Yoko Kurama

Update is okay, seems glitchy. The drag-destroy for banks is frightening. Solomon's selling extra pre-slots is not cool. The Ninja fixes are getting worse by the week. There's so much stuff they could easily fix, and some that I have personally suggested, why aren't they fixing more? They easily could...

And with that gown I'm done my little God Wars goal.

Very nice. I have been camping Zammy as well (not on slayer tasks), I just need the darn legs to complete my DIY set -- almost at a thousand kills.

Personally, I think they should just stop with the whole "multiple choices" thing. Runescape doesn't really have the budget or capacity to truly develop meaningful choices that are different, so they have to sort of give us extremely limited choices that usually come at the end of quests, have little meaningful difference, and things end up happening similarly more or less. It's more or less a well-intentioned charade. I think they had their heart in the right place, but it just isn't working.

How is loafing castle wars any less of a commitment than anything else in the game? What's so special about fishing rocktails for enough hours to get 104M/200M fishing that magically makes it indicative of a greater commitment to the game than spending hours at castle wars? I see none. Most skills or activities in Runescape have absolutely nothing to do with 'skill', but rather they have to do with time commitment, how much sleep you need, how many real life commitments do you have (or are willing to abrogate) -- that's what separates people who get 200Ms/Trimmed Capes from those who don't. It's nothing more complex than that. And in that regard, loafing castle wars is no less legitimate. Such discourse about some things being 'less committed' to the game than others seems phony to me.

I enjoyed reading ALG's article and rather agreed with it. Extremely minor quibble, but he uses Zamorak (along with Zaros) as an example of a god whom Jagex are trying to forcefully get us to like while he uses Saradomin (along with Bandos) as a god that they are trying to forcefully get us to dislike. I think the examples of Zaros and Bandos are fine, though Saradomin and Zamorak could be switched around. Zamorak is supposed to in theory be a noble demon (Jagex's word), but they have shown him to have little to no redeeming qualities. When he comes for the BoL, he just blazes his way through. Saradomin, despite having a dark past, seems to care once in a while. Zamorak seems to be completely trivialized as of late anyways. As for the article by Arceus, I disagree with the proposal. Anytime you try, however noble your intentions might be, to make the three combat styles super unique, they end up so different that one of them is clearly better than the other two. I am not saying combat should be exactly the same (each style doing the exact same things), but the 3 styles should have access to similar abilities. For instance they should all a one-hit-KO-style move that deals large damage, but currently only mages and meleers do (Omnipower and Overpower), while rangers don't. They should also have some sort of damage boosting effect like Sunshine/Death's Swiftness, but only rangers and mages do at this point, while the one for Meleers, despite being very powerful has heavy penalties that restricts it in solo situations and it lasts for a smaller amount of time(Berserker). They should all have some sort of healing ability, but only Meleers have that (Balanced Strike), while rangers and mages don't. Only mage and melee have the ability to move around with the DPS increasing ultimate (Berserker and Metamorphosis), while rangers don't. They should all have a damage-over-time bleed attack, but only Melee and Ranger have a decent one at the moment (Frag Shot and Massacre), while the one for Mage sucks. And so on. In theory being able to do different things with different combat styles sounds nice, but it never works out in practice in the context of RS.

I'm genuinely interested in whether or not they can actually pull off an atmospheric, intrigue-heavy quest. If they do it right, it has the potential to be a great deal more immersive than any of the GM (or 'GM') quests they've released in the last few years. And it gets us away from the Gods storyline for a bit. That in itself is a huge plus. The Divination stuff seems genuinely useful, or at least different. Underground Pass + WGS + Shadow Over Ashdale? What's the point of mentioning the ashdale quest? Also the boss is obviously a cthulonian. The Ashdale quest is supposed to be an atmospheric quest. Underground Pass tried to do something like this, but that was a decade ago in RSC where you couldn't play with lighting effects but could type creepy words in red. We should just get rid of comp capes or even skillcapes as a whole. Although most (including myself), could not have predicted the negative outcome that skill capes/comp capes have had on the gaming and the culture when they were first proposed, it has indeed been quite bad. I am not opposed to removing them, though I don't really see the point at this stage, the damage is done.

Sort of sad that it will probably be another 8 months to another year before we get the next major installment in the 6th Age/Zaros series. Jagex is woefully slow in following up on that sort of stuff. I mean, they did TWW which really was a major success, and they failed to do a follow up quest until much later that year and it was basically a novice quest. Not only that but the GM quests are way shorter and not up to the standard of WGS/BoD/ROTM; hard to believe Jagex released 11-12 quests in 2008 and still managed to pump out something as epic as WGS. I understand they can't pop major quests every month (that has only really happened once, when RotM and Branches of Darkmeyer were back-to-back), so I didn't expect anything this month, though I don't think we will get anything for a while. A novice quest following the events of FotG would have been nice though.

Indeed, a few zealots dedicated to gaining experience mindlessly should not be allowed to set official standards or benchmarks in the game. And yeah, the voting is rather frustrating as a large number of (though skillcapes are not the worse example of this, a better example is the Divination BoB) tend to vote for stupid things or against their own interests -- they are far too ignorant to have voting power.

Nothing exciting or interesting this month at all; I guess the combat ability is going to come out in May. The Master Capes are a waste and a mistake, of course.

I still can't get over where the story seems to be going. It used to be about warring gods, and their minions and all that, but now it's really about the Elder Gods possibly destroying the universe itself -- this new twist/development makes everything else that has happened so trivial and pointless. Azzanadra used to go and destroy armies and what not; now he's going to try and find the Elder Halls and 'rouse the Elder Gods'? Makes all the other Younger Gods and Sliske and everyone look like total dicks (though they sort of always were), while Zaros is the only one who is apparently aware of the real problem and trying to do something about it. Meh... It's purely a matter of subjective taste, but I am not sure I like this.

Apparently the Ritual of Rejuvenation actually was just a way to get energy/power for Mother Mah (a trick by Seren), which is why once on Gelinor and away from Mah, they have the energy for themselves. I had predicted something of this nature; I guess I was right.

I thought it was originally stated that Jas created the Dragonkin? Now she only found them and they begged her to save them?

I bet Zaros had Guthix killed because he was trying to get fresh with his gal Seren.

You did have a meaningful choice. You had the choice to sabotage Zaros' return, or not do the quest at all, in which case he wouldn't return. As for whether any being should have that right, that seems like an uninteresting discussion. He's powerful enough to do, and that's really all that matters. He has never claimed to be infallible, but obviously he is intelligent and learned, and a keen observer. As for controlling things, he seems to suggest that he would basically watch from the shadows, and if things go wrong he will subtly step in as a corrective measure, or perhaps he will help mortals unleash their potential (like how he taught them agriculture during his rule in the 2nd Age). Doesn't seem sinister. He mentions that he doesn't even want to do this to everyone ('not all will heed my call, and not all will have to'). He is trying to save the world and possibly the galaxy from destruction and advocate on behalf of mortals - that seems like a far more important and noble thing to do than the younger gods, who are mostly involved in petty things like conquest, spreading their influence, gaining power, and what not... One thing that is weird is that, if the threat Zaros describes is true, it sort of makes the younger gods and the god wars sort of look trivial and puts that in the background. Not sure how I feel about that. It also makes Guthix look stupid if he didn't have knowledge of this. He referred to the Elder Gods with some level of ignorance, and sort of appeared as if he was trying to carry on their project of perfecting the world. If they are destructive beings after all this time, it makes Guthix look stupid...

I agree that all gods think they are good. My assessment of him being good was not based on his own perception of him, but my perception of lore. He seems like he is doing something fairly important: saving the world from sort of threat, he seems to reward loyalty, he seems to have learned from his past mistakes (empire-building), he seems to genuinely want to help the Dragon Riders (one of the biggest question marks was why he never fulfilled his promise, and whether he lying to them), and so on. I don't think there is anything sinister in his attempt to become 'fate' itself. It's not all that different from parents wanting to steer their kids in certain direction, or to help their children realize their full potential. He seems to be trying to gently and subtly push people in certain directions, rather than being overly controlling or possessive. Indeed, he does not even seek to have all 'follow' him. I don't really see him as callous or arrogant as you find him to be. I also don't mind his plans to tame/remove the younger gods, who have indeed been destructive. He also seems to have some regret over certain means (such as his forceful empire building, and Sliske). Zaros is definitely far less gray as a character than he used to be before...

Even TWW released Automatons, the Sixth Age Circuit, and a few other things. Ritual of the Mahjarrat released Glacors and a few other things. While Guthix Sleeps released Tormented Demons. This one had the Muspah, the Nihils (killing which after you get the title is fairly pointless), the Shard (a nice perk), and the two hideous cosmetic overrides, and the title. Meh.

RuneTrack is telling me I walked away from that quest almost one million experience richer... Maybe it's just because I'm like the only non-maxed person left on the forum, but I'd say that puts it pretty far above most other GM quests in terms of rewards. I do agree that it could have been a lot better in a number of ways (because even I'm getting tired of my rants), just that the rewards weren't one of the things that needed improvement. Experience rewards no longer impress me. I understand I am a Comp'ed player and thus have somewhat of a bias, but with the Treasure Hunter, experience rewards from quests just aren't as impressive. Most GM quests in the past have mixed good experience rewards with good tangible rewards. The experience rewards for this quest were nice, but the tangible rewards were pretty bad.

I enjoyed the quest, but as usual it was certainly not up to the GM standard, and probably a bit worse than TWW (which also arguably wasn't up to standard). A pity, considering how much hyped this was. There were a few details they could have fleshed out a bit more, the rewards were some of the worst for a GM quest to date particularly of this standard, some aspects were rushed and so on. As I predicted, the god awful and annoying miniquest was longer than the GM quest - how sad. Also, every time they hype up a GM quest, I keep thinking they will finally deliver us something like While Guthix Sleeps, but I am slowly coming to the realization that they don't have the ability to make something that epic again - a pity. Also some of the lore felt less interesting than before. Whereas previously Zaros was a grey character, it's now been established that he's basically a very good and noble guy. No plot twists. I always liked the dynamic between the younger gods (Guthix/Zammy/Sara) more than where this Elder God stuff seems to be heading. Sliske and Azzanadra have been reduced to cameos. If Sliske is so powerful, why wouldn't he just fight you? It seems silly. Did he want Zaros to return or not? He seemed to want to sabotage him, but then it turns out he's infuriated that Zaros excommunicated him. Also, my sense of Sliske as someone who is rash and reckless was confirmed when Zaros also assessed him as such. I'd give this quest a grade of 'B'. Good, and lots of lore, but nothing excellent or outstanding, and a lot of lackluster stuff.

Probably significantly larger than your usual Kethsi/Naraagi/fairy ring places but the same sort of stuff: you visit it during the quest, but probably nothing of use there afterwards. Apparently Freneskae will be a new spot with high level stuff to do after the quest.

What competition? Aside from Bandos vs. Armadyl, which had more to do with their personal history and grudges, none of the other gods seem to have taken Sliske's bait, so far. It is also unlikely we will see any further gods dying in the near future. Guthix and Bandos have only recently just died.

He probably didn't know about it?

I thought it was Zaros that sealed the World Gate in the 2nd Age?

In the book of Sliske's memory, he says something like "rarely have I ever been proud of my Lord [Zaros]", and he was also the first to betray the Menophites (after which all the other Mhajarrat followed). It's true that good intentions alone don't always help, but I fail to see why that applies to Azzanadra. Azzanadra is amongst the powerful of his race, has plenty of experience (he's been his clan's leader even before they left Freneskae), he has plenty of experience as second-in-command, and he seems to be rather intelligent, plotting away and bidding his time while singlehandedly preparing for Zaros' return and helping to actualize it. In contrast, Sliske has been extremely reckless if anything. Also, while Sliske's intentions have been ambiguous (he claimed to be trying to obtain godhood himself, something no loyal Zarosian would do), we have hints from the lore, and J Mods that he is likely a traitor. This is the same Sliske who killed Guthix, thus allowing all sorts of Gods to return who were hostile to Zaros, whereas Azzanadra's plan was to bargain with Guthix only for Zaros' return. Azzanadra, on the other hand, has always been fanatically loyal to Zaros. I don't think the case for Sliske being a loyal Zarosian is strong, given what we know.

Azzanadra wants to keep Zaros how he was in the 2nd Age. To me that would only hinder Zaros. ;) Considering I want to help, not hinder, Zaros. I'll be awaiting for a few people to finish the quest and what side they took and what the result was. Since it isn't 100% obvious. That would ruin the whole fun. In theory, this quest is suppose to give you more than enough information enabling you to make a choice. I'd hate to wait for all the spoilers. Also, I think it's pretty much fairly obvious that Azzanadra will work to bring back Zaros (this much is 100% certain), whereas Sliske is probably going to hinder Zaros.