RU_Insane

This. Many bots travel around in groups, often with similar setups, following predicable patterns, performing the same task over and over for hours straight with no interaction with other players. Even if they don't get the ores/logs they need, they wander back and forth waiting for that re-spawn. They don't give up. They are programmed to perform a task in stages. They will repeat a certain stage until a flag tells them it's okay to move onto the next sub-task. This is why you'll see many bots running back and forth between rocks/trees because of competition. They are waiting to get enough logs/ores to bank. When they get enough, they follow the predictable pattern to the bank, follow the predictable pattern back to the resource spot, and repeat gathering. And when all of this is happening, they never say a single word. They're very easy to distinguish from normal players. Bot behavior is very unusual. The fact that you can see many "players" acting the same way I and Kaida described simply means there's many, many bots, and it's not pretty to see.

If I understand what they did correctly, we were given some exclusive Tip.It answers and then a few were copies. Jagex asked multiple fan sites to send over questions so they probably picked the most common ones to respond to. D: But- but the common ones are the ones already answered on the RuneScape site. >.< I mean, exclusive answers to fan-sites are cool. Now I see though, the problem with answers to common queries doesn't lie solely with Tip.it. It'd be great if the other fan sites with this privilege to an interview could screen out commonly asked questions that have an answer to them already, and instead send commonly asked questions that don't have an answer yet. Then the interviews would be quality, imo. It's a pipe dream though. Sorry to repeat that yet again. I just think these interviews could have done better. Some important queries were fielded, that's true. But not enough interesting/pressing ones made it to Jagex.

Oh. I agree with that, yeah. I don't know what important questions they didn't answer besides ones about bots, but I think those would've been CTRL + V anyway.

Examples? Because I thought they did a pretty good job. Some new questions were answered, yeah. But some questions were answered more than once, and others could be easily answered in the blog they released concerning the Citadels. For example. This question is answered in the Clan Citadel blog they released. Their answer can also be found in the blog concerning this. That is, if a clan drops below five members, no one can enter the Citadel, and the Citadel decays with the passage of time with no upkeep. Of particular mention is this bolded tidbit here: This question could have been answered by having that player look at the Dev Blog. Instead, Jagex told them the answer lies in that same blog, and proceeds to repeat the answer. They could've entirely avoided the question. As mentioned before, some questions are repeated: It's not an unreasonable question to ask. We even got an answer: The Citadels will be around the same size as Varrock. However, it's answered again over here, albeit with another question attached to it: The bolded part has already been answered by the above. Why did Jagex choose to answer again? Why did Jagex even choose to answer questions that could be satisfied by looking at the blog they released for that same purpose? Probably to fill up on some quota, I'm thinking. Here, the question about skills is answered again, albeit it's framed a bit differently: Instead of asking specifically what skills will be involved, the person just asks if the Citadel accommodated most skills, prescribing not a specific set of skills concerning the experience-boosting ring, but instead a broad range of skills to be accommodated within the Citadel. So the appropriate answer would not be a specific one. Instead, it would either answer yes or no, since the query is framed to facilitate that answer. Instead, Jagex not only answers the same question, but in essentially the same way too: specifically. Again, where are the specifics concerning this question covered already? In the development blog they released in order to answer those same questions. Why go through them again, I'm sorry? The second half of Question 1 is already answered. The first half of Question 31 is answered. Questions 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 11, 12, 14, 24, 25, 26, 30, 32, 33, 36, 38, 41, 42 are all answered in the Dev blog. Several of those questions are not only previously answered by a separate entity, but also have been acknowledged] by the players asking them to have been answered previously. Now, correct me if I'm wrong, but I thought Q & As were meant as a reference for people who had questions that were worth asking. What worth do these questions have if they're essentially not questions i.e. they've been answered already? The Q & As shouldn't serve as a ground for questions previously answered by Jagex, bottom line. Otherwise, that defeats the interview's purpose! I think what Jagex should have done is screen out all the questions that have been previously answered in their blog. That way, they won't have a quota or whatever excuse for lack of customer support to fill up so quickly. I counted 43 questions. 19 out of 43, or 44% of those questions -- almost half -- of them have been already answered in whole. Two questions have been answered in part. If Jagex had screened out those questions, we'd have room for 19 worthy ones that can take their place and thus allow the interview to enlighten players and not be all CTRL + V in their answers like their customer support. I think part of the fault lies with Tip.it though. These questions were asked by members in a thread allotted for Jagex to answer. What the staff could have done is ask players in that thread to not forward any queries that've been answered in the Dev Blog already. Otherwise, the interview's purpose is defeated, and it no longer enlightens, but repeats answers that the community is already privy to -- thus not making it an interview, but more of a reminder. Furthermore, the quality of the queries improves, allowing for more opportunities for more enlightening questions to be forwarded to Jagex. If I recall correctly, Jagex sets itself a quota for a number of questions. It would encourage individuals to only ask questions they know are worth answering. And as someone mentioned before, it's interesting to note that Jagex hasn't answered any questions relating to how bots will be prevented from abusing the Citadel. Overall, this interview is only half good, as only half of the questions asked haven't already been answered.

What kind of name is Barnabus Hurma anyway? Seriously? Is Jagex being creative or have they just run out of ideas for names? >.>

Hi :D Welcome to Tip.it and I hope you enjoy your stay here.

Swan Song was cool. I liked Monkey Madness too though. Swan Song is my favorite though because it's short, I got decent rewards for my time and I got to kill trolls. ^^

That's been there for two or three weeks.

You do realise that rwters have some of the highest charge-back rates, right? That means it's actually worse for PayPal if they keep these RWTers as customers, right?

When? Great Orb Project auto-win glitches are the clearest ones I can remember. Took like an entire year and a half for it to be fixed. EDIT: a portion of it still exists. There's also the dungeoneering experience glitch that certainly took a while to be half-fixed as it is now. I grant you that and there's a few more for sure. Keep in mind they're continually producing content though. They can't always keep an eye on every piece of content existing. There's bound to be glitches. Granted, the auto-win glitch sounds pretty bad. But has it really been game-breaking? I'd assume they fix content that disrupts game-play experience for the core of the player-base. By that definition, it would be game-breaking if that condition was satisfied. GOP's a fairly niche activity in contrast. That's what I meant, yeah. That, and an unloyal customer isn't really worth anything to Jagex. So their unenjoyment of the game in the small space of time they're able to play really shouldn't pressure Jagex to do anything. As well, there's so much content to play, why should a person stick to one piece of content and demand it be fixed even though a) they're not loyal customers b) Jagex has other priorities c) even if they were loyal customers, as you said earlier, it doesn't entitle them to anything more than the next paying person. I'm sorry Jagex can't bend head over heels to cater to the petty complaints of the minority population.

No one's forcing them to play. Chances are if people aren't committed to playing for whatever reason, there's no reason to expect those same people to keep playing, and so any glitch that incidentally clashes with the enjoyment of their game-play is irrelevant because they're not guaranteed customers and thus don't comprise the core of the player-base. You can't please everyone. That's all your statement proves. QA isn't omniscient nor omnipresent. In fact, I disagree with you that they aren't doing their job. What do you think their job is? To test something only before its release, and if it fails upon release, it's their fault? If they weren't doing their job, those patches could *never* be applied to the broken content after the fact. They are doing they're job -- they're assuring quality by maintaining it when needed in addition to checking quality is up to expectations before release. You can't expect QA to know everything wrong about an update they're testing. Any glitch that slips by them is quickly patched up. What part of their jobs have they failed to do? Oh, checking for glitches you claim can't be overlooked? The coding is quite complex. Glitches are unpredictable. There's no large chance that they could have encountered these glitches even if they tested the content that produced these glitches before release. Keep in mind, they only test content. There could be a problem with server feedback that's causing a glitch -- that isn't part of the content and thus isn't part of the QA's responsibility. How many of the glitches you listed were specifically content related, and not just a server issue? In addition, you can't realistically condemn the QA keeping in mind that these glitches are unpredictable and that the burden of production of an update is spread across more than one unit.

If the bug isn't gamebreaking, why worry about it? Every update has the potential for a Falador Massacre-style bug. If it involves messing with the code, anything can happen. It's a testament to the QA team that the biggest bug you have to worry about most of the time is graphical or the occasional quest-related glitch that is only slightly bothersome and usually fixed on the first day. I'm not saying Jagex's QA team is incredible but by no means is it a failure. because it's the small, annoying little glitches that will turn a player off. Ones that are too small to dicusss or talk about. Little things that can ruin a gameplay experience. That seems to be a matter on a personal level rather than an issue with the game itself. Like I said, you can't expect QA to be perfect. Think of the more disruptive glitches that've occurred compared to the mild, occasional graphical glitch or teleportation flux. You can't please everyone. Is it an issue? No, because there's nothing wrong with the game that actually needs priority fixing. That doesn't actually suggest that there's anything wrong with the game. Impressions are personal and subjective. Game-play issues are objective and affect everyone. What bothers you may entertain someone else, or they could be neutral. What 'little things' are you talking about specifically? The way you're wording it, I just naturally see them as non-issues that at the end, boil down to personal preference as to whether it's bothersome or not.

We can't count on Jagex to have all their updates ironed out. They try their best to put their priorities first, and I'm sure those priorities have been followed through consistently. Out of the game-breaking bugs we've had in the last two years, how many more could have arised from those recent updates? It's not unreasonable to assume that Jagex's QA has likely stalled far more troublesome bugs from happening compared to ones that slipped by. Bugs are still going to slip by, for sure, but be thankful that the vast majority of the bugs that you'll have to worry about, like Stewie said, are mainly graphical or quest related glitches that can be easily fixed upon notice. The QA team we have isn't perfect, but they aren't failures.

I agree. It's honestly such a small matter. Really? Does it affect how you play the game? Did you know member's existed beforehand, y'know? If you want membership, get membership for the benefits you want. Who buys membership only for a hatchet that any P2P can use? Really? That's doesn't offer an advantage over anyone. It's convenient, yeah. But who's going to be persuaded by that? So if you're going to accuse Jagex of losing integrity, well. I agree with you there. There'd be more intrusive and pressuring ways to get someone to purchase membership than just some box on a screen that can be closed in a second advertising a hatchet no less that any member can use. Yeah! You really lost your integrity there, Jagex. That's such a trend setter! That's so intrusive and downright scandalous! >.< Of course as you and I know, the opposition has no real evidence of this happening, so they have to use slippery slope fallacies and assume trends are already happening when there's only one insignificant example to choose from. xD

I'm surprised there are still people here who don't recognize the difference between using an ad hominem and stating facts about an opponent's position. The 'ad hominem' fallacy is the attempt to connect a perceived negative characteristic of the opponent to the truth of a claim. In fact, the only ones I've seen doing this -- to not name any names -- are the same people who tell others to stop using ad hominems. The unintentional hypocrisy really is amusing. I can only assume it's unintentional because of the opponent's ignorance as to what an ad hominem really is. Stewie has been level-headed this entire time and has been examining the matter objectively and eloquently. The same unfortunately cannot be said for his opponents. That said, I agree with Stewie that the pop-up screens mentioned don't precipitate a trend. But I disagree with their nature. Thus, I disagree with Griffin that these new level-up screens are simply revisions of the old ones. In the past, level up screens would mention that members could do this or wear that upon reaching a certain level. However, in contrast to the pop-up screens mentioned in this thread, they seemed to serve more as quaint 'Did you knows' rather than 'Get this for $6 a month'. It's no different from leveling to five defense and the game informs you that you can wear steel. The idea to note here is that if players are intent on getting membership, they obviously know enough about what they want to be persuaded to get that membership. A passing mention of a feature that happens to be members' is not advertising in that commercial sense. I must persuade the potential customer to trade with me for service or a good, and I do this by highlighting the benefits that can be enjoyed by purchasing this good or service. A passing mention of a feature -- such as certain weapons -- isn't advertising because there's no persuasion on the game's behalf for that person to pay. As a consequence, any incidental intention on purchasing membership for a perceived benefit is an individual matter and not reflective of Jagex policy because there's no deliberate element of persuasion involved on Jagex's behalf. How can you accuse Jagex of intrusive advertising if nothing was advertised? No benefits mentioned, no invite to an exchange of money for these items. In contrast to the old level up messages, the new ones are advertisements because benefits -- persuasive elements -- are mentioned and there's even a button that says 'sign me up now', the 'sign me up' referring to membership -- which involved monetary exchange for services which include these elements. The nature of these level-up screens has changed in that they went from being simply 'DYK' type messages to 'DYK + buy membership in exchange for this really cool item available to members only that you can use at your level!'. So in conclusion, it's not simply a revision of the old level-up screens -- otherwise those specific elements would not have been necessary to include. On top of that, I think the actual level-up screens appear along-side these advertisements, so it seems redundant to even call these ones the same idea. The detail doesn't actually matter though. Just something I like to nitpick at. That aside, I agree that the advertising in question isn't intrusive, and that there's no real trend that can be seen from this example. You cleared those questions up very nicely.

Agreed. I like the touch of the waterfall for that one picture. Night-time picture's great too.

There's a set number of how many have to visit per week minimum to maintain a certain tier. For Tier 7, it's 50 people (with leeway for a bit below 50) per week to maintain it, and the number req . decreases from Tier 7. Basically, unless your clan's membership numbers equal the minimum requirement for upkeep, they won't all have to visit to maintain that tier. This number changes of course. As a rule, if you have fifty people and you're maintaining a Tier 7 piece, all fifty people have to visit weekly (give or take a few for leeway). If you have sixty people in a clan, that's ten people who don't have to visit the citadel weekly to maintain that tier -- but the other fifty members have to. There's even a list that shows the # reqs. in the blog if you want it. Just find out the tier you want, and see if you have enough people to maintain it.

Interesting how the developers included the image of the Citadel at night. I'm guessing day phases will start to appear in some form with the introduction of citadels. ^_^ Night-time in RuneScape for the win. EDIT: Yep.

http://services.runescape.com/m=devblog/view_post.ws?post_id=125

Hey. Not a bad idea.

I got a permanent mute for spamming a clan chat for two hours. I managed to get myself out of it in one week. They said I was clearly in wrong doing. I actually did it. Haha. I was afk for most of that offense too. On the other hand, one of my friends got perm muted for an offense he clearly didn't commit. Jagex had all the resources at their disposal to make the proper decision and let him go. They didn't. I had to help him through the process by telling him what he could write as an appeal. Subsequent ones got accepted, and with my help he now enjoys being able to talk freely. It took him an entire year to get himself unmuted. This sort of experience shows you Jagex can't tell left from right even if they do look at the evidence for an offense, or so they claim. What I think seems to be the problem is that they put too much weight on an appeal that they don't look over. You get punished based on the evidence (or rather, who looks at it) but you can easily rectify the situation with an appeal that contains the lyrics to some 80s song. The whole system is inefficient and inconsistent. You may as well scrap the entire thing if you can't punish people correctly. I lol'd at this. Nice one, mate.

I'm actually very interested to see how this goes. :P

Quick one, Michael. Time to see what points can get me..

They dont wanna create instant wealth to a lucky few thats why they said they would never create a rare again. Climbing Boots.

The auras weren't what I was expecting, but the cannon shooting what seems to be elemental blasts and the water details + effects look really cool.