Zepheras

Here's mine, after combining a few ideas from the article and forum. Then again, some of these may or may not be agreeable with actual clan owners. -A separate clan member list which may be in the form of an alternative tab to the friend list, much like how the quest and achievement diary used to exist on the same tab. The tab appears if you accept a clan invitation from others, and disappears if you leave the clan. Name + ranking to be shown. Checkbox option to personally sort by name or rank, and the same ability to private message them. On that same tab, three buttons: -An 'invite' button on the same tab where you type the username of the player to be invited, and he/she will receive the invitation when online to either accept or reject the offer. It can be in the form of the clickable message you get when someone request assistance from you, or a box similar to the group/teleother teleport, but MUCH smaller and located at one corner of the screen. -A 'leave clan' button that has a confirmation message when you click it. -A clan setup button which anyone can click to view the settings, but only the leader can edit. Editable option should include to what level ranking can members invite others, access the clan base/hall, withdraw from the clan bank, edit features in the clan base etc. A 'block clan invitation' option under the game option tab. A customisable clan logo, such as the character creating system. All logos will probably be square shaped, but the game can offer a wide colour and pattern for each section, such as main symbol, corner symbol, background, inner/outer/top/bottom/left right border. A better ranking system that is customisable by the leader (within character limit). The game offers you 6-level system, and the leader may purchase up to a 10-level system at increasing GP cost. Clan Hall -A clan chest. You can deposit a limited amount of money or item worth within a limited timeframe. The right to withdraw is set by clan leader. You can a confirmation message before depositing anything inside. -A display cabinet hotspot where you click to see the achievements/trophies earned by the clan. For example, whenever Jagex organise some form of inter-clan competition, they probably record the leader of the clan along with the clan name on a list. For wining/participation in the event, the accounts of the leaders and members can then be twitched by programmers such that they can obtain an in-game cosmetic item from an NPC (like holiday items) to be added to the cabinet. There should be a small text below the item to list the details such as "Jagex Cup 2009, Combat Category, 2nd Runner Up" - A notice board that functions like the notes tab, except that it is visible to anyone clicking on it. The right to edit it can be set by leader. -Features of POH, such as combat rings, games room, dungeons, beer barrels. Building these directly remove the cost needed from the clan chest.

It's the best of both worlds. You get your holiday event and item, yet it doesn't take up too much of the developers' time. However, I think the factory could do with a bit of renovation. Easter gives me the impression of colourful eggs and bunnies, but all I see in the event are brown, brown and more brown. :unsure: I wouldn't mind if we can just carry an easter egg basket and go around visiting NPCs either (the part where you go out of the burrows to deliver the stuff was the best). Beats staying underground with a pretty dull looking environment.

I've never considered the strength of RuneScape as one that appeals greatly to individualised players. It's true strength should be its appeal to multiple kinds of players, be it skillers who enjoy peaceful training, combat-oriented ones who are almost always camping at a boss area, PKers and their bloodthirsty lust, questers, minigamers, or pretty much any niche you can name. The fact that RuneScape rotates its update for different groups of players may not appeal to every single player for each update, but always result in everyone having something to do in the game. Clans deserve some form of update to help their in-game establishment as much as any other player who wants a new quest or a new boss monster, and what could be a better time than now? You have a few years worth of game content already added to entertain the majority of the players, and clans have proven themselves to be an undying breed in RuneScape. When Jagex held the inter-clan competition, I thought it was a pretty good attempt, but silly at the same to declare a clan the winner without some form of achievement to show in-game. Suggestions by the article would solve the problem, such as a clan hall to display in-game trophies, and more customisable clan ranking system.

Most of the flack comes because I actually have an opinion and don'y shy away from people criticizing it. Most of them either insult me or circumvent my points. In instances like this, I'mn ot trying to convince people like Tortilla or Rav, but the other people who are reading it. Actually, I'm replying to MHL's post and not waheera1's because I'm looking for the reason for MHL's objection. Well, it turns out to be just her 'opinion' and it comes with quite a few assumptions. Waheera1 on the other hand, is replying to the wrong article. Your post would have been more relevant to "Specialization in the Past, Specialization for the Future" by tortillachp on march 21st, which specifically promotes group activities in the game, such as un-soloable boss, multiplayer quest..... Two different articles on two different topics getting the same kind of response? You should re-read the articles, even if you're just posting your opinion. Objection to the March 21st article can stem from your reluctance to participate in group activity. That is your opinion and I respect that. Objection to this article can only stem from narrow-mindness and selfishness. You're in short, saying that in-game features like clan chat, Faruq's game shop and suggested feature such as DKP, clan hall, clan label should not be added in the first place, even though they are definitely not detrimental to the game, and does not affect your gameplay since they are not actual game content but rather, infrastructure supporting another group of players. So, what are you trying to convince people about, MHL?

so you are say, if i wanted RWT back in runescape, i should complain every update they don't reinstitute opportunites for rwt? I think I would then need to confront myself with reality. do you? I'm very well aware of reality and not at all paranoid. I simply don't support spending time on updates for clans. Why do you have such an issue with that? Well, because I'm an individualised player, but nevertheless supports the spending of time and addition of clan features as long as it would be enjoyed by other players who need them. You are however, an individualised player who feels the need to reject such ideas altogether either by assuming that clans are a minority so small that they are not worth receiving updates, or assuming that this is going to evolve into the catastrophe of more group activities, or assuming that Jagex is going to fail at such a project compared to other MMOs, or assuming that even if they suceed, the time spent should have been used for other updates (almost as good as saying that clan chat could have ended up being a quest update or something). I understand how some players not utilising in-game clan features would not benefit from it, but I honestly don't see the need to REJECT this idea. I personally doubt that the development time saved would bring in other updates into the game at an amazing faster speed, or be exchangeable for a WGS2, or solve the issue of manipulation clan etc etc.... :blink:

I was under the impression that the writer is hoping for some one-time investment of the developers' time to design some in-game features. Clan chat is one feature, but more should have been added together with it in the first place. Whereas you seem to talk about how this may evolve into more group activity, or how this equates to Jagex Are you that paranoid, or frustrated when clan chat was added? :unsure:

Their opinion is clans should have more in-game support (this does not imply more group actiivities). Your opinion is you hate clans, therefore Jagex should not add in-game clan support features, right?

Not only is math wrong in this, and many things overlooked, but it fails to realize that sgs isn't about saving food and prayer because of costs, but because it makes a trip last longer. If that extra HP and prayer you get from sgs allows you to kill 20 dragons before banking and claws allow you to get 15 kills, you have to count all the extra time you spend banking. The time it takes to bank far outweighs the extra time that claws save (did you count that dragon claws isn't just an extra 625 damage because you take a combat turn using special?) On Topic: I feel that SGS isn't needed anymore because how many ways there are to heal w/o food. Generally using a combination of one or two of those methods keeps you healed on most slayer tasks. SGS is an option, but is way more expensive for little to no advantage over other healing methods. I see SGS as a status symbol of wealth, showing that you have mi's to spend on something you use for a special. What kind of banking are you talking about, banking due to a full inventory or banking due to a lack of healing resources?

Every other player has something that they hate in particular. Quest haters, minigame haters...... If you're fine with every other update but hates clan updates, and another player is fine with every other update except quests, and another, and another, which update should RuneScape go for? And you still don't seem to get the fact that this article isn't talking about changing the gameplay to group activity (like that last Tip.it article), but to provide an in-game infrastructure for clans. The clan could well be a Penguin spotting clan, or a We Love Cabbage clan. What this changes is, should you (not you, MHL) want to form a clan, you can, in addition to the clan chat, have a clan hall/base which limits access based on membership, a in-game clan logo so that your member can be distinguished from other clans beyond that 50 team capes, and perhaps a clan site hosted by Jagex etc............... instead of having to make do with other non-clan related features in the game, or resorting to registering your clan on another website host. Your clan can become a legit in-game group, you can invite players to visit your in-game clan base instead of some dubious looking link.

Wow, having your way indeed. I'm glad you're not a pure skiller, or I won't see combat updates for the rest of my life (if you have your way). Whatever I don't enjoy should not be added to the game even if there are people who do. Or better still, whatever I don't enjoy should not be added to the game since if I don't, they must be so bad that that they don't exist at all! I swear that there are no clans in RuneScape, hence any clan related updates must be useless! <_<

Clearly making baseless assumptions is the way to make your argument valid. I've never been part of a clan in RuneScape, but I see the potential from the point of business in increasing membership, as well as from the point of existing clans who would utilise these features. You think that clans are a small part of the whole RuneScape population, and hence do not deserve these features. I don't think it's up to you to decide whether they deserve or not, since Jagex is putting clans pretty high up on their priority list. You think that giving clans some in-game features is going to affect individualised gameplay. May I know how the addition of say, a clan base, or features suggested by Ts_Stormage for one of the weekly update of 2010 is going to change that? Lastly, you've been advocating yourself as a player inclined towards individual gameplay. Great, we know that. Does that mean that every player out there in a clan is going to start becoming like you? No. Using yourself as an example does not change the fact that there are clans out there who can use a in-game clan feature or two.

The actual importance of clans is how they bring in more active players. It's like those Facebook applications where the games aren't exactly the most creative on the planet, yet some people play because their friends do. Except that in the case of MMOs, you can actually plan out proper group events for your clans members. Likewise, people start a clan, invite players in-game, who might try to boost the clan's morale with more clan members, by inviting their friends/cousins/siblings to try the game out. If there's features such as clan halls, you can actually invite new players to your 'base', showcase what your clan does, your achievements (perhaps actual clan trophies from those Jagex cup thingy), instead of "Hey, join us on *insert offsite address*." If you're on the side of individual players against a group of clan members, you've just seen the power of teamwork. A clan who work this to their advantage deserves to win. They have proper command chain, and better reaction than individual players solo-charging at the avatars or running around castles killing random players instead of guarding their posts.

It's not really very estimable. But given that this works out to around what, 35k per day since I've had it, the number might actually be too low. I can calculate it for you, based on just your rate of slayer EXP per hour.

Let's assume that you're right on the dragon claw spec being less accurate than a SGS spec. Out of the whole list of slayer task, how many strong critters are there? Anything that you can hit fairly accurately with a whip, d claws spec would be decently damaging as well, which would mean a large proportion of the task. Probably not. Try injecting a few numbers in yourself and estimate how close you are to saving 30million GP off a sword. On a sidenote, I prefer the special animation of EE, which is why I don't bother with a SGS. I carry my EE around for quests and clue, just so that I can heal without even a single monster around, and don't have to worry about carrying an expensive item in my inventory.

Depends, if you have the cash lying around, why not? If you have a EE and a stack of unproductive 70million cash in your bank, you can always convert that to a SGS to replace EE, especially if you're a heavy user of EE. A SGS would make that 100% special bar even more productive in terms of healing. For most slayers starting out, the issue is always the amount of cash you have and the rate at which you make them. The general trend for me was starting with -rune plate, dragon skirt, amulet of glory, dragon scimitar and food, helm of netiznot and other crappy slot items -replaced rune plate with granite plate -obtained black mask -replaced scimitar with whip -obtained barrows gloves -obtained Guthans to heal -obtained dragon boots (At this point I started realising the potential of boss hunting) -hunted my own bandos chestplate and tasset -obtained cannon -obtained zamorakian spear -obtained 68 summoning -obtained amulet of fury -obtained EE as part of trying to complete everything in game -obtained 89 summoning By this point in time, I could have gotten a SGS to upgrade EE as well. But I also don't think that I'll slot "Obtained SGS" any earlier than right now, since there are other more useful and/or easily obtainable options to go for. And when you're used to 96 levels of no SGS slaying, another 3 levels won't hurt much.

Just one thing, a SGS is BETTER than EE in terms of healing. Even if you miss both SGS spec, you get a minimum of 100 LP and 5 prayer per spec, for a total of 200 LP and 10 prayer. And I don't think you're that lucky to miss it all the time. So in a situation where you have both EE and SGS, and you're considering which to bring.....you're crazy. (Unless we start on the discussion of which is more useful, free prayer points or free 15% defence boost.....)

The value of d claws is severely overestimated when it comes to fighting tough critters. It has a nice special but it is still a weak weapon that misses frequently -- you're talking a difference of about 75 points in both accuracy and strength. The SGS also has an undocumented bonus that comes into play in its special that appears to increase damage -- I always get higher hits with the special. If the goal is speed then it's necessary to look at everything in context. An SGS allows you to cut down on travel and banking time, and to save money on not just supplies but by being able to use a beast of burden to carry drops instead of a healing familiar. You can also use boosting prayers to enhance combat more easily. You're trying a LITTLE too hard when you try to argue that the SGS special can outdamage a D claw special. :rolleyes: Granted I don't have any statistics on my hand, but you can always prove it otherwise. SGS is a decent tool for Slayer, but I've always consider it at the most an upgrade to enhanced excalibur. For the previous poster, the "average" player isn't going to have 70 million on his hand for one, and the time invested to get one far exceeds the time for say, enhanced excalibur. I consider myself slightly above average, with sufficient cash lying around, but I've never considered specially going to the GE just to get a SGS. If you can get it and you want it, do so. But don't expect it to be amazing more useful your old ways of slaying. Neither is a SGS more useful than skill-based abilities, since SGS or no SGS, you will still want to level your summoning, herblore, and prayer as part of the general gameplay. The ideal situation is to have all the tools available to you. SGS, D claws, EE, food, familiars, Soul Split....but if I can't afford everything, or have to sacrifice one for another, I'll just sell the SGS without hesitation in exchange for say, a pair of claws + summoning levels.

I'm not so sure about that. One thing he mentioned is right, you have that 100% special bar, and you either use it to speed up your kills, or heal. But with so many healing methods, SGS has very little use especially if we're talking about slayer. Assuming that a player who can afford a SGS is somewhat decent in his combat stats, majority of the number of slayer tasks can be completed with just bunyip for healing, or a unicorn if you need more, and you speed up your task using DDS/D claws. The only tasks that can justify SGS usage are the ones in a multicombat zone, where you might consider a combat familiar, and heal with SGS.

play an rpg then, not an mmorpg. Um,no? I like interacting with people. I don't mind competing with people. I like to achieve things with other people trying to do the same. I like that I'm not forced into group activities like you are in WoW. I'm just very, very over hearing about clans when I don't think that many people are even in them. The community opinion seems to be if you don't agree with the community opinion you need to quit our game. Clans actually play no part in runescape. RS Could easily survive without them. The only times you need to have participation with other people is when you're FORCED to. EG Heroes quest, Shield of Arrav etc. You HAVE to use people. But anyways, clans are not needed in RS. Sure things they can be helpful. Finding a PC clan, or the SC clan or whatever will help you alot doing some things, however it's not needed is it? Clans are therefore not an integral part of RS. Just like they're not in some other places like Halo 3 online. You don't need a clan, but my girlfriends brother and I are making one. Therefore they have no real purpose in a game. Updates should be made for all players not just for clans. Why not? I find that games that provide some form of team/club/guild/clan formation tend to keep their players longer. You have the sense of belonging to the group, the tendency to log in for some group event, or just to chat with fellow members, and provide/ask for advice/help. The article isn't suggesting teamwork gameplay, just more in-game clan support. An actual location in game to provide a clan base (much like your POH), and proper registration of a clan and its members, a page on the RuneScape to list down registered clans etc..... The supposed 'clan chat' seems more like a group chat function to me, not an actual clan system, even though there's ranking system. Ugh, "belonging to the group?" That thought alone makes me feel queasy. Why do you need in game clan support when say they have websites? And they can all meet in a POH. What's the point in another room but this time for clans? There isn't. They already is a dining hall which could be seen as a meeting hall for clan people, there is so much you can do in a POH that people in clans don't know or understand how to utilise it properly. The article is suggesting updates like that which is a pointless idea. I mean c'mon, based on the suggestions he's got what will be the point in skill and quest halls? There wont be one. Or what will be the point in the clan room? Apart from squishing 2 rooms into 1. And Clans make themselves known and don't need to be registered really. They all have websites where they can organise events. They have an "Epic sized" world to roam around and meet up in. Tip.it is technically a clan system based on what you said about belonging to a group. Yet people here believe that there's not enough done for the single player. RS is a single player game. You come into the game on your own, you level on your own, you do almost everything on your own. So please try and justify apart from the reasons of things like SC BA and PC there are clans? They are only created because people want to do it. So let them do it by themselves and let Jagex keep rolling out updates for the single player. And yes clan chat is more a group chat system. I hardly feel part of "the tip.it clan" or "lady h's army" or whatever, I'm just a guy who goes in to chat every so often. I'm sure that existing clans with some form of dress code as a form of identity, use external websites to keep a record of their member list, have regular council meetings and such would not mind a more officialised solution to all of these. Sure, they can use a POH, and external websites, and that is proof that the game itself isn't providing sufficient and proper infrastructure for clans. And if Jagex is trying to promote clans and community involvement, the minimum they should do would be making clans more officialised in-game. You're saying that these features are pointless because you won't be utilising them, but the moment these are added, someone will use it. And did I mention that clan involvement in NOT compulsory? The attitude that some players have in response to in-game clan features seems to assume that more in-game clan features = more compulsory group activity. The article is merely suggesting that the developers provide better support for existing clans in the game. What's wrong with Jagex hosting clan websites where high ranked players can edit, or an individualised (more or less) clan icon for every clan, or a clan base that can showcase the purpose of your clan, be it skilling, combat, or just a random fan club? It's not like clan isn't a popular feature of RuneScape, because it is.

Was not referencing to the good old days. Was referencing to the content updates that by themselves, and excluding what was going on at the time in RuneScape, have been of high quality on a consistent basis (four years). And those things aren't what I remember from 'the good old days'. I remember having to walk a lot more and meeting random people doing the same thing I was doing, then adding each other as friends, and then helping each other complete whatever we were doing in the beginning. Or having no knowledge of the Wildy at all, and just wondering around waiting to come across something interesting. The Hobgoblin mine made my day so many times whenever I could find it or came across it. Lol. :/ I'm not convinced of that. Personally, I've managed to compare 2009, supposedly one of the worst years, to 2005 (the year of barrows and firecape and ancient magicks), in terms of update quality and found that they are more or less the same, if you exclude simple, exhaustiable ideas.

The problem with that is it would devalue high prayer levels, and would make it difficult to use high-level prayers. Surely it would work like with attack/strength/defense? If, say, your stats are drained lower then 70 attack then you can still use a whip, which is much more practical then knocked someone down a couple of prayer levels so they cant use the prayer they have spent mils on getting? It worked with magic, didn't it? What you suggested would be considered a special equipment stat, since it's directly tied to whether or not you have the chestplate equipped, but that's going into a completely different mechanic that I don't think the engine is prepared for yet. The idea is to have a potion that you drink. Your constitution level goes to 119/99, but your lifepoints is still 990. However, if you then eat some food that heals 200, your lifepoints goes up to 1190. Your constitution level degrades by one like all skills to 118/99, your lifepoints gradually drop to 1180. It then degrades again to 117/99, and your lifepoints gradually drop to 1170 and so on. And what's wrong with the ability to temporarily use prayers above your level, or summon a familiar above your level? It'd be a nice feature. Putting aside the issue of whether the engine is ready for the idea I mentioned, I personally don't find the 'potion' idea very useful. Sure, it helps you survive big hits as well, but the fact that it degrades with time means that you're at the end of the day, dependant on potions, and not armours, for your hit survival. Unless future high level armours do something beyond just increasing the chances of zero hits on you, such as damage reducing/HP increasing, they won't differ much from existing armours besides graphical and stats difference. Damage reducing would be interesting, but not a good reason for the Constitution change, since it is always possible to introduce high hitting weapon or monster + damage reducing armour such that pitting one against the other would never yield a damage above 99, which is why I'm guessing rhe latter possibility. And when using potions, if it's a slow degradation over time (1 point per min), you have to constantly check your stats page to see how 'boosted' you are, which defeats the purpose of separating the numbers in the first place. I don't have any programming background, but to me eating a potion that boost your max HP capacity, and wearing an armour to boost your max HP capacity looks like the same thing to me, somewhat like the Monster Hunter game on PSP and Wii. If the engine isn't ready for it, they can always start on it. :thumbup: So yea, I'm talking about equipment stats, much like prayer bonus changing the drain rate, strength bonus changing the max damage....a new stats to meet new demand.

play an rpg then, not an mmorpg. Um,no? I like interacting with people. I don't mind competing with people. I like to achieve things with other people trying to do the same. I like that I'm not forced into group activities like you are in WoW. I'm just very, very over hearing about clans when I don't think that many people are even in them. The community opinion seems to be if you don't agree with the community opinion you need to quit our game. Clans actually play no part in runescape. RS Could easily survive without them. The only times you need to have participation with other people is when you're FORCED to. EG Heroes quest, Shield of Arrav etc. You HAVE to use people. But anyways, clans are not needed in RS. Sure things they can be helpful. Finding a PC clan, or the SC clan or whatever will help you alot doing some things, however it's not needed is it? Clans are therefore not an integral part of RS. Just like they're not in some other places like Halo 3 online. You don't need a clan, but my girlfriends brother and I are making one. Therefore they have no real purpose in a game. Updates should be made for all players not just for clans. Why not? I find that games that provide some form of team/club/guild/clan formation tend to keep their players longer. You have the sense of belonging to the group, the tendency to log in for some group event, or just to chat with fellow members, and provide/ask for advice/help. The article isn't suggesting teamwork gameplay, just more in-game clan support. An actual location in game to provide a clan base (much like your POH), and proper registration of a clan and its members, a page on the RuneScape to list down registered clans etc..... The supposed 'clan chat' seems more like a group chat function to me, not an actual clan system, even though there's ranking system.

I'd like to see your example of practical ways to lose money. Staking doesn't look like one to me. It's just another moneymaking method.

Whenever I see people talking about the "good old days", I get the feeling it's about the same few things; Ancient, barrows, fire cape, GWD. :unsure:

It's not exactly an issue compare to HP/Constitution, which has the potential to solve the problem of weapons hitting too high, or players/monsters limited to hitting a maximum of 98 damage in the old system. Prayer has a stat, prayer bonus to modiify the speed of drainage, while summoning is just important for the kind of monster you can summon. I normally won't care too much about how summoning points I have left once I have summoned whatever I needed, and all it takes is a dose of summoning potion to re-summon as well. It's not exactly necessary to keep these two in line with constitution, nor should we have the ability to use prayer/familiar above the exact level required. My guess of the HP boost is not a multiplier factor, but rather a direct addition to the LP orb. If, for example, a new chestplate has a + 20 Constitution bonus, and you're level 99 in Constitution, it would display the skill level as 99/99, but the orb would change from 990/990 to 990/1190 immediately when you equip the chestplate. You can then heal to 1190/1190 with any food, and boost beyond with Sara brew. If Jagex tried to implement this with the old system, the display in the skill tab would have been confusing, since it display the same HP as the orb value.