stay out for another 2 hours. I don't know how long you play a day, but that would mean having to leave the spot ONCE during a 4 hour session. Is that really that big a deal to just give up on your whole plan of getting to 85 ?

I'm surprised nobody has mentioned the cut-down in repair costs for guthan's armor you can achieve by repairing it on the armor stand in your (or someone elses) POH. Don't pin me down on the numbers, but if memory serves me right, a level 99 smith can cut the repair cost that good ol' Lumby Bob the axe man would charge, to half. So, I'm guessing a lvl 75 smith should be able to cut back 25% of repair costs. May not seem much, but it's certainly worth taking into account when it comes down to finances ;) Anyways, if you like slayer, guthans is the way to go. Especially if you get higher level slayer, the only tasks I can think of that guthans has a clear advantage over B2P are dust devils, infernal mages, turoths. The rest of the tasks, B2P can't be used (demons/dragons/fire giants/kalphite (soldiers)), or are better done ranging/maging in the first place.

There's a 'Smith X' now o_O? Yep, more specific: 'smelt X' - input integer X as you desire (compare cutting logs into bows). 'smith X' - X = 5 or 10, input from right click menu on the item you wish to create. You probably already knew, but got confused with how I worded it ;)